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,- MONEY IN POLITICS

___ lJV Norman Ornstein

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."""--.=-=-. ------RIPON Seize the Moment FORUM EDITORIALS IJ laCk Kemp has got it ri ght. If the President and congres- sional Republicans don 't seize the SCCQnd chance on civil ri ghts. economic policy and poverty generated by the Los Pro-choice Republicans Angeles ri ots, they forfeit their responsibi li ty to govern the country. IR Iecently , 300 Republicans stood outside a hotel in Salt America is in the early stages of a profound political Lake City. Ulah. protesting their Party 's position on realignment. As a governed society. we are caught between abortion. They were not radical feminists or mililant activists yesterday's answers and tomorrow's questions. The riot and fighting for their rights. They were mostly subUrbanites, often rebellion in Los Angeles is one symptom oCthe need to rcalign. parents themselves, who rcalizc that a woman'sconstitutional In a country changing as rapidly as ours, Republican ri ght to an abortion may soon be gone. leaders must open the Party to new idcas and a commitment to What is so unusual about the Republicans' pro-life plat- act on issues of critical importance to a majority of Americans: form, is that it is a departure from the logic Republicans economic despair. civil ri ghts and racism, gender discrimina­ normally usc in other issucs. The GOP is the Party of choice, tion and choice, housing. health care, better schools and the freedom and minimal government in- "",~':;;:;;;:------'---', environment. tervention. But on this one issue, the Law and order must be maintained conservative portion of the Party has in Los Angeles and across the country. chosen not to acknowledge the large But punishing the offenders won't percentage of RepUblicans who are changetheconditionswhicheausedthe pro-choice. In fact, their hostile reae- problem. Only new po licy. rigorously lions arc typical of single issue voters implemented with heart and caring, and right wing politicians. It is sad that will do that. they cannot accept a diversity of opin- Many Americans suspect Ihat Re- ion within ourPany and aeknowledgc publicans, the Party of Un coin, si mply the large numbers ofpro

The RIPON FORUM , JlllylAlIgrm 1992 TABLE OF CONTENTS PROFILES AND PERSPECTIVES BOOK REVIEWS John Frohnmayer ...... 4 The New Feminism ... 18 Fonner NE4 chief lalks with the Ripon Fonim S It.fOII Falltdi's Backlash: The V I/declare!i War A SECOND OPINION Agail/st America" Womell NEA & New Art ...... 8 Viewing the Future ... 19 Fomler NEA general COlillsel Fred Kellogg Francis FI/koyama's The End oUlistory alld the examilles the endowmellt's role ill Amen'CQII Last Mall society LISTENING IN WATCH ON THE ENVIRONMENT Washington Gossip Saving the Owls ...... 10 Makes News ...... 22 National Wildem ess Instifllle's Belljamill Patloll explores how Congress cOllld hm·e saved Ripon Fon/m's "limi Carter "otices media il/teresl ill whispers aroulld Ih e lIatioll's capital endangered species COVER STORY FOREIGN AFFAIRS Money in Politics ...... 12 Redirecting Aid ...... 26 American Emelprise Instifllle scholar Normall Hllgh A'fields disCllsses whether the U.S. should Om stein COl/siders campaigll finance refoml gil'e more mOIl~ to Ih e United Natiol/s DEPARTMENTS Editorials ...... 2 Washington Notes & Quotes ... 29 Seizillg Ihe momem; Pro-choice alld paradoxes Barbara Blish alld family va/lies; WI,y Republicans are .fcaring New Jers~ Democmts; WN&Q's Hero of the Month Letters...... II Views on America ...... 30 The Lighter Side ...... 25 Fon"" Editor David A. FIi Scus & the real problems ill gOl'emmell' The RIPON ",,"" David A. Fuscus F 0 R U M ASSOCIATE £DITOR Mimi Cartcr THE RlPON FtJRU\l(1SN 0035-5526) ispublishcd bi-monthly in 1992 bylllC Ripon Socicty. Contcnts PRODUCTlON DIRECTOR are copyrighted 1992 by the Ripon Society, Inc., 709 Second Street, N.E., Suite 100, Washington, D.C. Michael Check 20002. CONTIll8UTlNG EDITOR William Ozonoff In The Ripon Fomm, the publishers hope to provide a forum for fresh ideas, and a spirit of creative EDTIORLAL BOARD criticism and innovation in public policy. Manuscripts and photographs are solici ted, but do not Peter Smith represent the views of the Fomm unless so slated. Steven A. Mcssinger Second class postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offi ces. Postmaster: Send Jean Hayes address changes to Ripoll Fonlrll, 709 Second St., N.E. , Washington, D.C . 20002 Alfred W. Tate Ste\'en Klinsky Subscription rates: $18 per year, $9 for students, servicemen, Peace Corps, Vista and other volunteers CO)ll"RIBl1l1NC I'HOTOGIl.AI'IIER and $30 for institutions. Overseas, please add $8. Please allow five weeks for address change. Kevin R. Fuscus ORIGINAL COVER ART The Ripon Socicty Inc., Pcter Smith, president, is a research and policy organization whose members R.I, Matson are business, academic,and professional men and women. It ishcadquartercd in Washington, D.C., with Il'mRIOR ART National Associate members throughout the United States. Ripon is supported by chapter dues, Jackson Charles DeWitt individual contributions, and revenues from its publications.

J llly/AllgllSt 1992 3 The RIPON FORUM PROFILES A Conversation with John Frohnmayer AND PROSPECTIVES Former NEA Chair Listens to the Fringes of Society

I J ohn Fl'ohnmayer was recently ousted as chairman of the National Endowment/orlhe Arts 1(NEA) after a tumultuous and high profile hWJ-und·one-ha/f year tenure. Much of the controversy over the NEA stemmedfrom a relatively small number ofgrants that/unded art with sexual themes. Conservatives, especially members a/the religious righI, took up the issue as a battle cry and forced this relatively small federal agency to the front page of Ih e nation's newspapers. Frohnmayer came to Wa.<;hi"gton after a law career in Portland, Ore., and a four-year .\1int as chairman of the Oregon Arts Commission. During hb.' stay in D.C., he drew a great deal of criticism/rom both artists and critics affederal art policy like Pat Robertson and the Rev. Donald Wildmon, head ofthe American Family Association. However, his supporters say that he brought a realistic point ofviewto the N EA andthat the events which f orced him f TOm office were politically motivated and had lillIe to do with his .uewardship. Frohnmayertalked Ilith editors ofth e Ripon Forum in his Wa.fhington home about his tenure at the NEA, his thoughts on the right wing of the Republican Party, and what art means to Photos by American culture. Since his departure, he has been hilling the speaking circuit and recently signed Kevin R. Fuscus a contract to write a book about his years in the Bush Administration. RlPON FORUM: You led the National En­ dowmentfor the Arts through the most tumultu­ ous time in its history, probably like nOlhing it will experience in Ihe fUlure. IVere you surprised by the degree of Ihe political ballles that you ran into and the fre­ quency of them? MR. FROHNMA YER: Yes, I was. I really thought that within a fairly short period of time we could put the lid on those political battles and start moving the agency toward our own agenda. and it just never stopped. There was a slight lull after rcauthorii'..3tion in the late fall of 1990. and then it started back up again in the spring of '9 1, and it has continued unabated. RIPON FORUM: I noticed in the Washing­ ton Times recently that your successor, Anne­ Imelda Radice. said that she thought the NEIl might very well go down the tubes. That was what she said. If that did happen, what would the cultural costs to the Un ited States be? MR FROHNMA YER: Immense. Because one ofthe great successes of the arts endowment has been to create state arts agencies in every stale and every territory, and there are almost 4,000 local arts agencies now, a whole bunch of pre­ senters and a network of touring organii'..3tions and performers. It would be devastating to that

The RIPON FORUM 4 July/Augusl1992 network because all of those states receive sup· Par~y. especially on the religious right, who port from the endowment, many of the locals oppose Ihe NEA. Again. what would YOll think receive support, Dance on Tour receives support. their motivation isfar these attacks? So it would be, in my view, a step b.1ckwardsjust MR. FROHNMA YER: Well, it agllin de· when America should be asserting itself as a pends upon whom you're talking about. Some leader in the realm of ideas. pcoplewho have written in arc legiti mately con· RIPON FORUM: Do YOII Ih;nk there ;.~ a cerned because they believe that tax money is possibilify ofthe NEA ceasing to eris/? being used inappropriatel y. Usually thoscpcople MR. FROHNMA YER: Of course. If those arc motivated to write because somc other group, pcoplewhoscc ideas as dangerous, whothink that like the American Family Associati on or Pat the United States ollght not to be doing anything other than spending money on the military, if those who are looking for a homogenous America MY VIEW IS THAT THE HARD kcep getting the attention of the While House and the political lcaders, it would be very easy 10 sec RIGHT IS NOT AN APPEASEABLE a situation in which Ihe ans did not survive that kind of pol iIi cal beating, ENTITY. THEY CONTINUE TO WANT RIPON FORUM: You mentioned the /990 Congressional funding reauthorization earlier. MORE AND MORE AND MORE ... During Ihal reauthorization, Phil Crane of lIIi· nois plltforlh an amendment to abolish the NEA, Robertson or someone like that, has riled them saying Ihat if was j Ust not afllnction ofgove rn· up. usually with information that's eithcr false or ment to he funding the arls. Do you agree with is only partly true. And so in my view, those Ihat on any level? people arc being used, both to contribute their MR. FROHNMAYER: No. I don't. And funds to those organi7,...1Iions or individuals. and incidentall y, that motion got only 64 votes out of to write Congress about issues on which they arc 435, so it wasn't particularly popular in the House ill -i nfonned or misinfornled, and that docsn 't do then. or the following year when he made the anybody any good. same motion and it got 66 votes. In ternlS of some olhers, I think that the But I think it's very defi nitely a fu nction of ca mp.1 ign against the arts endowment is really a government for the support of the spirit of the camp.1 ign for a homogenous America. a cam· people, The government docsn' t e-xist, in my pa ign tojust not want to hearthc voices from the view. just to keep us safe from external invasion: edge of the society. And those voices, while they government ought to be more than that. It ought might not please us and while you or I may not toinspireus to highcr goals in the lifeofthe mind agree with them, are extraordinaril y important in and in something which helps expand the know!· a democracy because thcy give that kind of edge and significance of society. and that's what balance and they let id e.1s sort of go through the the a rt s do. That's why the government ought to cycle. And those ideas that have value pop out. be involved. and those that don' t, drop out. And that's what RlPON FORUM: What do you think Ihe dcmocracy isabout. So to say youean 't have those motivation of NEA opponents. like Phil Crane ideas. it seems to me to be a very anti·Amcrican and Dana Rohrahacher, is? Are they jllst using idea. this as a polWcal club to get attention for Ihem· RIPON FORUM: 71,ere has been a 101 of selves? material, fimdrai.~ing malerial, centered on the MR. FROHNMAYER: Well. I think that NEA. Direct-mail pieces. For erample, Pat diffcrent people differ on that. Phil Crane. in my Buchanan had an infamollsspotlhat he ran using view, is sort of an anti·government person and aclipfrol1l aflllll partia/~v.fimded by the NEA. Is has what I would consider to be not vel)' rea listic that a partial motivationfor attacks on the N£A? ideas about government. Da na Rohrab.1eher I Thai some people can boil down issues to a very think used the issue to get publicity for himself, .~ il1lple, often incorrect, message and pump it 0111 and then he opted out of the issue very abruptly , for fimdraising? I thi nk. because he felt it was hurting him politi­ MR. FROHNMAYER: Oh, yes. It's the cally. soundbite mentality, which plays to fear and hate RlPON FOR UM: Certain~y there 's a whole consliluencyon the right wing ofthe Republican FROHNMAYER continued on IIert page

JlIly/August 1992 5 "111C RIPON FORUM To understand art, one must confront it

FROHNMAYERfrom previous page mean, wcwcrc unsuccessful in gcttingthalbrcath­ ing room. and self·interest and all of the human failings RIPON FORUM: Whenyoufirst come in, or which we so need to get past in order 10 try 10 heal throughout your tenure, did the White House put thesociely. It's reaJlyshamcless in my view, and you under a lot ofpre ssure to try and lower the I am more than a little embarrassed that many of profile ofthe NEA or did they let you handle it in those people call themselves Republicans. a way you saw fit? RlPON FORUM: You took over the NEA MR. FROHNMA YER: Thai ebbed and right after the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition flowed. which got an enormous amount of publicity all RIPON FORUM: When you first came in, across the country. When you got on board, was did)lOu see your role as a spokesmanfor the arts one ofyour first goals to try to lower the profile or as a political appointee coming in to manage ofthe NEA a bit? the organization for the Bush Administration? MR. FROHNMA YER: Yes. We were reall y MR. FROHNMA YER: Well, it 's hard 10 say trying to get some breathing room, to let the thai you are one or the other because at ti mes hullabaloo seWe down, and it never really did. I you're both of those. I have always considered myself a spokesperson fo r the arts and fo r what they can bring to society and also as cheerleader for the arts endowment and for the artists that it helps support. But realistically one is part of an administration and not an island. RIPON FORUM: One ofthe big issues that surrounded this whole controver5y is the issue of political censorship. Do you feel that with this issue (Ieveloped. that we're moving closer to­ wards a form ofgovernmental censorship over the arts simply by ercluding people who are on the fringe? MR. FROHNMA YER: That could happen. I hope it didn't happen during my tenure there because I fought very hard to assure that it didn't. I think that there are those within theadministra­ tion who would li ke to extend govern ment con­ trol wherever the government is involved. Very b.'\d idea. RIPON FORUM: lAst year, you held a news conference and came out in support of/he film "Poison, " which brought you a great deal of criticism, as well as the NEA. Do)lOu think /hat was a correct move? Did that news conference bring your agency back into the headlines? MR. FROHNMA YER No, it was absolutely the right thing to do then. And the reason is that the film was getting criticism from Reverend Wildmon and others, none of whom had seen it. I mean, it was one of the instances in which we could actually put the art there and let people decide for themselves whether that film had artistic merit. And so we actually showed it and said make up your own mind. And lots of people from the Hi ll, staffers from various congrcsspersons' orscnalors' offices, ca me down

The RIPON FORUM 6 JUlylAliglIst 1992 and watched it, and none of them were critical local level on at leasl a one-to-one, and usuall y thereafter. I mean, all ofthem agreed that the film something closer to 10-to-one, and so that every had artistic merit. Thewhole idea of art isthat you level in that there is citizen participation, either have to confront il in order to really understand it. that they actually sit on the panels or that they RIPON FOR UM: But didyoufind that really participate with their dollars. And that, in my set off the firestorm again? view, is the way the government should work. MR.. FROHNMA YER: Well, it did and it And for some citizen in Florida to say some didn't. Actually, we got far less mail on "Poison" citizen in Washington can't have an arts project than we did on many of the others that we had there, that doesn't make any sense at all because taken a less aggressive posture on. So my view is we are such a diverse nation. that it helped nip that controversy in the bud. But RIPON FORUM: Your successor, Ms. since there are still those who criticize' 'Poison" Radice, said that she is going to change the way and use it asan example of bad judgment, I guess grants are given out and break the country up I would have to say that the issue is still around; into seven segmenls to give a lillIe more geo­ we clearly didn't kill it. graphic distribution to funding. Is that whole RIPON FORUM: Certainly the media has proposal something thai has been well thought put an enormous amount ofallenti on on you and the NEA, some of which jusI isn'tfactual. One example is Annie Sprinkle who staged a quasi pornographic stage show. Did she get funding from the NEA? MR. FROHNMA YER: No, none, zero. And as a matteroffact, Annie Sprinkle was the subject of some discussion at a congressional hearing held in 1990, and the committee agreed in its entirety that it was persuaded that Annie Sprinkle had received no NEA money. Yet we continued to be excoriated for that as if we had funded it. I mean, people get this all confused. And I was talking to one congresspcrson who had two or three artists amalga mated into one image in his mind, and it took me about 10 minutes to sort them out for him, and he apologized afterwards. Now, t don 'I know whether he continues to go on and criticize us, but... out by the N&1? RIPON FORUM: Where does socie~y draw MR. FROHNMA YER: Certainly not I mean, the line. or where does the government draw Ihe to do it by quota is to ignore the fact that artists line. between artisticfree expression andsocie~v 's have traditionally congregated in some areas of right to determine where public funding is spent? the country, What is fair is to make sure that the Do you think the system has to change? arts are accessible around the country, but you MR. FROHNMA YER: My view is that the don't give COlton subsidies to VemlOnl, and to system is pretty good, that it's very democratic, suggest that yo u can just sort of, by fonnula, dole that the people who make recommendations to oul the money by state or by locality sounds more the arts endowment are all citizens -- and there like a political pork b.1.rrcl than it does like a real arc over 1,200 of them oyer the course of a year attempt to try to find the best artists in the country who come in and sit on our panels - that those and give them support. recommendations go to the National Council on RIPON FORUM: Of course, this year we're the Arts, which is 26 citizens again, appointed by in an election year, a presidential as well as a the President and confirmed by the Senate, who congressional election year, and many people, are some of the best artists in the world, and then especially in the moderate section ofthe Repub­ that recommendation goes to me as the chair, or lican Party, think that the Administrationand the did when t was chair. President presented you as a kind ofs acrifiCial But then there is another step in that demo­ lamb to the hard right in order to bring them back cratic process, and Ihat is that those grants go into the fold for this fall's campaign. Do you back to the community from which they we re proposed and they're matched by dollars on the See FROHN MAYER on page 21 JlIly/August 1991 7 The RWON FORUM A SECOND NEA & "Private Parts Art' , OPINION lSIhartl y, Congress will again confront the not as much as they are now by ·'censorship." issue whether the National Endowment for Most new American an is funded by the nonfcdcral the Arts should continue to exist. So lei's invilC network anyway. Thcsmall NEA input is largely the Honorable Members to take a look at what the honorific, or afleast it was until recently. FRED NEA actuall y does, and what will happen when The Endowmcnt's ncw head. Anne-lmcld.1. it's gone. Radice, innucnccd wc assumc by the firing of KELLOGG Wc begin with oncugly fact Ihat no one wil l John Frohnmayer, has felt obliged to take a SUGGESTS admit and docs not appear even in the pages of ha rder line on new art. Her vctoes of stuJT, such ELIMINATING that revered beacon, The Washington Post. Iflhe as rclatively ta me privatc-parts-wallpapcr, may NEA is disbanded. federal arts funding will not triggcr a succession of grant boycotts, resigna­ NEW ART cnd; the channels through which lobbyists get tion from NEA panels. and refusals (like that of FUNDfNG Cong ress to provide money to " save" worthy Stcven Sondhcim) to accept the National Medal programs a nd organizations will not be shut of Art. down. Ifanytlting, closing the NEA will sound OK, the author is going to abandon objectiv­ thc offi cial starting gun for a rush by Ihe nalion's ity herc and ask: at this COS I, why docs Ihc NEA , -f'<------, financially pres-sed muse­ havc to be deciding whethcr to fund projects like ums, orehcstras, universi­ private-p.1.rts-wallpaper? tics, consortia, and non­ It is much more difficult to say what art docs profit spinofTs to openly for the United Slates tha n, say, what the federal seek special appropriations government docs. You can look up all federal earma rks. The total busincssin the budgct. which is nowSJ .8Irillion. will quickly outpace the Federal a rts funding comcs (0 Jess than $176 NEA 's current budget. and million. which is 0.00005 of the whole, and is the money will go to those also a small fraction (probably 0.04) of all the who have " access." moncy spent in America on ·' art." So we sta n with a fun­ It is casicr to idcntify what the National I~ l mcntalJ NEA purpose: it Endowment for the Arts does. America has al­ is the " United Way" of ways had art, and always will. The idea for arts funding. It gives Can­ federal funding for it came in with thc Ncw Deal gressan excuse to So1.y no to ~- and went out again before World War II with L ______....!...l ______-' the firms of Arnold & Por- Congressional concern over ' 'un-American" art ter, Hill & Knowlton. and all the folks that don' t and artists. The NEA was founded in 1965 and use cabs to get around the District. Unlike them, recently passed its 25th anniversary and its role the NEA spreads the wealth 10 regions and in­ has changed over time. It was proposed by John come levels thai don't, orcan't. lobby effecti vely. F. Kennedy to move America toward cultural Funding the orga ni7... 1lionai side of Ameri­ staturecommensurale with its postwar power. It can art is by far the biggest piece of the NEA 's emcrged under Richard Nixon as the core of a budget. not picturcsofprivate parts. These infra­ national arts funding network, leveraginga grow­ structure gra nts a re generally about six fi gures, ing nonfedcral sector, vastly bigger than itself, and arc obtained through tough scrutiny and through matching grants. competition. But they arc also subject to multiples Iflhe NEA were dismantled today, the nel­ of nonfederal matching funds. For the past 25 work would largely remain. Its funding policies yc.1.rs. the NEA has been building a national arts in thc 70s a nd 80s encouragcd the " cloning" of infrastructure with steadily increasing budgets. Fred Kellogg was NE4 mini-NEAs in c" cry statc a nd in thousands of general counsel/rom until a seri esofrelativc1y small grants in\"ol\·ing American cilics a nd towns. These sta te and local /986-89. Recent(y, 24 new art threatened the agency's very existence. agencies coordinate artistic activitics loc..1.lIy in 0/ Kellogg's oil Ifthe NEA had simply suspended grants for much the same way the NEA does nationally and new art right after the Reverend Wildmon heard paintings were shown oftcn ha\'econtro\'ersial grants as well. But while about Andres Serrano's NEA-funded " Piss at the Carega Foxley an objectionable -- or merely ugly - work can Christ" in 1989, there would have been much less Leach Gallery in thre.1len funding. local art politics iscloser 10 real irreparable damage. The " arts community" lifc Iha n the histri onics on Capitol Hill. It tends Washington. o.c. would have been displeased by a suspension. but to lake inlo account th ings li ke the efTccl on

TIle RIPON FORUM 8 Jllly/AI/glm 1991 tourism and recreation from an active city orstate ccpted today. could get funding. arts program. What hasbeenoccurringsincelhelate 1980s Rcpublicans prcfcr this kind of reali ty, but has brought aspects of the NEA system into thcy will tolerate a federal program if it makcs question. First. the decentralization of structure sense for another reason -- like doing something while heavily favoring the wealthier urban and essential thc states simply can't or won't do. suburban arc.1S, now provides vastly more re­ When the NEA was founded, national arts fund­ sources for artistic eareers than existed in 1%0. ing was unorganized and hapha7..ard. Incrc.1S­ More and more, art is independent of the tradi­ ingly, emerging artists can find financial and tional centers of criticism and evaluation. The other support from a state or local arts council. So infrastmcturc the NEA has built has multiplied why docs thc NEA nccd to continuc funding new its constituency and created more voices and new art if that is what is causing all the trouble? demands. The reason usually givcn is that it is difficult, T h is incipient Icgall y, to dissociate thc NEA organi zational plurali7..ation has re­ NEA Quick Facts funding from new art funding. This is tricky, but inforced a second de­ it can be donc. The reason lying behind that velopmcnt, the frac­ Recently, the American Arts reason is that too many peoplc arc unwilling to turing and decline of Alliance sent 3M Post-;t notes to every relinquish the noHon that therc is, or that thcre the cu ltural avant­ member of the U. S. Senate and House needs to be, something akin to a consensual garde. The modernist of Representatives. At the bottom of national standard fo r artistic excellencc. That movement was decid· each note, a fact about the NEA was notion was crucial to the NEA's building years edly,and purposefully printed in an attempt to get their (and it is rcncctcd in John Frohnmaycr 's com­ apolitical -- in reac­ message posted on the desks of ments to the Forum) but I don 't think it is tion toan eraofWcst­ legislators and Hill staffers. Some of necessal)' any more -- and I also don't think it is crnart chargcdbypoli­ the interesting facts are: true. tics. A new cycle is The NEA is an impressivc placc. Its " bu­ underway and art is (. Every year, individual taxpayers rc.1 ucrats" arc among the least bureaucratic and becoming political pay $1,137.28 for the military, $201 best-informed in any federal agency. For a quar­ again. for education and 68 cents for the ter-century they have been drawn from, and arc in The current poli· arts. daily contact with, the best-known artists and arts tici7..ation of art is rc­ *> More tickets are sold every year administrators throughout the Un ited States. Thc inforced by a growing to dance perfonnances than to stafT then recruits these people for the NEA perccptionamongart­ National Football League games. panels that review grant applications. The panels ists that two tradi­ <* In 1989, the NEA awarded $119 and stafT servc not only thc Chair ofthe NEA, but tional critics of po li ti­ million in grants for the arts which report to thc National Council on thc Arts, a 26- cal wisdom, academia leveraged $1 .36 billion in private member body that meets four timcs a year. The and the neYo'S media, funding. Council advises the Chair, but does not havc final have lost their objec­ *> America's military bands receive say in the grants. tivity, in P<1rt. though $203 million a year in funding, $28 This defined community has, in essence, tics 10 and contacts million more than the entire budget been the nation's art growers from 1965 until with the Washington for the NEA. now. It had to be small to be efficicnt, and it had establishment. There to be cfficient to dcvelop a national arts nctwork is a feeling that only art is left to around a relatively small annual federal appro­ tell the tmth. priation. Congrcssional oversight has properly, I do not think it would be a tragedy if the although incomplctely, encou ra ged geographic NEA got out of the business offunding new art. diversity. While most of the funds have gone to Killing NEA funding would, however. devastate bui ::.. infrastructure, the fraction for new art has the smallcst and least known arts organi7..ations, been carefully screened by a small, but growing inhibit the crc.1tion of new ones and ab ruptly end network of committed professionals. It is this the " democratization" of the American arts privilegc that has kepi them and their expanding funding system. That is why an arts endowment constituency invol"ed. I do not think. an arts is most valuable, and why the NEA should be infrastructure could have been built as well or as reauthorized. quickly without a federal program, or indeed this So is America's " leadership in the rcalm of particular program -- even if it was run by a ideas" really threatened by the attacks on the privileged few. For yea rs, the NEA was the only place that important new art fonns, wholl y ac- See VIEW on page 21 July/August 1992 9 'llie RIPON FORUM Not Saving the Endangered ITf hlS session. members of Congress will have being spent to enhance it. they deserve an answcr 10 decide on the re;mthorization of the En­ to this most fundamental question. dangered Species Act. Being an election year, The U.S. Fishand Wildlife Scrvicc'sJul y '91 BENJAMIN W. conventional wisdom has been that lawmakers issue of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife PATTON ASKS: may do an end-around and simply rc-appropriate and Plants states that " the principle goal ofFish COULD THE funding through Novcmber elections and then and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fish­ examine it more seriously at a laterdatc. Judging e ri es Service is to return listed species to a point ENDANGERED from Congressional hearings which have already at which protection under the Act is no longer SPECIES ACT taken place, we can expect debate over the Act to required ." reach histori c levels before a ll is said and donc. The conccpt seems si mple enough. A plant HAVE Not surprisi ngly, debate over the Act has or animal is in dangcr of extinction. it is listed. WORKED? been controversial and has focused on its impact recovered, and then removed from the list. Most on jobs, taxes and private property ri ghts. In the Americans probably assume this is how the Act public's percepti on works. After all, the Endangcred Species Act there are two sides de­ must be good fo r endangered species. ri ght? bating the issue: one Not nccessmily. hoping to protect, A look at the recovery record reveals perhaps strengthen and rellffirm the most significant but least understood fact the Act as the crown about the ESA; so far, it has not accomplished jcwel of environmental what Congress designed it to do back in 1973 -­ Icgislation and as a not even oncc. Sincc the Act's passage, only four " safety net" for those species have been officially delisted as "recov­ specics being lost as an ered." However, three of these are birds, which unintended conse­ arc limited to the U.S. Trust Territory of Palau quenceof economic ac­ Island about 500 miles east of the Philippines; tivity. The other side and a 1989 GAO report states that " according to hopes to rcform the Act Fish & Wildlife officials. although listed as "re­ in ordcr to defend pri­ covered." the three Palau species owe their re­ vate property ri ghts, covery more to the discovery of additional birds jobs and economic ac­ than to successful recovery efforts." ti vity. Supporters of the This leaves only the Rydberg milk-vetch. Act are often billed as Although this plant. found in Utah. was also beinganti-progrcss and offi cially deli stcd as a " recovery," " data error" anli-growth. Reform­ would have been more appropriate grounds for its ers, on the other hand, delisting. As the Federal Register stated upon arc often derided as be­ delistingofthe milk-vetch, " From 1984 through inggreedyand wasteful 1987 the majority of potential habitat was inven­ fo r not simply dropping tories. Twelve major population centers were everything. including located and mapped. These populations cover their source of income over 2,000 acres ... indicalling] population num­ and Ii vclihood, 10 preserve the environment at bers well over 300,000 individuals." Although any cost. the American alligator remainson the list only by As we approach the twentieth anniversary of similarity of appearance to the crocodile, some the law. perhaps we should be asking a much claim it as a success. However. it too probably more basic question about the ESA which many does not qualify as a bona fide recovery since it seem to have overlooked. That is si mply, " docs it most likely did not originally merit protection work and docs the Endangered Species Act re­ according to Florida game officials, a state where Benjamin W. Pallon is cover species?" After alL recovering species is there may be as many as a million gators. All of Deputy Director and what the Act was ostensibly intended to do. So, if which means that after nearly two decades, there co-founder of the Americans truly care about nature, and if they is no unquestionable case in which the Endan­ National Wilderness care to know cxacLly how their tax dollars are gered Specics Act has achieved its slated goal. Institute. lbe RIPON FORUM 10 JillylAug!lSI1992 The National Wilderness Institute has ex· pressed this criticism on several occasions only to LEITERS Jerry Brown's ToniE have it dismissed as " unscientific." In spite of compcllingevidencc to the contrary , defendersof EDITOR the Act still claim that " We know best. You just Simpler Flat Tax don't understand," though this is precisely the The Editor: attitude of whieh folks outside the Beltway are The flat tax concept is not generic to Jerry tiring. Many supporters of the ESA argue thatlhe Brown. While the double·tier rate by Governor Act functions as a " safety net," and that even Brown's admission is not flawless, instead of though there may be few, if any, recoveries, losing the message by "shooting the messcn· undeniable progress is being made. Based on all ger," let the Americ.1n taxpayer, for the first currently available data, not even the "safcty time, take center stage, and net" thcory can be substantiated. Based on care· engage in constructive investi· ful review, both independent ly and through gation and debate 011 bringing meetings with ranking Fish & Wildlife officials, about a fairer and simpler sys· the National Wilderness Institute (NWl), an en· tem. Hong Kong has a 15 per­ vironmental policy and research group in Wash· cent flat tax rate on individual ington. has determined that the Sen 'ice's state· income, and it appears to be ment in its 1990 Report to Congress on the working. Endangcred and Threatened Species Rct:overy While critics may attack Program that. "thosespecies listed longer appear Gov. Brown's message, is there to have a better chancc of becoming stable or anyone willing to stand up and improving" cannot be backed up statistically. In defend the system we have now other words. there is no available data proving as fair, equitable and adequate that a species under federal protection is ncccs· to meet our revenue needs? We sarily beller off than one left unprotected. cannot have true spending re· There is more to this alrcady disturbing form without refining our rev· story. Using the s.1me figures and methodoiogyof enue needs. the 1990 Audit by the Department of Interior's Dan R. Ritchie Inspector General. NWI has calculated that the Director ofDevelopmcnt projected cost to American taxpayers to imple· Somerset House, Inc. ment recovery of all those candidate and listed Chevy Chase, Md. endangered and threatened species under current approaches would require from $6.6 billion to Good Balance $8.1 billion. Also, it is important to note that these The Editor: figures do not include costs of listing. delisting, I read your recent article on Japan Bashing. enforcement, permits, consultation or social and It was very balanced and thoughtful. Perhaps economic costs as a result of listings. these qualities arc not always in vogue but they do Not only is the current approach failing represent good journalism. taxpayers and property owners, but also wildlife. Keep it upl And if something is not working. throwing mil· Joseph Zemke lions more al the problem will not solve it. President and COO Inste.1d, perhaps it is time to demand a greater Amdahl Corporation emphasis on recovering not just listing species, Sunnyvale, Calif. careful scrutiny of proposed listccs toensure their biological uniqueness, and a rotc for the private Thanks for the Boost sector in recovering those species which are truly The Editor: Letters to endangered. Congratulations I To a person struggling to The Ripon Forum are Remember, Congress can name a piece of be rational, The Ripon Forum is like AA to a welcome. Please legislation whatever it pleases. But the fact that in recovering alcoholic. It is nicc to know you are address them (0 thi s case legislators chose the name, "Endan­ not alone. The Ripon Forum gered Species Act " should in no way suggest that the government's endangered species program Bob Delong 709 Second Street N.E. , has or will cverwork in its current form. Com mon Acorn Manufacturing Company Washington, D.C. Mansfield, Mass. sense solutions do exist, but the current approach 20002 may only be taking us farther from them. • JlIlylAlIgJl.Jf 1992 /I The RIPON FORUM COVER STORY Money in Politics

IC I ampaign finance reform is once again teetering at the edge of failure. Both houses of Congress managed to pass a bill and send it to the president, but, just as he had warned, President Bush quickly vetoed the bill, with no chance of an override and little climate for a compromise. This is a shame.

There arc few areas of political reform where lobbyists, and the most observable, reponable, change is morc desirable and action can clearl y and quantifiable evidence of thei r influence is make more of a difference. And there are few campaign contributions. Thcscdonations may 00 areas where both parties. overcoming their myo­ lega l, but their growing size and role in cam­ NORMAN pia, should more directly 00 able to come to a pa igns has led to an overwhelming desire to ORNSTEIN common understanding of how to reform the change the laws, to reduce this special interest system for the beUer. presence. SUGGESTS Whi le real reform has remained elusive, Finally, there is general agrcement that in a HOW there is general consensus on the major deficien­ world of big-money Ct1 mpaigns, challengers arc cies of the system. First of all. campaigns have len out, and incumoonts have unfair ad\'antages. CONGRESS become outrageously expensive; as a result. poli­ Few challengers have the wherewithal or the SHOULD ticians have become obsessed with money. With­ access to resources to mise anywhere ncar the REFORM out money. challengers cannot run efTectively amount of money needed to wage a competitive and incumbents cannot be assured of kccping campaign these days. Incumbents incrCt1s ingly CAMPAIGN their seats. Today's politicians spend enormous have monopolized PAC contribulionS. lhuswors­ FINANCING amounts of time raising money for campaigns, ening the financing problems of challengers. In plotting ways to raise mone)" and thinking about addition, incumbents have built-in advantages, how muc h money they need to raise. This time such as mailing privileges and stafT. which only would surely 00 ootler spent tending to constitu­ add to the obstacles faced by challengers. All of ents needs or wo rking on public policy. this helps toexplain the unbelievably high reelec­ Another major problem with the system is tion rates fo r incumbent members of Congress in that special interests have ga ined an inordinate 1986. 1988 and 1990. amount of influence. The general public is par­ Real reform can beachicved by taking mod­ Nonnan Ornstein is a ticularly sensitive about this issue; people feel erate steps to improve the system from within, resident scholar at the that they have been squeezed out by monied without starving incumbents and challengers American Enterprise interests and no longer have access 10 their rep­ and undermining the public discourse. Nearly Insitufe. resentatives in Congress. Washington isawash in everyone connceted with the political process

111e RIPON FORUM 12 July/A llgllst 1992 understands the shortcomings of the currcnt sys­ PACs without freeing up other sources of moncy tem. But most move from them to a fa tal miscon­ would create a bigger problem. withoul solvi ng ception about their roolS and 10 fau lty assump­ the old one. All candidates, not just incumbents lions about what would cure them. would have an increased burden raising the large The faL.11 misconception is that the problem sums of money needed to communicme effec­ is too much money. Few assertions about politics tively with voters. Eithcr they would become are as widely and readilybeli C\·ed: fewarcas nat­ C\·en more preoccupied wilh raising money. spend­ out wrong. But to start from that assumption leads ingmore time and energy on it than they do now, inevitably to a set of refonns 10 cure it. The most or they would raise and spend less money, nar­ common solution offered by reformers is to re­ rowing the abi lity of candidates to TC.1ch vOlers. move as much money as possible from thc system. Neither would eliminating PACs crase spe­ Some would accomplish this by eliminating PA Cs; cial interest innuence. Long before the creation others by pulling spending caps on campaigns. of PACs, interest E.1c h solution solves the wrong problem and grou ps had access creales a bigger one. a nd innuence in Wash ington. in­ WE NEED MORE CA MPA I GN MONEY deed. much greater The reali ty is we need more money, not less. innuence than they in our camp.1igns. In a vast and heterogeneous have now. But that socicty like the Unitcd States. elections are ex­ was in a pre-reform p::nsive, and have to be. We happen to have a 101 era. before disclo­ of voters. spread out over huge geographical sure of contribu­ exp.1nses. Candidates need to raise lots of money lions enabled us to to runeITeclivecamp.1igns -Ct1mpaigns. in other delail systemati­ words, Ihal adequalely reach voters. A political cally and quantita­ campaign is a cmcial fo mm in a democracy for tively their cash raising issues. dcbatingdiITerences and showcas­ contributio ns to ing problems of governance. But it c."ists not in a Washington. Evcn vacuum but surrounded by a literal bli zzard of ifPACs were elimi­ other infonnation and noise -- 50 or more cable nated. special inler­ TV channels. newspaper and radio adYertising. eSlSwould continue computer information systems. direct mail and so to exert their in11u­ on-- that all makes il difficult to get any meSs.1ges c nce. As James across. As any commercial advertiser could at­ Madison noted in test. to do so costs considerable sums of money. Federalist 10, spe- The trick is to make it the ri ght kind. and make it cial interests are a more accessible. part of American Unfortunately the current system. designed democracy's genetic code. in considerable part by the 5.1me reformers who Thai is not to argue Ihat we should si mply decry it. makes raising money in any form espc­ throw up our hands and accept any system of cia ll ~ difficult. For example. the single largest overt influencepcddIing. It is to say that since we rea~n for the sharp growth in PACs has been cannot crase the innuence or role of special previous " reforms" that cut theamount of money interests. reforms must bedesigned with a differ­ in camp.1igns and made it more difficult for ent goal in mind. We need to channel Ihat candidates to raise money from small individual influence ina more ba lanced way. creating more donors. For candidatC5 needing to raise the avenues for rank-and-file ,roters and bro.1der $400.000 or so required for an average eompeti­ interests to tilt the playing field away from an thre House camp.1 ign, orthe several million nec­ ovcr-reliancc on narrow special interests and eSS3I)' fora Senate racc. PACS --easily accessible their money. in Washington. in business spccifical\y 10 give But simply eliminating PACs without crcat­ money. and with much higher limits than indi­ ing compcns.1 ting changes to loosen restrictions viduals -- have become increasingly allracti vc. on other kinds of money will be counterprodue­ Eliminating or sharply reducing the role of tivc. The compelling nced candidales havc for PACs may well be desirable. given our concern wi th special interest innuencc. But to eliminate REFORM continues on next page

Jllly/Allgllst 1991 /J The RIPON FORUM PACs Not the Problem REFORMJrom previous page How then can we achieve genuine campaign campaign resources would increase, not abate. finance reform, that is, reform that would reduce Rather than eliminating PACs. some re­ special interest in1luence, reduce the intense formers would prefer to place caps on campaign preoccupation with raising money, and open the spending. Advocates of this approach belicve it doors to quality challengers to make elections would reduce the obsession with moncy, give more competitive? challengers more opportunity by reducing the What we need to do is provide easier paths to huge leads that well -off incumbents have, and the " right" kind of moncy (the kind that no trim special interest influence by cutting the reasonable person would call tainted) for all overall moncy in the process. candidates. easier access to "seed money" for Acapon spending might reduccacandidate's new candidates to get a Congressional campaign ability to communicate with voters, but it would under way, and methods to reduce the cost bur­ not reduce special interest influence, merely re­ dens of campaigns without restricting the com­ channel it. And it would have the opposite effect munications vital to democratic elections. The of its intentions on incumbents and challengers. plan outlined below would achieve all of those The problem fo r most challengers has not been goals with a few simple steps. how much an incumbent has, but rather how little the challenger can raise to ovcrcome the over­ REFORMING THE SYSTEM whelming threshold of name recognition and Fi rst, a full lax credit for smail, in-state issue communication required to reach a huge contributions should be enacted. The best kind of constituency. money to have in campaigns is small contribu­ tions from individual citizens from a candidate's Slate. A 100 percent tax credit for in-state contri­ ~ IFive Steps To Cleaning Up Campaignsl butions of $200 or less would make it easy fo r candidates to solicit money from average citi­ .:. FULL TAX CREDIT FOR SMALL, IN STATE CONTRIBU· zens. and would add considerably tathe incentive TIONS: Would make it easy to solicit money from individual for citizens to contribute to campaigns -- a nice citizens and would give people a much needed incentive to get way to gct them involved in democracy. involved in the political process. In addition to enacting a tax credit. a match­ ing fund process should be established for these .:. ESTABLISH A MATCHING FUND FOR IN STATE CON· in-state contributions. This would serve as a TRIBUTIONS: This would be a major incentive for candidates major incent ive for candidates to raise " good" to raise funds from the people they would be representing and money. A threshold could be sct, at say $25.000. not from special interests. A threshold could weed out non­ in order to weed out non-serious candidates. serious candidates. Once over that limit, candidatcs would get fed­ eral matching funds for every contribution orthis -:- CUT THE LEVEL OF PAC CONTRIBUTIONS: Cutting the son. limit on PAC donations from $5,000 to $2,000. This would With these tworcforms, Congressional can­ reduce the influence of special interests but keep their partici­ didates would suddenly have a major incentive to pation in observable and legitimate roules. raise money in small individual contributions from their own state's voters, tilting the playing <. ESTABLISH A " SEED MONEY" MECHANISM: Raise field sharply away from PACs and toward " av­ individual contribution limits to $10,000 for a certain number of crage" people. donations. To avoid abuse, require extensive disclosure of A third element of the plan would be to cut donors and limit large donations to early in the campaign to allowable PAC contributions. PACs can cur­ avoid "sandbagging" late in the game. rently contribute up Lo $5.000 per election (pri­ mary or general) to a candidate. Cutting the limit <- REFORM POLITICAL ADVERTISING RATES: Require to 52,000 would greatly alter incentives for can­ radio and television stations to offer the lowest cost commer­ didates and open up a major new flow of funds cial rates for political advertisements. This would Significantly into campaigns. reduce the cost of federal campaigns. Rcducing PAC contributions to individual campaigns would not el iminatc PAC in1luence; lllC RIPON FORUM /4 Ju ly/August 1992 no doubt, ma ny interests would try to find other have a full opportunity to weigh the appropriate­ ways to enhance their e10ut in politics. perhaps ness a nd impact of the contributions during the through the soft money or " bundling" of contri­ campaign. In fact, these contributions would butions from different sources. But enhanced have the ironic benefit of providing non-weal thy disclosure would hcJp to counter that tendency. as candidates with a counier to the unl imil ed spend­ would a beefed-up enfo rcement arm for the now­ ing allowed by independently wealthy candi­ toothless Federal Election Commission. dates. More importantly. keeping PACs a li ve but reducing their clout would keep most interest involvement in campaigns channeled imo ob­ THERE IS A GENERAL AGREEMENT sen 'able and legitimate roules, but roules with a THAT IN A WORLD OF BIG MONEY much lower volume of traffic. The fourth component of the plan would be CAMPAIGNS, CHALLENGERS ARE to insta ll a " seed money" mechanism. This wou ld be accomplished by rai sing individual LEFT OUT AND INCUMBENTS contribution limits to $ 10.000. with some restri c­ tions and allowing candidatcs to raise up to HAVE UNFAIR ADVANTAGES. $ 100,000 in early contributions of $1 ,000 or more. REFORM TEI.. EVIStON COSTS One of the goals of campaign fina nce reform Finally, the plan includes a p ro, ~s i on which has to be to enable challengers to "get over the would require television and radio stations to hump." i.e. to raise start-up funds to create an provide the lowest-

REFORM /rom previous page made their big contributions here. This is what is generally meant by soft money. In 1988, there granted valuable licenses by the government to was at 1c.1st one contribution that exceeded dominate public airwaves, should be able to take $500,000. That wenl. via state parties, to the advantageofdemocracybycharginghigherpriccs Republican Party; in 1986, Joan Kroc, the widow to candidates than they do to commercial adver­ of the founder of the McDonald's Hamburger tisers. At the same time, by targeting the lowest franchise, gave $1,000,000 in soft money 10 Ihe rates to commercials of one minute or more, we Democratic Party. In all, fundraisers for both would discourage campaigns from relying ever presidential candidates in 1988 raised around more heavi ly on the 15- or 30-second " hit-and­ $25 million each in soft money. The recent and run" spots that have become so popular, and so controversial " President's Dinner" in Wash­ negative. ington is the latest example of big soft money This seri es of reforms would improve the lot contributions. of candida Ie sand generally create a more healthy The money 10 stale and local parties is oSlensibly for state and local purposes. But get­ THE REALITY THAT NO GOOD out-the-vote and votcr registration drives, poll­ ing efforts and party advertisements arc all ways REFORM CAN WORK WITHOUT in which this money can be used to benel"it federal candidates -- congressmen. senators, and presi­ PUBLIC MONEY ... OUGHT TO BE dential hopeful s -- at the s..1 me time. The soft moncy loophole is also one that enables corpora­ ACCEPTED BY REPUBLICANS. tions, unions and foreign nationals to contribute in many states, usually without any extensive political and camp.1ign process. It docs not ad­ disclosure. dress the role and health of the po li tical parties. Current campaign finance laws were de­ There have been proposals to inject more life into signed to limit the size of individual donations in the parties by making them the conduits for order to prevent individuals from buying access money and the allocators of telcvision time into or innuence. However, the soft moncy loophole congressional campaigns. Given the widely dis· has enabled the parties 10 sol,icit millions of parate strength and sophisti cation ofl ocal parties dollars from wealthy individuals and powerful around the count!)', this would have uneven and interests. Senale reformers arc willing to limit perhaps destructive effects. The campaign fi­ soft money contributions, whi le House mcmbers nance system cannot tum a system with weak and have been reluctant to do so. This may be due in decentrali zed pan ies into one with strong, vi­ part to the fact that House members, because they brant and unified parties, and it would be a run for office more frequently, have more to gain mistake to try to use reform as a vehicle to from coordinated campaigns run by the state accomplish that goa\. party and designed to benefit the entire party At the same time, it would be an equal ticket. As it stands now. the laws vary from state mislake to rush to reform "soft money" oul of to state and are, on the whole, extremely lenient. existence, without considering the unintended There is a dilemma inherent in the debate consequences of such a chauge for the parties. To over soft money. Any serious limitations on this many erstwhile refonners, the problem is in fact type offundraising would likely have theelfect of soft money. The New )'ork Timescallssofi money weakening parties on e"eT)' level . What many "sewer money" in its editorials calling for more critics of soft money do not reali ze is that most of campaign finance reform. the money nowing into parties these days comes from the unlimited contributions made at the THE ROLE OF SOFT MONEY state and local leveL Those who advocate the What is soft money? Federal elcction laws do elimination of soft money would also like to see not regulate the states and thus do not control thc the parties strengthened. The former is not likely state and local parties. Contrib utions to them arc to lead to the laUer. lfwe are interested in keeping not limited or disclosed -- and big givers, the so· our parties from going out of existence alto­ called " fat cats" of American politics, have gether, more prudent reforms in thisarca, includ-

'Illc RIPON FORUM /6 Jilly/Augrm 1992 ing some limits on contributions. some changes 1990 elC(:tion cycle were S 150 million. Assum­ in the definition of coordinated campaign activi ­ ing some dropoff in contributions caused by the ties between local and congressional parties and tax. it is still re.1sonable to expect that a 100 candidates, and fuller disclosure of soft monC)' percent tax on PAC donations could raise S 100 to contributions. makes more sense than the whole­ $120 million. That in andofitsclfwould pay for sale change recommended bytheNew York Times a $50 to $100 tax credit per American and might and Common Cause. even make it pol itically feasible to have a $200 credit. USING THE PUB/~ / C'S MONEY Of course PACs won't welcome such a pro· Enacting this series of reforms would ad­ posal, nor will campaign reform purists. who dress each of the major concerns we now have would prefer to see PACs eliminated altogether. about the campaign finance system. We would tilt PACs may try to scuttle any efforts at campaign the system away from an increasi ngly heavy fin ance reform. However. given thecurrent pres­ reliance on special interest money. restoring more sure fo r reform. from inside and outside of Con­ balanccto the policy process and moreofa role for gress, PACs would be better off accepting this rank-and-file voters. We would make il easier for type of compromise than risking their total de­ politicians, incumbenlsand challengers alike, to mise. raise the money necessary to run effective ca m­ A second source of money could come from paigns in our large and diversc democracy, wi th­ a user fcc on television adve rt ising. Television oul having to demea n or prostitute themselvcs in advertising represents the single biggest and the process. or totum their attention unduly away fast est rising cost of campaigning today. Televi­ from policy making concerns. sion stations and outlets ha\'e gamered huge 1n addition, we would break the logjam of sums of revcnue fro m political campaigns. Re­ non-

.·r·.··-;·-~ America, men crcatea popular back­ apparent man shortage. , .. ' , , lash psychology. The insidious na­ In a chapter on the history of backlash,

. .. _. ~ .~C!,.\' 'i. ture of any backlash movement is Faludi says these thcmesand scare tactics surface grounded in its ability to portray repeatedly during each wave of female repres­ newly-gained strengths as weak­ sion. She questions and di scredits the reliability nesses and sources of anxiety. of current scicntific studies and countcrs c.1ch She exposes the al most-Apartheid with statistics on men 's mcntal health. marriage magnitude of the current bncklash -­ opportunities and fertility. the domination ofthe majori ty by the Faludi thcn moves from the gcnder-based hcavil y-anned minority. While the arcna to thc political environmcnt and analyzes white South Africans are el imi nating thc growing gender gap in federal and state repressive laws from the books, the elcctions, the New Ri ght/conservative Republi­ American government is stripping can movement. the state of women in politics and away equal opportunity laws and re­ the possibility ofa third party. Here she says both ducing ri ghts, most notably the ri ght Republican and Dcmocratic women need a toan abortion. Like the native blacks support system for women candidates within the in South Africa, American women boundarics of the two political parties. Clc.1 r cut comprisc over half the U.S. popula­ examples arc the creation and success of fund­ Bncklash:The tion. There arc more women than men enrolled raising networks such as the Republ ican WISH Undeclared War in colleges and universities, rcgistered to vote, (Womcn in the Senate and House) List and the Again .~t American and in front of the television. Dcmocrats' counterp.1rt EMIL V's (Early Money Women In Backlash , Faludi carefully examines why Is Like Yeast.) List. By Susan Faludi. popular psychology, poli tics and thc media are The government is full of contradictions. Crown Publishers, following their own agcndas rather than recog­ Faludi says. At a time whcn womcn arc told that $24.00. nizing the wants and needs of contemporary their chief responsibility is to bear healthy chil­ dren, government has cut funding for prenatal care. She complements this argument by discuss­ ing the contradictory lives of many leading anti­ BACKLASH IS A BENCHMARK IN feminists. An example Faludi uses is George WOMEN'S STUDIES AND A Gilder, fonner Ripon Forum editor. who was ousted from thc moderate Ripon Society after MANIFESTO ON CURRENT SOCIAL writing an anti-feminist picce on child care. In most cases, anti-feminists and their spouscs hold CONDITIONS THAT MOVES demanding jobs so domestic responsibilities must be shared. But Faludi remainsobjcctiveand BEYOND THE GENDER QUESTION. claims leading female anti-fe minist often put thcir careers before fam il y obligations. women. In fact, it is these three influences which The weakest point of the book is Faludi's have been promoting a " neotraditionalism," as claim that many outspoken anti-feminists are Faludi labels il. that encouragcs the return of the motivated by "simple spite." This reasoning submissive fe male and the man as the sole brcad­ sccmswcak andspeculative. No individual woman winncr and unquestioned head of the household. can deny she's experienced thc effects of back- Through the derivatives ofthesc influences, such as "studies" and talk shows, women are See BACKLASH on page 21

The RIPON FORUM 18 JlI ly/Arlgllst 1992 Illuminating the Future BOOK Review by Bill Tate liberating victory over superstition. By the end of REVIEWS the nineteenth century, the West was fi lled wilh n the front of my grandmother's Bible is "A the confidence that it had, ifnol all the answers, l!JT Chronological Table of Jewish and Contem­ at least the means to discover them, both with porary History." The first dale listed is 4004 B.C. regard to nalure and to huma n history. and the event in history given beside it is " Cre­ It is not necessary to have climbed out of the ation of the World." The fact that the chronology trenches that first morning on the Somme, or had could be found in most Bibles of the time is a sister whose ashes were shoveled illustrative of the pcculiarprcoccupation Ameri­ out ofan oven at Buchenwald, a brother cans have with history. who went down with the Ari zona or a Opening with the words' 'in the beginning" mother incinerated al Hiroshima, to and concluding with the vision orthc new JCruS.1- recognize how naive that confidence lern " coming down out ofhcavcn" at the end of was. In the wake ofthesc events, the time in Revelation 21.lhc Bible is unique among West was left nostalgic for a biblical major religious holy books in purporting to be an vision of history as linear and pur­ account of the whole of history. Here, God sets poseful: at the same time, it found history in motion, guides its course, and will itselfbereft of any hope of extracting bring it to a preordained conclusion. any larger meaning from thecourscof From this biblical tradition we inherited an its experience. innate sense of history as linear. rather than The result, Francis Fukuyama cyclical as it was for the ancient Greeks and the writes. is that " our deepest thinkers religious traditions of the East. Moreover, history have concluded that there is no such is of vital concern because of our sense it is the thing as History -- that is, a meaning­ arena in which the meaningofexisteneeis worked ful order to the broad sweep of huma n oul. For us, history remains the ultimate reali ty, events." And it is this conclusion he and not merely the flickering shadows ofideas on sets out to challcnge in The End the wall of Plato's cave or the essentiall y illusory History and the Last Man. realm revealing the " dharma," or ultimate law Thebook had its inception in a much debated By Francis Fukayama. of all things of Buddhism and Hinduism. article entitled " The End of History?, ' published The Free Press, As long as the Bible was read as a literal in 1989. In it, Fukuyama a rgued that liberal $24.95 account oftheactsofGod. the meaning ofprcscnt democracy may represent " the end point of events was understandable in terms oftheir place mankind's ideological e"olution" and the' ' final along the time line of the Bible. For most, how­ form of human government," a nd thus could be ever, by the midpoint of the twcntieth eentury any sense of meaningful continuity in history was lost. THE IMPORTANT QUESTION TO This loss occurred in stages. In the first, archeology and linguistics raised questions about ASK IS WHETHER THIS BOOK the sources of the biblical texts as well as about the CLARIFIES THE PRESENT AND information they contained. This took place in a larger context in which the rise ofseienee revolu­ ILLUMINATES THE FUTURE. tionized the way in which we think about the \vorld and our place in it. Human reason and not THE ANSWER IS YES. Scripture became the ultimate authority. The direction in which meaning is sought said to mark ' 'the end of history." His current was reversed. History no longer look its meaning book attempts to describe what would have to be by extrapolation from seripture. Rather, the Bible the case about history and human nature for this was secn as a historical a rtifact the meaning of to be true. which was to be determined in the same way the Modem natural science provides Fukuyama meaning of any other such artifact would be: by with the fi rst of the concepts he will need. Of the human reason employing the scientific method. This revolution was initially greeted as a LAST MAN continued on next page

Jllly/Augllst 1992 /9 The RIPON FORUM Human Nature is Desire and Reason nature. LAST MAN continued from previolls page Fukuya ma begins with Hobbes and Locke entire range of human endeavor. he wri tes, it is and the Anglo-Saxon tra dition from which our " the only one that is by common conscnsus founders drew muc h of their political philoso­ u nequh'ocally cumulative and di rcctional. •• Thus phy. That tradition saw human nalureasconsist­ it is the ' 'Mechanism" creating historical change ing of desire and reason. Reason made possible that is both directional and universal, fi rst be­ our entering into the social compact on which cause it confers ' 'a decisive militaryadva ntageon society is based and our motivation for doing SO those societies that can develop. produce, and arose out of the desire for self-preservation. deploy tC(;hnology most effecti vely." The TC.1\ or Fukuya ma bel ieves this understanding of human perceived need for nations to arm themselves natu re is inadequate because it cannot account for with the latest weaponry has theeITcct of creating our freedom to choose more than the open-ended a univers..11 social structure. That is, over time the pursuit of increasingly meaningless wea lth . so-called amlS ra ce can be seen to be produci ng a For what he believcs is a more adequatc world-wide culture in which the differences be­ understanding of human nature he turns to the twetn societies are gradually narrowing. German philosopher Hegel and his French inter­ The second way in which modem science preter Alexandre Kojcve. Aecording to these produces change and incrcased coherence is thinkers, human nature possesses a third cle­ " through the progressive conquest of nature for ment. that of " thymos. " which Fukuyama vari ­ mIsty describes as " that part of man which feds the need to placevalueon things - himselfin the THE END OF HISTORY AND THE first instance. but on the people. actions. orthings around him as well:" as " an innate human sense LAST MAN IS NOT A JUSTIFICATION of j ustice:" and ultimately settles on " the desire OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY for recognition." It is the struggle to satisfy this aspect of our DURING THE COLD WAR. na tu re. our " thymos" understocx:l as " the desire for recogni tion, .. that Fukuya ma identifies as the IT'S A CRITIQUE. engine dri ving political change and thus as Ihe counterpart of science in the economic realm . the pU TpoSCofsatisfyi ng human desires. a projC(;t The historical movement " thymos" compels we otherwise call economic development ." culminatcs in li beral democracy, he concludes. Whctherby making possible increascd cropyiclds because the purest and therefore most desirable or fa st foods. vaccines or VCRs, here. too, the form of " recognition" is that freely given by effect technology has had is one of moving its other frcc individuals. users in the direction ofcver increasing cultural A brief sketch cannot do j ustice to the rich­ uniformity. nessof Fukuyama'sargument and upon a super­ In other words. by freeing increasing num­ fi cial reading The End of History and the Last bers fro m the grip of necessity. science has cre­ /I.·(an would seem to have had its bricfmoment in ated an incipient universal consumer cul ture. the prideful aflennath of Ollr foreign policy and Fukuyama concludes science ca n thus becredited military triumph in the Persian Gulf. Now. with with selling in motion the dcvelopment of a the fate ofthe nascent free market democracies of world-wide capitalist, free enterprise economic Eastern Europcand the former Soviet Union very S)'stem, because that system has proven most muc h in doubt. and particularly with the pol itical cffective in s.1 tisfying the evcH xpanding needs institutions and claims to economic and racial of this emerging global society. cqua lity of the United States in di srepute, Fukuyama also concludes the togie of sei­ Fukuya ma's argument could dismi ssed as at best cnceonl y provides for an economic interpretation inane and at worst simply silly. of hi story. Although there appears tobe a propen­ To do SO would be a mistake. sity for capitalist consumerism to go hand in hand The book is neither an apologia for with democracy, he finds no neceS5.1ry connec­ Reaganomics nor a justification of American lion betwccn the IwO. An understanding of his­ foreign po licy during the Cold War. In fa ct. it's tory that includes its political dimension must involve a complementary examination of human LAST MAN continued on faCing page

The RIPON FORUM ]0 lilly/A I/gust 1991 Understanding the Present Government LAST MAN /rom the facing page consider. Until wcundcrtakcthcintellcc- tual effort to which he challenges us, our Control Over critique of the laller is among the most foreign policy wi ll continue lObe chaotic interesting parts of the book. Neither should the book be dismissed as irrcl- ~~:m~~:~ : ':r ~~~-e~"'~~I::I~lcstiC policy Art Dangerous evant because it attempts to arrive at the Toaskin turn whcthcr his answers to abstract first principles on which being th 1.. . . . h FROHNMAYER firoll'paoe 7 esc UdSIC questIOns arc ng t or wrong, C> and acting might be sa id to rcsl, rather or the developments he singles out for , than addressing the life-a nd-death prob- agree with that. examination good or bad. is to obscure MR lems people arc facing in rca llifc. . FROHNMA YER: I think there the value of what Fukuyama has aceom- . In times of crisis like that which IS some truth to that. but my view is that plished. The first and most important h h d ' , currently faces the United States. our l ear n ghlis nol anappeasableenlity, queslion 10 ask of Ihis sort of book is h h propensity is to " shoot first and ask t alt cycontinuetowantmoreandmore whether it is helpful in clarif)'ing oue d f h ' questionslaler."Theinevitablc result, as an more 0 t elf agenda. and it's an undefstanding of the prescnt and in iIIu- d ' h h po li ticians perennially prove. is the self- agen a whle , I t ink. is extraordinarily minating new options for the future. The h " I perforation of our pedal extremities. arm.u to the country. answer is definitely yes. The End o/His- A d I ' Fukuyama suggests we reverse the order n , .or one. am not prepared to tory and the Last Man deserves a wide and ask again the sort of basic questions ceed the Republican Party to the hard and careful reading. • . h I we havet>cencitherunwillingorafraid to n g t. think that the moderate Republi- ______--' =-______~ cans. thoscwhoarepreparcd totryto look out for someoneelse's interests, as well as theirown, have been the great st rength of Backlash is a Benchmark this Party. And it wou ld be a tragedy for conducted research. the President and for the Party if the only BACKLASH/rom page 18 Backlash isabcnchmark in women's vOices. t h at were paid attention to were lash. whether through inequitable salary studies and a manifesto on current social those who screamed the loudest -- the ratios or nagging self-doubt. The few conditions that moves beyond the gender hard ri ght. outspoken are probably lesssobecauseof question. It's not a "man-hating" book RiPON FORUM: Do you see some anger but more so because of the perva- or a call to burn bras. The blame, accord- o/the political pressure coming off the sive need for justice and equality. ing to the author. is shared by men and NEA after lI'e get through this election in Her writing is clear and the author women alike -- men for perpetuating November? uses recent examples to illustrate her myths and resisting change and women MR. FROHNMA YER: It 's possible. case. Even young women will relate with for failing to wage a united fronl. And I think that there may be some her references to " thinysomething" and Overall, Faludi prcscntsa non-apolo- political pressure that comes ofT of it the now-discredited Harvard-Yale study gcticargumentwithcompcllingcvidencc. because of my departure because I have claiming shrinking marriage opportuni- The resemch is thorough and well-pre- become a TC.:11lightning rod. But I think ties for educated single women. Popular scnted. It is refreshing that Faludi main- that as long as the agency acts pol itically statistics reinforcing backlash ideas are tains a clear vision despite the sludge- - and my sense is that it is now acting discredited and Faludi is careful todocu- fillcdwaterscreatedbythebaeklashwaste very politically upon my departure -- it's _m_c~n~t ~h~e~r a~s~sc~":.:::io~n~s~,,~, i~th~i~n=d~cpec:::n~d=e~n:tly~-_~p~la:n:t.:..-______:.~ goi ng to be in for political problems becausc yo u reap what you sow. Funding Controversial Art RIPON FORUM What's next Jor John Frohnmayer? the preservation of American folk art, MR. FROHNMA YER: What's next VIEW from page 9 and international artistic exchange -­ for me? I am going to write and I am National Endowment forthe Arts. asMr. that Congress might find worlhy of going to do as much speaking as I can on Frohnmaye r asserts? As my creditability federal support. And insofar as infra­ these issues because ( think the arts en­ with the " arts community" is already structure continues to receive federal dowment has been a microcosm for the shot, I will venture to suggest that il may funds, it should be done with equaliza­ rest of the society and these issues arc not be healthy for creative artists to be tion of access as a central objective. extraordinarily important. And whal looking to the federal govern ment to But this is not a battle for comes after that. I'm not sure. h 's going play the central e\'aluative role as the the survival of artistic free expression. to be nice to have a lillie lime to take a NEA has for the past 2S years. There are lt is a battle over who gets to do the deep breath and see. • certainly some importantactivities--like expressing. •

JrtlylAlIgrl.J1 1992 2/ The RIPON FORUM LISTENING IN Whispers About Town The New York Times did it four times. The Lois Romano. author of " The Reliable Wall Street.lournaf, three. The Washington Post, Source, " said real gossip doesn' t cxist in Wash­ tS. TIME Magazine, six. Newsweek, five, and ington. " Washington is a serious city ". so real MIMI CARTER u.s. News & World Report did it 10 times. gossip just doesn' t make it into the established EXAMINES These arc not the numbers of slories on Bill newspapers. It's morc persona li ty news, the pri­ Clinton's " electability" or Ross Perot's rise in vate lives of poliLicians, vignettes or anecdotes. " WHY THE the poll s, bU I the number of Washington gossip Is Ihis gossip? Many journalists sny that MEDIA PROBE pieces each organiL1tion pri nted during Febru­ Washington gossip hns always bccn nround,just THEPRlVATE ary. not on the front page. Such pieces included bits on presidential " Before, gossip was any infonnation re­ LIVES OF candidate Cli nto n's extramarital affairs, Sen. gnrding the secret, financial or personal life of a POLITICIANS Chuck Robb and hi s escapades, and Sen. Brock political person," said Rudy Maxa, Washington Adams on whether he was or wasn', guil ty of bureau chieffoI' Spy Magazine and fonner Wash­ molesting a fami ly fri end and fonner employcc. ing/on Post reporter. " Outside of that was con­ Over the last few years, the number of col­ sidered out of bounds," umns which rcvolvcaround Washington person­ Many reporters refer to the marital infideli­ alities has increased dramitically. While some ties of the youngest elected president , John F. columns like Newsweek's " Periscope " and U.S Ke nnedy, as the gossip story thaI nevcr nppca red. News " ' Washington Whispers" haveix:cn around They said Kennedy's sexual antics, as wen as longer and have more creditability. new. less other politicians' tete-a-tetes, were considered substantivc columns kccp emerging. Papers like off limits. But it was a man's world then. Maxa The Washington Times and USA Today, always said. " II was more like' Hey, boys will be boys. seem to have less copy and more graphs, so gossip James Bond is our hero, the more you get, the columns are less of a surprise. But within the last better a guy you are, ' " he said. year, the slulTy Washington Post dropped its It was the same thing for members of Con­ " Personalities" column and replaced it with the gress. 5<1id Ri chard T. Kaplar. vicc president of nashier, less subslanliveonecalled the " Reliable The Media Institute, a Washington media re­ Source." The Post also started a new gossi py search and policy group . He said back in the days agency section on the federal pagecallcd " Wash­ when reporters and politicians we re part of the ington Works" detailing the comings and goings same old boy network. reporters used to use code of key personnel. words that sounded like one thing, but meant The serious Wall Street Journal and New something else to those in the know. York Times have also admiucd a change in their " When a congressman arrived on the noor Washington coverage. Most recently, the New drunk, they would write that he was ' in high York Times did afront page story on high profile spirits' to let others know what was reall y going politicos, like thc eross-partydatingorthc Repub­ on, " Kaplarsaid. " It wasn' t judgmentaL though. lican National Committee's former chief of staff No one was out to expose the private lives of Mary Matalin and Cli nton's ca mpaign manager elected offi cials. t, The Washington gossip trend Jamcs Carville. -- or • 'tell-a ll " news, as some journalists rerer to Is this gossip trend new to political joumal­ it -- reall y bega n with the extra-curricular activi­ Mimi Carler is ism? Has thc reader always wanted to know the ti es of Rep. Wilbur Mills, D-Ark., and Rep. Associate Editor o/the intimate details of the men and women of Wash­ Wayne Hayes, D-Ohio, in the mid 1970s. Mi lls is Ripon Forum ington? now legendary for antics which included a drunk

l be RIPON FORUM 22 JulyiAugllsI1992 driving incident which landed him and a fema le the Clinton episode ' 'with great reluctance," he friend in the renct:ting pool. He is also famous for said, until they had to cover the press confe rence employing Eli zabeth Raye, his secretary who where Gennifer Flowers came fom'ard with her could not type. allcg.1tions. But what finally blew the lid ofTthe tea kettle " You ' ll find that nothing ruins good gossip of politieal brotherhood between reporter and like reporting," Shafer said. lawmaker was Sen. Ted Kennedy and Some said that while subjct:ts are becoming Chappaquidick in 1969. There was no way the less taboo andjoumalistic standards are chang­ press could not write the story. ing, the real demand for Washington gossip Stories, like Chappaquidick, gradually be· arises because so much else coming out of Wash- eame difficult for newspapers to avoid, Goulden sa id. The fo rmer Philadelphia Inquirer reporter said that being a hard news journalist is a lot IS THIS GOSSIP TREND NEW TO different now. " I used to cover presidential candidate POLITICAL JOURNALISM? HAS THE Lyndon Johnson back in his days and I never would have dreamed ofasking Lyndy iIhe had an READER ALWAYS WANTED TO affair," said Joe Goulden. associate editor for KNOW THE INTIMATE DETAlLS? Accuracy in the Media's bi-monthly rcport .. Diana McLcllan. authoroflhefonner Wash­ ington Timesand Post gossip column ' 'The Ear" ington .- issues, policy, bill mark·ups -- is just so and a current Washingtonian columnist, said complicated. Washington runs on congrcssional gossip. Goulden put it simply: " Il's a whole lot "We have made these people into the fi gures easier to understand what a guy is doing in bed thcy are," McLellan said. " We want them to be than the tax bill he 's trying to push through larger than life." Washington gossip bits, she Congress.' ' sa id, are like " notes fro m the Pantheon" whcre Craig Winneker, associateeditorand ' 'Heard we find out that Ihese people " have human on the Hill I I \\'fiter forthe Capitol Hill newspaper under-bellies.' , Roll Call, said a Washington story on legislation But according to those who write it. Wash­ never actually talks about the bill until the tenth ington gossip is ra rely true "gossip." It is inside paragraph. The first paragraphs. he said. will say information. And any news that appears to be who introduced it. who played what pol itical scandalous is chct:ked out. games, and who suffers and who wins ifthe bill Thirty-yea r journalist Charles Fesy"eni, is passed. He s..1 id it isn't until the end of the story ,,'fiter of US News' "Washington Whispers," that you find out what the bill actually docs. sa id he gets tips from all levels of government and " Pcoplesay thcywant substance, I' Winncker verifies everything. said, " but they're more interested in the sexy "All whispers are doubled-checked and stuff. II triplcd-chct:kcd. Only about one in 50 is not and Washington Times gossip columnist Merrie ii 's bcc.1Use it came from a very reliable source Morris aU ri buteS lhe rise in Washington gossip to and someone whom I have probably known for the demands ofa constituency which is dissatis· many years who can be trusted," Fesy"eni said. fied with the country's progress. They wa nt to usc Ron Shafer, " Washington Wire" reporter Washington as a scapegoat. she said, because fo r the Wall Street Journal, said that much of the many consider Congress " this little fiefdom" hard news people read is about issues that arc which legislates one way for their constituents " geared toward the gossipy" while bei ng tied to the serious. Forexample, many reporters greeted GOSSIP continued on next page

July/August 1992 23 The RIPON FORUM Readers More Interested in Sexy Stuff GOSSIP continued from previous page hiswife, talking about howwondcrfullhe Ameri­ and another way for themselves. can life is ... and meanwhile he's got a mistress " The country isjust pissed offand they want on his payroll, I think it's news." to kick some butt," Morris said. " They pay But many reporters also say that there is a politicians' salaries and they feci they should be true down side to Washington gossip: It kccps able to yank somconc's chain." qualified candid.·Hes out of the political arena But New York Times reporter and former because of fears about their past. "Washington Talk" page editor David Binder " No one can afford to have all their skel­ disagrees that society demands gossip. " Society etons brought out of the closet and then have it doesn't make demands on newspapers. We are printed on the front page of the paper," Ma;'

The RIPON FORUM 24 July/A I/gust 1992 by Jeff MacNelly LIGHTER SIDE

"CONNECT THE OOTS"i"

July/AligIIS! 1992 15 The RIPON FORUM FOREIGN AFFAIRS Redirecting Foreign Aid IB )efore he retired last year, former United mistake of the century" for the United States to Nations SC(: retary General Perez dc Cuellar " count itself out of the inte rnational picture" is reported to have noted there has been " much because of our inability to take care of all nations talk" about ensuring that the United Nations with our limited resources. HUGH MIELDS could actually meet the enormous demands of Clearly, a policy shift away from individual EXAMINES third world countries in the coming century. But aid to developmental aid would save money, despite such talk, little has been done in defining allowing U.S. dollars to go further. In the Drinkard WHETHER THE exactly' ' what shape" thesedemandsare likely to article, Congressman David Obey, D-Wis. ,oneer UNITED take. the main players in the debate, said, " The Ad­ STATES Even with thedemiseofthe Soviet Union and ministration has to recogniz.e that at least half of all theallendant ideological threats it posed, there the aid program has been designed to counter the SHOULD GIVE is sti ll no shortage ofunresolved problems threat­ so called Soviet threat in the Third World, and it MORE MONEY ening the pc.1ce and tranquili ty of individual is not there anymore. "It is becoming clearer that nations and the world at large. Human rights the next Congress and the new Administration TO THE erimes and third world poverty arc as abundant will have to deal with a growing number of UNITED today as ever. As the former Secretary General opinions IikeObey'sand move to redefine our aid NATIONS noted, the problem exists of how the United mission and decide how to allocate increasingly Nations goes about identifying and defining le­ limited resources, gitimateadditions to its agenda, a process that has In the Congress, the House Foreign AffaiTS yet to be fashioned so that demands for U.N. Committee has already recommended a sct of involvement can be considered in a timely and new ideas fo r our development dollars. In 1989, prioritized manner. it released the Hamilton/Gilman Task Force re· Beyond the issue of process, what arc the port which recommended that the goal of our areas which deserve grealer United Nations' at· assistance program should be to alleviate pov· tention and support? Many U.N. advocatcs would erty, encourage economic and political diversity, stress the need to focus almost entirely on peace support economic development and protect the kccping, peace making and humanitarian aid. environment. Based on Ihis program mission. Advocates of other programs, such as the U.N. budgeting more funds for U.N. development Development Program (UNOP), the Center for programs ean be justified because the agencies Human Settlements (UNCHS), the Children's that administer them have solid experience and Fund (UNlCEF), the Environment Program good track records in attcmpting to meet the (UNEP) and the World Health Organization objectives similar to those endorsed by the (WHO) feel the United Nations must expand and Hamilton/Gilman Task Force. enhance its role in development. Shape, sub­ Since thc needs ohhe third world arc stag· stance and coordination must be provided to gering and the world's assistance resources are financial institutions and aid programs in the limited, the prime objective of all development third world, Eastern Europe and the former So­ assistance organizations, including those of the viet Union . However, both camps agree that United Nations, should be to deliver the maxi· human rights and developmental and environ­ mum bang forthe buck. This means significantly mental fac tors have important implications for improving coordination of elTorts and the man· international security, whatever programs arc agement of resources and programs as well as emphasized. ensuring that recipient countries do the same Hugh MieJds is a From the United Stales perspective, support thing. partner at Unton, for a stronger U.N. development role appears What has changed and what is changing in Miele/s, Reisler and probable. For example. Congressman Dante the way development assistance is being ex· Cottone and a former Fascell. D-Fla .. Chairman ofthe House Foreign tended? For one thing, major donors arc setting consultant to the U.S. Affairs Committee thinks that the U.S, ought to new standards of conduct which thi rd world Congress and Agenc'y look to agencies like the U.N. to provide develop· countries arc expected to meet to qualify for for Inlernational ment assistance, instead of continuing large future assistance. These standards inelude imple­ Development on amounts of U.S. fore ign aid to individual coun­ menting political reforms to back up positive foreign affairs. tries, In a recent Associated Press story by Jim economic change. According to a recent issue of Drinkard. Fasccll said it would be the " biggest The Economist, "The U.S., Britain, France, Bel·

The RIPON FORUM 26 July/Augus,1992 gium and the World Bank are all demanding open greatcr responsibilities and resources to help policies and open markets in return for continued mect American foreign aid objectives as outlined aid". by the Hamilton/Gilman Task Forcc. Givcn the The United Nations has not been silent on imprcssiveaccomplishmentsofUNlCEF, WHO, issues of reform either. William H. DraperlII, the UNOP and UNCHS there area numbcrofreasons Administratorofthe U. N. Development Program to believe such a move could prove productive, (UNOP), noted last year that developing coun­ However, it must be noted that the coordination tries could have saved "$35 billion ... by selling of the U.N. system has proven " difficult and not off inefficient public entcrprise, halting extrava­ vcry successful," by the admission of top offi­ gant prestige projects and cracking down on cials. But the fact that the Un ited Nationsadmits rampant corruption" in 1990. Only 10 percent of its faults in this area is encouraging because it total government spending in the developing leaves the door open to program improvement. countries goes toward basic education, primary U.N. policy is driven by democraticconsen­ health care, clean water, family planning, food sus and, therefore, functions wi thout significant subsidies and social security, Draper said. ideological or territorial bias. Its governing bod­ Michel Camdessus, the managingdircctorof ies consist ofdonors , as well as recipients, so that the International Monetary Fund (lMF). has made they are frcc to impose fair and demanding statements along similar lines. In 1991. he said that $140 billion could be shifted annually to more productive uses if countries took advantage SINCE THE NEEDS OF THE THIRD ofthedccline in international tensions tocut their level of military spending back to 4.5 percent of WORLD ARE STAGGERING AND gross domestic product. THE WORLD'S ASSISTANCE An additional aspect of developing nmions, which has caused them to question their own aid RESOURCES ARE LIMITED, THE structures, is their tax system. For example. IMF analysts Javad Khalizadeh-Shirazi and Anwar PRIME OBJECTIVE OF THE UNITED Shah have concluded that third world tax refonn will be important because most third world lax NATIONS SHOULD BE TO DELIVER systems are complex and difficult to administer, resistant to change, inefficient and inequitable. MAXIMUM BANG FOR THE BUCK. Enforcement of the tax code is selective and standards on recipient countries. These stricter favors those with the ability to beat the system. standards cover areas such as program perfor­ The fairness and efficiency ofdevelopi ng country mance, meeting the needs of the poor, human tax systems are likely toprovea new and desirable rights, pollution control, tax and structural rc­ condition for any nation that is to receive aid. ronn, The voluntary nature of the United Na­ After all, there is no reason American taxpayers tions' funding organization makes certain the should suppon foreign assistance to so called concerns of the contributors will be heeded. poor countries whose wealthy citizens don't pay Moreover. the United Nations has experi­ legitimate taxes. enced, well trained, non-ideological staff which Popular U.S. interest and support for the is sensitive to and rcspectful of democratic and United Nations appears to be increasing whi le entrcpreneurial values. They now have an insti­ public and governmental willingness to provide tutional structure and program mandate that is foreign aid seems to be on the wane. The recent demise of the Soviet Union gives the U.S. an reasonably constant and is not subject to periodic pressures such as elections and political man­ opponunity to seck more equitable, efficient and dates for change. Many ofthcir policy statements effective ways to help poorer countries meet show the ability of these agencies to get consen­ emergencies. develop more productive econo­ sus on addressing important development issues. mies and improve the quality of life for their And they are partially doing soby attracting and citizens. It also removes the majorobstacJe for an retaining talented people. effective and functioning United Nation. A furthcr reason for increased aid to the Now is a good time to start considering how United Nations is that they are developinga good the United States can help make beller use of the institutional memory and are unlikely to repeat United Nations to help developing countries im­ prove their economics. To do this, we should seriollsly consider giving the United Nations ASSISTANCE continued on next page July/AI/grm j992 27 TIle RIPON FORUM U.S. Aid Changing Many Republicans ASSISTANCEji-om the previous page Are Pro-choice past mistakes, particularly if member countries PRO-CHOICEjrom page 2 continue to maintain good oversight. With recent international changes, the institution has greater diseases which exploded in the 1980s. access to the world's store of intellectual re­ What is more significant than the Bush sources and is the logical place to accumulate the Administration's policy about fertility control, is the fact that many polled RepUblicans say that best worldwide information on the social. eco­ they are pro-choice. A recent study entitled " De­ nomic and geographical characteristics of all bunking the Myth" by the moderate GOP orga­ nations. nization. Republican Mai nstream Committee, Additionally. the international organization has fonna li zcd a process lodeal with and respond tallied the results of various polls which con­ cluded that 71 percent fcclthat abonionshould be to non-governmental agencies and is improving a private decision made by thewoman herself: 68 its capacity to relate to people, community based issues and women's rights. percent oppose a constitutional amendment to ban abortion; 61 perccntdo not want Roe Y. /Vade overturned and 69 pe rcent oppose the MAJOR DONORS ARE SETTING NEW Administration's efforts to prohibit fede rally fun ded clinics from providing patients with in­ STANDARDS OF CONDUCT WHICH formation about abortion. TH IRD WORLD COUNTRIES ARE The GOP needs to get with the ticket and recogni ze the large numbers ofpro-choicc voters EXPECTED TO MEET TO QUALIFY FOR proudly call themselves Republicans. Both con­ FUTURE ASS ISTANCE INCLUDING servatives and moderates in the Party arc angry. Who could blame them? Their views on th is POLITICAL REFORMS important issue arc being ignored. The Edilors. In the past. incrc.lscd U.S. voluntary cont ri­ Reform Needed butions lothe U.N. programs has leveraged addi­ REFORM jrompage /7 tional funds from other industriali zed countries and there is no reason to think this wou ldn't a sliding scale b.ased on revenues, would be happen again . resulting in a fairer assistance fea sible. burden. Whatever the source ofrcvenue, the reality Increasing the U.S. assistance levels should that no good refonn can work without public also have a benefi cial effect on Congress bcc.1Use money in one form or another ought to be ac­ Senators and Congressmen will fcclless pressure cepted by Republicans. At the same time, the to earmark funds for private voluntary organiza­ futilityofbasing reronn on spending li mits ought tions prcsently operating in the third world. More to be accepted by Democrats. If each side makes U.N. funds would make the body morc sensiti ve this major concession. real refonn, notjllst change to the needs of member nations and compel them for the sake of change, is achievable. • to coordinate programs with all donors. With the impressive enthusiasm and obvious SUBSCRIBE skills ofBoutros Boutrous-Ghali, the new Sccre­ tary General, and with former Attorney General NOW and Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh serving as second in command, what beller time TO for the Congress and the Administration to take a hard bipartisan look at the United Nations. It ·s THE time to examine individual U.N. programs. closely evaluate their past pcrfonnances and sec how RIPON increasing aid can benefit the United States and FORUM meet the development challenges of the 21 st Century. •

The RWON FORUM 28 l li ly/Allgllst 1992 WASHINGTON Year of the Political Woman ~Arizona Sen. Hernandez. who was scheduled to fl y out to De n n is De Concin i has let it be known he is Washington that 5.1me week and part icipate in extremelycommilloo 10 hi s work. Duri nga rcccnt the Great American Workout wilh Arnold debale on eliminating the defi cit amendment to Schwarzenegge r, opted to slay home in Boyle balance the budget, the Sena tor rema rked to a Heights. While at home. Hernandez walked crowded news confe rence, " We' re going to through the neighborhood's housing projccts wrassle this orgasm Ihal is just out of control. " and urged street ga ng members 10 stay cool . •

2. 'llle RWON FORUM We Should Blame Ourselves II If oneis interested in poli tics these arc that could have been borrowed by busi· exciting days. Ross Perot is shaking nesses to crc.."Ite tangible assets and weallh up the Presidential race, an ineffective VIEWS is disappearing in the sea of red ink. Congress is getting taken to the wood­ ON The consequences of the defi cit for shed by mobs of angry citizens and the our future is frightening: if we don't get talking heads of political television are at it under control and continue along our a loss for words --- they don't know CA present path, we will quietly slip into the what's going on anymore than the rest of ranks of a second class economy and us. David A. Fuscus second class nation. The American political system is in a free fo r all . poli ticians don' t know what That means something to us. WHY WE CAN'T to do, voters are just plain pissed ofTand Take the recession for example, hav­ SOLVE THE PROBLEM our long laundry list of national problems ing to pay $194 billion in interest on the Mi llions in America recognize the remains unsolved. Many arc happy about debt robs the government of it's power to seriousness of the national debt and most the political gridlock facing Washington stimulate the economy by spending, the people with an IQ over 25 would agree --forthem. at least taxesaren '{ going up. traditional tool used to lessen the pa in of that something needs to be done. At the Well, I' m not happy ---I' m worried economic downturns. That means that 5.:1me time, voters berate Congress and and I'm scared. this recession is longer and harder than the President about their inabili ty to meet It 's time that the citizens of this it could have been. If the debt continues, this crisis and use it as an example of why nation stopped being so self rightcous sowill this situation Cor future recessions. government doesn't work. They blame and placing all the blame for our prob­ Every year interest payments on the individual politicians and say that they lcms on the nation's leaders. Sure, some debt grow and as they do, they rob us of aren't willing to make tough decisions of the gridlock is the fault of politicians, money that could be spent on solving our and reign in government spending. To a but much of thc bla me lies on the shoul­ problcms; $ 194 billion would go a long certain extent, that's correct, there is a ders of the American people, those same way towards helping the homeless, pay­ lack ofpolitieal courage in Washington. fo lks who a rc angry at Congress a nd that ing unemployment benefits, protecting But the biggest problem is the Ameri­ think George Bush is ajcrk. the environment and solving other na­ can people. We've done this to ourselves. You don't agree? Consider the fol ­ tional ills. created our own problems and refused to lowing: But the most serious problem about take responsibility for our actions. After the national debt is that it steals the all, weput politicians in offi ccand through THE GENESIS OF OUR ILLS eapital necessary for our economy to our voting patterns. we either elcct the Most people in America view the grow. In thistimeofunprecedcnted tech­ wrong type of person or tie the hands of deficit and the overall public debt as nological growth and economic meta­ the competent people who are in Con­ serious problems, ones that a rc only get­ morphose. we need moncy to exploit the gress. ting WOTSC. L.1St year's deficit was $269 opportunities that are being presented to The American electorale is made up billion and 1992 mid-yc.1 r estimatcs pre­ us. We need money to develop new prod­ of special interests. something that too dict that it might hit $400 billion this ucts, bui Id pia nts for thei r production and few pooplearc willing to recognize. Ifo ne year. This mcans the federal government create innovative ways for them to be is a senior citizen, a vetcran, a union is adding to the national debt at a rate of marketed. member, a parent or a student, that per­ ovcr$ I billion aday, S694,OOOpcr minute Getting the money we need is the son is part of a special interest. T hese or $ 11 ,500 per second . problem. In our economy, a limited pool groups are often well organi zed and wicld The consequences of the federal debt offundsexist for individuals, the govern­ a great deal ofpo litical innuence, enough arcenormous.justthe interest on the $4.1 ment and industry to borrow. In our to decide the outcome of elections a nd trillion that weowetakesup 15 percent of prescnt situation. the government is bor­ make the most well meaning politician the federal budget. rowing so much that the capital pool is shake Cor fear of his job. beingdraincd to dangerous levels; money Just look at the senior citizen special lbe RIPON FORUM 30 July/Augllst 1992 intcrest group. They havc large, wcll p.."lid for drugs. long term care. home LET'S A U~ PITCH IN organized lobbics such as the American health eare and other much needed pro­ So he re wc arc. It 's 1992 and we are Association of Rctired Persons (AARP) grams. The only catch was that it means­ faced with a deficit of$400 billion and a that makc sure politicians feel the heat if tcsted medicare premiums. making national debt of $4. 1 trillion. This debt thcyeven think about touching programs wealthier retirees who could afford it pay threatcns our future and the future of our for seniors. higher premiums. children in a way that should scare the The best way to understand the con- Seniors revolted and put so much hell out of every man, woman and child in the United States. At the samc time. the Amcrican THE FORMULA FOR TURNING people, broken into spccia I intcrest groups. doesn ' tlet Congress consider reforming AMERICA AROUND IS SIMPLE: entitlement programs. We can' l cut in­ terest payments and defense spending EVERYBODY PITCHES IN + must be reduced slowly. T he realitics of WE PAY OFF OUR DEBTS = the present situation is that Congress can'l touch 60 percent ofthc budget and WE SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS. can only touch a further 24 percent slowly. That leaves 16 percent of budget thatlhe ccpt of voter responsibility, is to look at prcssureon Congressthat thcysoonca\'Cd voters will allow to be cut. And you can the federal budget. Last},em , we spent 15 in and repealed this wonderful legisla­ forget about raising taxes. percent of our tax dollars on domestic tion. This is a situation that will be re­ Good luck. programs. 24 percent on defense. 15 per­ pc3ted by different interest groups if This simplc equation is the reason cent in debt interest and 45 percent on means-testing were proposed for a ny of government doesn' t do something about mandatory progra ms like social security the other entitlement programs. the defici t. The voters won't allow real and vcteransbcncfits. Politicianscall this Besides thesespccial intcrests. a SC(;­ rcform tooccur and thcyensure it doesn ' I last fi gure " entitlement programs" be­ ond reason to blame the voters for our by not electing the few men and women cause prople feelthcy are entitled to them problems is the effectiveness of negative who have the guts to tell the truth. and voters scream bloody murder ifpoli­ advertising. Thirty second negative lele­ We need to do two things to solve the ticians even think about touching them. vision commercials are a lousy way for a deficit and start meeting the real needs of When prople consider their own candidate to explain his position on com­ ou r prople. We need the voters to under­ cntitlemcnt program, be it seniors ben­ plex issues, yet this is the format from stand that it iscveryone 's problem a nd we cfiting from medic.1TC and social secu­ which most prople get their information must bccomewilling to cleclleaders with rity. a parent whose child gets student about candidates and issues. the guts to make tough decisions. loans or a veteran buying a house with a In the context of such an advertise­ We also need couragcous leaders 10 government loan guarantee, those pro­ ment, it's much easier for one to trash an step forward and help convince the vole rs grams can't, under anyeireumstanees. be opponcnt and leave viewers with the that tllese &1erifices need to be made by all considered in a deficit reduction plan. impression that the guy is a bum instead of us. And woe be to the politician who of marveling over your IO -point health The fo nnula for turning America tries to cut an entitlcment program; dur­ care rcform plan. The sad fact is that a ll a round is simple: Everybody pitches in + ing the next election. a candidate more voters are swayed by these ads. We P.1y off our dcbts = We solve our willing to put his carecr first will hit the problems. _ air wa\'CS declaring that Congressman Smith is " Against Senior Citizens," p------, " Opposes those who fought for this na­ tion" or is in favor of " Slashing educa­ : The RIPON FORUM: tion for our children." Guess what? The special interests :Name : win. I Address I Even when proposals arise that don 't cut programs, bUl just reform them, poli­ :City State _____ : ticia ns can do nothing. A good example occurred in 1988 when Congress passed IZip I a long term heaith<.1TC plan that would I You may fax your subscription ca rd to (202) 543-9237 I havc gonc a long way towa rd protecting I Subscription rotes: $18 per year. 19 for student.f. servicemen. Peace Corps I our seniors. It was good legislation that I The Ripon FOn/m, 709 ll1d Street. NE, If'ashil1 gtOlI. IX 10001 I ~------~ JrllyfAlIgrlSt 1991 31 The RIPON FORUM about math is /?fiiSr IN easier than you think lJI;jrFI

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For more information call or write: Julie Chlopecki Phone: (703) 739-0345 FAX: (703) 836-0882 1201 Bra ddock Pl ace, Suite 605. Alexandria, VA 22314