Monday, November 26, 1G34
Daily Ncbraskan
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11 nations have their myths, most of
them innocuous: snmpnf r.hr-m lilrp
2-the Wagnerian nonsense nf nrp-
war Germany, downright dangerous.
America is no exception. It believes, for
instance, in the so-called Horatio Alger
myth even though to go from rags to
riches is infinitely more rare than to go
from rag3 to rags.
Still, politicians contradict national
myths at their peril. Walter Mondale did
it and suffered the consequences.
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ced, despite reality
V" fy -
Richard
' Cohen
"The myth that Mondale implicitly ques
tioned had to do with class. He suggested
that there is such a thing in America and,
moreover, that many people are mired in
the lowest ones. He had a program for
these people. He would tax the rich and
their corporations and use the money to
comfort the poor and the near poor.
Mondale employed the terms "middle
income" and "modest" which is the closest
any American politician gets to mention
ing class.
Ronald Reagan, on the other hand,
disdained such terminology. In his rhetoric
and undoubtedly in his sincerely held
beliefs, America is or ought to be a class
less society. Through industry and hard
work, the poor can become the unpoor.
He i3 entitled to his view because this is
what happened to him. The son of a
small-town alcoholic became a Hollywood
movie star, a millionaire, and the Presi
dent of the United States. Horatio Alger
had nothing on him.
Economists say that the truth is mostly
on Mondale's side and that Reagan is the
exception he and his millionaire
friends. They pointed, instead, to the
millions who were born poor and remain
poor, or, even worse, to those erstwhile
blue-collar workers whose economic
plight has deepened as their industries
rust toward extinction. To them, as to
many Americans, economic and social
class has the feel of cement shoes.
But reality is no match for myth not
even when you know what the truth is.
It's likely there was nothing Mondale
could have done to beat Eeagm But
when he walked of Americans of modest
means, he managed net only to evoke
class, but the word "failu re" as well. If you
are of modest means, if you are poor,
Mondale seemed to be saying, that's what
you'll always be. And hb promisz to you
was not pie-in-the-sky success, but mere
amelioration of your plight. He would
make things a wee bit better Medicaid,
Social Security and all of that.
This was the traditional Democratic
message, freeze-dried to its essence. All
you had to do was add myth. But Mondale,
for some reason, couldn't do that. His
vision of American excluded so much,
you had to wonder who he was talking
about and how dare he trample on
hope?
Even among his own staff there were
many whose origins were humble, and
who, through sheer accomplishment, had
earned their ticket to his campaign plane.
One of those I talked to said he could
connect intellectually to what Mondale
was saying, but emotionally it was a
different matter. For this Mondale aide,
the American Dream had come true.
Two years ago, Mondale's message
might have wor ked. The nation was in the
worst recession since the Great Depres
sion. Unemployment approached 12 per
cent and people lined the streets, waiting
for surplus cheese. Ther e are still people
on the cheese lines and Mondale got most
of their votes. But those off the lines or
who were never on them, didn't want the
"cheese" of increased federal programs,
but the chance to reach for something
grand success American style. Over
whelmingly, they rejected Mondale.
Myths have their durability, but they
have their utility, too. A nation that
believes in the Horatio Alger myth will
produce an occasional Horatio Alger hero
and he, or she, will enrich the society. A
nation that rejects that myth turns its
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back on hope, accepts the status quo and
looks to government to do what the
people feel they can not do for them
selves. In a perfect world, there would have
been a candidate who offered both hope
and reality. That didn't happen this yegr.
Instead, given a choice between one or
the other, America chose the candidates
who innocently embraced myth and
spurned the one who seemed to reject it
entirely.
It's no surprise that the Myth Merchant
won. In a world where success comes
retail, he promised it wholesale. Myth
made it an easy sell. Reality says he can't
deliver.
1834, Washington Pott Writers Group
r-: ( f s a ) i
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