Word: controllable
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Wall Street Journal editorializes that the real purpose of toppling Tower was "to cripple a President fresh from an electoral victory. To demonstrate that the real power lies in a PAC-elected Congress immune from effective voter control." And ultimately "to dismantle the presidency" no less. Of course, 87% of the members of Congress are also fresh from election. But this doesn't count, the argument goes, because Congress has "less turnover . . . than in the Supreme Soviet," as former President Reagan has complained. Only six House incumbents lost re-election bids last year, and more than 85% of current members...
...reasoning from these figures to the conclusion that Congress is "immune from effective voter control" is peculiar. Why is it that Ronald Reagan's 59% landslide re-election in 1984 constituted a mandate but the 60%-plus landslides run up by most members of Congress constituted a scandal? Why is the apparent Republican lock on the White House considered to be a profound ideological message from the voters, whereas the apparent Democratic lock on Congress is considered to be a sign that the system doesn't work...
...might be better if the U.S. had a parliamentary system in which the Executive and Legislative branches were always under the same control. Not only would that avoid paralysis through partisan disagreement; it would also prevent the evasion of responsibility that is the real cause of paralysis in our Government. Negotiations on the budget, for example, are more like thumb wrestling than arm wrestling: the opponents don't really disagree about the destination; they just know that whoever goes first loses...
...Palestinian demonstrators, such as lifting economic sanctions, reopening schools and putting an end to the demolition of houses. Shamir feels he can afford to be inflexible. Politically, he has never been stronger. Although last November's elections produced a stalemate, he outmaneuvered his rivals and now exercises almost complete control over foreign policy. Diplomatically, his Washington trip left behind at least a faint impression that Israel was taking some initiative...
SWAPO is still expected to win a majority in next November's elections. But to gain complete control over the assembly that will write Namibia's new constitution, a party must capture two-thirds of the total vote, and there is considerable doubt that SWAPO can do that. It will face at least six opponents, the strongest being the moderate Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, a mixed-race consortium of ethnically based parties with considerable appeal to Namibia's 80,000 whites. Says Alliance Chairman Dirk Mudge, a white former Finance Minister: "It won't be a SWAPO landslide, believe me." Last...