European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday september 13, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13commentary Tom Wicker democrats should pay heed to Huck finn Huckleberry finn and his Friend Jim found out the hard Way that picking up a snakeskin brings a Power of bad Luck. So far As is known none of today s democrats has touched a rattlers epidermis or looked at a new Moon Over his left shoulder or Shook out a Tablecloth after Sundown a acts that can put the evil Eye on a body As Huck and Jim Well knew. Still no such foul events As those of recent months have befallen an american political party since Way Back in 1988, when the democrats snakebite even then nominated Michael Dukakis for president. Huck finn Ever Alert to the signs surely would have recognized that As a powerful bad in. First with rare exceptions the democrats voted last Winter against George Bush a War. This transgression May be looking better and better intellectually but politically As Richard Nixon used to say there a still no mileage in it. Second not least because of no. 1, the democrats can to find a candidate for 1992. All of the possibles of course believe Bush is vulnerable and beatable but All so far have discovered family problems realized personal inadequacies recognized that the timing is bad or concluded that they did no to really want to be president anyway at least not next term. Third just when no. 1 might have been losing enough political steam to reverse no. 2, the soviet Union began to fall into separate pieces putting a the Ball Back in Bush a  translated that Means that the presidents supposed strength in foreign affairs came to his Rescue just when his supposed weakness in Domestic affairs was beginning to curl at the edges. Fourth in the magic incantation a quotas a Bush has found and is shrewdly using one of those code words widely understood to mean that his republicans Are the party of White America and the democrats Are the party of a White America. In All these dark Clouds Only one Streak of Silver lining can be discerned a the faint possibility that the reluctance of candidates to come Forward May result for the first time in at least 32 years in an open democratic convention and a nominee chosen by assembled delegates rather than by voters in primary states. Its True that a convention nominee would be disadvantaged by not having had to put together an organization to contest the primaries and by coming cold into a National Campaign against an incumbent president a Veteran of three National campaigns. But no matter in what fashion he or she May be chosen next year s democratic nominee is going to be a decided underdog. It s just possible however that the rare spectacle of a contested hard fought convention might produce High television ratings and a surge of enthusiasm for the ultimate Victor. The last such democratic free for All was in 1952 in Chicago with Adlai Ste Venson winning on the third ballot although John f. Kennedy a 1960 nomination in los Angeles was weakly contested by Stevenson and Lyndon Johnson. Several political generations have never seen so might be enthralled by a convention that actually chooses rather than merely ratifies a nominee. Anyway As Huck finn might have said the democrats need to do something to change their Luck. C the new York times James Kilpatrick it s not too late for old fashioned values a \ a Morton Kondracke a senior editor of the new Republic and a certified Liberal has identified himself As a  not a Puritan but a prude. He said some things about today a society that urgently needed to be said. His purpose in a Brief essay was to defend the old Virtues that today Are mocked As Bourgeois morality. It was a courageous position for him to take a privately his friends must have sniggered a but More Power to him. This was his stand a we prudes just think that sexual liberation has gone Way too far that All kinds of people Are suffering As a result and that the Media the churches schools the government and other influential grown ups ought to encourage old fashioned Virtues a like self discipline and the postponement of  Kondracke set Forth some of the statistics that have become so drearily familiar More than half of White women and roughly three fourths of Black women become sexually Active before they reach the age of 18. Two out of three Black babies will be born out of Wedlock. Some 55 percent of them will grow up with Only one Parent. About 40 percent will grow up on welfare. Sexual irresponsibility has other consequences a venereal disease aids a general breakdown of the old Virtues. Casual sex lacking love or commitment takes its toll in self respect. What should be a Sublime Union of Man and woman becomes Little More than a fun thing. Khassa matter with you and Morton Kondracke uns Tuff your shirts lighten up what has caused this abandonment of the old Virtues much of it can be blamed squarely upon the Media. It is a rare motion picture these Days that is not identified in terms of nudity sexual situations and vulgar language. Kondracke is a Young prude i suppose i am an old prude. I go to movies and flinch. Apart from science National geographic and Southern living it is hard to find a popular Magazine that does no to revel in sex. Cosmopolitan positively wallows in sex. Even readers digest eager for a piece of the action regularly instructs us in the sexual Side of marriage. I can remember when actress Ingrid Bergman left her husband and ran off with her Lover. The scandal rocked the whole nation. What do we glean these Days from people Magazine who Are role models for the Young let us see. Annette Bening will not appear in Batman ii because she is expecting a child by Warren Beatty. Another actress Katey Sagal is pregnant by Boyfriend Jack White. Marriage she says is not just a big priority right  Jack Nicolson 54, and Girlfriend Rebecca Broussard 28, Are expecting a second child in february. What else is news after three years of living together comedian Joe Piscopo popped the question to Model Kimberly Driscoll. Actress Glenn close has a 2-year-old daughter by producer John Stark. A a in a not in the marrying mood a she says. Among the guests at a Hollywood party last year were Nicolas Cage with preg Nant Girlfriend Christine Fulton. Linda Evans we read finds it a fall sparkly to be living with her sexy soulmate Yanni. # television contributes its smirking bit to the degeneration of values. True some to comedies revolve around marriage and the family a major dad the Cosby show a few others a but the afternoon soap operas take up where lady Chatterley a a Lover left Oft. In their Competition for audiences which is to say for the advertising Dollar the networks happily let the steam pressure Rise. Old standards of modesty lie in tatters. Chastity seems to have Small Appeal. When Congress thought of requiring a a decency As a condition for Federal Grants artists arose in uproarious complaint. So tax funds went to a photographer whose masterpiece depicted one Man urinating into another Many a Mouth. Everything is sliding downhill. Captains of Industry cheat on government contracts. Bankers knowingly violate securities Laws. Politicians accept a a contributions that Are just Short of bribes. In the midst of moral collapse our society responds literally and metaphorically by passing out condoms. Well say the sophisticates the Bible is full of sex and violence. Do a want nothing but Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm what we need i submit is a legion of apostles named Morton Kondracke. My old Friend is a tenured Liberal. The conservative who sounds the same Call to virtue is dismissed As a sex hating Puritan. Nobody listens. It May be too late to turn our country Back to the old ways but thank you Morton. Its not too late to try. C Universal press Syndicate