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MUTH'S TRUTHS
by Chuck Muth
September 5, 2001
"Welcome to the Dole Dilemma"
The hardest lesson learned by GOP ground
troops following the 1994 GOP takeover
of the House of Representatives was that there is a BIG difference between
a Republican majorityand a conservative majority.
That stark reality was, and continues to
be, a source of great frustration and
disappointment among the base supporters of the GOP - social conservatives,
economic free marketers and limited-government libertarians.
A significant, though not large, number of
Republicans still come from the liberal
wing of the party, often casting their votes with Democrats to defeat
conservative legislation. This is the sort of thing that happens when
“big tent” practical politics bangs heads with principled philosophy.
The practical reality is: Majorities get to
lead. This is a critical point in
Congress, since the majority controls the committees which control the
legislative agenda which controls the
direction the country moves in. And you
obtain governing majorities by addition, not subtraction.
The Democrats added Sen. Jim Jeffords; the
Republicans subtracted him - and Bingo!
- Tom Daschle is now the ringmaster for the Senate circus.
This is, of course, the strong argument for
keeping the likes of Sens. Jim Jeffords
and Lincoln Chafee in the GOP despite their odd Republican convictions
(if you can call them that). As long as they are/were casting their
votes for GOP leadership, if not legislation, at least the GOP was able
to control, to some extent, the agenda. An important consideration.
Of course, there’s a countering argument.
With liberal Republicans in the tent, it’s
harder and harder to differentiate
between the two major parties. Such blurring of the philosophical
lines by “moderates” in both parties give rise to the age-old claim
that “there ain’t a dime’s worth of difference between the Democrats
and the Republicans.”
Is it any wonder, then, that so many voters
today, not being able to clearly see
any distinct differences between the two parties, have simply opted not
to register with either?
That’s a pretty compelling argument for
holding elected officials’ philosophical
feet to the fire and occasionally “thinning the herd.”
Which brings us to Elizabeth Dole.
Mrs. Dole, wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob
Dole, is currently the unannounced (at
the time of this writing) front-runner for the Senate seat being vacated
by Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina. All the
polls show her miles ahead of any
potential challenger … and thanks to a certain “carpet-bagging”
former First Lady, Mrs. Dole’s failure to
actually live in the state she wants to
represent for the past 30-some years is no obstacle to her election.
The dilemma here for the GOP is that while
Mrs. Dole is a Republican, she’s certainly
not, unlike stalwart Helms, what the base of the party would consider
a conservative.
For example, one of her weakest points is
her squishiness on gun issues, often
siding with the victim-disarmament crowd led by Sens. Chuck Schumer
and Hillary Clinton.
During her quixotic 1999 pursuit of the GOP
presidential nomination, Mrs. Dole
openly lashed out at 2nd Amendment supporters and routinely stuck her
finger in the eyes of the National Rifle
Association (NRA), an important and dependable
group in the GOP’s base.
She was in favor of mandatory trigger
locks, but failed to explain what value
a locked handgun is in warding off a would-be attacker or rapist.
Whatever.
She also opposed a repeal of the ban on “assault
weapons,” saying, “I don’t think
you need an AK-47 to defend your family.” But what if those attacking
your family happen to have an AK-47 or other
similar weapon themselves?
Details, details.
And in attacking the NRA, Mrs. Dole said,
“I don’t think that any special interest
group should dictate what our position is going to be on particular
issues.” You know, the way the unions do in
the Democrat Party.
Seriously though, what guides the GOP base
on this issue isn’t the NRA, as Mrs.
Dole contends; it’s a little document called the Constitution. Our
would-be senator might want to take a peek at
it sometime before swearing on a Bible
to uphold and defend it.
In any event, the bottom line is this:
Control of the U.S. Senate hangs on ONE
vote. That vote is the difference between Tom Daschle or a Republican
(there’s no guarantee that Trent Lott would
be returned as top pooh-bah should the
GOP regain the majority) running the show and setting the agenda.
Should Elizabeth Dole jump into the race to
succeed Helms, she’ll have that all-important
name recognition, media fawning, institutional and establishment
support, and campaign cash coming out the wazoo.
Could she still be defeated in a GOP
primary by a more philosophically-conservative
candidate? Sure. But I wouldn’t bet the proverbial
farm on it.
In this case, it looks like principled
pragmatists in the GOP are going to have
to bite the bullet and look elsewhere to find a solid conservative voice
to replace Sen. Helms (not to mention also-retiring Sens. Thurmond and
Gramm). That one GOP vote will be seen by most
people as more important than
ideological purity.
So as the prayer goes, it looks like the
GOP’s base is going to need the strength
to accept that which they cannot change; re-focus their efforts on that
which they can - and maybe a little wisdom to know the difference. All
of which probably means we'll be hearing from
a moderate Republican senator named
Dole in Washington again in the very near future.
# # #
Mr. Muth is National Chairman of the
Republican Liberty Caucus (www.republicanlibertycaucus.com)
Chuck
Muth
3659
Scotwood Street
Las
Vegas, NV 89121
Phone:
(702) 454-0350
Fax:
(702) 454-7798
e-mail:
chuckmuth@earthlink.com
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