Priorities for the Seventies

...when a growing number are losing all confidence in society...

...If they don't, pressures from outside, particularly from governmental initiatives, will increase enormously...

...John W. Gardner is Chairman of the Urban Coalition Action Council...

...Even more important in the long run, however, are the steps he must take to cope with the threat of a nuclear holocaust...

...And one cannot blame racial tensions for our monumental traffic jams, for the inexorable advance of air and water pollution, for the breakdown in administration of the courts, for the shockingly inefficient and often corrupt municipal governments...

...Nevertheless, it is imperative that he do more to set a tone of urgency to which we can all respond, and more to exemplify in his own actions a determination to solve our pressing problems...

...Here our best hope is the ferment among young health professionals, who have already demonstrated that they are eager to move...

...This brings us to the current Congress, which has acquired a reputation for lethargy that could be dispelled by the passage of vital legislation and, equally important, by the enactment of genuinely meaningful congressional reform...

...It is criminal for either Republicans or Democrats to put politics before the nation's future...

...Congress must also pass a strong conflict of interest statute that will put an end to the hypocrisy of tolerating grave conflicts of interest among its own members while attacking the same fault in others...

...Not, I fear, as much as one would like...

...The natural state of the bureaucracy is to be unbloody but bowed—it would look better with some honorable scars...

...They must ask themselves whether they have spent too much time in slf-congratulation...

...Apathetic, self-absorbed and self-serving...

...And if this is not administered by vigorous and purposeful leaders, it will eventually be administered by an aroused citizenry, or a crisis...

...Anything less will ultimately result in increasingly savage criticism by a bilked and frustrated public...

...Discrimination, to be sure, touches most of our urban issues in some measure...

...It is true that when urban systems malfunction, minorities and the poor are hit first and hardest, but what we are faced with is deeper and broader and in the end affects us all...

...Yet only the President's clearly expressed concern and stated priorities can mobilize the Federal apparatus, encourage Congress to shake off its lethargy, and enable leaders in other sectors of American life to move decisively...

...We are aware of racial tensions that could tear the nation apart, understand that oppressive poverty in the midst of affluence is intolerable, and see that our cities are sliding toward disaster...

...If there were ever a time when it is essential that our institutions merit respect, it is now...

...One last word...

...They should find out which major companies in his area are shirking on the equal opportunity front and let them know that their failure is recognized...

...His recent action with respect to chemical and biological warfare was encouraging...

...I believe, however, that this condition is curable, that we can recover our power to act decisively—as individual citizens and as a nation...

...it is outworn, expensive and outrageously inefficient...

...Too many Americans have come to equate the difficulties in our cities with racial tensions—and they are tired of the race problem and wish it would go away...

...Even if it did, the urban crisis would remain...

...These flaws in the Federal legislature have been debated for years...

...They preside all too complacently over a system that is not working...

...Thirteen Senate and House committee chairmen are over 70, six are over 75, two over 80...

...They, too, are hampered in constructive change by the narcotic of self-congratulation, by the notion that one does not have to apply unsentimental evaluation to a noble and dedicated effort...

...Public anger over pollution is rising, and the time for effective action has come...

...And not only must he propose social programs adequate to our needs, but when the legislation goes to Congress he must fight as hard for it as he fought for the abm and Clement Haynsworth's Supreme Court nomination...

...The health professions must act at once to redesign the present system of medical services in this country...

...As for the colleges and universities, they have been jolted out of their complacency in recent years and are in an excellent position to accomplish the long-delayed overhaul of their institutions...

...that would be patriotism at its highest...

...Not a mild push—a solid jolt...

...Before us hovers the brooding threat of nuclear warfare...

...Those within the field had better proceed with modernization...

...we know what our problems are, but seem incapable of summoning the will and resources to act upon them...

...Now let's have a look at the person who is practically never attacked, the individual who ho'ds the highest title a free society can award: citizen...

...Another thing the citizen can do is throw the weight of public opinion against those in the private sector who are unwilling to work toward the betterment of our common lot...

...These men are full of years and honors...

...This, of course, will not happen...

...They can serve their country best by stepping aside...

...What has he done to inspire confidence in self-government...

...whether they are merely dabbling with a problem that requires a massive assault...

...and the politician who pursues that strategy should be rejected by everyone...

...We are just beginning to grasp the immense complexity and danger of environmental deterioration, and although the problem is not wholly an industrial one, manufacturers play a crucial role in it and could contribute enormously to its solution—if only by forswearing their practice of emasculating pollution control legislation as it moves through Congress...

...Third, the rising tide of consumerism must be met with constructive measures...

...Make no mistake about it, the urban problem is a crisis in the management of complexity and change...

...Educators must answer to much the same indictment...

...Finally, a word about the nature of the urban crisis...

...We are anxious but immobilized...

...This article was adapted from a speech he delivered last month at the National Press Club Nixon's greatest test is on the international front...

...Many, in fact, are engaged in outright fakery—paying lip service to the law and preserving a good public image, while in reality doing as little as possible...

...First, it should make an unqualified commitment to equality of opportunity for minority groups...

...In 1958, Congress passed a law requiring the chief judges of Federal circuit and district courts to give up their administrative duties when they reach age 70...

...Nor are these problems that stop at our borders, for nuclear warfare, the population explosion and the contaminated environment are impending planetary disasters...

...Our controlling checks and balances dilute the thrust of positive action, while the competition of inter's's inherent in our pluralism acts as a brake on concerted acton...

...Labor unions, too, have their tasks to accomplish and the one that overshadows all others at the moment is rooting out racial discrimination, eliminating the restrictive membership practices that deny the opportunity to work or to advance beyond menial jobs...

...Let this be the year they call upon toughminded outside critics to work with them in a no-ho'ds-barred reappraisal of their activities...

...Today the advantage is leaking away very rapidly...

...Happily, polls have repeatedly shown that when all is said and dane, most Americans do want to see our problems solved, including those of poverty, race and improving the quality of life...

...Pitting white ethnic minorities against black or brown, for example, can only bring sorrow to all the groups involved...

...I would propose that as we enter the 1970s industry address itself to three central issues...

...Our lakes are dying, our rivers growing filthier daily, our atmosphere becoming increasingly polluted...

...As for the President himself, any judgment on his effectiveness thus far must of course take into account that he came into office at a difficult time, and that he has to deal with a Congress dominated by the opposing party...

...Similarly, the firms contributing most to pollution should be made to feel the weight of public disapproval...

...It is indecent for them to let us imagine that we can solve our difficulties without money, or that we cannot afford to tackle them at all...

...Though some firms have performed nobly in this respect, the majority is still dabbling with the problem...

...Closely related to education is the sphere of private, nonprofit activities in general—cultural, civic, social service, religious, scientific, and charitable—which provides some of the most extreme examples of organizational decay...

...Again, some farsighted business leaders have already done so, but the record of industry as a whole has been deplorable...

...Most of the poor, after all, are white...

...George Bernard Shaw once said that every profession is a conspiracy against the public...

...Jam's Madison, chief architect of Federalism, designed our government in such a way that it simply will not move without vigorous leadership...

...He must man the party machinery, support social and civic reform, provide adequate funds, criticize, demand, expose corruption, and honor leaders who actually lead...

...Such men will not move us toward a better future...

...The time is one for renewal, and during the course of 1970 we must subject our institutions and ourselves to a jolting reappraisal and overhaul...

...We are not—and should not become—blind followers of the leader...

...That requires, first of all, measures to abolish the seniority system and to curb the abuse of power by entrenched committee chairmen...

...In many of the battles that have had to be settled in the public forum, that fact was decisive...

...Second, industry should pledge itself to end pollution...

...when the problems themselves are terrifyingly real—then it is immoral for our leaders to temporize...

...For over 30 years unions have benefited enormously from America's conscience being basically on their side...

...All it takes is money, guts and leadership...

...Mankind is in trouble as a species—but seized by a paralysis of the will, as in a waking nightmare...

...Sad to say, people who believe they are doing a noble thing are rarely good critics of their own efforts...

...His options, moreover, are limited by inflation and the war...

...He may not be able to rid himself entirely of those emotions, but he can rid himself of politicians who live by manipulating them...

...Few institutions in our national life are as gravely in need of renewal as the Congress of the United States...

...they do want to see justice prevail...

...At the very least, every profession is deeply implicated in the institutional rigidities of society...

...Leaders in each industry should set standards of quality and be tough in demanding that the rest of their trade follow suit...

...One thing the citizen can, indeed must, do is reject fiercely and consistently all politicians who exploit fear and anger and hatred for their own purposes...

...But such important questions as housing, manpower and income for the poor involve white as well as black...

...Each government agency should honestly assess the extent to which it has built an empire rather than served the public, and should ask itself how much risk it has taken in fighting for good causes...

...I propose, then, that as we embark on the new decade we make a heroic effort to alter our mood and our state of inactivity...

...I know all the arguments pro and con, all the difficulties, but this must be done...

...The possibilities for constructive change by the professions are enormous as well...

...Government agencies should not be exempted from the same kind of self-scrutiny...

...Traveling around the country, one finds that there is a deep and pervasive feeling among all segments of the populace that "things aren't working"the Federal government is given a major share of the blame...

...Systemic inertia is characteristic of every human institution, but overwhelmingly true of this nation...

...In a vital society, the citizen has a role that goes far beyond duties at the ballot box...

...Recognizing this, it is important to understand one thing about any institution or social system, whether nation or city, corporation or Federal agency: It does not move unless you give it a solid push...

...We have had failures of leadership before, but rarely has there been the widespread distrust of our own institutions we see today...

...They could change it, but often—as in the case of health professionals—they are obstacles to reform rather than its promoters...

...I think Congress should impose the same rule on its own members...

...Ask shopkeepers, housewives, young executives, or insurance salesmen what concerns them...

...One of the gravest agents of deterioration is the sense of moral superiority that afflicts these institutions...

...When the great majority of Americans shares this uneasiness...

...The place to begin is with our national leadership—both the Executive branch and Congress—because with a few notable exceptions, leadership more than any other factor is the missing ingredient in our present situation...

...too many of us take a free ride, refraining from any distinctive effort to work for the common good...

...His first task—and one cannot exaggerate its urgency—is to end the war in Vietnam...

...On the domestic front, the President must say more explicitly, and with greater urgency, exactly what he conceives to be an appropriate strategy for dealing with the dilemmas of the cities, with equality of opportunity, with the pollution of the environment, and all the other problems that are wracking the nation...

...Perhaps, having his brilliant contemporaries in mind, it just never occurred to him that the day might come when leadership would be lacking...

...Our system grinds to a halt between crises...

...I mentioned at the outset that although we perceive the dangers confronting us, we are nevertheless seized by a paralyzing passivity...

...And that distrust is not limited to radicals...

...And what about industry...

...What is new is not the weaknesses of the institution but the mood of questioning in the nation...

...John McCormack, the present Speaker of the House, is 78...

...what possible difference it would make if they went out of existence...

...I have often wordered why he did not come right out and say so...

...It has lied to the public and to itself about the seriousness of the matter...

...As we enter the 1970s, all such highminded organizations (including the Urban Coalition) should reexamine their performance with unsparing honesty...