monday, february 1 1, 1980
daily nebraskan
page 5
Tiucky ' Common Cause reformers survive 70s
WASIUNGTON-Thc 1970s-that paradox of a decade
-gave us a set of stunning contrasts. There was Watergate,
the classic political scandal, but there was also Common
Cause, the classic good government "reform" group.
There was John Mitchell, the jailed attorney general, but
there was also Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who
was fired by Richard Nixon because he would not obey
corrupt commands.
The trouble with symbols is that they do not always
age graccfully-und that is particularly so with symbols of
civic or personal virtue. Some of the heroes of Watergate.
like some of the heroes of the civil rights movement, have
celebrated their own righteousness so often and so well
that they have become, quite frankly. bores.
Archibald Cox , at age 67, and Common Cause, nearing
age 10, do not seem to be in danger of succumbing to that
temptation.
When Cox was elected last Saturday as the third chair
man of Common Cause (following founder John Gardner
and Nan . Waterman, who held the post for the past three
years), the meeting "of the organization's governing
board was described by my colleague, Chris Colford. as
being characterized by "vast hope, immense vitality, and
a remarkably wcll-in formed discussion."
The Carter administration could not bend its age guide
lines for judicial appointments to give Cox a circuit court
judgeship (in part, one suspects, because he was proposed
by Edward M. Kennedy). But Common Cause is wisely
cd that two days a week of Cox's time (all he can spare
from his Harvard Law School duties) is worth almost any
one else's full-time services.
Cox is fond of. speaking in nautical images, and in an
interview the day before his election, he described govern-'
merit us if it were a ship the Enterprise that is drifting in
circles, ,
- t-j; -.:;':. ;.,; 'i -i v.. .r-; r :-v:-.y;'v. :r :- , - -:'
r't i1 r . . .. !' ' , - -
"We have to move the Enterprise along," Cox said.
"When people don't sec the Enterprise working, they lose
confidence and they have-to look out for themselves."
The modern bureaucratic-political state that Cox
glorifies as the Enterprise (with all its space-age connota
tions) others see as Leviathan, crushing the citizenry in its
path.
For all its avowed nonpartisanship. Common Cause is
an embodiment of the liberal view that the public good is
best defined and achieved by the state-and private goals
are comparatively selfish." That view suffuses its rhetori
cal assaults on 'special interest" groups, and fuels-its un
ending crusade to rid the political system of supposedly
wicked private contributions and to flood it, instead, with'
the purity of public (or tax-supported) subsidies.
There is a great deal open to challenge in that view of
the world, but there is also a great deal to be said for the
political utility of having a vigorous organization acting on
that faith.
It. is quite true, as Common Cause President David .
Cohen said, that the organization has become a bulwark
to many of the institutional people" in Congress-Republicans
like Barber Conable and Tom Railsback, Demo
crats like Tom Foley and David Obey-who really are in
terested in improving the effectiveness of the institution.
It is also true that this viewpoint-and its organization
al embodiment in Common Cause -is a motivating force
for many who would otherwise have abandoned politics
as a hopeless morass. As Common Cause board member
Kathleen Gilligan Scbclius of Kansas remarked, after a
just-completed tour of Common Cause . groups in ; 25
states, 4We found that there are thousands of people out
there who arc absolutely; convinced that they can have an
effect on decision-making. That's pretty fantastic in this
day and age."
Common Cause went through a decline in the late
1970s, like a lot of other organizations. Its membership
dropped one-third from its peak to 2 13,000 members. But
at the end of 1979 it was back up to 229J0OO members
with an extraordinary 74 percent renewal rate.
From its beginning, Common Cause has been lucky.
Fifteen months after Gardner launched, the organization
with a principal goal of cleaning up the system of
campaign finance, the Watergate burglars provided one of
history's most dramatic examples of the evils of secret
political caches-and Common Cause soared.
.. Finding Archie Cox with some free time is another bit
of luck. On the very .day he was elected chairman of
Common Cause, talking about the continuing need; to
"improve, the character of the political machinery," the
FBI blew the whistle on eight more alleged congressional
cheaters.
The timing was incredible. In reform politics-as in
every other kind of politics-sometimes it's more import
ant to be lucky in your timing than right in all your views.
(c) 1980, The Washington Post Company
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