LOOK UP THE WORD 'POLITICS' THE DEFINITION MAY BE MONEY

AUSTIN - We could be watching one of those rare etymological events
('etymology' : the history of a particular word, the study of historical
linguistic change) as the meaning of a word changes before our eyes. Sort
of like watching a species evolve or a tectonic plate move in real time.

We now have a politics that is about money, of money, by money and for
money. How long can it be before the word 'politics' comes to mean money?

A perfectly charming example, reported by Tim Golden in 'The New York
Times,' involves the Clinton administration's sudden shift of policy on
buying helicopters to use in the drug war in Colombia. Since 1996, the
administration has taken the position that a rebuilt version of the Huey,
the old Vietnam workhorse, would do nicely.

According to Golden, a group of powerful congressional Republicans have
"almost an obsession" about sending the fancier Blackhawk helicopter, which
costs five times as much - $1.8 million for a Huey II, $12.8 million for a
Blackhawk. So for four years they've been fighting over this, with the
political implication that anyone who's against spending more money is
"soft on drugs."

Now the White House has changed its position and is prepared to buy 30 of
the Blackhawk choppers at a cost of almost $400 million. Knowing our
politics as you do, naturally your first question is: How much have the
makers of the Huey been contributing lately, and how much have the makers
of the Blackhawk? Thank you for that question.

The Huey II is made by Bell Helicopter of Fort Worth, a subsidiary of
Textron. The Blackhawk is made by United Technologies Corp. of
Connecticut, and - bingo - United Technologies has been making big-time
political contributions.

Golden's story say that, according to the Campaign Study Group, in the 1996
and 1998 election cycle, Textron (the loser) gave $551,816 to Republicans
and $364,000 to Democrats. However, Golden reported, United Technologies
and its employees (the winner), as befits a generous and public-spirited
corporate citizen, gave not only $362,000 to Republicans and $347,000 to
Democrats, but also 'twice' as much as Textron to the Democrats in soft money.

So now we know which company makes the better chopper.

You will be further amazed to learn that some Republicans have now switched
sides and joined liberal Democrats in urging the administration to stick
with the cheaper Hueys. ("White House officials denied that politics
influenced their decision," blah, blah, blah.)

Republican Rep. Cass Ballenger of North Carolina, a Huey man, said wryly
to the 'Times' that even if the U.S. buys a handful of Blackhawks and
dozens of the rebuilt Hueys, "you'd still have $100 million or $200 million
left over to buy Democrats or Republicans or whatever you still needed" to
buy approval of the plan.

Many military observers are certain that the 'narco-traficantes' will
simply up their own firepower by buying surface-to-air missiles to shoot
down the Blackhawks. Excuse me, but as the hideous unpleasantness in
Mogadishu in 1993 proved, you can shoot down a Blackhawk with a
rocket-propelled grenade - and practically any group of loons can afford
RPGs, much less bad guys rolling in drug money.