European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday october 22, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary George will Thomas poses threat to liberals cozy notions so not that the full truth is known but one of the powerful reasons for believing Clarence Thomas is that a trashing of him was predictable. On july 27, 1989, this was the first sentence of my column about William Lucas a another coloured boy the language suits the moment is acting uppity in Washington but there Are enough liberals left to Lead a  the last paragraph of that column concerned the liberals on the Senate judiciary committee a what will they do when they have had their fill of the fun of trashing Lucas they will turn their unspent indignation toward Clarence Thomas the Black Yale Law graduate who is president Bush a Choice to fill the seat vacated by Bork on the District of Columbia court of appeals. Thomas is conservative. More deviation ism. A liberals work is never  in july 1989, democrats on the judiciary committee were Busy denigrating and rejecting a Black conservative nominated to be assistant attorney general for civil rights. William Lucas orphaned son of Caribbean immigrants grew up in Harlem and put himself through Fordham Law school. Elected As a Democrat for four terms As sheriff of Wayne county surrounding Detroit then elected county executive Lucas became a Republican in 1986, was nominated for governor and lost. Three years later Bush nominated him for . Assistant attorney general. But because Lucas opposed reverse discrimination quotas and the rest of the racial spoils system judiciary committee democrats incited and even scripted by interest groups found him unfit. White Liberal politicians and their mostly White Liberal staffs judged Lucas insufficiently a a sensitive to Black needs As those needs Are defined by the civil rights Industry. That Industry depends on enforcing the doctrine that Blacks Are permanent wards of government. Those who Are ludicrously called a leaders of what is laughably still called the a civil rights movement make their livings mediating the Disper sement of government benefits. Thomas like Lucas represents a rising threat to the comfortable and profitable relationship Between some Liberal politicians and the civil rights Industry. Thomas is a dire threat because of liberalism s now desperate dependency on courts. Liberals cannot win the presidency and dare not try to legislate the racial spoils system by which they buy votes. So liberals have two terrors one of which Lucas represented Blacks who will not Doc Lely let White liberals such As Ralph Neas an apparatchiks of the leadership conference on civil rights define permissible Black political beliefs. Thomas represented that terror and a second one a judiciary that will not deliver by Fiat the Agenda that liberals cannot Advance by democratic persuasion. A perverse locution one that helps incompetent and guilty people evade accountability is just now enjoying wide currency it is that a the process produced the scandal of the Thomas hearings. However the confirmation process is not an autonomous and impersonal Force. It is the product of the people responsible for the judiciary committee beginning with chairman Joseph r. Biden or. And encompassing the entire democratic majority. We do not know which senator is lying about or is indifferent to the truth about the leak that began the uth hour fiasco. It is reasonable to suspect on the basis of their extremism and demagoguery Howard m. Metzenbaum and Edward m. Kennedy and their staffs that reflect them. We wait with unrated breath for chairman Biden to show serious interest in punishing or even locating the reckless people in the democratic ranks. If american government had traditions of acknowledging personal responsibility Biden would resign As chairman. But there is no punishment for failure in Congress which is one reason there is so much of it. The circus Over which Biden presided was of course a Bonanza for those conservatives whose goals include and depend on. Lowering government s stature. We shall see if the president learns the right lesson from the circus. It is be forthright and implacable and direct All nominees to be so on behalf of the jurisprudential and constitutional ideas that he promised As a candidate to promote through judicial nominees. Judiciary committee democrats tutored by Liberal Law professors Grill nominees pressuring them to disavow a Long list of ideas a basically those of Justice Antonin Scalia. The aim is to elicit from the nominees inhibiting commitments. Let there be no More nominees who try to Curry favor with committee liberals by Bobbing and weaving and trimming and Pirouette no away from old convictions and flirting with new ones. Nominate conservatives who like to fight but do not lust for the Job. Nominate them if necessary one right after another grinding Down the judiciary committee and then go to the country which today sees the committee As vindication of the intensifying contempt for Congress. C  pot a lors gup Elizabeth Ives Solomon Thomas Saga will reshape life in America during the last two weeks events took place that will help shape the next several decades of life in America. The Battle that culminated in the confirmation of Clarence Thomas As a supreme court Justice revealed deep rooted attitudes and sounded a new theme in the nations moral Agenda. If you Are a Young american take special note because your life May be changed permanently and deeply by what has emerged. Here Are some of the lessons of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas lesson 1. Sexual harassment is not a behaviour the american people Are ready to eliminate. By supporting confirmation of Clarence Thomas americans deemed As false or insignificant testimony by three of the nominees former employees that he engaged in some form of sexually harassing behaviour. Americans heard graphic charges against Thomas but doubted their Validity because the incidents were not witnessed by third parties and Many women who knew Thomas were not harassed by him. The message is if you want to sexually harass people without suffering the consequences do it privately and leave a few potential targets untouched. Lesson 2. If you admit to being sexually harassed you should be prepared to have your character smeared and your future derailed. Anita Hill came Forward to the . Senate to re port alleged incidents she Felt were germane to the debate on the nomination of the next supreme court Justice. In a matter of Days she was accused of committing perjury being mentally unstable fantasizing about men engaging in irrational behaviour out of jealousy and being aloof. She was charged with being indecent for not taking Legal action against the alleged offender even though a 1982 equal employment Opportunity c commission Law would have invalidated any claim she might make because no one saw the crime. Now an Oklahoma legislator wants her fired from the University of Oklahoma to get a this left Wing extremist influence off the  Anita Hill probably thought she was secure enough professionally to bring her Story Forward without suffering fatal consequences to her career. She May have been wrong. Others who have thought about admitting harassment should think again. Lesson 3. If president Bush succeeds in eliminating a woman a right to an abortion he will set the debate on women s issues on a much More primitive plane. Women will first focus on fighting to regain the right of abortion. The administration and Radical conservatives won t have to worry about issues like sexual harassment or equal pay for equal work. They can further erode earlier Progress in these areas. Lesson 4. The supreme court is now so Eop Serva Tive that the moderate american Public will has a to Start electing legislators to pass Laws to protect thu r civil rights. Some civil rights groups have Given up fighting their Battles at the supreme court level because its decisions can be safely predicted before the first Brief is filed. In the american people want to preserve rights like abortion fair hiring practices and equal education for Rich and poor they will have to find representatives to create such legislation. Congress has the Power to legalize abortion and ensure civil rights but has often not done so because of political retribution by single Issue groups. American voters now More than Ever need courageous representatives. People will have to know the issues As Well to guard themselves against false publicity and rhetoric. In Short the Blip of american history called the Clarence Thomas confirmation stands to affect this country for years to come. The event the attitudes it exposed and the Agenda it will Foster deserve careful consideration for they May signal a new Era of thinking in this nation. While the lessons of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Are slowly emerging the tests of How to apply them Are still to come. L co serve