University of Virginia Library

'Conference'

Professor Burns chooses the
word "conference" because he does
not envision a noisy and expressive
convention which is essentially an
exercise in party power.

He wants the "conference" —
like the annual meetings of British
parties, from which his whole idea
comes—to be dominated by serious
discussions of major issues and by
the selection of the "Shadow
President" who would articulate
the conference-formed party
position on those issues.

Professor Burns believes his
proposal has many merits.

First, it would "energize" party
politics. Potentially every city and
town in the Republic would be
embattled not only over candidates
but over issues. Dissent and new
ideas would more easily enter the
party. And what, one imagines,
would have been the end of Senator
McCarthy's movement were his
"children's crusade" launched and
waged through such an apparatus?
Might the Democratic candidate in
1968 have been other than Hubert
Humphrey?

Second, as Professor Burns says,
"it would keep the parties more
honest." The "Shadow President"
would be expected to speak to
national crises as resourcefully as
the President. He would be obliged
to do more than criticize; as
spokesman for a would-be
government, he would be pressed to
present alternatives and solutions.