THE WEEK

• Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? Do dictators never abdicate their dictatorial powers? Yesterday or the day before those questions had to be answered Yes; today—since one exception disproves a historical generalization—the correct answer is No. “President” Somoza of Nicaragua—not, of course, the Somoza, but the closest approximation to him we have left—says he wants his congress to prohibit, by constitutional amendment, a president’s being succeeded either by himself or any member of his family. Says it and, despite strong objections from his younger brother (who happens to command the armed forces) , keeps on saying it, and in a vocabulary that should win him friends on Times Square: “I am going ahead with my experiment in democracy . . . we are making progress.” But he adds: “. . . if my enemies show violence, the government must counter with violence.” That is, must send for Little Brother— which sounds like history getting back on course after all.

• The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would close one of the constitutional loopholes through which the Executive has refused information to investigating committees. “This section,” the amendment reads (referring to the “housekeeping” law passed in 1789), “does not authorize withholding information from the public or limiting the availability of records to the public.” Representative John Moss of California, whose committee is studying the Executive’s alleged tendency to edit the information it gives the public, explains that the bill will not weaken internal security since there are already more than seventy laws enacted to protect records that might prove useful to the enemy. May the Senate be quick to approve this bill, now 169 years overdue!

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• Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? Do dictators never abdicate their dictatorial powers? Yesterday or the day before those questions had to be answered Yes; today—since one exception disproves a historical generalization—the correct answer is No. “President” Somoza of Nicaragua—not, of course, the Somoza, but the closest approximation to him we have left—says he wants his congress to prohibit, by constitutional amendment, a president’s being succeeded either by himself or any member of his family. Says it and, despite strong objections from his younger brother (who happens to command the armed forces) , keeps on saying it, and in a vocabulary that should win him friends on Times Square: “I am going ahead with my experiment in democracy . . . we are making progress.” But he adds: “. . . if my enemies show violence, the government must counter with violence.” That is, must send for Little Brother— which sounds like history getting back on course after all.

• The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would close one of the constitutional loopholes through which the Executive has refused information to investigating committees. “This section,” the amendment reads (referring to the “housekeeping” law passed in 1789), “does not authorize withholding information from the public or limiting the availability of records to the public.” Representative John Moss of California, whose committee is studying the Executive’s alleged tendency to edit the information it gives the public, explains that the bill will not weaken internal security since there are already more than seventy laws enacted to protect records that might prove useful to the enemy. May the Senate be quick to approve this bill, now 169 years overdue!