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Something Less than the New Revolution
But when he articulates this vision, Nixon on occasion deals in simplicities of virtue, spiritual nostalgias, even paternalistic atavisms that are as unrealistic as the excesses of radical rhetoric. In an extraordinary interview he granted to the Washington Star-News before the election, Nixon said: "The average American is just like the child in the family. You give him some responsibility and he is going to amount to something. If on the other hand you make him completely dependent and pamper him and cater to him too much, you are going to make him soft, spoiled and eventually a very weak individual."
For all the dazzle — and trials — of his foreign relations, Nixon's domestic record in the first four years has represented something less than his "New American Revolution." When the President heralded that objective two years ago, he listed six major goals: revenue sharing, government reorganization, health insurance reform, welfare reform, full employment and new environmental initiatives. Of those efforts, only general revenue sharing has been approved by a hostile Congress; the other goals have proceeded fitfully or not at all. Most of Nixon's domestic efforts in Congress have involved beating back passage of bills the Administration regarded as too expensive. When that failed, he resorted to the veto or, as in the case of the very expensive water-pollution bill, he simply refused to spend all the funds authorized.
In the Nixon years, federal spending has mounted massively, but in his second term the President will try to curb the rate of increase. It is also going to be a period of rough riding for the President on Capitol Hill. Majority Leader Mike Mansfield has announced that he will pursue ways to develop Democratic alternatives to White House proposals. In fact, chances are that Nixon will simply not propose a great deal, but will concentrate on trying to run more efficiently the vast number of federal programs already in being. The middle and blue-collar classes certainly do not want to pay more taxes for programs which, they feel, benefit mostly the blacks or other members of what sociologists call the "under class." But there may be some areas—for instance, medical care or the environment—where even Nixon's own constituency may eventually become dissatisfied in the absence of greater federal effort.
Nixon's victory hardly caused a mood of merriment to descend on Republican Washington. "We are sore winners," said one Cabinet member. The morning after the election the President demanded resignations from 2,000 politically appointed members of his Administration, including his entire Cabinet, so that he could clean house as he chose. Only four of his eleven Cabinet members will still be at their desks after Jan. 20, plus Elliot Richardson, who moves from HEW to the Department of Defense. The only obvious pattern in the changes is an emphasis on managers, budget trimmers —and loyalists. But the large turnover, which is being reflected in lesser posts down the line, serves a larger management purpose in Nixon's mind. Nixon told reporters in a post-election Camp David meeting: "The tendency is for an Administration to run out of steam after the first four years, and then to coast, and usually coast