European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. December 28, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 o just scary by Tritth Conniff the Republican proposal to bring Back orphanages sounds like a sick joke. But it s True Republican legislation not Only would set ii state run Orpha Nages it would create the orphans to fill them. A. A. A -. The personal responsibility act As the House republicans Call it would take away the children of the poor not just children of abusive parents but poor children Plain and simple and toss them into institutions. The republicans plan would Cut off All government Aid to single teen age mothers immigrants even if they re in. This country legally and anyone who uses the welfare system for a lifetime total of More than a few years. For the children of poor families who cannot get along once the Aid is gone the republicans propose to build Orpha  v -.  a this welfare Reform proposal has been billed As a Cost saving measure although in fact it costs a lot More to keep Chil Dren in institutions than it does to pro vide Aid to families with dependent children and food Stamps to their families. Time Magazine calculates that keep ing one child on welfare costs $2,644 a year is. $36,500 to keep the same Chi Din an orphanage. The orphanage revival movement rests on two false assumptions that poor people Are bad parents and that when it comes to raising children government sponsored institutions would do a better Job.   / the republicans ignore the fact that it is possible to be both unemployed and a Good mom even teen age Mothe is whom the personal responsibility act specifically targets generally love their children. How important is love in a child s life and love can t be replaced by bureaucracy. R i in t it when you live in an institution it s the loneliness that gets you says Lyn Duff a Young writer for Pacific news service s youth Outlook Magazine who was bounced around to various group Homes and hospitals As a child. When i lived in an institution i used to hide in the bathroom and hug myself. I was 15, but i Felt after a while like i was 4 because i really just wanted somebody to hold me and touch  just a few years ago westerners were shocked to discover romanian Orpha Nages established by a government that forbade birth control and abortion in an impoverished population even though their physical needs had been seen to the romanian orphans were starved for human Contact and love and it showed. They exhibited classic symptoms of neglect including poor Lan Guage development and motor skills. But the Shock value of the orphanage idea seems to be in itself a reason Many people support it. I attended a Confer ence at the american Enterprise Institute in Washington at which gov. Who Ham Weld of Massachusetts and conservative sociologist Charles Murray talked gleefully about the of word and How it would horrify liberals. The welfare debate has come full Cir Cle. The Federal government created Aid to dependent children in order t6 keep widows and their  in the 1930s. Social reformers then recognized that separating impoverished mothers from their children was cruel and wrong. Today there is precious Little Public sym Pathy for poor families. V they re Lousy mothers Charles Mur Ray has said of single women on  about Lazy abusive drug addicted welfare bums fuel demands for orphanages. Thus Murray has Long advocated cancelling Ardc altogether and forcing poor women to feel the pain of having babies put of Wedlock. This same line of reasoning led Jonathan alter to Call in Newsweek for a revival of shame. We need to judge to castigate and to look Down upon unmarried women who have children hear Gued.  a return to puritanism is what Murray alter and the republicans in Congress Are calling for. The puritans believed that wealth was a sign of morality and god favor and that the poor were unworthy. But in the modern world we ought to recognize that having Money and having Good values do not necessarily go hand in hand. People face economic hard times regardless of their virtue and Many poor women who love their children Are Strug gling hard in the face of adversity. As a society we can Correct economic injustice by feeding the hungry and relieving the suffering of children. Or we can return to the dark Days of the orphanage the poorhouse Anco the Scarlet letter. Let s Hope a More generous spirit prevails. Scr ppe Howard news service d there s some Good news and some bad news in the 1994 year end review of follies and felonies which readers of this column have come to know As Broder s annual goofs  the bad news for the second year in a Row i de scribed an obstructionist tactic on Capitol Hill As put Ting spokes in the wheel of Progress. For the second year in a Row Many of you pointed out that the spokes rein the wheel to hold it together and what i meant was putting a stick in the  consulting psychiatrist cannot explain this Han up but suspects it is rooted in some childhood bicycling trauma. Rosebud revisited. To prevent a recurrence an Intel Chip has been installed in my computer that responds tothe words spokes and wheel with flashing red lights and a High pitched whistle. Now a shot of Good news to steel you for what lies ahead unlike past years when the errors of judgment began with the first column of the year and never stopped 1994 had a decent launch. There were columns on the budget on entitlements on term limits on the internal chaos of the Clinto White House and on the foolishness of his waving the veto pen if Congress provided anything less than uni Versal coverage in a health Bill All of which stand up pretty Well. I took a lot of pokes at these subjects As Well As the false promises of the crime Bill and the Sham that was called Campaign finance Reform. I am not inclined to take any of that Back. On the other hand. I sure wish my fifth Grade history class had stuck in David Broder my mind Well enough that i remembered the Mayflower compact was signed by the founders of the plym Outh Colony not the Massachusetts Bay Colony As i wrote.   i wish i had checked More carefully on the genealogy of various Washington bureaucracies. In a column about the possible extinction of the interstate Commerce commission something we May actually see in 1995, by the Way said that the internal reve nue service was born after the inc. Former irs commissioner Sheldon s. Cohen promptly entered a claim of seniority for his old outfit which he pointed out was created in 1862 As the Bureau of internal Revenue and later renamed the irs. A Rose by any other name. Is just As thorny. There were errors of judgment As Well As of fact. Iwas wrong in april in thinking that George Mitchell could and probably would serve out the session arsenate majority Leader and still be confirmed As a supreme court Justice. He turned Down the appointment from president Clinton. I went overboard in july in hailing the Choice of Leon Panetta As new White House chief of staff. He has brought More discipline to that disorderly place but the policy Agenda is still diffuse and the political judgments remain questionable. Panetta himself pressed the full scale White House assault on the House republicans contract with America a decision which nationalized the midterm election and contributed to a major democratic defeat. I was too harsh in a september column on the administration s Haiti policy a reminder that foreign policy is hazardous territory for a Guy from Chicago Heights who did t see an Ocean until he was Well into his  wrote that the president s decision to Send in troops defied almost every Rule of political prudence and made his presidency hostage to the Uncertain Fate of a bad divided backward country that no one could have imagined was a vital interest of the   / a.  we still dont know How Haiti will fare in Thelong run but no american lives have been lost a legitimate government has been restored and the murderous generals Are in exile a far better picture than i envisaged. / the radar fortunately was clearer on Domestic poli tics with a series of columns going Back to last april depicting the vulnerability of the congressional democrats the need for a real shake up in the House and with fewer and fewer qualifiers the Prospect of a big Republican Victory. But the wonderful thing is that whether a particular column turns out later to be smart or dumb it is always challenged by you readers instantly vehemently and often persuasively. I enjoy that dialogue More than i can acknowledge in the perfunctory cards with which i try to respond to your letters i especially enjoy the put Downs and this year there was a classic. A Reader in Arlington va., wrote this my Grandfather on my Mother s Side with whom i was raised was very Stern. In both his facial expressions and body language and the rigidity of his thoughts and judgments. And boy was he judgmental. It seemed to me i could never do anything right in his eyes. I just could t win with him. You should also know that he never smiled. A Guffaw coming from him would probably have made him explode into Smithereens also he was an observer in life never a  and then this kicker printed in boldface from his Home computer you remind me of my  thanks a lot. C Washington Post