ABSTRACT
Instinctively, especially in America, one's antennae buzz with fear when moral language enters politics. Working people need to feel a burst of noble and good feeling about themselves; not self-congratulation, but a sense of moral value, the respect of their fellows. Three other symbolic realities characterized New Hampshire in 1972: the symbol of rational debate; the argument over morality; and the symbolic interpretation of the votes cast. Consider the debate at the University of New Hampshire, carried by Educational Television. George McGovern spoke to "the issues" of liberal-minded people nationally. Muskie kept in mind the local concerns of Maine and New Hampshire. The last, and perhaps the most significant, symbol in New Hampshire was the interpretation of the vote. Democratic politics on a scale like that of the United States is necessarily symbolic—not merely symbolic but realistically symbolic.
