Chicago Tribune (Sunday)

G.H.W. Bush needs liberal doses of history

- Mike Royko

Originally published May 6, 1992.

Looking back on Selma, Ala., in 1965, I’m trying to remember how many liberals I saw smashing the heads of peaceful civil rights marchers. I can’t remember a single one. The only liberals I saw were attached to the cracked heads.

That was the case at most of the confrontat­ions I saw. Those swinging the clubs or shooting from ambush could probably be described as social conservati­ves. Those on the receiving end tended to be of the liberal persuasion.

This applied to the politics of that era. Any legislatio­n thought to be beneficial to blacks — voting rights, access to public places, job opportunit­ies — was opposed by most Republican­s, especially the far right.

Laws that finally were passed had been pushed by gutsy politician­s like Sen. Paul Douglas, of Illinois, an unabashed liberal.

It isn’t hard to make the argument that if it had been up to the Republican party of the 1960s, there would be far fewer black officehold­ers, school teachers, policemen, firemen, lawyers, doctors, executives, bank tellers, reporters, businessme­n and other members of the black middle class.

And it isn’t hard to make the argument that if it hadn’t been for Democrats, especially those who were liberal and progressiv­e, we would have an even worse racial mess in this country than we have today.

So I’m not sure what President (George H.W.) Bush is talking about when he blames the Los Angeles riots on Democratic policies that he says began in the 1960s.

Is he talking about Operation Head Start? Yes, Democrats pushed that through. The idea was to start educating black kids as early as possible.

Preschool education isn’t a radical concept in the suburbs where most of Mr. Bush’s friends, relatives and political associates raised their children. But it wasn’t widely available in the slums of Chicago, Detroit or New York.

The only thing wrong with that program is it wasn’t big enough. But even with limited funding, it was one of the most successful educationa­l programs ever launched in this country. And it would have even greater impact if it hadn’t been opposed by so many of Mr. Bush’s political allies.

Is he talking about laws that were intended to prevent discrimina­tion in hiring and promoting? Sure, in some cases the laws were abused. And we’ve all heard the complaints about reverse discrimina­tion, some valid, some sour grapes.

But I didn’t notice Mr. Bush’s party putting forth any bright ideas about job opportunit­y, other than to whine about what a hardship it was for businesses if they couldn’t be selective, another way of saying that they wanted their rights as bigots preserved.

Just who does President Preppie think he is kidding? Since 1968, when Richard Nixon was elected president, the White House has been controlled by the Republican­s for all but four years. We’ve had Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush, with only one term for Jimmy Carter.

If there is anything that the 20 years of Republican presidents shared, it was an indifferen­ce, almost a disdain, for big cities — especially those big cities that have large black population­s.

High-tech weapons for foreign dictators? There were always a few billion dollars to spare. Subsidies for tobacco farmers? Just ask. Huge contracts for military industries? Stop by anytime, the check is ready. Billions for S&L crooks? Just print some more money.

But at the bottom of the list were Chicago’s West Side, New York’s Bronx, LA’s Watts and the other big, multiracia­l cities. If all these Republican presidents had an urban policy, it was this: To hell with them; they’re Democratic voters anyway.

Now, after decades of indifferen­ce and neglect, a Republican president says it’s all the fault of Democrats. However, he hides behind a press secretary and doesn’t say just what it is that the Democrats did to cause the riots.

If I had to guess, I’d say he was falling back on that old favorite of Republican­s such as Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Reagan.

Agnew and Reagan helped create that legendary urban folkfigure, the welfare mother who travels in a Cadillac, wears mink and fills her shopping cart with lobster, filet mignon and fine burgundy.

That was the contributi­on to racial harmony of Agnew, a convicted crook, now sunning his corrupt hide in Palm Springs, and Reagan, the upholder of family values, whose own kids now bum-rap him as an indifferen­t father. Agnew had the gall to sneer at some woman raising three kids on $300 a month, while he was stuffing his pocket with graft. Reagan did the same while on the mooch from big corporatio­ns.

Now President Preppie says it’s all the fault of Democratic policies. Tune in tomorrow. He’ll probably say he saw Willie Horton looting a shoe store.

Excerpted from “The Best of Royko: The Tribune Years,” a new collection of Mike Royko’s later work. By the time Royko died in 1997, he had written nearly 8,000 columns — about half of them for the Tribune — and had become a part of the daily fabric of Chicago life. To learn more about the new book, edited by his son David Royko, visit store.chicagotri­bune .com/best-of-royko.html.

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