76-18-B3
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Tom Hayden[edit]
Transcript[edit]The Government directing us in Washington was chosen by little more than one-fourth of the people. In the general election, 27 percent voted Democratic; 26 percent voted Republican and 47 percent sat on their hands. In other words, 73 percent of the voters did not vote for those who now hold office. In California, there have been a couple of special elections (less than a year after the '76 general election) to fill vacant seats in the state legislature. In one election only 30 percent of the people voted and some 25 percent in the other. This means the winners were the choice of about 15 or 16 percent of the electorate in their districts. Will Rogers once said, "Public officials are no better and no worse than the people who elect them, but they are better than people who don't vote at all". Let me use California as an example of what can happen to all of us if we don't change our ways and accept our responsibility to see that government truly represents the will of the majority. Suppose the rank and file -- average, conscientious citizens -- are fairly divided among the 30 percent or so who bother to vote? But, suppose there is a small, well-organized group determined to exert more power than its numbers justify? This group can become the deciding factor both in a primary contest to determine who the nominee will be and in the general election to put that nominee in office. I said I'd use California as an example, but I assure you it has no monopoly on the kind of activity I'm about to describe. Early last spring, in Santa Barbara, California, a large, well-attended conference was held. It was called the "California Conference on Alternative Public Policy". Actually it was an outgrowth or follow-up to the '76 United States Senate campaign of Tom Hayden. It is fashionable to describe Hayden these days as a political activist. A few years ago he was one of the foremost revolutionaries when no one bragged about living only a stones throw from the campus. Now people cluck in astonishment that he got a surprising percentage of the Democratic vote when he challenged then-incumbent Senator John Tunney. Remember what I said about a small unified voting bloc when the turnout at the polls is light. The Santa Barbara meeting was like a reunion of all the anti-war demonstrators of the '60's, the hard corps shock troops of the campus violence who marched, rioted and threw rocks for causes. They gathered to endorse a new cause which they would support in a new and different way; a kind of uptown, wear-a-necktie-to-fool-them way. Out of the meeting, led by Hayden, has come the "Campaign for Economic Democracy" (C.E.D.). Hayden describes it as an umbrella organization of coalition groups to break up the alleged power of corporations. He estimates they can round up a million to a million-and-a-half followers, starting with the ex-campus rioters. Their purpose? To win elections local and statewide, to lobby, to support those who are allies and replace those who don't come through. First priority is to win control of corporations, But in the process to build a network by electing their people to water districts, local air pollution control boards, planning commissions, boards of permit, equal rights commissions, and so forth. These are the offices so many voters don't pay any attention to and don't bother to vote for, but which can cause so much trouble if held by troublemakers. And, they'll succeed famously as long as the rest of us don't bother to vote. You say you don't think they can do it? We didn't think they could burn down the schools either, did we? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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