Midway to the Election

1. Irving Howe

Since about six weeks will elapse between writing these comments and their appearance in print, it’s likely that much of what we say here will be dated. Still, a few of us from Dissent want to put down some reflections on the political situation, which right now means, mostly, the Democratic primaries and Carter’s victories. It looks, at the moment, as if Carter will win the nomination; win or lose, he represents something in American politics that is worth discussing.

But first, a few notes of caution. The primary system, no doubt better than having candidates picked by political bosses, has been shown to have major flaws. Smallish minorities can be decisive in choosing candidates; the crossover in some states creates confusion; money turns out to be even more important than in an election. Do the primaries show a turn to the right, politically? There seems to be some evidence of that, but it is much too early to ...