The Veep and the Baby Shower (c)1992 by Lois B. Laulicht One could really enjoy snapping Quayle's garter and suggest that he was annoyed that neither he nor Marilyn were invited to the Murphy Brown event. We could escalate this ridiculous vein and assert with great certainty that folks in high places don't work late, or chase women but secretly watch TV in order to update their reality check. I bow to the greater power of the pundits among us. Do it and enjoy! Some folks will never learn and for this, we have only ourselves to blame. Ross Perot accurately described this orchestrated event when he said, "Only in America would a TV show become a political issue." He also went on to say that he thought it was goofy. It depends on what he means by goofy. They're trying to do it again! The Republican establishment defined the standards of patriotism, the flag, and anti-communism for too many years. This time they attempt to unfurl the banner of the fictitious American family! When one looks at the American family and the admini- stration's position on questions of abortion and public assistance, this is a blatant attempt to corner political ownership of the virtues of a story book family. Implicit in this tactic is blaming social ills upon a new family structure ignoring that the single parent middle class family is creating traditions of its own. It's a long leap to equate the problems of divorce which is a middle and upper class luxury with deep problems of structural poverty within poor urban neighborhoods. This latest attempt takes the questionable prize for the politics of race to an all time moral low. If the Republican attempt is successful, the Democrats are again caught on their ineffectual me-too dime as was Mr. Clinton when asked for his reaction to the Quayle speech. Again we find the Republican leadership looking for villains by playing upon the fears of the many and targeting the most vulnerable...the poor female head of household. Indeed, the problem of unmarried and unschooled babies raising babies and the problems this social phenomena creates for the rest of us are huge. The legitimate means for families to make it - no jobs for them - leaves a population with little to lose. President Bush in the Notre Dame commencement address dwelled upon social disintegration as a response to the Los Angeles riots consistent with his recent campaign speeches. It is my conviction that this bait and switch tactic attempts to focus upon these ills to protect the Admnistration from the unrelaenting glare of the damning indictment of fraud, waste, and priviledge. These very same sanctimonious social magicians with their political sleight of hand offer no believable explanation for the Republican Iraq affair, the Savings and Loan affair, or the Republican federal deficit. We still need answers of substance to the Republican Iran-Contra deception, multi-national (American?) corporate profits and subsidy, export of American jobs, and wholesale corruption and fraud within the defense industry. The final straw is the arrogant display that our interests are only important in an election year while those of special interests are always front and center. We see again the old shell game which this group of people uses so successfully. It becomes very apparent that this response to the recent riots in South Los Angeles will be the cornerstone of the Republican election campaign. It is another Willie Horton symbol! Much less crude but delivering much the same message. The media masters watch TV too and this is THEIR response to the American dream. The cynical leadership within the Republican power structure is only interested in maintaining the status quo and it is easier with one of their own in the White House. They believe that this symbol, the Ozzie and Harriet cache, will cover in the thirty second pre-election TV advertising slot, the issues of abortion, fear of another racial out break in your town and on your street, the latent and not so latent racism in America, and finally, the virtues of keeping the tried and true white establishment priorities in power. The failed attempt of some weeks back to smear the efforts of those of us who worked in the anti-poverty agencies of the sixties and early seventies was an ineffectual cheap shot. The Republican party is bankcrupt. Their only viable issue until the the collapse of the cold war was that of anti-communism. They are a party in search of an agenda and under this leadership, thoughtful and honest conservatives are not allowed to function. Jack Kemp only now has entree to the White House because he is probably the only sitting cabinet member who has even thought about the problems of the poor and the problems of legal options for this segment of the population. The Democratic establishment in this country is little better. Both political parties mouth platitudes and then go along with the moral and financial rape of our greatest resource -- our people. No political party is going to successfully turn back the clock on the role of women in this society. No political party can return to the days when women and children were chattels primarily because they really don't want to. Not for good, pure and beautiful reasons but for pragmatic hard economic and political reasons. If all married women quit their jobs and stayed at home the impact upon the economy would be catostrophic. Wages have fallen across the board because the power structure knows that it is possible for a family to make it with both parents working. The recession has been bearable for many because the wife can and does work. Given all that has happened to this country fiscally these last twelve years, there has been an implicit assumption based upon the premise of a two income household that has kept us solvent and made us credit worthy. To suggest that single, unmarried females of color created the problems of the inner cities and that we as a nation have no responsibility for their loss of hope and stability is a shoking indictment of us all. That these nasties would try and expect to be successful using this kind of a ploy is not surprising. What is very frightneing to me at least, is that it has taken too long for the public to respond even from within the very safe context of Candace Bergen's Murphy Brown. I had to wonder what her father would have said with his Charlie McCarthy voice and how safe from his barbs would have been this bunch in power. Quayle, the messenger, got what he needed, finally, a bit of public notice. The administration has sent up another trial ballon in search of an issue. Perhaps the raging clatter will reveal the inconsistencies in our avowed public values and pragmatic family values. Those of us, both men and women, who have had emotional and financial responsibility know that those glorified days of Harriet and Ozzie existed only in the imagination of the well healed on their way from boarding school to the country club. Their perceptions of the American family was white, middle class, Protestant, and average. The melting pot of the turn of the century was European and mostly white. The reality checks of TV no longer work. That's why CBS has become a sports network and FOX more in keeping of what we may be, somewhat blue comedy and a racial blend. There is a simple and fundamental statement which has to made publicly. It is to the advantage of those who want power and wish to stay in power to short change our kids and our schools. A half literate society doesn't have the intellectual tools to deal with these sleazy PR events. Until poor people have the same access to jobs, education, and health care they will be made the villains every four years when someone decides to take control of the White House. Internet: lois.laulicht@channel1.com RIME: ->Channel1 ILINK: ->Channel1 CCC of WV...Valley Head,WV;26294