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Saturday, November 22, 1997

McGovern proud to be liberal

By PEGGY FIKAC / Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) -- Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, in town for a speech on personal liberty, cut to the bottom line Friday when asked about a state law that would prevent minors from getting state-paid birth control without parental consent.

He's got mixed feeling about the law, which has been put on hold because of a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas. He'd like to see children and parents discuss such issues.

"But when it comes right down to the final decision, it seems to me that personally I'd rather have a daughter show a little independence than to get pregnant when she didn't want to," said McGovern, whose speech was hosted by Planned Parenthood of Austin.

McGovern cited Thomas Jefferson's leaning "toward too much liberty, rather than too little."

A proud liberal at a time when many Democratic and Republican politicians alike struggle to be labeled moderate, McGovern cited Jefferson as one of four presidents he considers great liberals. The others, by his assessment, were Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.

"They all believed that government should primarily serve the well-being of ordinary people. Conservatives, God bless 'em, have generally been more interested in serving the interests of big business, and that's not entirely bad," said McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate.

"We need corporations and big business, and we need to be concerned about fiscal spending and about law and order and those things. I'm not against that, but I think that the cutting edge on most programs that have benefited the ordinary citizen have been liberal programs."

Champions of conservative causes often say the best government is the least intrusive; that citizens are best able to determine what's best for them. They characterize liberals as undisciplined spenders.

McGovern contended, "I think most Americans are liberals. They just don't know it until you start to take away some of these liberal programs. You touch Social Security and you'll find out how many liberals there are in this country."

He listed other "liberal programs": rural electrification, civil rights, the women's movement, the environmental movement, minimum wages, student loans, school lunches.

"I'm very proud to be in a tradition that's been around ever since this country was founded. We've always had these two great, competing traditions conservatives and then liberalism, and it's bad for the whole country when either one of them are denigrated or ridiculed as now seems to be the case with liberalism," he said.

"I just wish (liberals) wouldn't run for cover as often as they do," McGovern added, citing those who call themselves pragmatists, progressives, even New Democrats.

"I'm very proud to run on the liberal agenda. You don't always win that way, but you feel better when it's all over."