Fairness gets a break
Amidei, Nancy
THE FAIRNESS FRONT NOVEMBER WAS NOT ARMAGEDDON A FI'~R WEEKS of dreading that election day might . bring a death blow to politicians (of both parties) bwith good records on the "fairness"...
...for most of what he wants to do he'll need the support of the Congress, and there the news is surprisingly good...
...As Michel and other House members from both parties quickly grasped, that leaves them without a coalition in place to finish the Reagan agenda...
...Such views were voiced last year in Eastern-bloc publi30 November 1984:645...
...he has an excess of personal credentials to qualify for a hearing on this matter...
...The Economist of London was quick to point out (October 20) that in its view Bishop Tutu is not a peacemaker but simply a "man of good will...
...The result in the U.S...
...In the final analysis, we continue to disagree with Rabbi Hertzberg...
...A CBS exit poll found support for increased federal spending "to aid the poor...
...As in other years, incumbents tended to be reelected, including those with strong positive records on civil rights and poor people's programs...
...The make-up of the Congress holds out the promise of real progress on the fairness front, but realizing that promise will depend on the willingness of the politics-weary to stay involved...
...So it is not all bleak, as some feared, but the real challenge posed by the election is to us...
...NANCY AMIDEI (Nancy Amidei is the former director of the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C., and has just been awarded the Kenny and Marianne Rogers 1984 World Hunger Media Award...
...For now, however, we direct our readers' attention to his article and invite their reactions...
...For people on the fairness front lines, November 6 was not Armageddon...
...For these reasons, we welcome this article (as well as the author's willingness to state his position on an admittedly complex matter in so brief and direct a fashion...
...On page 655 of this issue, Arthur Hertzberg challenges not only our view on this question but the whole natural law framework which supports much of the Catholic church's -and not only the church's -- approach to linking morality and public policy...
...Voting against the president, while the networks' election.night maps remain vivid in people's minds, will take considerable courage -- and strong evidence of suppport from the voters back home...
...GIFTS SEEN & HEARD On October 16, one day after representatives from the government and warring factions met in La Palma, stirring the slightest embers of hope for some resolution to El Salvador's bloody civil war, the Nobel Committee announced the recipient of its 1984 Peace Prize, fifty-three-year-old Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu of South Africa...
...Rabbi Hertzberg has labored long and constructively in the fields of religion and public policy...
...It is extremely important for Catholics, and for opponents of abortion generally, to recognize the incredulity which their claim not to be pro-fairness positions were a matter of public record...
...Senate was a net plus, and in the House of Representatives virtually no change, except that liberals and moderates of both parties sound more inclined to stand up to the lame-duck president...
...II imposing "religious" beliefs provokes in many fellow citizens of intelligence and good will...
...The House of Representatives is a more complicated matter, but there too, the election was not a rout for the fairness crowd...
...But it is also true that, particularly as regards abortion, his views are representative of a wide body of opinion...
...It isn't just that the choices made November 6 were relatively less bad than might have been...
...The president's coattails were so short that Bob Michel, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, called the president "a son of a buck" for his selfish focus on a big personal win and an unwillingness to work for state and local candidates...
...And, an electorate that was supposedly going for greed in a big way, elected and re-elected members of both parties with strong public records in favor of civil rights, social justice, and programs for poor people...
...Reagan was able to do a lot of damage in his first term, but second term or first, he cannot impose his views by fiat...
...The Gramm election, like John Kerry's in Massachusetts and Jay Rockefeller's in West Virginia, probably represents no real change because in each case they are much like their predecessors...
...There will be seven new senators, only one of whom has a record of support for the president's tax, budget, and other social policies, and that's Phil Gramm of Texas...
...The other new senators: Gore of Tennessee, Simon of Illinois, and Harkin of Iowa, have good records on social issues and (particularly in the case of Harkin) replace incumbents with less favorable records...
...THE FAIRNESS FRONT NOVEMBER WAS NOT ARMAGEDDON A FI'~R WEEKS of dreading that election day might . bring a death blow to politicians (of both parties) bwith good records on the "fairness" issues, November 6 has come and gone and things don't look so terrible...
...That may also prove to be the case with Mitch McConneU, the newly-elected moderate Republican from Kentucky who beat Walter Huddleston -- not for his votes on social issues, hut for votes he missed...
...Overall, the Republicans gained only fourteen seats, and the ideological mix is thought to have changed little...
...Since all have been in Congress, their I several churches being imposed on those of other persuasions in violation of the First Amendment" ("Religion & Politics: Clearing the Air," Sept...
...Budget Director Stockman is readying the next round of budget cuts and policy changes, and the assault will not be held off by any abstract numerical edge...
Vol. 111 • November 1984 • No. 21
