European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 10, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 i columns the stars and stripes wednesday june 10,1987 Ellen Goodman Rich Contra backers skirted foreign policy if i had to choose jus one thing o remember from the in Contra mess it would 1 be the Swiss Bank account num Ber. It would t even be the Snow tires skimmed Oft the patriotic travellers checks what i would choose to remember is How easily How comfortably How casually a group of wealthy pc pfc in America Pur chased a private foreign policy. The millionaires who testified last week weren t Juit the pigeons of Hose can do fund raisers Ellie North and Carl Channel the Trio of adventure capitalist Ellen Carwood William o Boyle Joseph Coors regarded the Chance to build a Nice Miille army in Nicaragua like the Chance to build a Hospital Wing in their Hometown or a College Library at their Alma mater. The fund raisers presented them with a Catalon of goodies to pick and choose from everything from planes to boots Complete with Price tag. A truly generous contributor might get a plaque on the plane bearing his or her name the Way Hospital elevators Procla a their donor. The super generous were even offered a Chal with the president. Was it not stirring Haw Ellen Garwood s heart and purse strings were plucked by the anxiety Hal supplies to he contras would languish much As supplies. O feed the starving people of Ethiopia were left on the docks and rotted but i dont want to remember these adventure capitalists and their Charity As simply bizarre. In reality they arc not weirdos. They Are rather he logical a tension of the Reagan Era s Rule by the Rich. This is Dpi Era that began in 1980 when angry candidate Reagan demanded to get his Way at the new Hampshire debate because i paid for this  from that Day until the Day of the Trio s testimony there has been a single connecting ethic. You can do anything you want As Long As you pay for i. One of the precious things the Rich can buy in America is out if people have enough Money it appears they can buy Oul of consensus building buy put of Community buy out of compromising buy out of around or Over the common Wil. James Kilpatrick now Here 3ut just us patriots consider what it is thai people who have Money not super Money just regular Money do with it. The first thing they buy is Independent movement a Carlo re place mass transit. The next thing they buy is Independent space a House to replace an apartment. Ana then they buy a larger House. And then a second House in the country. In upwardly Mobile Homes the process of compromising taking turns or making group decisions is increasingly Circum vented by buying. Out. The More up Ward the More Likely it is for children to have their own bedrooms their own do Mains their own doors to shut. Rather than hassling Over the to the family gets a Sec Ond. Rather than coming to terms with teen agers Over the Telephone the teen agers get their own. At the most rarefied level of limousines helicopters corporate empires and vast personal estates the whole pro Cess of buying out gets vastly exaggerated. The very Rich negotiate less and decide More. They Don t have to anime at a consensus among their employees they Tell them what to do. The Man who pays for he microphone gets to make he rules the person who owns the plane decides where it should Fly. If you have the Money you can do it whatever it is. For Many that is the Point of getting Rich. I am not suggesting Ihal people go directly from buying a second television sello buying private planes for the contras. Nor that every wealthy person is incapable of Community. It is far More Subtle than thai. Dui the very Rich whether they Are on Wall Street or Washington whether in Public or private life Are susceptible to impatience with process impatience with Community constraints. With the con Gress. With the Law. The Reagan administration Rife with the attitudes and emblems of these Rich regarded the congressional no to Supply ing contras As a traffic Jam they could Fly Over. The adventure capitalists for heir part sprung for the planes. They bought . And for a while in America the Rich had not Only their own private estates. They had their own private foreign policy. Ast Wrt Wra of