European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday february 12, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Theo Lippman  need to Rush to judgment on Thomas the supreme court recently voted 6-3 to uphold two Alabama counties changes in Laws that were clearly designed to get around the voting rights act and keep Blacks from participating in local government. The majority position was articulated with the cold clean Clear intellectual conservatism that is now the hallmark of the court. Justice Clarence Thomas joined it. My colleague Garland Thompson thought it an atrocious opinion and wrote a to those Well meaning Whites who thought Justice Thomas Humble background would prompt him to display a special sensitivity on the court. Its time to paraphrase rapper Cool Moe Dee How a like him now a Good Point. As Justice John Paul Stevens said tellingly in dissent a this is a Case in which a few pages of history Are far More illuminating than volumes of logic and hours of speculation about hypothetical line drawing  since Thomas history of growing up Black in Georgia gives him a truer insight into How White southerners have always looked for ways to lock Blacks out of political life a and what the True consequences of that Are a i hoped that he would say something like Stevens did. When Thomas nomination was being debated i was one of those who expressed the opinion that his history would leaven his philosophical conservatism in crucial moments on the court. So i guess i done to like him now As much As i hoped to. On the other hand George will who also wrote about this decision likes him just Fine. He wrote that the Alabama decision a perfectly demonstrates Why he deserved to be  will does no to exactly have a reputation of being or. Well meaning when it comes to civil rights so i suspect Thompson had the likes of me rather than the likes of will in mind. I would respond in two ways. One we done to know what went on in the justices conference before they agreed on this decision. Maybe just maybe Thomas said some things that came from his history rather than his intellect that toned Down what might have been an even worse decision. Maybe it was in response to him that Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court a nothing we say implies that the conduct at Issue in these cases is not actionable under a different remedial  or there a More than one Way to skin a redneck. Well that a fanciful i know. But this Isnit two one Swallow does no to make a summer and one decision does no to make a Justice. For instance Oliver Wendell Holmes or. Surprised and outraged liberals in his first important vote on the court but Over the next 30 years he became the liberals Darling. L. Gordon Crovitz wrote in the Wall Street journal that Clarence Thomas was proving his greatness not Only in the Alabama Case but in every Case Quot it is noteworthy that in the 25 opinions the supreme court has issued so far Justice Thomas has voted with Justice Scalia More than with any other Justice. Indeed they have differed in Only one  Antonin Scalia is the most conservative Justice today. That a not necessarily predictive either. In his first 25 opinions in his first term 1970-71justice Harry Blackmun voted with chief Justice Warren Burger then the most conservative Justice 23 times. That whole term he voted with Burger 89.9 percent of the time. In the last term Blackmun voted with Scalia Only 49.6 percent of the time but with Thurgood Marshall 81.7 percent of the time. Garland George l. Gordon you May be right but lets wait awhile. C the Baltimore Sun cars Are a vanishing Breed George f. Wilsall american Hilda Gage a judge in Pontiac mich., was moved she says a by a sense of patriotism and concern for the Economy a when she recently sentenced a chronic speeder who is an automobile test Driver to drive Only american cars. Well. Can he drive a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria it is assembled in Canada with parts from America Japan Mexico Britain Spain Ana Germany. Can he drive a Chevrolet Geo metro which is made by Suzuki and Isuzu pity the poor michigander who must enforce the Rule banishing foreign cars to the Back of the parking lot at one automobile Plant. Where does he Send a Mercury grand Marquis which has the same polyglot Pedigree As the Crown Victoria where does he Send a Mazda Navajo aside from the nameplate it is a Ford explorer made by Ford in Kentucky. Lets consider jaguars Ford owns the company and Saab pm owns 50 percent fit Only for traitors but Toyota corollas Are made by a pm Toyota joint venture in California. Can they Park up front. You cant Tell the traitors without a scorecard or even with one. Ford festival Are korean made and Mercury tracers Are made in Mexico. Some pm cars have More japanese components than some japanese cars do. So what distinctions Are made by the St. Louis Barber who gives a customers a $1 discount if they arrive in american cars or the Edwardsville iii., Gas station owner who gives a 2-cents-a-gallon discount to Drivers of american cars Toyota has sought the Protection of the coach of a bears Mike Ditka. He is a product of polish exports to America he has made a television and saying approximately Lay off the japanese or ill break your nees. Eight japanese automobile companies have spent $9 billion building . Plants that employ 30,000 americans and sustain several times that Many jobs among suppliers. Small wonder that several states have Given huge subsidies to lure such plants. In an age when a Ford probe is a Mazda mx-6 and a Mitsubishi eclipse is a Plymouth laser what a a real Patriot to do have a Beer a Domestic please a and watch a Little to on a patriotic Zenith. Trouble is its made in Mexico whereas Mitsubishi is made in Santa Anna calif., by More than 600 of the 58,000 americans employed in manufacturing by japanese firms in Southern California. Forty percent of All japanese Brand vehicles sold in America Are made in America. But a tire dealer in Fremont Ohio wont sell tires to owners of foreign cars. That la teach Mem. Teach whom teach what shut up and Salute the Flag even it is being waved by some people whose interests Are More pecuniary than patriotic. The congressional automotive caucus composed of members from Auto producing states has a Bill to give a tax credit of up to $2,000, equal to 15 percent of the Price to buyers of american cars. This subsidy a hey what is $10 billion among friends a is not pleasing to . Car dealers 90 percent of whom sell some foreign vehicles. They Are talking about a for purely patriotic reasons of course a a tax credit to anyone trading in a car eight years old or older. There Are 74 million of them but what about dirt excavators Greece n.y., recently contemplated paying More for a John Deere than for a japanese Brand. Trouble is the latter was made in America and the former in Japan. Time was when things were simpler. Non importation is nothing new. In response to the stamp act 1765 and the Townshend acts 1767 the colonists discouraged a by persuasion if possible by publicity and ostracism if necessary sometimes by mobs a importation of British goods. Granted some people were More interested in capturing markets than m defending political principles. But the striking contrast Between then and now is the emphasis Back then on elevated values. Non importation was linked to moral revival to a turning away from luxury extravagance and dissipation and toward Thrift and Industry All in the interest of Liberty. Sewing bees the wearing of Homespun cloth avoidance of imported teas and wines were ways of linking non importation to Virtues and of linking americans Virtues with americans strength and Freedom. Robert Middlekauff in his history of the american revolution the glorious cause a volume in the Oxford history of the United state emphasizes that economic measures such As non importation were broadly viewed As Means to higher ends. With non importation americans were summoned to values higher than Mere commercial advantage. They were called upon a to consider what sort of people they  in Light of today a whiny exploitation of anti japanese passions what kind of people Are we c the Washington Post