Former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas '62 on Saturday condemned both major American political parties for moving away from the "passionate center" positions that most Americans support.
"Politics in this country are facing a vacuum. Neither political party is speaking to where the people are," said Tsongas, who ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1992.
Speaking before a capacity crowd in Alumni Hall, Tsongas said Republicans are moving too far to the right, while Democrats such as House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., are using "class warfare" for political purposes.
He also criticized Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., for allowing political pressure to push them away from centrist American values.
Tsongas said because of the sharp Republican shift to the right, he believes that only President Bill Clinton or Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell have a chance of being elected President in 1996.
He said although he feels Powell's centrist political positions and widespread name recognition would make him a viable independent candidate, he expects the ex-General to run as a Republican, despite Powell's differences with the GOP's right wing.
Tsongas characterized the majority of Americans as being in favor of social inclusiveness, fiscally conservative budgets, environmental regulations and campaign finance reform, issues that the Democrats and Republicans split on.
While Republicans are strong on fiscal responsibility, they have abandoned environmentalism and have used socially divisive issues to get votes, Tsongas said.
He said George Bush's 1988 Willie Horton advertisement exemplified this trend in the Republican party.
Democrats lack fiscal responsibility, but advocate better social policies, he said.
"Democrats have never realized a fundamental reality. Before you can redistribute wealth, you must create it," Tsongas said.
Tsongas also spoke at length about the impact of the recent verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, saying that reactions to the decision indicate a need for Americans to discuss race relations.
"I don't believe the country is divided between black and white. If I was an Asian-American, I would find that dichotomy insulting," he said. The country "is a mosaic, these are just the two most self-absorbed groups."
Tsongas said white, heterosexual males need to realize what it is like to be black, female or gay and voiced his support for affirmative action programs.
On the other hand, he warned social reformers to remember that "once you lose the high ground, you lose the engine."
Tsongas, who co-founded the anti-deficit group The Concord Coalition with former Republican New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman, also spoke at length on the issues surrounding the country's fiscal crisis.
Warning that overconsumption by the Baby Boomer generation could lead to "generational warfare," Tsongas said the federal government needs to re-examine entitlement programs, tax structures and other fiscal issues.
He lambasted both political parties for not forcing people to pay for their own consumption and allowing them to place the burden on the next generations.
Tsongas also criticized Clinton's embrace of a middle-class tax cut after the 1994 elections, saying that such a policy was fiscally irresponsible.
"A responsible president in boom times would be running a massive surplus" to try and pay down the debt, Tsongas said.
The Republican Congress's budget plan cuts too deeply and presumes that the 1994 elections represented an acceptance of its political platform, he said.
"What happened in 1994 was a rejection of the Democrats, not an embrace of the Contract with America," Tsongas said.
According to Tsongas, The Concord Coalition's plan to achieve a balanced budget by the year 2000 demonstrates that "it is remarkably easy to balance the budget when you are not constrained by politics or ideology."
The Concord Coalition's plan would raise taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline, initiate means-testing for entitlements and cut excessive programs such as the Seawolf submarine, he said.
