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By DOUGLAS A. JEFFREY
Ranwhannock Newt Contributing Writer
Only CBS pre-empted its programming to cover our bi-annual national elections Nov. 4. Too bad its commentators spent half their time lamenting “negative campaigning,” of which we surely need more and not less. They should have advocated more serious negativity - in the style of great politicians of the past, e.g. F.D.R. (whose opponents called him an S.O.B., not a Great
Communicator). Instead, they perpetuated the pernicious myth that these elections themselves were not terribly serious since there are “no great national issues” in 1986.
Thus they compared this year with 1958, when Congressional Republicans took a drubbing with another popular Republican president serving his sixth year. For in 1958 there were “no great national issues.” Eisenhower went on to work with an opposition Congress that agreed with him fundamentally, and American life continued as before.
As with most myths, there are certain facts supporting the comparison: Democratic senatorial candidates did campaign this year primarily on local and sectional issues, e.g. agricultural price supports (Georgia, the Dakotas), pollution control (California), confining nuclear waste dumps to the East (Washington, Nevada), and increasing the Coast Guard budget (Florida). And the voters, according to pollsters, did act on the basis of these less-than-national concerns. But are these facts misleading?
A national concern is one felt by all Americans. And insofar as it’s an issue. Democrats and Republicans generally disagree over it. With this in mind, let us compare 1986 with 1958.
In 1986, it’s a national concern that a Soviet-proxy government ex
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