ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992                   TAG: 9202120350
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short


WHY DO POLITICIANS FEAR TO TAKE SIDES?

A WISE MAN said, "If two people always agree, then one is unnecessary." Why are the politicians so upset about taking sides?

Newt Gingrich talks as if partisanship is a crime. He ignores the fact that this country has thrived with a multiparty government. Everyone in Communist Russia and China, Nazi Germany, and all of the dictatorships since the beginning of time, ratified without protest.

In the past 11 years, the White House decrees and the Congress has buckled under. They seconded everything sent down or failed to overturn vetoes.

When we studied government in school, I understood that the executive enforced the laws that were enacted by the legislature and thought it a good idea.

According to people who classify themselves as conservatives, this is wrong. We must all walk in lockstep. What are called debates are really joint press conferences. The fact that there is support for a term-limitation bill shows how many citizens would like to dump their responsibility and let a few "big papas" run the country.

The love feast that has been running our government in the past two administrations is responsible for the shape of the country, and the public has supported it. Are we so afraid of people who threaten the patriotic, religious and sexual reputations of anyone who crosses them, or are we truly apathetic, as the ironically meek news media would like us to believe about ourselves? If you feel that your representatives are not listening to the right people, they may be trying to be loyal to you.

SUE COLLINS

ROANOKE



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB