Text IV

I. READ THE ARTICLE AND EXPLAIN WHY IT IS HEADLINED IN THIS WAY.

WASHINGTON DISCONNECTED (by Robert J. Samuelson)

By Washington, I do not mean the place. Most people here lead lives like most other Americans. They endure con­gestion, worry about schools and think only intermittently about politics and government.

What I mean by Washington is the political communi­ty. It consists of politicians, congressional staffers, White House aides, top bureaucrats, the press, lobbyists, think-tank experts and the staffs of interest and advocacy groups. These people subsist on politics, elections, legislation and public policy.

The widening gap between this Washington and the rest of the country is not altogether bad. America thrives in part because it's decentralized. Government power remains dispersed among the national, state and local levels. The economy permits companies to expand, compete, contract on their own. There is a plenty of volunteerism, charity and philanthropy.

Still, there is something intuitively disturbing about Washington's growing disconnect. In a representative de­mocracy, people shouldn't feel less and less represented.

It has always been widely believed that the government could solve most social problems. This faith — plus confi­dence that the economy could produce boundless new wealth — inspired immense governmental activism. Washington . connected with the rest of the country by showering new benefits on many constituencies. Although Democrats led this crusade, most Republicans joined. The elderly benefited from Medicare and higher Social Security; the poor received Medicaid and food stamps; schools and universities got more aid; Congress passed environmental and worker-safety laws.

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We know now that this crusade foundered on its own heady assumptions. All social problems could not be solved; the economy couldn't produce boundless wealth; budget deficits emerged because politicians wouldn't choose between higher taxes and lower spending; regulations involved costs, as well as benefits. The political impact of this failure was profound. Lost was the old formula for connecting with the mass of moderate voters.

Ever since, both parties have struggled vainly to find a new one. The result is two parties that are not so much liberal and conservative as reactionary and radical. Demo­crats are reactionary because they seem to promise a return to the dreamy 1960s with expanding social programs and constituent benefits. Many Americans are suspicious. On the other hand, Republicans seem radical because they blame their governments. This frightens most Americans.

It is in this broader sense that Washington has become disconnected. The parties can't speak convincingly to the messy reality of large but inevitably limited government. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can create new programs or cut taxes. Politicians become more strident in their de­bates and more vicious in their personal attacks. They con­sort mostly with their own «core constituencies» and sym­pathetic ideologies.

This is a sad commentary on three decades of change.

(from «NEWSWEEK» 2002)

2. READ THE ARTICLE ONCE MORE AND SAY WHY THE AUTHOR IS SO DISPLEASED WITH THE SITUATION IN POLITICS.

3. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING WORD-COMBINA­ TIONS INTO RUSSIAN:

To endure congestion; political appointees; think-tank experts; to subsist on; the widening gap; to thrive; to pro­duce boundless new wealth; to shower benefits on; moderate

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Учебное пособие для философов и политологов

voters; to blame for; in token ways; sympathetic ideologies; to be stunned by.

IV. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING WORDS AND THEIR DERIVATIVES:

Connect - disconnect - connection -connected - discon­nected

Policy - politics - political - politician Appoint - appointment - appointee - appointed Center - central - centralize - centralized - decentralized Compete - competing - competition - competitive -competitor

Volunteer - volunteerism - voluntary - voluntarily Philanthropy - philanthropic - philanthropist Represent - representative - representation