European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday november 26, 1992 commentary the stabs and stripes Page 15democrats take note you re on probation David s. Broder in this season of thanks there Are two things spec fatty that we can be grateful to the voters for doing. First they struck a blow against gridlock in Washington and for responsible government by giving one party control of both the legislative and executive branches for the first time in 12 years. Divided government a and the Finger pointing blame game it encourages a frustrates everyone inside and outside the Beltway. Ending it does not guarantee action but at least it places the responsibility for what happens so clearly that those in Power cannot Duck and Dodge. The second thing for which we can be grateful is that when the voters decided to entrust the National government to the democrats they put them on Clear notice that they Are on probation a and if they done to deliver their charter will be withdrawn. Obviously president elect Clinton with his shaky 43 percent plurality Victory has to know that he is on trial. But equally the members of the 103rd Congress have been Given that message. One Quarter of the 435 members of the last House of  and one third of the senators up this year will not be Back in january. And the Victory margins of those who were re elected were dramatically reduced. As Charles Cook pointed out in Roll Call the twice weekly newspaper of Capitol Hill those who argue that incumbents a dodged the Bullet a in 1992 Are misreading the returns. Not Only were More incumbents Defeated in the primaries and general election than at any time since 1974, but Many More than usual Are sitting on shaky perches. There Are 22 new House members who won with 51 percent of the vote or less 99 with 55 percent or less and 160 with 60 percent or less. As they look ahead to 1994, they know that the Congress must deliver a or else they May be gone. The key test is the Economy the Issue that was at the Center of Clinton a Campaign. Voters will also weigh How Well Washington deals with the other ? a Motev i a Ftp a Cath Elk All Ouk chickens owe Home to Oost Orth pc is the Arkansas to noltion team challenges a notably health care education and Public safety a that they said were uppermost on their minds. But the voters also sent a message that the Money saturated culture of politics and government needs to be changed so that the parties the Congress and the administration Are More representative of the country a and More efficient in dealing with jts problems. Clinton has promised to set Tough ethical standards for his appointees and the press and the Public wifi hold him to that pledge. Congress faces an even greater Challenge because less than 20 percent of the votes in poll after poll this year gave a thumbs up to the Way it does business. No excuse will be accepted for leaving intact the Campaign financing Laws that now tilt so heavily in favor of incumbents. Common cause reported that in 44 of the 48 most competitive House races where incumbents won the officeholder had at least three times As much Money As the challenger having received eight times As much Money from political action committees. In eight Senate races where incumbents won by narrow margins All eight of those in office had at least $1 million More than their challengers with the advantage ranging up to $6 million in three contests. In the last Congress the democratic majorities a assured in Advance that president Bush would veto their Handiwork a passed a Campaign finance Reform Bill that would have restricted the pics and Cut Down the incumbents advantages. To escape the charge of hypocrisy they will have to pass a measure that is at least As Tough on incumbents next year when Clinton stands ready to sign it into Law. But Congress itself needs repairs. It is Overly decentralized bureaucratic and ill adapted to the legislative challenges of the Post cold War world. T he last Congress created a bipartisan House san Etc committee on the Structure of Congress which has until next december to fiame its recommendations. It will not Lack for suggestions. A pair of scholars Thomas e. Mann of the Brookings institution and Norman .1. Ornstein of the american Enterprise Institute delivered a a Tough love Quot report aimed at eliminating some of the flan on Capitol Hill and at strengthening the party leadership to focus responsibility for moving the legislative Agenda Forward. In january the conservative heritage foundation will publish a major study of Congress challenging the lawmakers penchant for micromanagement of the executive Branch in the interests of their own re election campaigns. Unless Congress Steps up to the Challenge of cleaning its House the membership turnover in 1994 could he As great As this years. Believe me the press and the Public will be keeping score. I to Washington f o family life provides needed sense of belonging my aunt and 1 Are making stuffing and convening with our ancestors. Its a ritual we have performed each year since i inherited thanksgiving from her. Or to be precise since the family dinner moved one doorway and one generation Down the Street. In truth my aunt who is 8 inches Shorter and 21 years older than 1 am still regards me As something of an apprentice in the thanksgiving business not entirely ready to strike out on my own. A bit too inexperienced to be entrusted with the awesome responsibilities of tradition. Left to my own devices who knows what would happen chestnuts could creep into the family stuffing. Sugai could disappear. This would not do. After All the ancestors with whom we Are convening were not pilgrims and were not propertied. My entire inheritance is a soup pot a roasting pan ories and of course recipes. The one that we follow this morning has been passed Down As if it were carved on a family Tabernacle thou Shalt stuff thy Turkey with onions Chicken fat eggs stale bread. But neither my aunt nor my ancestors need worry that i will break Faith with their past. I shall not mix bread with Olive Oil replace Turkey with some other fish or fowl. Indeed i Hae become Over the years a culinary conservative. Is that a term the political consultants have missed social Liberal culinary conservative do they have a seat in the focus groups for the everyday change advocate who is a Holiday traditionalist. Ellen Goodman i am hardly the Only such hybrid creature. Any number of us modernists even postmodernists become positively victorian in this season. More than a few women who normally live at the Pace of a microwave turn Back to the Days of a slow simmer. Many who have made their lives on the cutting Edge of change Are temporarily transformed into some composite Martha Washington and Stewart. It May be that the More our _ family lives change the More we cling to these rituals some Skeleton of continuity. The More our family functions change the More we May ask of their form. Were my great grandmother to join my table she would not find much familiar except the fare. T he families of her generation were More permanent structures put together for better or worse a but for life a by birth and marriage. But my generations guest lists May change More than our menu. They Are rewritten also by divorce remarriage relationships that change As often As our zip codes. Family life also once had an economic and social purpose a religious imperative. Families were larger and their members More Likely to live together. Two generations ago when my grandmother was Young families were thought of As economic units institutions operating like and on farms or businesses. Today the sustenance we expect from family life is essentially emotional. Our families like our marriages Are usually kept together now by affection and Choice. What we want from family life is something sorely lacking from the world a sense of belonging. But this strictly emotional tie seems like a More fragile Bond than the one that held our elders together. And so we try to wrap it in traditions to give it strength. If we have fewer family dinners Why then we will have More elaborate family feasts. If daily unions Are More difficult to sustain Why then we will celebrate annual reunions. Our holidays have become the seasonal equivalent of Quality time. Our families have become special occasions. We cannot take them for granted. So we become Holiday traditionalists to connect with one another Over family time and tales. We sustain tradition As a Way of recreating for one another our sense of belonging to one another. As for me a certified culinary conservative i stand Here dutifully mixing eggs and bread and onions and Chicken fat a a cardiologist s Nightmare a Wylanta special happily following my aunts instructions and my grandmothers recipe. But at the same time i recognize that it is really our appetite for togetherness that we will bring to this thanksgiving table. Cjene Boston Globe