EDITORIAL
THE DOMESTIC STAKES Voters stayed away from the polls in droves during the just-concluded primaries, as they have in all recent elections. The reason, many of them say, is that they see no real...
...It is our hope that Jimmy Carter will spell out his positions with more specificity in the months ahead, thus making plain the differences between the parties, and that he and the Republican candidate will win the attention of the American voters with a serious discussion of the issues that confront the nation...
...On domestic questions, the choice between these two economic philosophies is the basic decision the voter must make...
...according to the New York Times, reputable economists insist that the program makes good economic sense...
...The goal of the proposed Democratic program: a revitalized economy that would produce federal budget surpluses by 1980, surpluses that would in turn be invested in health, educational, energy and environmental programs...
...enactment of a $10 billion tax cut effective July 1978 that would be structured to give the most relief to low-income and middle-income workers...
...The reason is obvious: this year saw a record-breaking number of vetoes by the Republican President of all sorts of social measures passed by Congress...
...On economic matters, the GOP is willing to combat inflation but essentially is still committed to a do-nothing role for government...
...the voter is not in fact confronted with a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee...
...Nevertheless, even as matters now stand, the domestic differences between the two major parties are real enough...
...in fact, in the last eight years two GOP Presidents have vetoed 86 pieces of legislation developed by Democratic Congresses...
...the Democrats, on the other hand, favor a more positive and vigorous role for Washington...
...The reason, many of them say, is that they see no real difference between the parties...
...Included would be the Hawkins-Humphrey full employment bill to reduce unemployment to 3 percent by 1981...
...offering low-interest loans and tax incentives to small businesses to make them more competitive with large corporations...
...The program put forward by the majority in the House is based on the idea of a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress working together beginning next year...
...Consider, as one good example of these differences between the parties, the recent domestic proposals made by the Democratic majority in the House...
...increasing federal revenues by plugging up fat-cat loopholes in the tax laws...
...Other issues will arise, but on this we know where we stand: when it comes to jobs and economic well-being, we do not share the currently fashionable view that less is more...
...All this is not just "pie in the sky" promises...
...Whatever shape the presidential campaign takes, on questions like these there is a real difference between the two major parties...
...What was called for by the Democrats was nothing less than a dramatic realignment of legislative priorities for the next five years, with the aim of restoring national economic proposperity by creating 12 million new jobs and cutting taxes by $10 billion...
Vol. 103 • July 1976 • No. 15
