European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes thursday. November a 1986 James Reston election pitted democracy against by pointy u. Ii 4k a ten  off or Jit Astico f after the voting there was general 1ioii�tccinvenlion200yearsago Are the Campaign or caches Over a men in Washington that regard local Tang or Pohelia. Congress or i in. R i ii � i iT0f the results the elections of 1986 listed must not be a collection obits the elections of 1986 were Al Best disappointment and at worst a disgrace. A disappointment because the contests for the House and Senate dealt All Loo Sel Dom with he critical National i tues of Bud get control and military arms control. A disgrace because All too often they were de void of self control and became Mere clashes of Money personality negative television ads and other dirty tricks. It was an Odd time for such antics. For while this political guerrilla War was going on the Republic was faced with the largest National debt in its history o budget deficit of Over$200 billion for thereof the last four years an unprecedented Trade imbalance in the world the largest private debt and Low est per capita savings rate of any Industrial nation and a Host of other regional prob lems from the Middle West to the Middle East. You would never guess ii however from the remarks from the stump this year. Even president Reagan who led the Republican charge raised j33 million visited 22 slates and made 54 speeches Hal were so empty of remedies for the future that not a single one of them was printed in full by any major newspaper. As usual the people blame the politician for this state of affairs and Wilh Good reason but what of the people themselves the latest estimate is that three out of five eligible voters did t bother to go to the polls so if their Faith in the democratic process has been Sha Ken As so Many observers insist we will probably have to Analyse the wider assumptions of our political system before the presidential election of 1988. Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona reject ing on his Long career Here did some analysing of his own the other Day. If there s Abig difference in the Congress Loday he told the Washington Post it is that members now place More importance on the prob lems of their districts or states than on the major problems of the nation. This of course is a very old lament. The founding fathers warned at the cons Titu r m Troal convention 200 years ago against the Loc Albing of Poutia. Congress they w listed be a collection of Ambus Dors  conflicting local inter ests but should be a deliberative Assembly representing Lite people with one overriding interest that of the nation As whote in principle no politician would put hit District or state above the nation. But in practice members of Congress have Learned from president Reagan that the most successful lactic in polities is to Tell the people what they want to hear. President Carter tried it the other Way speaking of the malaise among the people Aid Sug Gesting that maybe we were too preoccupied with the menace of the soviet Union. It was not his most successful Sermon. Accordingly we should not be surprised if the voters have gone along with the optimists in recent years. For if you offer the people More guns and fewer taxes Security and Prosperity or a kick in the pants you cant name them for nol bending Over. There Are however limits to the people s right to act on i hair wishes rather than on the facts. Slavery and isolationism to take Only two examples were popular without being right and the peo ple Are Sovereign under the Constitution Only up to a Point Jefferson was particularly dogmatic in opposition to government by Public Opin Ion. They could elect the government and remove it he said they could elect delegates to represent them to act for them in the Congress but they could not replace them. The poll takers and the political television hucksters however Are trying to prove the opposite. They even try to measure what the people think should be done with he president s ski though the people can t possibly know whether ski is a sensible defense initiative or a silly Damn idea. The people and their candidates have Seldom been As far apart As in this year s elections. The candidates were usually Dis Tant figures on a screen Reading somebody else s words from invisible . It was a race Between democracy and hypocrisy Winner As yet unknown. James Kilpatrick reverse discrimination is still discrimination the referee s instructions before a Box ing match used to end Wilh a classic exhortation May the belter Man win thai seems fair enough bul in the developing Law of affirmative action it does l always work thai Way. In a Case involving sexual discrimination in California it was t the better Man it was the Token woman who won. The Case of Paul Johnson who works for the transportation Agency of Santa Clara county will be one of two affirmative action cases to be argued before the . Supreme court on nov. 17. The other Case rats ing the same Basic Issue on a very different set of facts involves the Alabama stale police. About 10 years ago the Santa Clara Public transportation system entered into is voluntary agreement Wilh local 715 of the service employees International Union. Under this agreement both parties looked for Ward to the Day when women minorities and the Han a capped ultimately would make up 36.4 percent of the work Force. At the Lime not one of the Agency s 238 skilled Craft workers was a woman. Time passed and in 1979 an opening developed for the coveted Job of Road dispatcher. Johnson who was then a clerk applied for promotion to the dispatcher s Ilot. Diane Joyce also applied. They took the Standard examinations. Johnson finished with a score of 75, Joyce with a score of 72,5. They went through Oral examinations. The examining Board unanimously rec id mended to Biuona. Nevertheless because of the agreement Joyce got the Job. Johnson brought suit charging that he was the victim of illegal discrimination on account of sex. The . District court agreed. The court ruled that Johnson on the record was better qualified bul for his sex he would have won the promotion. The 9th . Court of appeals reversed saying the Agency affirmative action plan was a lawful attempt to remedy the conspicuous  fac plan did not impose a permanent quota system the appeals court said. While this particular incident May have imposed a hardship on Johnson it concluded the fact that Joyce s sex May have been Theodi drive Factor in the selection of a woman for this particular opening does nol indicate that men will Al ways be excluded. The complaint in the Alabama Case poses the same Basic question. The Case goes Back 16 years to the time the National association for the advancement of coloured people brought suit to desegregate the state police in the 37-year history of the stale patrol not single Black Ever had been hired As a trooper. District judge Frank Johnson found a blatant Ana continuous pattern and practice of  Johnson demanded an end to the situation and put the stale under strict orders to hire and promote one qualified Black trooper for every White trooper until Blacks constituted 23 percent of the Brce. The state dragged in heels and time went by. The 1 lib . Circuit court affirmed Johnson s order but still Noth ing much happened. In 1984, almost 12 years after Alabama s pouches had been judicially condemned the District court s patience ran out. Of six majors in the state patrol it said there is still not one Black.1 of the is captains there is still not one  of the 35 lieutenants there is still not one  of the 65 sergeants there is still not one  of the 66 corporals Only four Are  said the court this is intolerable and must not  As a consequence the slate Al last promoted eight Blacks along with eight Whites to the rank of  the process while troopers with higher lest scores and objectively belter qualifications lost out. They themselves had engaged in no disc Finikin Aristi. They were the innocent victims of a remedial process addressed to Black As a group. Went the rejected Whites denied equal Protection of the Law the is. Justice department sticking to a position it advanced unsuccessfully last Lerro contends thai the White troopers were unconstitutionally Short changed. The department argues that Only persons who themselves have been individually victims of disc Ami nation should be redressed. Granted Blacks As a group have been indefensible treated by Alabama s Highway patrol in the past even so does that demand that the rights of Uno fending Whites be trampled in the future reverse discrimination says the department is still discrimination. So it is Oral least so it appears. Bui appearances can be deceptive and we will know More when the two cases Are decided next year urine Miami Send Lam