European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 to Gumns the stars and stripes Anthony Lewis the astounding election in the soviet Union try to imagine Itic United Stales if americans came to question the Prem ise of our. Political society the  of he Constitution and All the his tory Buill upon it. By some such analogy we May begin to appreciate the extraordinary character of what is happening now in the soviet Union. The recent soviet elections with their defeat of leading communist parly tip uts were a Public outcry against Doc Trines that have governed that society for 7ft years. The results amounted to a rejection not Jusi of so Sinisi excesses but of the Leninist premise dictatorship by a party class i n the name of the people. That such an election could occur at All offering Itic  to real choices since 1917, was astounding. Jusi is important was the reaction of Mikhail Gorbachev he spoke calmly of the re Suhs As proof of people s  Gorbachev evidently wanted the pub Lic to express disapproval. He wanted some leading communists .to.lose. And he wants that process to go on through the final stages of choosing the new con Gress of people s deputies and then into focal elections to see that is to understand something remarkable about Gorbachev. He is not just tinkering in his program  luring. Pere Stoika and openness Glas Noil. Lie is not just responding to economic necessity. He is seeking a new basis for political legitimacy in Hiil society. It is about As daring an ambitions any. Politician can have. And what risks it carries in the soviet Union free Dom to disagree is powerful stuff in a country where the conditions of life arc so desperate for millions of people where food is scarce Basic consume goods often. Unobtainable housing dreadful. Abraham a Nimberg a longtime Stu Dent Oiom Munsil societies spent sever Al weeks recently in the. . De scribing Hii experiences in. The Newyork review of books he wrote "1 my Moscow both exhilarated and . Rosenthal apprehensive it is exhilarating to watch he gradual disappearance of fears i Sand hypocrisy and to Sec a degree of Freedom that no one not 1, not a single soviet expert i know had predicted would emerge so swiftly and so Draguti Cally. Yet the process has uncovered such appalling realities that one is apprehensive about the still More staggering prob lems  the elections. Were a dramatic signal of How greatly Gorbachev has dared. Consider just the implications for nationalities within the soviet system. In the Baltic states most of the Candi dates who stood for greater autonomy or even Independence from the . I f it begins in Estonia Lithuania and Latvia where will it end to those of us watching from outside the elections had a human significance beyond this result or that. They showed that the desire for genuine political expression can survive generations of re pression soviet voters had to overcome discouraging obstacle to express them selves in the new electoral system. In Many districts the Only name on the bal lot was that of a party official. Cyl in some enough voters crossed the name out so that the official failed to get the needed majority of votes in Leningrad where five to communist leaders lost a party member told Bill Keller of the new York times that s the amazing thing to go into the Booth pick up a Pencil and Cross someone out. We did t think a majority cared thai much people do care and not Only in the soviet Union at the end of the 20th Century individuals everywhere feel they arc entitled to play a part in determining their own political Frier in Poland i South Africa in Kurmu in the West Bank for the United states and other West Ern Powers the soviet elections carry a particular political message governments thai have been at Odd with the soviet Union for so Long should understand the scope of whal Mikhail Gorbachev has undertaken and respect his daring. What we Sec is not the work of a Mere Mancus crr 11 does not follow that the West should Rush to help Gorbachev. He will essentially succeed or fail in his own society. But equally we should not try to Lake advantage of his internal struggle by pressing for what could be destabilizing concessions abroad. The West can Only watch the soviet drama in tense expectation. We have a very Large slake in the outcome. On it depends the Chance to end 70 years of ideological Cbill let that have distorted our societies too. Stop whining Long enough to be competitive Tokyo arrived at Tokyo s Narilia Airport absolutely delighted with what i found. A mess a terrible mess not enough baggage carts logo around. Long lines at immigration longer at customs. Took two hours to gel out of the place. Worse than Kennedy More pleasure for the shabby timorous american a Isiline sleek shiny successful Japan three hours of traffic Jam Riding into town. Pollution thick enough Lochew. Call that planning and look at the newspapers while you crawl along. High government officials arrested for corruption. Government popularity fails to Del time All Empire lows still railing. Read How the younger generation is / materialistic disrespectful no values at All. Is it possible that All this talk about disgustingly successful Japan is not really True arc they just stumbling around like us no. Enough pleasure. After a couple of Days any body can Sec thai this country really is skipping along like a Lovely rubber Ball on a Beautiful River of Money. The japanese people really Are doing just great beautifully dressed plump of lace and Wallet. Their companies Are Well managed. They find pay ing less attention to the quarterly report and More 10 research and Long term investment makes them very profitable and competitive japanese figure that is what their companies arc supposed to be particularly if they provide workers with lifetime jabs. If their companies Slick a finder in a foreign Eye now and then the japanese do not dissolve in Gunt. They arc Selling much More to americans than the buy. Thai is simply because they have moire of what we want and we have More of Hal Lilicy do not want. That is called marketing. All this tells it lot about the japanese the Way we react tells a lot about ourselves. We whine a lot. For 30 years Ever since 1 lived in Japan i have heard americans complain that the Japa Nese have a special competitive Edge because their government business and politicians work together to push japanese commercial and National interests absolutely thue. But we have a competitive Edge ourselves. We arc a great Continental Power Wilh vast treasures of raw materials. We started the Competition with Japan with hugely Superior resources of technology science manpower and skills. The japanese competitive Edge coordination of All parts of society for the National advantage and foreign antitrust Laws be damned comes out of their history and culture. Expecting them to give it up is like asking them Loput a Mcdonald s on the Peak of mount Fuji Possi ble but not Likely. We do not have to like what the japanese do. And when we do not like it a lot we  economically As hard As we wish and As hard As we pm get away with. The japanese will hate that. They will say we arc singling them out because they arc so successful an competitive. That will be Rue. Then we can smile politely and say it comes put of our own culture and traditions. And then we can do what Makoto Kuroda a very Blunt Tup japanese economic coordinator suggested to pie that we do pretty quickly. Thai is put More Money into Long Range investments and research and show the guts to stay in the Bailie Long enough to win instead of withdrawing Early which he said we did Wilh sem icon  also proposed hat we invest in an education system thai like Japan a expects a Little More fro High school graduates than the ability to count on their1 fingers the japanese pay us the respect of malting the Busi Ness of Competition with the United slates a lop prior ily. And they encourage their Best Young people to go into Hie economic branches of the civil service and to study in the United Stales so far the United Stales has neither a coherent strategy for dealing with Japan nor a set of educational and business Priori lies that would gel us Back into Rea Competition maybe someday we will Stop whining Long enough to turn and look in the Mirror. Then we might hear the japanese whine about How unfairly smart hard working and nation minded americans Are. That would be Nice. "