European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday Jura 18. 1986 James Kilpatrick on White hot terrorists and Block hot terrorists Dorion i Iii id in a Din Tor. Ii is Oil so very hard in i was reclining upon a Coundi in inc office of spurn Penrith. The eminent viennese Consul Tant to Washington pundits. My head was resting upon Lac hard rolled Edge of the sofa. The stiff leather Hurt my head but my head was hurting anyway. Yes my son he was filling his Fountain pen. Think was Black. What is so very hard to understand the response to said. And what do we mean by terrorism that is whal is so very hard to or. Stump Mich scratched his pen on his not Pap or. The paper was while. The pen refused to unction. Pcs he said. Of 1 said you take our bombing of Libya that was in response to the libyans terrorism in Ber Lin. Almost everybody in inc United Stales said Hoo Ray the president s popularity shot up. With a Feu exceptions everybody said we had a right logo after i Csc libyan thugs and to drop stuff All Over colonel Qaddafi but of said Hie under a couple of weeks later i said and he could Ell 1 was gelling confused the sown african government sen us troops Ami planes into Angola and Zimbabwe they attacked bases of african National Congress terrorists. Almost everybody said that was terrible. The White House called it ouija Guus and George Shutlz turned purple. We expelled a Guy Frum inc South Afri can embassy 1 do not understand Why it is ail right for us to Hii libyan terrorists and All wrong for South Africa 10 hit a no we must examine said or. Stumpe Mich his pen was finally working. Everything seemed Black and White. And then Here is the matter of the Irish Republican army i said. My neck was really hurting. Some of the. Ira assassins inc ones who shoot British troops from ambush have Lakin Refuge in the United Stales great Britain wants to extradite them for trial we say no. This i do not understand. I think Margaret Thatcher has ii Ishi if you Are again terrorists,1 she said you cannot pick and choose Between terrorists " hut of course said the doctor you understand that in arc Are Good terrorists and bad no sir i said. You Are not trying to understand he said. You must try sen. Jesse Helms says that if we agreed 10 Send Ira fugitives Back to be tried in Belfast we might set terrible precedent. We might have to Send afghan re Bels Back lobe tried in Jesse Helms said that yes sir. I do not understand Haw Jesse could equate a request for extradition by Ilic government of Northern Ireland with a request for extradition by in soviet puppet govern Man of Afghanistan especially when there is no thought of a treaty with Afghanistan. I think politics must have something to do with it. Somebody in the Senate must think that shooting Brit ish troops in Belfast is like shooting British troops 31bunker thai would be hard to understand the doctor conceded. He was making More notes but the notes seemed to be turning Gray. And then there is this proposal to Send j250 Mil lion in Aid to Northern Ireland and the Irish re pub my head was aching something awful. I do no understand this. How did Northern Ireland and the i Rish Republic get to be underdeveloped nations what is the 5250 million for the afghan rebels certainly could use an enl a j250 million. Our Friend or Sav Imbi in Angola could use $250 million. The Poniros in Nicaragua could use $250 million. But tip o Neil wants $250 million for the Irish. It is Alt so very hard to or. Stumpe Mich put his pen away. I note pad was entirely Blank everything had vanished. You pundits Are All he mine he said. I could Tell he was angry. For $50 an hour you expect me 10 help you understand lungs that cannot possibly be under stood. Take two aspirins and Call me in he vanished too. George will How do you argue away the grand Canyon imagine standing on the rim of the grand Canyon while a guide says you probably think there is a Canyon Here and to the Ungui Ord Eye there appears to be a Canyon bul 1 have data that demonstrate the Canyon is not there have been various attempts to demonstrate that nothing much has happened in american politics in the 1980s, but no attempt As determined As the Arti Cle in the May Issue of Atlantic the myth of America s turn to the the authors Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers deny that a majority of the Public Nas reached a stable Well in formed consensus in favor of conserva Tive policies. Hole the adjectives Sta ble and they Are loopholes. There often is a Gap Between the rhetorical and the real politics of Ameri cans Between the Way they talk and the Way they really want to be governed. The authors say americans Are ideologically conservative and pro grammatically lib eral certainly conservatism often is the belief thai it is time to Cut my neighbor s subsidy. Bul Ferguson and Rogers argue not just that americans remain program magically they say there has been a generally Liberal trend regard ing Domestic issues and the movement of Public opinion has been directly oppo site to the movement of Public policy they cite an increase in the belief that there is Loo much concentration of eco nomic Power and the belief that Busi Ness is making too much pro 111," and that government should limit profits. They cite increasing tolerance about such matters As abortion and women s rights. They even find evidence of the Liberal trend in the fact that 89 percent of inc people believe there can be no Winner in an Ali out nuclear War and the fact whatever it Means of a growing aversion to nuclear weapons. If the authors Are right he political system is radically defective. It is producing radically unrepresentative government. If the authors Are wrong and democrats decide the authors Are right democrats could produce another disaster. However a clue to the weakness of the authors thesis is that they argue it too aggressively explaining away even Ron Ald Reagan s popularity. They say that if one controls for economic conditions Reagan s popularity is not significantly higher than Jimmy Carter s. Well yes Reagan would not be popular if he produced stagflation. The authors even cause the 1984 landslide to disappear they note that Reagan received the votes of Only 32.3 percent of the potential with such intellectual Over reaching inc authors have provided democrats with a Road map for another drive off a Cliff. It is an old conservative map reversed. In 1964. Conservatives nominated Barry Goldwater the last candidate unreconciled to the Post new Deal role of the Federal government As an engine of distributive Justice. Conservatives had a theory the conservatives in in Woodwork theory. Conservatives though one reason millions of Ameri cans do not vote is that they Are forced to choose Between iwo liberals. Give them a Choice not an Echo and conservatives will pour out of the Woodwork into vol ing Booths. The Atlantic article suggest there Are lots of liberals in the Wood work. The authors seem slightly scandalized thai Waller Mondale became the first democratic nominee in Many years to fail even to put Forward a major jobs they say there is no partic ular mystery Why when offered a Choice Between candidates so similar people rejected the one who promised Loraine axes or declined to Vole the Dala in the article Are not startling. Americans always want More of everything from government except taxes and War. However the article Illus trates the limits of in political analysis. Political scientists want to count things such As the numbers of people who subscribe to particular propositions. But although they produce numbers polls about propositions May be Blunt instruments for measuring National moods. The voter s presidential Choice is per Sonal and Complex involving a mixture of Hopes and vision and a sense of being comfortable with a candidate. Such an Alloy of impulses is difficult to the Alloy is not necessarily non rational. Any consensus can be dismissed As unstable and but itis Wise to Start political analysis with this axiom when the data Are utterly inconsistent with common seme doubt the data. That axiom flows from this one the voters and inc politicians know a thing or two including each other. The former usually gel he latter whal hey want and the taller generally give the former whal they want. If your data say the grand Canyon is not really there in front of you you can get new Dala or you can prove your Confidence by striding Forward. Republicans urge democrats to read he article Trust the data and take 10 Steps Forward. C ,ng1oo peril
