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Editorial Desk: - 237-201- WEDNESDAY June 9 1993 9 AG - I Zrht$alt fakeZtihnnt EDITORIALS 7 Congress Can't Ignore New Development: Public Sees Gun Control As Health Issue high-powere- This stunning conclusion was reached by pollster Lou Harris in a study he compiled for the Harvard School of Public Health Having monitored American attitudes toward handguns for many years Mr Harris said his latest poll findings represent "a sea - five-da- y To wit 52 of those polled would favor a ban on handguns with only in public opinion change- percent federal three-year-ol- d exceptions permitted the numbers by gendown Breaking der 61 percent of women favor such a ban This is significant given the growing influence of women on the political landscape Women who were outraged at losing their children in drunken driving incidents have made an impact on public policy in the past decade Now women who are equally infuriated at seeing their children gunned down in the inner cities can become an equally effective political force Three quarters of the adults polled believe that the safety of young people is endangered by the number of guns in circulation in American society — about 200 million with roughly 4 million new ones sold each year Americans are beginning to see gun control as a public health issue with young people becoming increasingly vulnerable to firearm injury and death The immediate importance of these shifting attitudes is that congressmen may be emboldened this time to enact legislation which major court-grante- d gun-contr- motor-vehicl- gun-contr- ol e Guatemala Rescued nimbleness Mr de Leon Carpio sacked the Guatemalan defense minister and other army officers implicated in what was a thinly veiled military coup Maybe Guatemalans can escape the oligarchic grip of its military after all But that will depend on how well they maintain the remarkable political coalition that has so far rescued their fragile democracy In a genuinely courageous move the Guatemalan parliament ignored an attempt by the country's defense forces to handpick a new president and named its own selection instead Making such outflanking independence stick will be an even more impressive exploit At the outset when Jorge Serrano Elias the previously elected president got in trouble by trying to dismiss the parliament and suspend the Guatemalan judiciary on charges of corruption the military joined a chorus of civilian protests and exiled him Exercising its usual muscle in government emergencies the army then tried to make Vice President Gustavo Espino Salguero substitute president only to provoke public outrage Moreover the United States which had suspended all aid to Guatemala after Mr Serrano's "autogolpe" subsequently condemned Mr Espino's presumptions too Germany stopped $80 million worth of financial assistance the European Economic Community put a hold on $50 million while Organization of American States members indicated their displeasure as well It all gave the Guatemalan lawmakers gumption enough to swear in Ramiro de Leon Carpi° as substitute 74 attempt He had good reason for swiftness As one of the country's leading civil rights advocates he formerly criticized military excesses routinely In fact during the turmoil following the short-liveSerrano government-by-ukasMr de Leon Carpi° hustled out the back door of his home just ahead of troops arriving at the front door to arrest him The unity achieved by Guatemala's d e business community Acting quickly to strengthen the civilians' resolve the United States restored all of Guatemala's aid approximately $60 million this year in recognition of Mr de Leon Carpio's ascendancy Exercising his own still-arme- US-provid- - j civil rights groups journalists and rural and urban workers in opposing further military rule has been extraordinary considering the country's history for martial takeovers Defense force involvement in the Serrano dismissal and aborted Espino installation indicated democratic processes again being subordinated to military command Indeed much more reform is needed The corruption Mr Serrano tried to expel still awaits purging from an unreliable judiciary and the very legislature that named Mr de Leon Carpi° president Looming in the background are social economic and ethnic conflicts that have historically hampered attempts to introduce functioning democratic institutions in Guatemala An amazing amount of common purpose has prevailed for now But if it fails to withstand the fracturing which customarily afflicts such "revolutions" the military could again impose its arbitrary rule in the wake of political disintegration Altered and only somewhat eased the Guatemalan ordeal nonetheless continues president d qui r 41xAlt i J 1 1 - - 4' tfr--- —- iA r ' - t - : - i : 4 ff ' 411 : A — 0 A A — 40j 11 1$ ' - 4'- - A t1 f t Z2 lp Y1 - A 11(11)3! if 1) ' i ''' ' - '' i AO C4-'- ille mL'ae' '' i - 4 - — - ''''' II Wf 3NR--- 1i4: ir : L4 'V i 1 '''' ii :- - '' —kit i ' " A i '11 '0f r" r'-- - 1 ' '''''N'---- -11 ' d' 34e11- ' o - ZOOMISMWat "NNW t 4-tv - 1 N - I ok - Q I N 1 " -- Ifi 1 C 1 7 i ti I I IC - II( - il ' 11 r''' ' ' ' r pi - tc ' - ' - ----' V -- --- :-'' ''eye I ' ti ' - t Y( 1 0( sder FL' - -- ' '1 01 The Oval Office til cz '1 F1 Imagine How Life Would Be Under President Perot CIIICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE — With President WASHINGTON Clinton's approval ratings having fallen to an low and Ross Perot's soarhigh it's time to take a ing to an serious look at what life would be like under President Perot After all the yammering little man from Texas has spared few recent opportunities to take pot shots at the president He has said Clinton submitted a spend" budget He has said Clinton wouldn't be qualified for any job in a e-sector corporation above middle management He's only saying these things he says because he wants Clinton to succeed Right And the Cubs want the Mets to play better baseball We in the media tend to indulge Perot as a colorful eccentric gadfly who makes good copy on slow news days But with his popularity rising well above the impressive 19 percent of the vote he won in November analysts are taking a closer look and discovering a curious thing When you treat Perot like you would treat an actual office holder you find to revive a few old pertinent phrases less there than meets the eye Deep down he's shallow There's no there there Tax and spend? As much as Clinton is politicians ingetting beat up by fellow for Democrats pushing an cluding energy tax he puts less burden on the poor and the struggling (all "you people" out there) than Perot's proposed 50- gasoline tax does Perot would raise $1578 billion over five years he projects which would be twice as much revenue as the $71 billion Clinton's proposed energy tax would raise Perot also tacks on $18 billion in tobacco excise taxes for a total of $176 billion But the burden for Perot's tax would all-tim- Clarence e all-tim- e big-eare- "taxand-- privat- oil-sta- cents-a-gallo- 7 I n d 41 ' I Page eV 7 VAdy ti114g I of i in f ec rn El i qt o t public-secto- nt hz Jr running this thing they'd be bankrupt" Cindy Schultz former Wisconsin coordinator for United We Stand America re- cently told The New York Times Gee that sounds familiar Maybe Perot on his way to the White House r should try a first job To be fair Robert Greenstein head of Center for Budget the Washington-baseand Policy Priorities a think tank on income issues notes that Clinton included many of Perot's ideas in his own budget like reducing deductions for business meals and entertainment from 80 percent to 50 percent of cost an idea causing tremendous nervous tremors among families who depend on the restaurant industry Health care? Perot has no concrete health-carproposals for the full coverage and cost savings Perot promises In his earlier book Perot claims to be able to save $141 billion yet never identifies a policy He also claims single an additional $73 billion in savings from contributions taxing employer-providefor health insurance of more than $335 per family and $135 per individual Again his tax burden would fall most earners heavily on Other than that he proposes pulling experts together to think about it and come up with a plan which is precisely what Bill and Hillary Clinton are doing Yet when Perot is questioned about such specifics on the many talk shows eager to have him his answers come back as slippery as a greased razorback at the Arkansas State Fair Since his popularity keeps going up it's clear no one ever lost friends by playing the media for suckers How does Perot get away with it? Maybe the grass is always greener in the yard of a politician who doesn't have to prove himself by actually holding office "You're the boss and I'm Ross" Perot tells us affectionately Thanks Ross Now get lost middle-manageme- apri i-- Ji - te er th 4 d liberal-leanin- e earners as refall primarily on gressive taxes always do In Perot's book United We Stand he mentions how some tax break might be considered for farmers and independent truckers hard hit by his tax No mention of all the other working families that would be hit For them Clinton's proposed budget offers something Perot does not: a boost in the earned income tax credit and other breaks for families that make up to $28000 a year But Perot does offer something Clinton doesn't: a big capital gains tax cut which as investment breaks do primarily would benefit the rich Spending? In his newer book Not for Sale at Any Price Perot would cut $35 billion in specific programs he says are no longer needed like the Rural Electrification Agency the space station and Superfund cleanup Ile would cut another $73 billion across the board in highways science grants farm supports and government operations for a total estimated $108 billion in savings Fair enough But a few pages later he proposes $109 billion in spending increases for education infrastructure aid to cities and research and development Where's the savings? Management? Ah here's where the rubber meets the road Perot raps Clinton as good material at best but judging by various reports his own political organization's turnover rivals that of Henry VIH's wives "If they ran a business the way they're low-wag- middle-manageme- g - Cc - pc sh In tic sh m fo th e cost-savin- Ai Pr do ee a an g d low-wag- e Health Care Planners Must Consider Mental Health CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE CHICAGO — Who needs mental health care? The homeless man with intractable schizophrenia certainly The elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease The auwith tistic child The suicidal urges But what about those who can't function normally because of life stresses? The substance abusers? The agoraphobic? Those with eating disorders sleep disturbances gambling addictions debilitating grief kleptomania sexual dysfunction? What about those who think some kind of psychotherapy would help them cope with emotional problems or traumas in their past? Or those for whom seeing a shrink is little more than part of an expensive lifestyle? Fitting mental health into the Clinton administration's national health-carplan may be a particularly thorny problem "Mental health" and "mental illness" have been used so imprecisely for so long that the public has only a hazy idea of what they mean New research about the brain and its functioning is raising serious challenges to the old assumptions and to talking therapies Some of the most severe mental disorders still are poorly understood and largely resistant to prevention or cure or even palliating treatment So what and how much mental health care should be included in the national health care plan that the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton are working on? Providing only hospitalization and treatment for those with acute mental illness would limit benefits to a few million manic-depressiv- ir Joan 11 e drugs and various kinds of psychotherapy would extend coverage to as many as 40 million people and cost far more than the $67 billion spent on such care in the United States in 1990 Beck ap disorders may be shortchanged Critics also wanted the new definitions to make it clear that serious mental illnesses are brain diseases with a neurobiological basis But the government ruled it would be premature given the current state of knowledge to rule out psychosocial factors or even to determine the extent of a neurobiological basis in some mental disorders Substance-abusdisorders were ex- eluded from the new definition of mental illness not so much for diagnostic or medical reasons but because the government funds their treatment under separate block grants Developmental disorders such as mental retardation were omitted for the same reason So the government is officially defin- ing an adult with a serious mental illness as one who has a "diagnosable mental behavioral or emotional disorder" listed in the American Psychiatric Association's standard and broadly inclusive "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" It must also substantially interfere with at least one major life activity such as eating dressing managing money taking medication and functioning in a family In the past "mental health" has been stuck in the shadows of medicine — and neglected It has suffered from misguided and too easily accepted assumptions from faddism guruism and especially from the lack of a research basis subjected to rigorous scientific standards That is changing especially as new knowledge about the brain accumulates and new scientifically validated ways to relieve its disorders and discomforts are discovered If President Clinton wants an investment in health care that will pay off big for the American people he should find some money for more neurobiological and psychiatric research - e Many health insurance plans now pay for only limited amounts of hospitalization for mental illnesses Psychiatric patients are sometimes discharged before they are medically ready because their insurance has run out Other problems such as substance abuse may not be covered at all It's easy to make the case that any national health care plan should cover disorders and neurological problems on the same basis as other serious physical illnesses even when most of the symptoms are behavioral or psychobrain-base- d logical But the catch word "mental health" is broad enough to include a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems many with no known neurological or genetic basis And it can be stretched over remedies from medication to traditional psychoanalysis to counseling to encounter groups In a move intended to give states some uniform way to count the number of mentally ill people and indicate how many might be eligible for care under a new national health plan the federal government two weeks ago issued its finalized definitions of "serious mental illness" But the new definitions are broad vague and controversial Some mental health advocates complain that they include so many people that available resources will be stretched too thin and those with the most severe and disabling feel-goo- d I ' : : - - 1 I - tI il 1 - : I : under-- financed i 1 I 1 1 i h v 1 i 4 1 - to w -: 1 - tt ?) - 4 1 --- uP 1 111 1 ' ti 4 I - - i " i (tifk - ---- - 1 'N tbil----- -- 1 - ' N 4 111-- (411Z: I -- open-ende- d - : -0 1 i - ' i cp I ---- people Including psychotherapeutic - -- i -1 e 4 I ( g 1 i g3Nitg II 1 KIL - -- 17 i' I in Hugin It ' - - ' 7471 5r ipip414 -- "AS: Ut I I 0041 4v:at it '4'' ---7 - l nAtit k s -- -- Ilvstnf3tatP - self-indulgi- 4 i t t 1 s ito ' f --- y d ------ - they have not done in a quarter-centurWith less fear of public backlash for taking a responsible stand on gun control they should now push through the Brady bill which President Clinton has promised to sign After allthe Harris poll shows 89 percent approval of the waiting period on handgun purchases More than that pending legislation outlawing certain kinds of assault weapons may get serious consideration in Congress as well New Jersey legislators were successful this year in bucking heavy lobbying by the National Rifle Association and blocking an attempt to overturn the state's ban on certain assault weapons And just this week the New York State Assembly voted to approve a virtual ban on assault weapons although the state Senate may not concur This sort of momentum at the state level does not necessarily mean that the NRA is on the run but it does mean that the powerful gun lobbyists have been and can be defeated Beyond the bills before Congress in this session the changing American attitude may inspire other measures short of an outright handgun ban One of them could be federal handgun registration which 82 percent of those polled by Mr Harris favor The notion of some form of gun licensing similar to the way states now regulate use is strongly advocated by Attorney General Janet Reno For now though the congressional battle is over the Brady bill According to Mr Harris nine of 10 Americans support it Congress should not wait another year to pass it The nation's parents are tired of the handgun carnage and they want something done about it Congressmen who have been cowed by the gun lobby in the past acquired some new ammunition last week: The majority of Americans actually favor a ban on handguns the most extreme form of gun control L---- ' ( 1 1 ! 100sotImodiro I 1 |
