Creeping Repression in Washington

There is an air of creeping repression in Washington. You can detect it in many ways. Civil rights enforcement at Health, Education and Welfare is at low ebb. A voting bill is beaten in the House of Representatives, albeit narrowly. A Carswell nomination for the Supreme Court goes to the Senate, and only because of tough reporting does the public discover a chain of racist comments that make the rejected Clement Haynsworth a moderate by comparison. Then Daniel Moynihan, with great apologies after his memo surfaces, talks of an era of “benign neglect” on racial matters. The judicial clubbing of the Chicago Seven may well be followed by other trials.

How do liberals and progressives fight back? They look for leadership, ...