Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505250086
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEWSWEEK WRITER TALKS ABOUT POLITICS

"They're saying, `Get out of the way of the American people and see what happens.' That will be the story for the rest of this decade and into the next century," said George Will, a columnist who writes for Newsweek magazine and The Washington Post. He spoke Wednesday at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center to a breakfast for Central Fidelity Banks Inc. customers.

"The American people are alarmed about what they see as a fraying of society, and they're wondering if government not only is not curing the problems but making matters worse," WIll said.

The sentiment, reflected by the new Republican majority in Congress in contrast to the Clinton administration in the White House, "has made for the most interesting spring in Washington since the New Deal came to town," Will said.

The shift means that policies written during the Depression of the 1930s are being re-examined. "The old assumption was, material deprivation breeds dysfunctional behavior. Now we're asking if we have it backwards; if dysfunctional behavior is an impediment to economic growth."

Also at the breakfast, Central Fidelity Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lewis Miller Jr. affirmed a long-standing corporate policy that the bank will operate only in Virginia and that it will not be sold to another bank.

"The NationsBank and First Union signs are constant reminders that Virginia is an attractive market" and that coming interstate banking laws will mean institutions from Ohio and Pennsylvania soon will compete for the state's business, he said.

- Staff report