BOOK REVIEW
By ALAN D. MONROE

A campaign platform from Paul Simon

Paul Simon. The Once and Future Democrats: Strategies for Change. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1982. 169 pp. $12.95

THIS BOOK is the latest product from the prolific pen of Paul Simon, U.S. representative from the 24th district in the southern part of Illinois. The book reminded me very much of a national party platform as most of it is a presentation of attractive proposals for new policies. (I make this comparison from the perspective of having seriously studied platforms and finding them of much higher quality than most observers.) Simon's purpose is to present an agenda for the Democratic party in the wake of its serious defeat in 1980. Aside from some rather brief discussions of politics and elections at the beginning and end of the book, the volume is devoted to a considerable number of policy areas: inflation, jobs, industrial modernization, health, education, culture, agriculture, energy, defense, foreign policy and others.

Like most serious books, this one has both strengths and weaknesses. The negative aspects here are almost entirely in terms of things which are not included. While the policy coverage seems almost encyclopedic, there are some significant omissions. Simon notes at the start that he cannot discuss everything and mentions that he will not deal with the question of abortion. Among the other topics not treated are the problems of crime and racial relations. The significance here is that it is "social" issues such as these which have divided and ultimately weakened the Democrats over the past two decades, and one suspects that discovering a successful way of dealing with such controversies would be of greater value to the party than suggestions for helpful innovations in economic policy.

Along the same lines, Simon does not attempt to articulate a theory of the political process, but it seems clear that he accepts the prevailing pluralist view that government is — and ought to be — the product of competition and compromise between competing interests. Indeed, he argues that the Democratic party needs to listen more effectively to a variety of groups, including Christian Scientists (on health legislation!). The difficulty here, as Theodore Lowi argues, is that a principal reason for the lack of effectiveness of modern governments is too much responsiveness to organized groups. One might also note a lack of comment on the effectiveness of Congress and the Democratic leadership in passing and implementing the kinds of policies which Simon proposes.

For many readers, an obvious criticism will be that almost all of what he advocates will increase federal spending. He is sensitive to that point, often pointing out that some programs would not be very costly, that others would be ultimately profitable, and that the total effect is probably not as inflationary as the combination of Reagan's proposals for tax cuts and increased military spending. Still, one must be suspicious, if only because many of the proposals are not well enough developed to allow any estimates of cost.

On the positive side, it must be said that this book contains an astonishing number of intriguing and generally workable proposals. Some are rather minor (smoke detectors in public housing) and a few are a bit far-fetched (a $100 tax deduction for people who live in the same location for five years in order to discourage population mobility), but most seem to make eminently good sense. It should be made clear that this is neither an ideologically extreme nor a highly partisan book, though (as in any campaign platform) the opposition administration does receive some well-placed barbs. I was also struck by the inclusion of brief vignettes concerning several of Simon's less fortunate constituents which conveys a sensitivity to individual problems which does seem to be noticeably lacking in the current administration.

Will this book have a noticeable impact on future policy? Probably (and regrettably) not, as is the case with most good books on politics. First of all, it is unlikely to get a sympathetic reading from Republicans, conservatives or the Reagan administration, though if people holding such views were to look seriously at many of Simon's ideas, they would find them acceptable and useful. I also have some doubts about the impact of this book on the Democrats and liberals who I assume are the intended audience. Meritorious as the proposals are, a lack of good ideas for additional social and economic programs is not what weakened the Democratic party during the last 20 years and led to its defeat in 1980. What is needed, I suspect, is the will and ability is enact and implement such policies while avoiding other policies which will fail and repealing others which already have failed.

AIan D. Monroe is professor of political science at Illinois Stale University, Normal.

22 | August 1982 | Illinois Issues