Basement Diplomacy

For the past six years, Ronald Reagan and his administration have virtually controlled Washington. The national political agenda for both the Republicans and Democrats has been set by the White House. More important, this administration managed to control the national news media to a degree unknown before the Reagan years. But finally, the administration, and even the president himself, are being forced to accept a new reality.

This loss of power was not caused by an aggressive campaign mounted by fed-up Capitol Hill Democrats. And it wasn't precipitated by an aggressive, or even particularly alert, Washington press corps. Neither can those of us who have tried for the past several years to expose the underside of this administration take any credit for recent events.

In the end only the president and his staff can be credited with their change in fortune. The scandals that led to their current problems leave no doubt that members of the Reagan administration have purposely misled and lied to the American people in order to pursue their policy objectives.

When all is said and done, the changes forced upon the president by this series of scandals will probably appear to be quite small. But real changes have taken place. And they are major.

The change that is mentioned most often concerns credibility. One of the major strengths of the Reagan administration has been the public sense of trust in the president and his associates. No matter what was said by the administration, it seemed to be believed by a majority of the American people. The MX missile was a "peacekeeper." Space weapons were a "defensive shield." The economy was improving. Poor people were better off than ever before. The contras were only trying to stop an arms flow from Nicaragua to Salvadoran guerrillas. And all of this country's problems were caused by former President Jimmy Carter or the Democrats.

One of the factors helping the administration maintain credibility for so long was the absence of an aggressive independent news media. Official statements were reported as fact by the media, even when evidence was not provided or ran contrary to the statements. Often in the first six years, official government statements were proved false within a few days of being made. But no one in the media demanded an explanation, a correction, or a retraction.

Now, because of a season full of scandals, the credibility factor has changed. For the remainder of President Reagan's term in office, he will be treated much more like a politician than an idol. He will be expected to provide proof to support his statements. And in the back of most people's minds will be the lingering question of whether or not he is telling the truth.

The second major change that will result from the White House blunders will be in the administration's ability to set the political agenda and define the parameters of debate for national policy in the United States. Congress has acted in a submissive, almost servant-like, manner for most of the Reagan presidency. There were exceptions, such as the South Africa votes, but the president has clearly been in charge. Now that he has shown a weakness, we can expect Congress to reassert itself without the previous fear of presidential retaliation. Those members of Congress, few in number, who actually dared to challenge the president before the scandals broke into the open will be in an excellent position to continue their work of challenging Reagan priorities and goals with a much more sympathetic media and public.

A few specific policies may also change as a result of the scandal revelations. The president's politically selective war on terrorism is definitely in trouble. The president has been shown to stand small against terrorism, even when measured by his own questionable definition of the problem. At the same time the United States was dropping bombs on Libya, we were delivering rockets and missiles to Iran.

The president's own policy of supporting terrorism may also finally be heading toward an end. As the clandestine nature of the administration's foreign policy unravels, many pieces of the web lead to the contras. The illegal money from Iranian arms sales is one. The CIA involvement in the Hasenfus contra resupply effort is another. Other White House efforts to provide "private" funding to the contras is still another. When these problems are considered together with a weakened president, a public still strongly opposed to funding the contras, and a new Senate majority, the opportunity to finally deny funding to the contras looks better than at any other time since the funding began.

WHILE MANY POSITIVE changes are probable and a few others are possible, the most needed change will not even be seriously considered. No one seems to be asking why a secret government exists in the White House basement or how that secret government can be dismantled. The questions so far have centered on who is in charge of it and what it has done.

What the scandal has revealed is a foreign policy directed by a small number of men who have absolutely no accountability to the American people or their representatives. The congressional committees with oversight of intelligence and other sensitive matters were bypassed. Government agencies with accountability to Congress were avoided in carrying out policy. The Reagan White House virtually took over several sensitive matters that shaped the way the rest of the world views the United States.

Administration officials have pursued their goals without regard to public opinion or law. And several of the actions taken by the renegade White House, with or without the president's knowledge, can only be viewed as promoting and supporting warmaking activities around the world.

These decisions, according to the Constitution, require the consent of Congress. The very reasons the president wants to run his foreign policy from the White House are the reasons we should oppose it: the capacity to make quick decisions and the ability to avoid public exposure to those policies.

During the past six months, the public has had a glimpse of the true nature of this administration. A picture of conflicting stories, underworld-like activities, official lies, misinformation, and distortion has emerged. Polls show that the public, even the Reagan-loving public, is not willing to ignore the abuses of power that have taken place.

This crisis has created an opening for those committed to changing current White House policy and direction. Now Congress and the media need to be shown that the administration's honesty problems started well before they were discovered by the Washington Post, especially in the case of Nicaragua, where administration statements of record have been consistently proved false for several years. An opportunity exists now to get the truth into the public record. We should make use of that opportunity.

Dennis Marker was a Sojourners’ assistant to the editor when this article appeared.