The Case Against Reform

...Watergate was a stroke of undeserved luck that offered the Democratic party a brief opportunity to address the problems of a federal tax system that had become increasingly burdensome on its own core constituency— the working and lower middle class—and a welfare system which that same core constituency saw as a method of transferring hard-earned dollars into a slum of wastefulness...

...McFarland has written an intelligent, thoughtful book that comes down in favor of Common Cause...

...The successful enactment of much of this reform agenda, along with Democratic victories in 1976, lulled the party into a false sense of security, entirely unprepared to cope with a changing electorate...

...The goal of the Progressive movement to prevent machine control of the political system produced restrictive voter registration laws that in practice became vehicles for a Protestant middle- and upper-class to restrict the growing political clout of Irish and Italian immigrants...

...For any student of reform movements, it is a significant contribution...

...Chatham House, $20...

...Unfortunately, the book is written from the inside of Common Cause looking out, a sympathetic portrayal of the techniques, aims, and internal structure of a lobby run by intelligent, articulate, likable men and women...

...Watergate had clear partisan consequences: it severely damaged the Republican party and gave a beleaguered Democratic party a massive boost, pushing the Democratic advantage in the House from 50 seats in 1973 to 149 in 1977 and handing the party the presidency in 1976...

...The campaign finance reforms have in many ways encouraged and legitimized specialinterest campaign financing through political action committees...

...In 1908, California Governor Hiram Johnson pushed through legislation gutting the power of political parties in the state and produced a system glorifying political irresponsibility...

...This massive swing to the Democratic party had nothing to do with policy, however...

...The core of the membership grows out of a very special universe of Americans: "There seem to be 100,000 households in the country that contribute a total of $75 a year to three or more of the following: Common Cause, Nader's Public Citizen, the League of Women Voters, the ACLU, public radio/television, and environmental lobbies...

...On such gut economic and social issues as taxation, domestic spending and abortion, the Democratic party was in severe trouble, reflected in the strength of George Wallace's independent bid for the presidency in 1968, the failure of the nomination of George S. McGovern in 1972, and, most recently, in the 1980 and 1984 election and reelection of Ronald Reagan...

...Instead of capitalizing on the overwhelming Democratic majorities in the 94th (1975-76) and 95th (1977-78) Congresses to stem the hemorrhaging of white Democrats into the independent and GOP columns, Democrats in those Congresses were dominated by a reform agenda, defined in large part by Common Cause...

...Andrew S. McFarland...

...In the most interesting section of the book, McFarland carefully outlines the demography of the membership of Common Cause, showing that it is an organization made up of an affluent, welleducated, liberal elite...

...These are all legitimate and important victories, but they are not as clear-cut as McFarland suggests...

...Proclaimed as drives to eliminate corruption, bossism, and secrecy, many reform efforts in this country have been stalking horses for groups pushing their own covert agendas...

...Open congressional hearings more often benefit lobbyists, who actually attend the sessions than they do an undifferentiated "general public...

...By any statistical standard, then, Common Cause is made up of affluent, white Democrats...

...single-issue initiatives, with governance by elected officials...

...Overall, the Progressives' reforms of government procedures were not an impressive contribution to the American heritage of democracy," Andrew McFarland pointedly notes in his new book * For Common Cause, the mixed achievements and failings of the Progressive movement pose the central question: Is the selfproclaimed citizens' lobby a representative of the general interest or of an upper-middle class elite...

...The median family income of members is about twice the national average, and fully 75.8 percent of the members have completed college, including 42.6 percent who have an advanced graduate or professional degree...

...Common Cause rode, and to some extent directed, the crest of a wave of public revulsion with politicians resulting from Watergate and all the related scandals...

...McFarland argues, however, that the leadership and staff of Common Cause have effectively avoided the danger of falling into the trap of the Progressives—serving the needs of its privileged members at the expense of the working class...

...Instead, Common Cause has succeeded in winning approval of legislation and rules "opening up the system ." These included the elimination of many closed congressional hearings, the required public disclosure of politicians' holdings and sources of income, and campaign finance measures providing public financing of presidential general elections and full disclosure of all contributors to federal elections...

...Common Cause: Lobbying in the Public Interest...

...Party fundraisers have been replaced with lobbyist-fundraisers...

...Thomas B. Edsall is a writer for The Washington Post and author of The New Politics of Inequality, published by W.W...

...Some 53.2 percent of the members describe themselves as liberal or very liberal, while only 7.3 percent call themselves conservative or very conservative...

...An estimated 99 percent of the members are white, but, unlike the white population at large, 67 percent of the contributors to Common Cause describe themselves as Democrats and only 19 percent as Republicans...

...But much more importantly, McFarland neglects the larger role of reform in the 1970s...

...Norton...

...and the campaign functions of party officials have been taken over by paid political consultants with no allegiance to substantive policy, and no public responsibility...