OTHER COMMENTARY: the End of a Revolution

The “Second American Revolution” was killed two weeks ago in an obscure Senate committee vote against President Reagan’s nomination of William Bradford Reynolds to be associate attorney general. A lot of history, to be sure, separated that vote from the collection of grievances known as the “Second American Revolution.” They began accumulating in the heady days of the 1960s and ‘70s, when liberal do-gooders and pragmatic centrists put together a formidable structure of institutions, laws, values and practices--all aimed to use public power as an instrument of social progress: improving race relations, mitigating the harshness of punishment, protecting the ecology and easing the pressure of social custom and religious conviction.

The 1980 election marked a genuine reaction against the assorted follies and unanticipated side effects of the past 20 years, but during Reagan’s first term the exponents of harsh correction dissipated their energies. Reaction enjoyed an undoubted rebirth in the 1984 election. The Democrats went further than ever in support of abortion by choice, secular schools and job quotas for women and minorities. A populist backlash shaped up as a prime feature of the second term.

As head of the Justice Department civil-rights division, Reynolds stood upside-down the doctrine of affirmative action. He saw in this practice reverse discrimination, and began moving to overturn the basic law on civil rights in this country.

Even so, his nomination seemed unbeatable. A broad policy question was the only issue; on that the electorate had spoken. But the spectacle of reaction proved too much. Two Republican liberals found cause to go against Reynolds, as did a Democratic traditionalist. Suddenly the committee majority had vanished.

Reynolds’ defeat leaves the wave of populist reaction in limbo. The Justice Department is full of vacancies; the Supreme Court remains sorely divided. For those of us who believe in tolerance and pluralism, who think that truth has many levels and reality not a few facets, there has been a kind of deliverance. Reaction, far from having won the day, remains at bay. Just why is hard to say; perhaps the country has no stomach for a backward turn of the wheel. But the lesson is clear: It always makes sense for those in the majority to apply their power with moderation, especially when they are sure that they are right.