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Show : SPECIAL WASHINGTON REPORT Voters Should Quiz Political Candidates By U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke (D-tnd.) ' Chairman, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee There is a simple little test which any citizen can use to help him better understand the political po-litical debates he will be hearing and reading about in the coming election campaign. It concerns problems and what to do about them. For instance: Are you worried about automation, about the 35,000 jobs that must be created each week just to make up for those lost through the introduction of new labor-saving machinery? Does it bother you that we are not doing everything possible to see that our children are VANCE HARTKE equipped with the knowledge and skills they must have in an increasingly complicated world ' when the very survival of our country depends on our future brainpower? Are you concerned about our farm surpluses and what they v are costing us? So you worry about the cost of health care for our older citizens, and about the possibly disastrous financial burden both on them and on their children? Does it disturb you that a great and powerful nation such ative" approach, or a "liberal" approach. It is impossible to draw a line between them. Rather, the real crux of any issue is how you answer that one vital question, "What are you going to do about it?" Democrats welcome this question ques-tion because history shows it is the Democratic Party which has "done something about it." With the great majority of the Republicans invariably opposed, the Democrats have found the answers to move the country slums, crime and delinquency? Many similar, serious questions ques-tions could be asked. If you agree with me that these are real problems, then the question becomes, "What are we going to do about them?" This is the critical question. Ask it of yourself. Ask your friends, or ask the political candidates. can-didates. When you try this test you will see that some of the labels so often used really don't mean much. I am thinking particularly particu-larly of that artificial and arbitrary arbi-trary division between "conservative" "conserv-ative" and "liberal." These names can be quite misleading, i forward. From the New Freedom of Woodrow Wilson to the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy, every major piece of legislation addressed to the economic and social problems of the 20th Century has been initiated, sponsored and enacted under Democratic leadership. It is the same story today. Occasionally, you find the Republicans Re-publicans acknowledging that some problem exists and expressing ex-pressing concern. But what will they do about it? Most of them seem to think that if they wait, or ignore it, the problem will go away. Once The tendency is to classify those who oppose new legislation legisla-tion as "conservative," and those who favor it as "liberal." But if you will use this test (vhich I suggested, you will find rhere are persons who think of themselves as conservative, but vho, at the same time, are con-:erned con-:erned over these problems and lonestly want to do something ibout them. It only confuses the issue, hen, to talk about a "conserv- in a while you find a Republican Republi-can candidate appealing to the voters by declaring that something some-thing ought to be done. Immediately Im-mediately he is denounced within with-in his own party for being a ; "me, too" candidate, or for ! "running as a Democrat." j WTiat are the Republicans going to do, for example, about the problems I mentioned earlier? earli-er? As usual, the Democratic Party is the only one seriously striving for workable solutions. |
