FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Dangerous misconceptions and delusions

A few weeks ago I was discussing the presidential race with a young, well-educated Ukrainian American and the topic of integrity and character came up.

"There's no such thing among politicians today," the young man insisted. "All politicians lie. It's part of the game."

"You don't really believe that," I responded in astonishment.

"I do," he replied. "You know it's true."

What an incredibly cynical statement for a person his age, I thought. Here was a youth barely out of college who has never worked a political campaign. Nor does he have any first-hand experience in government.

I've worked political campaigns. I've also had the good fortune to work as a government agency administrator and as a White House and a U.S. Senate aide. The young Ukrainian American is wrong. Very wrong. All politicians are not alike. It has been my experience that most politicians are honest, principled, sincere and hard-working. And, contrary to popular myth, they are held accountable, by their constituency, every two, four or six years. Character and integrity do count in politics. As Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it: "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."

The reason for this young man's cynicism - and he has plenty of company - lies with the arrogant, ignorant, left-leaning, overpaid and slothful media pundits who project their own lack of integrity onto others. As James Fallows points out in the February issue of The Atlantic Monthly, many American journalists have become indolent. Distrust has become a way of life because it's easier to assume a cynical posture, leap to conclusions, or slant a story to fit one's own political biases, then to spend time researching a news item in an attempt to present the truth. Far more than the politicians they criticize, journalists are out of touch with the American people. They are accountable to no one. They can write what they wish, how they wish, and they are rarely fired unless, of course, they plagiarize.

Fortunately, the American public is wise to the woeful status of American journalism. Mr. Fallows mentions a survey conducted by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press which concluded that while "the news media has a generally positive view of itself in the watchdog role" (can't you just see a smug Sam Donaldson and Eleanor Clift nodding in agreement), the public believes "the press gets in the way of society solving its problems; two out of three members of the public had nothing or nothing good to say about the media."

If you still believe the press is ideologically pure in its news coverage, compare the way journalists pandered to, and fawned over, Jesse Jackson during his runs for the presidency, to the way the media currently ignore Dr. Alan Keyes. Jesse, an ultra-liberal who expects the government to solve the problems of Black America, is deified. Dr. Alan Keyes, a conservative who believes Blacks should strive to solve their own problems, is ignored, even condemned as a tool of the white power structure. The Rev. Jackson, who lives a lavish life style, has no visible means of support. A former university president, Dr. Keyes has written books and hosts a highly successful radio talk show.

Another widely held and dangerous misconception regarding national politics is that experience is a negative. Outsiders, somehow, are better than insiders because they're supposedly more pristine. Anyone who believes that myth is ignoring history. Just compare the legislative record of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the consummate insider, with the records of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, two outsiders. I'm not a fan of LBJ, nor do I think the Great Society programs he shepherded were good for the country. But he got things done. It is muddleheaded to believe that experience is a plus in all lines of work except governing.

A corollary of the insider-outsider absurdity is the idea that principles demand intransigence, never having to compromise. Sen. Robert Dole has been criticized for "making deals" because he wanted to get things done. In a democracy, the art of government is the art of compromise. America was founded on compromise. The allocation of representatives and senators agreed upon by our founding fathers during the constitutional convention has been called the "Great Compromise" because it satisfied the needs of smaller states such as Rhode Island, and larger states such as Virginia. All states accepted two houses of Congress because it provided for more equitable federal representation. Our Bill of Rights also was a compromise between federalists such as Alexander Hamilton and anti-federalists such as Thomas Jefferson. Compromise is the American way. Ukrainian Americans, who today no longer have a representative central organization, could learn from the American example.

The last delusion that threatens our political process is the belief that new ideas always lead to progress. Having new ideas means having "vision." President Kennedy had vision but he couldn't get his programs through Congress. LBJ did it for him.

I believe more in old ideas, visions that have survived the test of time. No new taxes is a very old idea. The Boston Tea Party was a tax revolt that helped ignite the American Revolution. Judeo-Christian values, tax reform, school choice, governmental decentralization, a balanced federal budget, racial equality, regulatory reform, voluntarism, Americanism, a strong defense, and a judicial system that punishes criminals, are all old ideas that work. Easy divorce, more welfare, more government control, racial quotas, higher taxes, more federal regulation, multiculturalism, a diminished military, coddling criminals, abortion on demand through the third trimester, are all new ideas that are failing.

In the months ahead, Ukrainian Americans will be bombarded by political claims and counter-claims. All need to be considered carefully. Let's not be seduced by political opportunists (who promise one thing and do the opposite) and their disingenuous media accomplices whose agenda we don't share.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 17, 1996, No. 11, Vol. LXIV

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