[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S2336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SENATOR COHEN: WHY I AM LEAVING

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I received a note in the mail from 
Marion Plancon of Staten Island, NY, and she enclosed an op-ed piece 
written by our colleague, Senator William Cohen, for the Los Angeles 
Times.
  Somehow I missed seeing the original publication of it.
  But I have found through the years on the Senate floor and with my 
service with him in the House, that our colleague, Bill Cohen usually 
makes sense.
  And his call for greater civility, less hostility, more reason, and 
less shouting is a call that should be heeded in this body, and also by 
the American public.
  I wish that the extremes of partisanship and hostility were only in 
the House and Senate or only between the administration and Congress.
  Unfortunately, we do reflect the American public sometimes more than 
we should.
  We should be a reconciling force, and I fear that we are not.
  I ask that the William Cohen op-ed piece be printed in the Record.
  The column follows:

                      [From the Los Angeles Times]

                            Why I Am Leaving

                         (By William S. Cohen)

       Last week, I announced that I would not seek reelection to 
     the Senate for a fourth term. I have been moved by the 
     reaction of my constituents and colleagues. Many expressed 
     sadness over my decision, and nearly all were perplexed. Why 
     are so many leaving the Senate? How can the center hold? 
     Won't the system fall apart?
       It is not a case, to continue with Yeats's words, ``that 
     the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of 
     passionate intensity.''
       Such a poetic construct presumes too much and maligns the 
     character and capabilities of those who have most recently 
     arrived in Congress and those who have chosen to remain.
       Those of us leaving the Senate do so for unique and deeply 
     personal reasons. I suspect, however, that we share a common 
     level of frustration over the absence of political accord and 
     the increase in personal hostilities that now permeate our 
     system and our society.
       Increasingly, public officials face: Too little time to 
     reason and reflect; the hair-trigger presumption of guilt 
     pulled at the slightest whisper of impropriety; the 
     schizophrenia of a public that wants less government 
     spending, more government services and lower taxes, and the 
     unyielding demands of proliferating single-issue 
     constituencies.
       Too many hours are devoted to endless motion without 
     movement, interminable debate without decision and rhetorical 
     finger-pointing without practical problem-solving.
       Our republic, we know, was designed to be slow-moving and 
     deliberative. Our Founding Fathers were convinced that power 
     had to be entrusted to someone, but that no one could be 
     entirely trusted with power. They devised a brilliant system 
     of checks and balances to prevent the tyranny of the many by 
     the few. They constructed a perfect triangle of allocated and 
     checked power, Euclidean in symmetry and balance. There could 
     be no rash action, no rush to judgment, no legislative mob 
     rule, no unrestrained chief executive.
       The difficulty with this diffusion of power in today's 
     cyberspace age is that everyone is in check, but no one is in 
     charge.
       But more than the constitutional separation of powers is 
     leading to the unprecedented stalemate that exists today. 
     There has been a breakdown in civil debate and discourse. 
     Enmity at times has become so intense that members of 
     Congress have resorted to shoving matches outside the 
     legislative chambers. The Russian Duma, it seems, is 
     slouching its way toward the Potomac as debate gives way to 
     diatribe.
       We are witnessing a gravitational pull away from center-
     based politics to the extremes on both the right and left. 
     Those who seek compromise and consensus are depicted with 
     scorn as a ``mushy middle'' that is weak and unprincipled. By 
     contrast, those who plant their feet in the concrete of 
     ideological absolutism are heralded as heroic defenders of 
     truth, justice and the American way.
       The departure of centrists from party ranks may be cheered 
     by ideologues in the short term. But unless the American 
     people are willing to embrace one party dominance and 
     governance for extended periods (or turn to the British 
     parliamentary model, which I don't recommend), then elements 
     within the liberal and conservative factions will necessarily 
     move back to the center, toward compromise and, yes, 
     consensus.
       The American people are experiencing a great deal of anger 
     and anxiety at this time. The stern virtues of self-
     discipline and fiscal prudence have given way to the soft 
     vices of mindless consumption and selfish gratification. We 
     are now paying for the wages of our sins, and ironically, our 
     citizens are angry with political leaders who have indulged 
     their appetites, purchased their votes and passed the bills 
     to the next generation. The road to fiscal solvency and 
     sanity will not be easy, and it surely will not be paved with 
     the bloated promises of blandishments of political 
     extremists.
       I have devoted nearly a quarter of a century to public 
     service and a search for common ground in a society that is 
     growing in complexity and diversity. Although I have decided 
     to enter the private world to pursue new challenges and 
     opportunities, I remain convinced that the American political 
     system will pass through this transitional phase in our 
     history and return to the center, the place where most people 
     live and a democracy functions best.

                          ____________________