The Nation: Vive la Differ

In a year when politicians are deeply suspect, what better way to woo voters than by pronouncing a plague on both our major parties? Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, 69, famed semanticist and ex-president of San Francisco State College, did precisely that in his campaign for the U.S. Senate from California. A backslid Democrat who now calls him self a “Republican unpredictable,” Hayakawa explained the difference between the two this way: “Republicans are people who, if you were drowning 50 ft. from shore, would throw you a 25 ft. rope and tell you to swim the other 25 ft. because it would be good for your character. Democrats would throw you a 100-ft. rope and then walk away looking for other good deeds to do.”