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Document:LP News 1973 July-August Issue 15: Difference between revisions
Document:LP News 1973 July-August Issue 15 (view source)
Revision as of 06:57, 21 July 2021
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Bids for the [[National Convention 1974|'74 Convention]] were taken from Dallas and Chicago, and the [[LNC Meeting 24 November 1973|Fall '73 ExecComm meeting]] was set for Denver on November 24. | Bids for the [[National Convention 1974|'74 Convention]] were taken from Dallas and Chicago, and the [[LNC Meeting 24 November 1973|Fall '73 ExecComm meeting]] was set for Denver on November 24. | ||
=POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE= | |||
==XII. WATERGATE AND THE LP== | |||
With Watergate figuring so prominently in the news these days, it is only natural to ask what effect it will have on the development of the LP as a political party. | |||
In this writer's opinion, the first obvious political effect of Watergate is to tarnish the Nixon administration and, to some extent, the Republican Party. The immediate benefi ciaries will be the Democrats. Gains in next year's Congressional election and recapturing the White House in '76 seem within their grasp now. | |||
However, as a minority party we can also pro fit from the decrease in respect for the GOP. We must get all the mileage out of that attain able to us. We can broaden our gains if some thing else happens. Specifically, if the Democrats throw courtesy to the winds and go after Nixon and friends with full abandon, rake the muck and make Nixon look worse than Teapot Dome, Tammany Hall and Mayor Daley combined. Nixon will then send his dogs out to bare corruption and political trickery by the Democrats, both real and fabricated. That shootout would leave both parties (particular ly the more vulnerable GOP) politically weakened. Thus, the two-party system will be hurt, which is our foremost goal in terms of political strategy right now. | |||
Even with a Nixon counterattack, the Democrats will probably win a convincing victory in '76 behind Teddy Kennedy, whom they will be even more sure to turn to if under fire (to unite and save them). The certain Republican in fighting that Watergate has already caused will lock up the victory for the Democrats. 1976 is the year the GOP will nominate their man through a wide-open primary struggle, as the Democrats did in '72. They will never unite enough to even have a chance, especially with the damage and division Watergate has done them. | |||
In sum, the Democrats should win in a Kennedy landslide in '76. Which may also help us, according to no less a statist than columnist Stewart Alsop. He said last December that continued landslides like '64 and '72 could weaken and ultimately destroy (right on!) the two party system. | |||
To help bring all this about, I urge all of you to write a letter to your Democratic Congressman and Senator(s), if you have any, and to Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. (U. S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510) to urge a gloves-off style full scale attack on the Watergate scandal and the entire surrounding GOP spying and sabotage of the last election. | |||
I wouldn't put down "I'm an LP member," because it should look spontaneous. If every LP member writes Sam Ervin such a letter, demanding a no-holds-barred app roach, it can pay off well for the LP. | |||
[[Roger Eisenberg]] | |||
White Plains, NY | |||