November, 1946

Mid-term congressional elections can be pretty dull affairs when there is no presidential contest to whip up enthusiasm for platforms to accentuate party differences. The coming elections in November promise no deviation from this tradition. Despite some introductory fanfares and blatant hog-calling at state conventions, indications are that both major political parties are resolved in giving the public a rather murky presentation of the basic issues at stake.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., writing in the October "Atlantic Monthly," has pointed out that the outcome of the struggle between Republicans and Democrats for control of the House of Representatives this fall will test little more than the relative efficiency of the two political machines in the numerous congressional districts and not the validity of the issues which divided the Seventy Ninth Congress, issues which cut across party lines--the O.P.A., the F.E.P.C., the British loan, the draft, and others. The Republicans, for instance, taking advantage of post-war American apathy to foreign and domestic affairs, are hoping for a light vote in November. They calculate that the tides of disaffection from the Democratic ranks will easily bring in sufficient votes to win the thirty or so odd seats in the House which the Republicans lost by a mere three percent margin in 1944.

While the Republicans make the campaign as uninteresting as possible, the Democrats must depend on "getting out the vote." Labor must not be allowed to stay idly at home. Thus it is the work of the Political Action Committee to rally the eleven and publicize the issues affecting the working classes. What it is the Democrats are campaigning for remains a mystery. Weighed down by incessant squabbles among their own ranks, the Democrats are as yet unable to present a united front. The Southern bloc resists P.A.C. infiltration. And Truman's storm buddies Snyder, Allen, and Clifford find embarrassment in open discussions. The upshot of this shadow-boxing by the two parties is, as Mr. Schlesinger says, a "no-man's land where in the flickering half-light the donkey is indistinguishable from the elephant."

Where does this leave the average voter? Must he give up the political ghost? Or is there anything he can do to compensate for the defection of his leaders; The fog with which the politicians have hoped to shroud the basic issues is a sorry presumption on the vitality of democracy in the United States. While Secretary Byrnes demands more political democracy in Europe and denounces the elections of Bulgaria and Poland, the state of affairs in his own country plays upon the weaknesses of popular liberalism. Whether Henry Wallace is right or wrong, his recent dispute with Byrnes and Truman and his present fight with Baruch demonstrate a faith and willingness for the judgment of the people. Until other American leaders display this democratic spirit, the only recourse of the voters is to judge for themselves and, above all, to register their decision at the polls.