THE UNO NEWS BILL IIOBBS .President ie Thursday, August 2, 1962 A Natkma Voice Thank God for dear old David Lawrence! Without his editorials on the last page of every issue, U.S. News and World Report would be such a frightfully dull, factual magazine. But as it is you can always turn to that back page for good, wholesome comic re lief. After plowing through all the p-aphs, economic tables and long verbatim interviews in the front Of the magazine one really needs a little escape from reality, a flight into fantasy, a nice disor ganized set of pot-shots from the Grand Old Man of the conserva tive columnists. And David Law rence almost always comes through. It's wonderful, some limes even better than Little Orphan Annie. ' His latest editorial Un the August 6 issue) is really tops. It is as if he had been trying hard all these many years and finally produced a real, permanent tri bute to the amazing irrationality ef the conservative position. His editorial is all about the defeat of President Kennedy's Medicare proposal in the Senate and the President's subsequent decision to take his case to the people this fall in an attempt to build his support in Congress. Mr. Lawrence explains, with a perfectly straight face, that the President should not, repeat not, campaign to get congressmen favorable to his position elected tecause this would upset the traditional balance between the executive and legistlative branch es of the government! Honest! He j-eally does! He comes right out and says it. It's tremendous, much better than Bob Hope or Mort Sahl could ever be. We would still be laughing ex cept that it hurts so much. And it's not just the conclusion Of the editorial that is so amaz ing. The points leading up to the conclusion are almost equally funny. Look, for instance, at this state ment in the eleventh paragraph: "President Kennedy has virtually a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress." Wheee! , Here we go skipping happily, . Off the path from reality. If Mr. Lawrence had bothered to read his own magazine he would have seen that the Presi dent has a three-fifths majority, not a two-thirds majority. There is a considerable difference, es pecially when important legisla tion such as the Medicare bill fails for a lack of two votes. And even this count doesn't consider the many Southern Democrats who consistently vote against the administration. If 'President Kennedy has virtually a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress," as Mr. Law rence claims, we would like to know why the farm bill, the medicare bill, the urban affairs Cabinet position bill and the num erous other Kennedy administra tion bills have failed to pass the Congress. Quite obviously Mr. Lawrence's statement is completely devoid of any factual basis. But let us not linger too long on the body of the editorial, for its inconsistencies, misconcep tions and factual errors are just minor when compared with the conclusion. Besides, reading too much of that sort of thing might permanently damage one's mind. Mr. Lawrence's main argument Is a constitutional one. He con tends that Mr. Kennedy, by cam paigning for the election of Con gressmen who support his pro grams, will upset the traditional balance of power between the branches of government. He says, "There is no sanction in the Constitution for a dictator ship or for the use of presidential power to influence congressional elections. It would be better in the long run if the President left it to rival candidates in the Democratic primaries or to the party nominees for Congress to fight their own battles. The people don't like to see their Represen tatives or Senators beholden, poli tically or otherwise, to a Presi dent." In short, he believes that by going out to campaign this fall President Kennedy will be over stepping his constitutional bounds and moving the executive branch of government into a field which rightfully belongs to the legisla tors alone. This is patently absurd. When President Kennedy sets out on the campaign trail this fall he will be exercising a per fectly legitimate function of the executive office. This is the all important function of presenting his program to the people, of arguing his case, of putting his position to the basic test of all positions in a democracy the test of the vote, the test that is answered by the people on an election day. If the President did not do this he would be avoiding a basic responsibility which our system has placed upon him. President Kennedy, then, is do 'What Wrong ing this: He is going out to cam paign; he is going to tell the people, "1 am your President; you have elected me to lead you; I have certain programs, and I believe these are the best pro grams for the country for the following reasons; I am asking you to elect persons who support my programs." There is absolute ly nothing wrong with this. Quite the contrary, it is exact ly what the President should do; in fact, it is a shame he has waited so long to do so. Why must the President do this? Mr. Lawrence approaches the answer to this question when he says, "The American people want their Senators and Representa tives to represent them first and the interests of other States or districts second." That is the heart of the matter, although Mr. Lawrence seems unable to see it even when he himself writes it. Essentially he is saying that the Congress is local and region al in nature. This is only natural. A senator is elected from a single state; he is responsible to the people of that state and he must represent their interests. A re presentative is elected from an even smaller geographic district and must represent an even smaller number of people, an even more restricted set of eco nomic interests. And yet these men do not just vote on matters which affect their home states or districts. Willi Leading A I )' m y'i yj n.c. miocRfiuC I III i - V A CONGRESStfiSU I They must vote on matters which affect the whole country, al though they are actually respon sible to only a very small pro portion of the country. The President, on the other hand, is responsible to the whole country. He must see the prob lems of the nation from the broad er point of view; he cannot look at just one district but must look at how a program will affect the country as a whole. And he is responsible to all the voters, not just a few of them in one geo graphic area. That is the heart of the diffi culty between President Kennedy and the Congress, and that is why the President must take his pro gram to the people this fall. His task is to convince the people to vote as Americans, not as North Carolinians or Calif orn ians or New Yorkers. He has to convince them that his program is best for the country as a whole and that they should there fore elect representatives who favor his program. He understands that if his program is to succeed, he must have a Congress which can trans cend the traditional sectional and local nature of Congress and look at the good of the entire country. . And this is apparently what upsets Mr. Lawrence. Quite right ly he sees the traditional, consti tutional role of the Congress to represent the local and state in terests in the Federal govern and the role of the President to represent the interest cf the Double Life?' country as a whole. He thinks that by taking a national point of view into the Congressional elections the President is going to overturn ths traditional bal ance of interests. But is that not just what tho President is expected to do? Of course! That is precisely why we have a President. We could have a gov erns, nt which was run complete ly by a Congress of men elected from small areas. We could, but thank God we don't. If we dkl we would soon find this Congress dissolved into little bickering groups of men who would spend all of their time talking of tiny sectional issues and accomplish nothing. It is for this reason that we must have a President, a man who is elected by ail of tho people and who can see the coun try in a total viewpoint and can thus provide some purpose and direction for all of the country, not just a part of it. And the most important placo for the President to give nation al leadership is at the polls. In elections at a time this crucial in the country's history it is im portant that there be a national voice in even the local elections, a voice asking us to vote as Americans, not as little men cf a single limited area. Tne Presi dent's duty as the executive cf the whole country is to provido this voice in these elections. Eut Mr. Lawrence speaks cf "dictatorship" ami the unconsti tutional use of "Presidential pow er." These words have no pertin ence and no significance to tho matter at hand. Mr. Lawrer.c put it very well him; fit when he said, "The people the-nuelus must be the judges of whet legis lation is best for them." In order to make this decision, the people must be well-informed; they must hear a national as well as a local noi-it cf iew. The President is giving them Um view. And the decision is EtilJ in their hands. Reflections Leu Brown pleaded guilty in Durham Monday to a fizi in tho conspiracy to fix college taikct b?H games a ycar-ard-a-half ago. Sentencing was pei'pened next week. Erown now lives in Durham and works in Ra'cich. He v?ns married Saturday. He apparert ly is well on the way to re-hat ui tating himself. Horefu-ly, io cicty will rot try to speed tho jcb with a jail sentence. Iho stigma he carries is tncugh fcr any man. We hope "justice" lets eU enough alone. ' The Women's Council net Men day night. One defendant asVe about having an eren trial. Tho chairman expressed hostility to the idea. She apparently prefer red that the wheels cf justice grind quietly in this case. Ln the rackets, it is calkJ "hushing it up.' The fire department, the pclice department and the ihcrLTs tojs all converged cn Scuth Building Friday after a fire alarm. Un fortunately, the -fire" was noth ing but the burning ir-sulation ca an electric appliance ccrd whxh ted been shorted. Donations to buy a vscd ceffee maker for Central T.eccnds may te sect to the VNC News.

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