SIMON SAYS: STAND ON YOUR PRINCIPLES

Congress needs to put aside partisan politics.

These were the insightful words of Paul Simon, former U.S. senator from Illinois, as he spoke to Cape Girardeau Rotarians last week. Simon retired in 1996 after 22 years of public service.

Put aside partisan politics? What a notion. It's fancy and necessity all rolled up into one.

A retired senator can sound the call, but few in Congress will listen. It's easy to talk the talk. Most politicians in the trenches find it impossible to walk the walk. Perhaps it would have meant much more if Simon had successfully championed the cause while still a powerful U.S. senator.

Although retired from the political spotlight, the bow-tied Simon still remains fascinated by government. He is heading up the Public Policy Institute at the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale campus. By involving both Democrats and Republicans, Simon hopes to forge bipartisan solutions -- not philosophical conjecture -- that will be picked up by Congress.

Simon hopes to tackle such major issues as Social Security solvency. He and three other retired U.S. senators are recommending that the cost-of-living index be reduced and that the cap on taxable income be removed.

The institute will examine such other weighty issues as illiteracy, education, water supplies and poverty. Now as an outsider, Simon succinctly zeroes in on many of Congress' problems.

-- Simon says: Big money is driving politics.

No kidding. Single races require millions of dollars for victory. Simon rightly observes that this big money distorts what Congress does.

-- Simon says: Members of Congress make too many decisions on the basis of public opinion polls and are too partisan.

What ever happened to making a stand on principal? Too many politicians pick what's politically advantageous over what's honorable.

-- Simon says: It isn't the political parties that should matter, but the candidates.

What muddies these waters is the fact party-line votes are the rule rather than the exception in Congress. Too often, it's the party not the candidate that stands out.

But Simon's words shouldn't be seen as too little too late. Any voice of reason is welcomed. Hopefully, his years in the Senate and the respect he continues to garner in Washington will provide him a willing ear.

Americans are weary of partisan politics. Change will come only when the politicians become sick of it too.