European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes columns William Safir encouraging soviets to loosen up to our Benefit should we help Mikhail Gorbachev those who say we should have consistent positions on Baltic Independence help him Stop captive nations from pulling the Union Aparton Trade help him with food and technology to alleviate Domestic unrest and on arms reduction help him demobilize costly troops while modernizing his missiles. Its a sure fire Simplifier but its the wrong question. Gorbachev is not a constant like the Speed of Light. He is a variable a grand improviser and we must not try to set the parameters of our foreign policy in personality quicksilver. Quot instead we should ask what kind of soviet Union would be Best for world Freedom and peace that a easy one that develops democracy at Home and drops adventurism abroad. But the follow up is harder what direction should we encourage the soviets to take that will reach that goal one direction is continued decontrol. The other is the reassertion of control. Both directions can Lead to dangerous extremes. If decontrol gets out of hand the danger is chaos a perhaps the first civil War within a nation that is a nuclear Power. By focusing on that danger of decontrol our foreign policy makers embrace order and stability and Are willing to condone Moscow a severity in putting Down separatism and in moving so slowly toward the necessary Market system. If on the other hand the reassertion of control gets out of hand the danger is renewed dictatorship crackdowns on dissent and a return to a rigid command Economy. By focusing on that danger of reasserted control Veteran cold warriors accept the risk of internal chaos. We would take advantage of today a soviet weakness by demanding hard to undo changes to get soviet troops out of its old Empire to end the soviet strategic land missile Edge to get parsec tables out while the getting is Good. In reality our debate is not about a should we help Gorbachev a but a which danger is worse anarchy or despotism a but that is not what the debate should be about. The struggle of Straw men is inherently phony. We Are foolish to make decisions based on fears of extremes. Instead we should choose Between Likely alternatives. In the decontrol direction More Likely than chaos Tom Wicker Johnson so this coup very a president Johnson once said a is Rich enough to do anything it has the guts to do and the vision to do and the will to  you a never catch Ronald Reagan or George Bush expressing that kind of Confidence in America despite the patriotism they so fulsom Ely extol. Johnson not Only believed it he acted on it a so enthusiastically that his a great society program is widely considered today to have been grandiose extravagant and a failure. That a certainly what Reagan and Bush plus All too Many contemporary democrats would have you believe a mostly in order to avoid Domestic spending that might run up the deficit that dominates their politics. But was the great society really a costly failure not in the predictable but plausible View of Joseph a. Califano a former Johnson lieutenant who was a principal architect of the program. At a symposium observing the 25th anniversary of Johnson a inauguration in 1965, he contended the great society was alive and Well a in medicare and medicaid in the air we breathe and the water we drink in the Rivers and lakes we swim in in the colleges our students attend in the medical miracles from the and civil War is a breakup of the soviet internal Empire into a confederation of most of the present republics. Russia would be dominant and the Only soviet nuclear Power. Now face about in the direction of tighter Central control More Likely than a fearsome new Stalin is a Semi dictatorial Gorbachev who has broken up the communist bureaucracy and managed to weather the economic storm without adopting a Market system or representative government. That a our realistic Choice a distracted by the Straw men of strife is. Stalinism. Either the soviet Union will loosen up with the component parts prospering in varying degrees a or it will tighten up with the unions Peoples continuing to suffer hardship As Moscow modernizes its military. Which direction suits americans National interest toward loosening of course. Its better for Freedom and peace in the world and better for the Standard of living of soviet Peoples for the present soviet Union to release its conquests a to free the Baltic and later to let the non russian republics choose a Commonwealth. That is the outcome we want. With our purpose thus clarified we can dispense with false policy choices. We Are not required to choose Between a helping Baltic nations achieve Independence and b helping Gorbachev remain in place so he can remove troops from Eastern Europe. We can do both. By encouraging the loosening process we Speed the removal of russian troops from the internal and external empires. The Baltic with their unassailable claim to Independence offer a timely Bridge toward separation with civility. Perhaps it is undiplomatic for a president of the United states to articulate this daring policy. He can say Only that he favors perestroika. But our foreign policy goal should be peaceful soviet in Union. Dissolving Central control will generate new tensions for Moscow and for us. But the result will be better than the perpetuation of a bankrupt Monolith repressing a sullen population. C new York times great society9 is still alive working National institutes of health in mass transportation and equal  Sargent Shriver who directed the Johnson a War on poverty a concurred. Before an enthusiastic crowd at the . Library in Austin Texas he listed a number of great society successes a fall still in existence All helping millions of americans today a head Start the Job corps Community action Grants Foster grandparents which Nancy Reagan once proclaimed her favorite program upward bound Community health centers Legal services for the poor Vista College work study programs. Califano and Shriver As Well As other Johnson administration veterans a Bill Moyers Jack Valenti Nicholas Deb. Katzenbach Douglass Cater Lee White Charles Haar a pointed out that Johnson was the first president to take Steps to enhance the environment and that the civil rights act of 1964 proposed by president Kennedy and the voting rights act of 1965 were the High Points of the civil rights movement. A did we legislate too much a Califano was willing to ask. Were mistakes made a plenty of  he cited inefficient payment systems for medical care too Many narrow categorical Grant programs Lack of Trust in the states and the Middle class too much Faith in regulation the failure a to recognize that government could not do it  but even the mistakes he said a were. Fuelled by the frustration of seeing so much poverty ignorance and illness amidst such  quoting Johnson he said such mistakes were part of asking a not How much but How Good not Only How to create wealth but How to use  the economist James k. Galbraith argued Johnson had been right that the . Could afford whatever it willed itself to do. For All the Cost of the great society he pointed out real per capita Gross National product is 60 percent greater today than in 1965 and a publicly held National debt is 41 percent of Gnu now 39 in 1965, a essentially the  thus a we Are not poor and not broke. We can attempt the possible without fear of  nor has experience Galbraith insisted borne out the arguments that a social and environmental regulation wastes resources or that welfare causes the poor not to work a a to the contrary welfare clients. Must supplement their meager benefits with work. In order to  even some conservatives he said now acknowledge the evidence suggests a bet Ter welfare not less  a conclave of old Johnson hands most stepping gingerly around the War ii Vietnam a i Wasny to involved in that not the place of course for a Fina judgment on the great society or of Lyndon Johnson. But the gathering did Reston a useful perspective a a number of Grea achievements some lasting were registered Many americans were Given Hope help and a Chance they would no otherwise have had government a made to function powerfully and Wel until a divisive War shattered the John son  its too bad George Bush did not sit if on the Austin symposium. He migh have Learned something about vision Anc aspiration Confidence and compassion the capacity of a president to Lead Anc How constricting a a prudence can be i that Sall there is. C new York times the opinions expressed in the column and cartoons on this Page represent Thos of the authors and Are in no Way to pc considered As representing the views it the stars and stripes or the unite states government