The Art of Compromise

The art of compromise, which is essential to democracy, seems to have gone out of style in recent years of angry all-or-nothing politics. Especially when the Congress is Democratic and the President is Republican, the result is often no legislation, and many issues are left to fade or fester. In an encouraging departure from that pattern, the Ford Administration and a mixed bag of Senators have reached agreement on one of the most sensitive issues of all: wiretapping U.S. citizens for national security purposes.

The proposed bill, which is to be presented to Congress this week, is the result of hard bargaining between Attorney General Edward Levi and Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy. There were helpful contributions from Presidential Counsel Philip Buchen, Liberal Democrats Gaylord Nelson and James Abourezk, Conservative Democrat John McClellan, Moderate Republican Charles Mathias and Conservative Republican Roman Hruska.

Under the proposal, the President will no longer have an automatic right to order wiretapping without a court order. American citizens can be tapped only if they are "engaged in clandestine intelligence activities, sabotage, terrorist activities," are doing so under the "direction of a foreign power," and a federal judge issues a warrant. Ford has agreed to back it. At least, it beats showy confrontation, veto and stalemate. What with a bipartisan resolution attempting to take détente out of politics (see page 31), it just might be that the U.S. is rediscovering the art of compromise.