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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 15, 1983
PAGE 8
In social policy, Mr. Washington, 60, is� very liberal Democrat.
He has..•a two-year record in Congress as a consistent opponent
of cuts in Social Security, food stamps, school lunches, college
loans, cost-of-living adjustments for federal employees, and gov
ernment social services in general.... For Chicago, Mr. Washing
ton calls for expanded public services and investments..•. How
ever attractive these programs might be, the question arises
about who will� for them, coming on top of a Chicago budget
alreadyat-reast $8()million to $90 million in deficit this
year.... [ If taxes on business and personal property are in
creased, the flight of industry and white residents will accel
erate. ]
Mr. Washington's plans for a civilian police review board have
galvanized his supperters and his opponents.... The proposed
review board appears to be the principal reason that white
policemen have become one of the strongest forces in the Epton
campaign.
In the days running up to the election, television network news concen
trated heavily on the emotion-charged race issue and the often crude cam
paign sloganeering. But the largely liberal reporters gave the impression
that racism proceeded from one side only. The April 15 NATIONAL REVIEW ex
amined (before the election) the blindspot that liberals have on issues
racial.
The fine distinction being advanced by liberals is that there is
a big difference between racial pride and racial hate, between
voting for and voting against.••• Liberalism thrives in great
part by intensifying group loyalty among minorities while under
mining it among the majority.
Be that as it may, the white
reaction is probably due less to Washington's race than tp the
way he exploits it. He lacks the bland but reassuring style of a
Thomas Bradley [ mayor of Los Angeles] or an Edward Brooke [former
Senator from Massachusetts] , each of whom could persuade white
voters that he was their kind of guy. Harold Washington appar
ently has not convinced, or tried to convince, Chicago's white
voters that he will strictly subordinate race to a more general
conception of the public weal.
The Chicago election has a national impact given the growing numbers and
influence of not only black Americans but other minorities upon U.S.
society (Deuteronomy 28:43). Black leaders such as Jesse Jackson have been
organizing to nominate a black for president at the upcoming 1984 Demo
cratic Party convention. It is highly unlikely that such a move would suc
ceed at that time (and the Democrats might not succeed in the elections if
Mr. Reagan chooses to run again). But in 1988?
It is a temptation for any minority group, having been in the background and
without political clout, to look after its own interests at the expense of
the aspirations and concerns of other groups large and small. Mr. Jackson,
for example in calling for a black presidential candidacy, argues that it
should be built on "an agenda that grows out of the black experience in
America." The Democratic Party, he adds, should be turned into a "coali
tion of the rejected--the real silent majority."
Thus, in the future (1988 if not 1984) the nation could pass through even
greater political and social devisiveness.