European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 10, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17knowing pain local officials can hit crime Best . Rosenthal tiie cities of America will not get much safer until the people who live in them get much smarter. First they will have to understand that America is going through a civil crisis of criminality that it has never before experienced a few decades ago gangsters were using guns to kill each other which was noisy but no great loss. How innocent those Days seem almost pastoral. Now gangsters have expanded their vision. Their killing Fields Are whole neighbourhoods their potential targets everything in those neighbourhoods that moves. That is where the drug Money is a in neighbourhood control the new american terrorism. And then the people of the cities will have to put away their handkerchiefs when they think about gun criminals. We Are not dealing with misguided children or Street a a leaders strutting their Mouths on television talking of gang summits. John Ray a member at Large of the District of Columbia Council put it As it lain As it should be put. A these Hood urns Arentt looking for a Job a he wrote in the Washington Post. A they have a Job they Are full time swaggering criminals and they Are Good at what they do. They sell drugs run guns Rob and steal. They have no respect for human life and will kill you with or without  president Clinton told Black americans that criminals let Down the values of the civil rights movement. Ray says that even to make the linkage pollutes the movement. He asks the president to Lay off sentimental connections like that. Recognizing gun and drug gangsters for the killers they Are does not prevent work to provide jobs and education for Young people who yearn for both. The reverse until a Clear emotional and political line is drawn Between those who commit themselves to Endeavor and those who have committed themselves to killing they will be lumped together by americans who live outside the War zones. Already that is the great Triumph of bigots and criminals a the branding of All minority and poor youngsters As dangerous and to get the Public safety to which they Are damned Well entitled City americans must Stop counting primarily on the Federal government Ana turn to their local and state officials. The gun lobby is still Strong enough and National poll Ticiano cowardly enough to Block gun legislation equipped with a set of Teeth. Local officials have seen entrails on the sidewalks and their souls vomit at the thought of More. In new York City mayor elect Rudolph Giuliani a reputation and future Are totally connected to How much safer he can make new yorkers feel. Fair enough. Everybody knows mayors cannot Stop crime by themselves. But Giuliani was elected because those who voted for him Felt he a Quad fight his new York heart out trying. He has started Well by promising to cordon off school streets from criminals accept no police tolerance of crime and arrest the Street paddlers of drugs without whom the drug Trade could not exist and by picking his own police commissioner. I Hope he also shows the inside of police stations to drug buyers. No buyers no Trade. Giuliani says there a still plenty of prison space. Myself i like the idea of special courts and sentences without parole for anybody who uses a gun while committing a crime or even thinks of it by carrying one. Special gun user so prisons would be useful even if they have to be a Tensy bit More crowded if necessary. Drug therapy should by mandatory for All criminals with any record of drug use with release time depending on successful completion. Giuliani is suggesting legislation to put handguns under a kind of motor vehicle a target one you have to Register to and s a users test. Nice. 1 love it. But after decade Long struggle Over the mild Law pass the decade Long struggle Brady Bill lets not us City Folk hang around waiting but look to our own officials and Laws and demand More. So far this year 342 new yorkers have been killed by stray bullets. And in the past few Days two Young women were shot in their pregnant bellies a one for a jacket the other while she was handing Over All the Money in her purse $2. So Giuliani will find that in new York City there arc not Many handkerchiefs left for the gun killers. C the now Yolk time sit s up to the gop to help nation heal itself diviners of what has come to be known As a conventional Wisdom Are declaring the social issues War Over with the Victory going to the a moderates the republicans according to c.w., should abandon the values issues because they have lost. . Dionne of the Washington Post thinks he has heard the trumpet sounding Retreat. In a recent column he quoted Pat Robertson on the divisive abortion Issue from a night line appearance a i would urge people As matter of private Choice not to choose abortion because 1 think its wrong. Its something else though in the political area to go out on a quixotic crusade when you know that you will be beaten continuously. So i say lets do what is possible. What is possible is parental  ,. A a ,. Far from surrender that is what i have Long called principle pragmatism. You done to concede the Ideal but you work Tor what you can get now and press ahead toward the goal of protecting All human life in the future. In the television age where even murder can be solved in one hour it is important to realize that great social movements take time. For example it was More than 100 years Between the emancipation proclamation of 1863 and the civil rights act of 1964. The Republican party should not abandon the values Agenda. What it needs to do is to reposition itself so that it does not appear to be imposing values from the outside. Rather it should be perceived As wishing to work with people a sift the limited Power of government to help them strengthen their own failings and to protect them from external threats such As crime and internal rot such As divorce out of Wedlock births drug abuse and other destructive Behaviours. The Republican party must recast itself As  it can Bash the democrats for their failures particularly in the social Arena but it must offer an alternative that is More than a Litany of the opposition s shortcomings. It must develop a policy that does no to impose Power from above but empowers from below. People who vote for Republican candidates ought to see themselves As supporting a party and candidates that will help restore to them a not to government a the tools and the strength to build or rebuild their own lives. At the Center of All construction is a sure foundation that must consist of certain moral and ethical Prim Caples that never change. Rightly crafted and properly articulated by effective leadership republicans should announce that it has just begun. They should grab the compassion Issue from democrats declaring support for crisis preg. Nancy centers and programs that offer alternatives to abortion. They should expose Liberal efforts to deny women Access to information that keeps them from making informed choices. They should become friends of the inner cities where democratic politicians have failed so miserably that some think the National Gurard is their Only Hope. With these tactics and repositioning the gop could sow the seeds necessary to alter the political landscape on abortion crime and other social issues. But we must remember that it cannot be changed from the top Down because abortion and crime Are not the cause of our social stagnation and cultural disrepair. They Are a reflection of it. Cal Thomas you know what i King Ofilos the pious Sims about Naftal and no political process or Leader will be Able to solve these problems so Many which Are a Mailer of the Sou of where presidents congresses and courts have no jurisdiction. C los Angelos times