European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday july 14, "1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Lous i emerges As a Bob Dole appears to be running for president. This is scarcely notable Dole always seems to be running for president or preparing to run or thinking about running. He is this generations Harold Stassen a Man known More for what he seeks than for what he believes. But what Dole and his fellow republicans really believe will soon become critical not Only for their party but for All of America. Moderates were quietly confident that a move to the Middle would follow the incendiary and exclusionary rhetoric of the 1992 Republican convention. But they were wrong. The Christian coalition the religious right group that coalesced around Pat Robertson a failed bid for the presidency has emerged a powerful Phoenix from the ashes of that debacle Fielding candidates for everything from school boards to Congress and with the quiet acquiescence of such As Dole Jack Kemp Phil Gramm and other Republican leaders Christian coalition members who oppose sex education feminism and Anna Quindlen Legal abortion who espouse school prayer and the teaching of creationism could move the party and its platform sharply to a the right. At the convention in Texas at which conservative christians seized control of the state Republican party organization Gramm said he was a offended at those who seem to believe that if you do hold strongly religious positions you ought to be precluded from the political  this is a red herring leaving aside the fact that the Christian coalition wants to have it both ways keeping the tax exempt status of a religious organization while behaving like a political one the question is not whether it will be part of the political process but who will embrace it. Republican leaders will surely espouse a big tent principle. But How far will they spread the Canvas Allen quist who was chosen Over the incumbent Arne Carlson As the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota says men have a a genetic predisposition to be Heads of the household. Would the republicans rally round a candidate who said Whites were genetically predisposed to run corporations of Congress Yah at a the difference Between demonizing Gay men and lesbians As sexual predators today and demonizing Black americans in the same fashion a generation or two ago.  ���.�, when Pat Buchanan brought  to a Christian coalition conference Las year saying a you culture is Superior because our religion is christianity and that the least fashionable problem of the �?T80s and �?T90s is the condition of americans cities. In the �?T60s and �?T70s, Urban issues were on the National Agenda a in part because Southern democratic presidents like Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter thought an a Urban strategy was necessary to hold their Northern big City constituencies and in part because riots and disturbances kept 4worried nations eyes focused on Center City needs in the last 14 years Public attention has moved elsewhere but the problems have not gone away. Dynamic National leaders like Secretary of housing and Urban development Henry Cisneros and his Bush administration predecessor Jack Kemp have put their hearts into the task but neither Ever got the kind of sustained attention from press and Public or support from press Dent and Congress that was needed to make a real Dent on the problems. The Tanges that have been made have been generated from the ground up a by neighbourhood groups by private Public partnerships at the local level and by a Lew mayors who have managed to beat the Odds and Rise above the Day to Day struggles with crime traffic and garbage collection to change the direction of their  of the groups cheering on these grassroots efforts is a Washington non profit called partners for liable communities. Its newly published report a the state of the american Community a is a Catalon of local Success stories Here and abroad plus a set of essays making Clear How exceptional these examples Are and How Large a Challenge remains. One of the essays is particularly important for its author David Rusk the former mayor of Albuquerque n.m., has published a Book cities without suburbs that has been influential with Cisneros and the Clinton administration. Rusks argument is that a elasticity a a the is the truth that makes men free a did that not make americans jews inferior what of the opposition to women who step outside the Circle of Home and Hearth that is the hallmark of much religious right ideology if silence gives consent Are these the principles of the Republican party several party stalwarts describe an organization in which Many Are fearful of alienating the religious right and equally fearful of embracing them. And they acknowledge that the. Fervour of the belief system that guides the Christian coalition reveals a vacuum at the ideological heart of the gop a Mushines of purpose that contributed to one in four republicans deserting the party in the last presidential  a lot of paralysis out of fear a said one who asked for anonymity. A a there a no real sense of what we stand for.�?�. Only a onetime governor Tom Kean of new Jersey has had the guts to speak forcefully of How the party could marginalize itself by leaning to the far right. A drag on ability to expand geographic Borders is the key to Success Tor the modern City. Those cities that were free to grow a usually by annexation a were Able to follow the postwar movement of the Middle class to their new suburban neighbourhoods and thus encompass the population and economic expansion into their own economic and political base. Cities with great elasticity a mainly in the South and West but also including Madison wis., Columbus Ohio and Wichita Kan. A have done quite Well. But the old cities of the Northeast and upper Midwest confined by geography and poli. Tics to fixed boundaries Nave run into severe problems As Middle class families and jobs moved away from downtown leaving the abandoned areas to the poor and often minorities. Rusks numbers Are startling. Virtually every metropolitan area in the country grew significantly in population and wealth Between 1950 and 1990. The cities with a a elasticity few apace. But new York and Chicago which had Lead 67 percent and 66 percent of their metro areas population in 1950, respectively fell to 41 percent and a 35 percent respectively by 1990. Milwaukee went from 73 percent to 39 percent Detroit from 61 percent to 22 percent and other old cities suffered similarly. The cities share of the wealth has fallen even faster. Only 7 percent of the assessed property value of the Detroit metropolitan area now lies within the City limits a a a a startling measure of Urban decline As Rusk says. Rusk has even calculated a a Point of no  when a  population has declined 20 percent from Davids. Broder a if we say that every woman who has an abortion is a baby killer and that every son and daughter who is Gay is an abomination when we imply that women who demand Equality Are somehow violating their fundamental natures Well then we relegate ourselves to the sidelines a said Kean in Iowa for the Straw polls that have become an Early Harbinger of presidential politics. Dole won that Iowa Straw poll. He is both the Man whose voice broke while delivering a Eulogy at the Nixon funeral and the one who once described presidents Carter Ford and Nixon As a see no evil hear no evil and  Quot nut the rising tide Quot of the Christian coalition demands More than such expediency surfing. Big tent platitudes will not suffice. If Dole and other candidates to come wish to show that they stand for More than self interest they will have to articulate their principles and be judged by their companions. A c new York times Quot. A its Peak when the minority population has topped 30 percent and when per capita income in the City has fallen below 70 percent of its own suburbs the City is no longer Able to recover on its own historically he says no City in that category has been Able to close the income Gap with its suburbs by even 1 percent from one decade to the next. Among the cities in that group Are Chicago Philadelphia Detroit Cleveland Buffalo . Hartford Conn. St. Louis and Newark . A places far too vital to the nation to be discarded. New ballparks convention centers gambling casinos and other currently popular gimmicks wont cure what ails these cities Rusk says. There is a fundamental problem of governmental Structure. A web of separate jurisdictions bars the Center City a Access to the resources of the metropolitan area. Where annexation is impossible As it is in Many of these situations the remedy must be sought in City county government mergers As in Indianapolis or Jacksonville fla., or in metropolitan government arrangements of the kind exemplified by Portland ore., or Seattle King county Wash. Tiie Carrot for such deals is that cold economic statistics show the healthier the Center City the faster the income growth of the entire metro area. But the political resistance is fierce and the successful breakthroughs rare. Few governors or Legislatures have been willing to Challenge suburban sensibilities and votes by pressing metro wide solutions to Center City problems. As Rusk writes a there is no National problem that is a greater Challenge to the politics of inclusion. Nor is there a greater test of whether or not the american people can develop anew a spirit of community.�?�. A c Washingion Post