OCR Text |
Show ' v'J. ' ,i I , , ' tfiit everything's out In the open, I confess tfmt Zvg been spying on t DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1976 i A 5 you dll We stand for the Constitution of the United States with its three departments of government, each fully independent in it? own field joiv these years. Security an overhaul Americans had better prepare to pay higher taxes if the Social Security programis to remain solvent hi the face of escalating costs. Thats the word this week from the Social Security systems Board of Trustees, which warns tha.t reserve funds for disability benefits will be exhausted in 1979 and old age and survivors insurance reserves will run out sometime in the 1980s 'unless the rates are increased. As unpalatable as higher taxes are, tbats a better alternative than dipping into general Treasury revenues, which would lead to even greater federal deficits than those already being incurred and change Social Security into an open ended welfare system. But its not much bettor. When the employer contribution is considered, more than half of all American taxpayers already pay more in Social Security withholdings than they pay in income tax and the percentage is growing. So big a bite does Social Security t ake from the average paycheck that the system tends to discourage personal savings. Yet if workers had paid into a private fund the same amount of money they paid into Social Security, the investment would have returned as much as twice the maximum in any benefit category. This situation suggests the public and Congress alike had belter stop treating Social Security as if it was supposed to be a complete retirement system. Instead, its only supposed to help dose the gap between a workers own savings and what be might receive from a private pension. It would also help ease the strain on Social Security if Americans would curtail the trend to increasingly early retirement, long before their productive years are over. Moreover, instead of continually inand, consequently, creasing benefits Social Security taxes whenever the cost of living rises, Congress would do retirees a bigger favor by coming to grips with inflation. A sensible step in Granite Granite school board officials and teachers evidently have learned some valuable lessons from the brief but painful strike in that district last fall They have learned not to wait until the last moment before declaring an impasse and seeking outside help in resolving their differences. They also seem to have learned how to improve upon the effectiveness of the outside help that is provided. That much seems clear from this weeks decision to bring in a professional mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service within the next 10 days. Unlike the outside authority who tried unsuccessfully to resolve last years dispute in Granite district, the federal mediator wont be limited merely to finding and publicizing the facts of the points in the contract that are at issue Instead, the mediator will work quietly behind the scenes, using his powers of persuasion to get both sides to come to a mutually acceptable agreement. Its a process that has proved suc . WSVS Joseph C. Harsdi labor-manageme- faet-linde- There is a great deal of questioning around the United States these days about the system of choosing political candidates or delegates in primary elections: that is, in elections held ui advance of a presidential election in order to give voters a voice in the selection of candidates. Main objections come from candidates or friends of candidates who are hurt in one way or another by the system. A main objection is the cost, which already has proved to be prohibitive for a lengthening list of persons w ho had hoped to make their name in history during the current election year in the United States. Candidates who have done well are not complaining. The two main beneficiaries of the system at this moment are Jimmy Car-ie- r and Ronald Reagan. Neither was the favorite of the existing leadership of his respective party. Had the two establishments The meeting OPEC od ministers that begins Thursday in Bali, Indonesia should go a long way toward deterinm big how stable' the international oil cartel will be in the future. Despite slumping demand for some petroleum products. Hie Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was remarkably successful in maintaining a united front on1 prices during the world wide recession. Recently, though, OPECs solidarity lias shown signs of weakening. This is not surprising. Professor As M. A Adelman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology notes Cartel prices are always under pressure; they mode. The best way to repair the damage is for everybody to get together and raise prices and start the erosion at a higher level. There is a limit, but it hasnt leen reached yet and no one knows where it is. The OPEC oil ministers can be expected to adopt just such a strategy : had their way, the leading Democratic Get set for higher gas prices candidate would probably be HuU-r- t Humphrey and the leading Republican cand date would be Gerald Ford. The results are a vuidiea lion of the purpose of the primary system. It rep resented a rebellion against the previous system by which candidates were selected, usually in private, by the power brokers of the party The classic case of the old system in operation was 1920 when Warren G. Harding was chosen to be the staiulared bearer of the Republican Party. The choice took place in what was described (probably accurately) as a smoke-iilleroom." The choice tended to discredit the system. d The larding administration was one of the three most 1 corrupt in American history. Medical liquor permits were sold shamelessly by official members of the President's own Ohio gang in the Treasury itself. Both the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Interior were involved in the infamous Teapot Dome case. The Secretary of the Interior was convicted of taking a bribe, in cash, in a little black bag." Historians differ over which was worse: the Harding. the Grant, or the Nixon administration. Probably the Harding story' was the shoddiest and issue-migh- - With ; WASHINGTON "detente now stricken from the administrations lexicon and Congress unwilling to challenge President Fords r,e cord-hig- h defense program, this countrys increasing danger on the civil defense front is under belated attack from an unlikely combination of haw ks and doves. i What is astonishing is that defense of the homeland against possible nuclear attack thinking the unthinkable, in the words of former alarming estmia(es about the comparative . . . casualties m the event of nuclear attack if the Soviets had evacuated their people during the rtisis period and we were unable to do so: the Soviets would lose about 10' z million people; the United States would lose about 90 million people. The chamman of that three-mapane! is Democratic Rep Robert L. Leggett of California, a moderate dove. Also on the panel is moderate Republican Donald Mitchell of New York ami one of the most dovish freshman Democrats in the House, Rep Robert Carr of Michigan Their unanimous recommen n and frightening reason: Soviet ability to survive and U.S. abiiity not to survive a nuclear exchange with an enemy. Soviet survival is based on rapid evacuation of the cities, on vast subterranean fallout shelters in the evacuated areas and on war plants capable of continuing ohth-tion- s after a nuclear e- virtue of "hardened sites or geographic dispersal in remote xchange by areas most ulgar It gave selection of candidates "ui smoke filled rooms a bad name ami the use of primaries The ongm of primaries was earlier. The first prim ary election system was set up in Florida in 1901 as a result of a reform movement which had originated in lear-tioagainst the corruption of the Grant administration and the general wave of corruption, exploitaton, greed, and immorality which seemed In sweep America toward the end of the century. The 1912 eletion prnvid ed the first real test of how the primary system might operate It worked as the on the reformers intended Democratic side. Woodrow Wilson won out over his main rival, Champ Clark, m the primaries, and took the and the election. encouraged n nonu-natio- n Republican sole Theodore Roosevelt took 9 primaries against 3 for his rival, William Howard Taft But the convention nominated Taft. The Progressives were so outraged at being thus deprived of what they considered their due that they formed a new tliird party, split the Republican vote, and handed (lie White l ouse to Woodrow On thp Wilson. Between then and 1935 eight states repeated their primary election laws. The reform movement seemed to Primaries had minor ence on American politics during the thirties Since World War II they have revived as a political device By and large, experience with the primary system would seem to support the purpose of the original reformers. ft provides an opportunity for the mass of voters to express themselves It has on many occasions trust rated the intent and the preference of the parly managers Whether it also produces better candidates is of course a matter of personal opinion. The issue is argued both way s on many a platform A primary oleclion can distort voter sentiment It is a system which can he manipulated For example, wumuig a Democratic primary election in a state which normally goes Po'inibllraii. or vice versa, ghos a man an ad van tage at the convent mil which is out of perspective since no real chance of carrying the state "Qkayl Who's the comedian?" Russian roulette and civil defense By Howland Evans amj Robert Novak a Lacking programs even skeleton for these war-surviv- al measures (often called passive defense), the U S, could find itself prohibitively out psyched if deadlock between Moscow and Washington became the prelude to a possible nuclear exchange. Rather than risk such an exchange from a position of proven inferiority in terms of the ability to withstand it. the U.S might be forced to yield. The heart of the panel's report warned that the size and the reach of the Soviet effort, coupled with its aggressive buildup of arms, raise profound questions about the appropriate defento be sive counter-action- s taken by the United States." That conclusion fits a totalseparate warning by former Ambassador to the Soviet Union Foy D. Kohler, now a professor at the school for advanced international ly Also, the primary system tends to give a candidate of study at Miami University A hard line hawk, Holder run the U.S. embassy in Moscow from 1902 to 1966. To Kohler, Iho essential and dangerous difference between American and Soviet response to the torrifyuig possibility of nuelear war is that Americans really believe, no exchange will ever occur, because neither nation will risk its own destruction, but tire Soviets have never accepted the overkill concept or the concept of mutual . . The assured destruction' Soviet emphasis has rather and been on survivability indeed on tire possibility of victory in a nuclear war." With knowledgeable hawks like Sdilesinger and Kohler and dovish Democrats like Carr and Leggett in basic agreement, perhaps the amc has come when thus country will stop playing tire most dangerous kind of Russian roulette with a totally unpredictable future . superior personality or sutiertor rhetorical skill an advantage over a person who lacks those qualities but who might make a better piesi dent The truth of the matter probably is that political skill consists in taking best advantage of the rules of whatever system is in use. The skillful politician usually will win oul over the blunderer in either the primary or the smoko-lilleroom" sy stem The record indicates that the primary is not the total cure for all the ills of the American system. It has its flaws and its built in distortions It also is subject to fraud and manipulation, although less so than the older sy stem. But, on balance, do Americans really prefer to go back to 1920 at the risk of another Waircn Harding? very spooky conversation took place between my mother and me last week. Every time I said something to her, I beard an 9 echo from my childhood. Mother! Aren't you ready yet? (Erma! Don't dawdle! ) You know bow cold the stores get with that turned up. Maybe youd better take along a sweater. (Trust your mother! Dont you think 1 know when you are cold?") What are you doing rolling down the car window. Mom? (Do you want your hand to blow off, fljssy? Then just stick it out of the car window.) ItLl ij be cooler w hen we get moving. I'll crack my if you need air. Hold on. Mom! Im going to make a 2 sudden stop. I know- - you dont like my putting my . hand in (rout of you but it beats going right through 2 the windshield Crazy drivers! Close your ears. I dont want you to hear what Im about to say. ("Dont do as I say or do do as 1 tell you.) Where d you want to eat? It's your birthday, so you get to pick. Did I tell you how nice you look i today9 1 mean it. You look so young. (How nice you look on your birthday, Erma. You look so much older in that dress. Almost grown up.) Lets see what bad news the menu has. The tuna JJ looks good. Dont go on what I order. I'm on a forever diet. If you want the crepes with the wine sauce, just sa v so. But remember, it's rich and the last time you know a little girl whose 2 couldnt finish all of it. eyes are bigger than her tummy.) Are you tired or do you feel like shopping a bit? rj ('Dont you tliink mother knows when you are ready for a nap?) "Mom, do you really want my advice about buying thal juicer? Okay, I tliink its flimsy Wont last a year. They have an appliance sale in the fail and if youre patient, you can get a better deal than this. (Not a farmyard with 186 plastic animals! 1 'Those things will be lost in two days, you mark my w ord That birthday money is going to burn a hole in 2-our pocket. ) "You're always good about remembering things. .V When' did I park my car? You know something? I think Im getting old. The mind is going. Mother! The r to you. Didnt you man in the booth just said good-by- e hear him? Wave good-by(Say thank you to the ; nice man, Erma.) Oh, the sadness When did the child become the mother and the mother become the child? A influ- DOUG SflEYD more than any other that threatens OPEC's unit Indeed, if the w'orld had remained m deep recession, the price differential have torn OPEC apart. But t now most of the industrial oil importing countries have entered a period of economic recovery, and their demand for petroleum products is expected to raise as a resuh. With this prospect at hand, OPEC may encounter relatively little difficulty and higher in agieeing on a new price structure. Cartels always arc strongest when there is plenty of business for all of their members. Mil t the world, then, depend on another recession to break OPECs back? What must it take for the oil importing nations to learn they must institute strict energy conservation measures and present OPEC with a united front dation, that the miserly $71 million civil defense program be increased to $110 million at once. Even such an increase would not come close to the long time Soviet spending level on civil defense, which the panel estimated at $1 billion a year. Before he was fired as Defense Secretary, Sehlcsingcr was deeply wor riod over the low level of civil defense preparedness in this country, for a fundamental Childhood echoes have lost momentum But they also must come to grips with the problem of price differentials among various types of crude oil. It is t Ids issue Secretary of Defense Janes has been a Sdilesinger virtual no-ntopic of serious political debate for 15 years. But this stark warning from a dovish House Armed Services Committee panel signals belated change The panel received truly ERfTlA BOmBECK Primaries: How effective a system ? Uy cessful in private industry and is becoming more common in resolving disputes in the pui lie sector. But for mediation to work, both sides must be willing to bend Moreover, its v ital that the mediator avoid making the mistake that was made last year when r offered specific recomthe mendations for a pay raise without ever suggesting where or how the money for it might be obtained. Lets also hope the mediator can persuade both sides in Granite to agree to a contract lasting two years or more as a means of helping the district get away from the threat of annual school impasses. School impasses ought to be settled (ii the basis of whats right and reasonable, rather than on the basis of which side has the most muscle and can hold out the longest. By moving to bring in a professional mediator, school board officials and teachers have taken a sensible step toward settling their differences fast and fairly. nV The chauces of getting one are low-cwiih primaries than w ithout them no-dr- , (I J . e. t SYDflEY HARRIS Danger to seas Lately, we have been offered various lists of None that I have seen has included homo sapiens: yet there is good reason to believe that man should stand first on every such list. One person who keenly appreciates this is Elisabeth Borgese, the daughter of Thomas Mann, y and chairperson of the Planning Council of the International Ocean Institute in Malta. She is the 7 author of a new, exciting and frightening book I have The Drama of the Oceans." 2; just read r No or hack writer seeking a sensational best seller, Ms. Borgese warns us v solemnly, and with sound documentation, that our reckless use of technology and our ceaseless exploitation of the marine resources of the world g rouJd mean the death of the oceans" and thus the s ' mu of our best hope for the survival of life on land. Our rapid despoliation of the land, she points out, is pu lung us to our last frontier," the sea. Growing I'Pulation pressures, food shortages, changes in w orld climate, and the search for new energy sources s ail combine to drive the nations to tamper with the v oology of the oceans before the dire consequences of "k v such exploi at ion can be assessed or forestalled. The greatest threat by far is that of pollution and radioactive wastes, wliich she fears may eventually destroy the phytoplankton in the upper layers of the t, sea, which gives us more than half the world's! oxygen. The ultimate disaster here would be the cessation ol all marine life, global oxygen shortage, and death T t asphyxiation ui the struggle for the decreased t. supply ot breathable air. x. Ms Borgese does not simply predict doom; she merely projects it unless we take measures to halt and reverse present trends in the exploitation of the seas. These would include an international body to i administer ocean space and resources, integrating J the uses of the oceans to support rather than destroy one another, harnessing the potential of the seas to J; alleviate hanger and minimize waste, and strictly monitoring the permissible levels of discharge into the seas. None of this gives any idea, by the way, of the beauty and excitement of her stunning book, as well as its potent warning. It is, alas, too expensive for the 5 ev ea though Us more than $25 av erage reader 100 illustrations in full color help explain its price.-But every college and library should make it as' wuli-laccessible to the general reader as any bock published this Bicentennial year. endangered species. jr scare-monge- t ' t $ |