European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday october 1,1986 columns David Broder democratic voters crossing up party leadership after the 1984 election As you May recall much of the leadership of the democratic party took the Back to the Center pledge. The overwhelming defeat suffered by Minnesota and new York liberals Fritz Mondale and Ocra Dinc Ferraro had taught a lesson of the necessity for moderation. Democratic spokesmen said. From his Point on in was Bye Bye to bleeding hearts and big government Hilo balanced budgets less taxation and regulation. 1 Hope you remember that this was the proclaimed direction of the new modern in fashion democratic party. Because frankly the voters in the 1986 demo cratic primaries have not been getting inc word. Each passing week brings additional evidence that those uncooperative folks have ignored the instructions from Headquarters. They have gone on nominating inc same kind of left of  the democratic strategists in Washington had declared passe. Last month in primaries for the . Senate in Wisconsin and Nev York the voters nod went to two self proclaimed populists labor lawyer de Garvey and consumer activism Mark Green whose Stock in Trade is bashing big business and its political allies. Grien upset a new York businessman who oils Penl him 10-1. And Garvey in his first Ever Campaign Defeated the former Wisconsin democratic chairman. Well you May think that s new York and Wisconsin where the Only recognized democratic factions arc recidivist liberals and Liberal recidivists. But inc same thing has been happening All across the country ignoring the supposed lesson of 1984," democrats Are blithely nominating Liberal after Liberal for inc Senate races thai constitute this Jear s main Battleground. In Maryland for example. Rep. Barbara a. Joseph Sobran Mikulski a feminist and big City Community Organ Izer beat the state s moderate retiring governor and a House colleague from an up scale suburban District to win Drain anon for an open Republican Senate seat. Earlier in Pennsyl Niia rep. Bob Edgar a minister who opposes Aid to the Contra and much of the de sense buildup beat a Vietnam vet state official who took a harder line on those issues. In the Only major primary held so far in the South rep. Wyche Fowler jr., possessor of the most Liberal voting record in the Georgia delegation trounced Hamilton Jordan the former Carter White House aide and a National exponent of the Back to the can scr strategy. In the 15 slates where democrats have St Leasi an outside Chance to elect a new senator unabashed Liber als outnumber moderate nominees by a 2-1 margin. In All 15 races the Democrat will clearly be to the left of his or her Republican opponent. How has this happened and what docs it imply about the democratic grand strategy it reveals How Little any group of sell proclaimed Leaden can alter Long term party forces. The modern democratic party was forged largely by Franklin d. Roosevelt Harry s. Truman John f. Ken Nedy and Lyndon b. Johnson the Only four democratic president of the past half Century to avoid electoral defeat. All four were governmental activists. Against the myths and expectations created by their legacy the position papers of the 1985-86 democratic Back to the Canter strategists and office Holicis arc feeble in deed. It also reveals the enormous difficulty of translating an elite strategy into a program of political action for the mass base of the party. The democratic think tank revisionist scholars and strategists can dream up All the plans they wish for modernizing the parly s message. But so Long As activists dominate the democratic Pri Maries candidates who espouse the old time demo cratic religion of for Juk and lbs will continue to win. In Urban and Southern states Blacks hispanics and jews Are disproportionately represented in the demo cratic primaries. Elderly voters also exercise exaggerated influence because younger people Don t bother to vote in the primaries. Those who do vote tend to support big govern ment candidates critics of the military and advocates of the welfare state either because they believe in those principles or because they see themselves Ai prime beneficiaries of that welfare state. They May not be numerous enough to elect their candidates in november but they Are certainly Active enough to dominate the Low turnout primaries the democrats have been having this year. And in would be a mistake to think they will not also be a major Factor in the 1988 presidential primaries. These voters Are ignoring the counsel from party Headquarters to search out candidates of approved centrist principles. They arc backing candidates of the left. They Are screwing up the strategy by acting on their own judgment and instinct. They Are in Short being democrats. And the valid criticism that can be made of the Back to the Center movement in the demo cratic leadership is that it forgets one important thing who democrats Are. Washington Pusl or Tara i out in age of total politics Rehnquist is sign of Hope by on the i99th anniversary of the . Constitution William Rich Nuisl was confirmed As chief Justice of the United states. The relatively narrow vote in his favor a5-3j reflected the Lone bitter and some times Nasty attack on his qualifications. But what makes the new chief Justice qualified for his Job is precisely what has made him unpopular with the progressive minded set his willingness to be unfashionable Volu ii truth is out of fashion. The purpose of the Constitution is to give do mocha the ballast of tradition. Tradition As . Chester Ion said Means giving votes to the most obscure of All class i our ancestors. It is the democracy of the  when we Are in danger of being swept away by some new enthusiasm our ancestors through the con Sli Lution. Tug us Back. Or. Rich Nuisl is among Al few jurists who really understand mis. Time and again he has been denounced As an opponent of civil rights or women s rights by people who have no Clear idea of what rights really Are. Civil rights for example used to mean restraints on what the stale could do to the Cili Jan now it Means the stale s Power to do things to Citi cons. Instead of standing for limited government and the Protection of the private sphere in has come to stand far slate intrusion and the expansion of the pub Lic Domain at the expense of the private. Our Constitution is actually rather niggardly about rights. The Bill of if its was a son of of Perth ought. Its modest 10 articles Pale beside the 45 articles if the United nations Universal declaration of human rights which announce that a.11 human be Ings have the right to everything from Freedom of Reli Gion to paid holidays. Totalitarian regimes Don t mind signing the . Declaration and in fad the soviet Constitution is equally generous in proclaiming rights. So Why do pc today our madly multiplying alleged rights. Pic tend to Migrate our Way rather than to the socialist largely claims made not against the state but Agai bloc the answer is thai Freedom has very Little to do Wilh formal lists of rights. The framers of the Constitution knew Hal in has to do with Well constructed ins Titu  is Why they tried to build new institutions with i Aichu a specified and therefore limited Powers. As Alexander Hamilton pointed out rights Are Apt to he exceptions to an otherwise unlimited slate Power whereas the american plan was to give the new nation Al government Powers thai would be exceptions to the otherwise unlimited prerogatives of the people and the separate Stales. Are Largel to against other citizens with the state supplying the muscle As Gay rights Means claims by homosexuals against employers and landlords. And equally novel rights such As the alleged right to abortion Are. Now said to be fundamental Hough even the . Declaration did t think of thai one. There is no telling what will be fundamental tomorrow. What ii the use of discussing a Man s abstract right to food or to Medicine asked Edmund Burke. The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them. In that deliberation 1 shall always advise to ill in the Aid of the Farmer and the physician rather than the professor of metaphysics. What a grouch after All the . Declaration says we All have a right to food and Medicine not that  helps people who live under most of the  regime. Things such As food and Medicine Are most Abun Dant in countries whose constitutions Jay least about food and Medicine. They Are abundant there because in such countries politics has been assigned to mod est and subordinate place in human life and doom try to usurp the productive energies of its Oti Ieni. Our age the age of total politics has made these things terribly obvious but in has Ako nw4c a self incapable of appreciating item. The com Nutton or William Rehnquist is one More sign however Hull we is not lost. Unit Tel of Tutu Syndicate