Elders Is Subscriber to Newt Age Values : Politics: The fired surgeon general has more in common with incoming House Speaker Gingrich than anyone realizes.

The basic reason why so many people called for the political head of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders--and why President Clinton gave it to them on Friday--is that she has repeatedly held positions diametrically opposed to what her critics believe to be traditional values. What raised alarms was not so much her outspoken championing of sex education, but her view that there is nothing inherently wrong with promiscuity, even among those in their early teens.

The only problem Elders sees with indiscriminate intercourse is that it can result in unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Hence her advocacy of condom distribution, even in grade schools.

Elders is also on record saying that serious consideration should be given to the legalization of hard drugs. Her latest statement about masturbation being natural and safe, and that “perhaps” these facts should be taught in schools, was actually less objectionable than many of her earlier comments. Given Clinton’s current political situation, however, it was too much for him to take, and he finally fired her.

It is probably the opinion of many Americans that Joycelyn Elders has no values--and certainly no traditional values. But in fact, many of her values are similar in an important way to those of conservative Republicans. As part of a book project, I have in recent years solicited the views on traditional values of a large number of people from a wide variety of backgrounds. What Elders had to say on the subject in 1989, when she was still the relatively obscure director of the Arkansas Department of Health, is of great interest at this point, since she has been sacked and there is a party coming to power in Congress that claims to be the defenders of traditional values.

Asked what she believes to be the most important of traditional American values, Elders responded: “I think the right of self-determination ranks high among our values. I think the right to self-determination includes the concepts of determining one’s own solutions and protection of individual freedoms.” What in this statement would not be applauded by the new Republican leadership?

Elders went on to tell me that “the value placed on self-determination has benefited us as a society through promoting upward mobility.” She expressed concern that “policies supporting upward mobility and self-determination have been eroding in recent times.” Nothing there that would raise eyebrows in the Republican caucus.

Joycelyn Elders and Newt Gingrich have more in common than either realizes. One trait that they obviously share is an inability to avoid saying outrageous and embarrassing things. But the similarities between the outgoing surgeon general and the incoming speaker of the House go beyond their loose lips. Both border on a libertarian philosophy, although they apply it inconsistently and to different realms.

Elders favors limitless freedom in personal behavior; Gingrich favors limitless freedom in economic behavior. (Gingrich seems to want freedom for everyone except Republicans in the House. He wants them to unquestioningly follow him on all matters.)

Gingrich wants to “unleash free enterprise” but restrict personal freedom. Elders would do the opposite. Both fail to understand that extreme freedom is seamless. Encouraging economic self-indulgence (greed) is bound to encourage behavioral self-indulgence (such as promiscuity). Gingrich is an advocate of a “counting culture” that expresses its values in numbers preceded by a dollar sign and is not far removed from the “counterculture” that he denounces because it centers wholly on the self.

In more ways than either would admit, Elders and Gingrich are dipping from the same well--that of unlimited individual freedom. It is not much of a stretch to say that Elders is an unconscious subscriber to Newt Age values.

Gingrich has often attacked Elders for what he has termed her “outspoken views.” His comment on her dismissal was: “It’s good for the country and good for the President that she’s departed.” The arrival of Newt Gingrich in a position from which he can do far more damage than Joycelyn Elders ever could from the one she is simultaneously leaving is not likely to be good for the country, although it may prove to be good for the President.