Page 73 271 Alphabetical list of panelists: Clarity of Thought and Higher Education_ Health in the United States: 1776-1976_. Linowitz, Sol... Moos, Malcolm Pauling, Dr. Linus.. Prepared statement... Raskin, Marcus_ Rivlin, Alice.. Rockefeller, Hon. Nelson A.. Rostow, Walt... Prepared statement.. Letter sent by Senator Glenn to prominent persons inside and outside of Government requesting their views on long-range planning for the third National Urban League, Inc., Ronald H. Brown, director__. Mortgage Bankers Association of America, Oliver H. Jones, executive vice president, with attachment.. American Institute of Architects, The, Michael B. Barker, department University of California, Berkeley, Leonard J. Duhl, M.D., professor of public health and urban social policy, with attachment... University of Pennsylvania, Britton Harris, professor of city and Downtown Denver, Inc., Philip Milstein, executive vice president Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New Brookings Institution, The, C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow_ Daedalus, Harvard University, Stephen R. Graubard, editor. Harvard University, George C. Lodge, professor of business admin- Bendix Corp., The, W. Michael Blumenthal, chairman and president. University of Maryland, Mancur Olson, with attachments_ Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies, Peter Schauffler. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman, Max M. Kampelman... Petrucci, Anthony, with attachment_ Georgia Institute of Technology, William M. Sangster, dean... Florida State University, The, Bernard F. Sliger, executive vice Black Economic Research Center, The, Robert S. Browne, director.. 783 786 811 814 817 820 INTRODUCTION TO PLANNING SYMPOSIUM (By Senator Abe Ribicoff and Senator John Glenn) We live in an increasingly complex technological society, a society in which the protection and promotion of our interests requires government action. All too often, however, this action takes the form of crisis management, of reaction only in the face of impending disaster. In the last decade all of us have had our fill of crises. We have been urgently alerted to the urban crisis, the ecological crisis, and the energy crisis. These crises have been real, but they have also been partially avoidable. Our failure to look ahead and to recognize the implications of our policies and actions has in some cases allowed problems to reach crisis proportions and in other cases has caused us to miss opportunities for improving the quality of life for Americans. For example, we failed to see that many of our policies contributed to the deterioration of our great cities. Then we were forced to react urgently to an "urban crisis" with ad hoc solutions which may be creating still other unrecognized problems. This is a situation we should have foreseen and avoided. In a similar way we failed to anticipate the consequences of our dependence on cheap foreign oil. Our past failure to develop our coal resources, invest sufficiently in alternative energy sources, and establish a vigorous energy conservation program has made our economy vulnerable to foreign pressure. Thus, we did not focus on the question of efficient energy use until we "discovered" the energy crisis at the time of the imposition of the Arab oil embargo in 1973. Foresight could have mitigated the confusion and near-panic. We pay for our failure to look ahead; we pay in crises and in lost opportunities. Crisis management is not the way to govern. Through crisis management we can only plug the dike, we cannot reroute or reverse the flood. To improve things requires more than a frantic search for the solution to a current problem; it also requires looking ahead. In business and in our personal lives we try to anticipate problems and to seize available opportunities. We should expect the same foresight from our government. Policy development must include a prediction of likely results. Too often we have dealt with problems on an ad hoc basis without examination of the long range impact of our programs. We design remedies for past and present problems without trying to anticipate the future. This is easier in the short run, but it only leads to greater problems later. This symposium was called to examine to what extent the government can and does look ahead and to find ways to improve our government's ability to face the future with less uncertainty. As is obvious from this volume, the symposium brought together an unusually capable and experienced group of Americans. The range of views represented was broad, but there was near unanimity that our government must do a better job of anticipating the future if we are to be adequately prepared for our third century. The Committee was gratified by the interest of the Vice President of the United States, Nelson A. Rockefeller. Vice President Rockefeller appeared at the first meeting of this Committee to reaffirm his support for planning and to state his conviction that the United States must turn from crisis management to future-oriented consideration of policies or risk being swamped by the forces of change. We are a nation founded by people convinced that the future could be better than the past. We can still act on that conviction. To do so, however, requires a recognition that the complexity of American life requires us to look at the implications for the future of the steps we take to fight the problems of today. It also requires that we anticipate the problems and opportunities of tomorrow and act to minimize the former and maximize the latter. This is a tall order. It is our hope that this symposium will help chart the path. |