THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 113, May 17, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD
By Alan Caruba
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY & NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY: TEN YEARS AFTER THE REPUBLICANS GAINED CONTROL OF THE
LEGISLATIVE & EXECUTIVE BRANCHES OF THE U.S. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, DO WE HAVE THE FISCAL RESTRAINT & SMALLER
GOVERNMENT PROMISED BY THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA, OR DO WE HAVE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME BIG SPENDING,
REGULATORY, & OTHER LIBERAL STATIST POLICIES WE HAD WHEN THE DEMOCRATS WERE THE MAJORITY PARTY?
FULL STORY:
Back in 1994, when the famed Republican “Contract with America” captured control of Congress for the Republican Party, Newt
Gingrich, one of its authors, noted:
“Washington is like a sponge. It absorbs waves of change, and it slows them down,
and it softens them, and then one morning they cease to exist.”
The Republican Party regained power in the U.S. House of Representatives after forty years of Democratic Party domination. The
Republicans had a margin of 54 U.S. House seats. This had been the largest party swing since 1948.
In the U.S. Senate, the Republicans gained control with the addition of eight seats held by Republicans, and added a ninth, when
Richard Shelby of Alabama switched parties. Like many Republicans, I can recall thinking that we could now look forward to
changes in domestic and foreign policies that Conservatives had yearned for throughout the Reagan years.
They introduced real welfare reform and the first major tax cut in sixteen years. The Contract with America produced the first four
consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s and the first independent financial audit of the House. The Contract resulted in House
committee meetings being open to the public, required a three-fifths majority vote to pass tax increases, and imposed a time limit on
the terms of all committee chairs. The Contract’s broad promise was to “end … government that is too big, too intrusive, and too
easy with the public’s money.” But that was a decade ago.
In a collection of commentaries, The Republican Revolution 10 Years Later: Smaller Government or Business as Usual? ($13.95,
Cato Institute), Chris Edwards and John Samples have gathered together experts on all aspects of government to answer the question
posed by the title. The answers are universally negative, including those of Gingrich, who noted that, “All our work (on the Contract)
was done against the active, continuing opposition of the traditional party.”
After forty years as members of the minority party, those who led the GOP had become more like Democrats than Republicans, despite
the effort led by U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater. Today, the GOP Senators and Congressmen have become the big-spenders they
decried when the Democrats were in control. People are beginning to notice. They are noticing, too, the obeisance paid to the
Republican Party’s fundamentalist religious element that appears to be in the driver’s seat on many social issues.
Commenting on the way the current Congress seems immune to any kind of fiscal prudence, Richard Armey, a co-author of the
Contract, cited one of “Armey’s axioms” that says, “When we act like them, we lose.” Retired from the House, Armey noted:
“Those of us who want less government, lower taxes, and more freedom must remember
what happens as government expands. Free individuals in the competitive marketplace make
fewer decisions.” Big Government exists to make all the decisions.
For example, despite the tax cuts enacted in President George W. Bush’s first term and despite the rhetoric, corporate taxes have not
been cut. The corporate tax bill enacted in 2004 did not contain major reforms. The public perception is that the GOP virtually exists to
let corporations exploit the tax code, but the truth, as Chris Edwards, points out is that, “U.S. policymakers have been asleep at the
switch, while nearly every other industrial country has cut its corporate tax rate in recent years.” That alone puts American companies
at a competitive disadvantage.
The deficit, last seen headed for the Moon, portends bad news for the rest of us. “Future Congresses and presidents may use the
deficit as an excuse to raise taxes, as President Bill Clinton did in 1993,” notes Edwards. Who has given us this deficit? “Federal
outlays rose 29 percent under President Bush between FY01 and FY05.”
When he was re-elected, President Bush concluded he had to spend his political capital. “When you win, there is a feeling that the
people have spoken and embraced your point of view,” he said. Wrong. Bush is President because a relatively slim margin kept him in
office, as voters expressed a preference for a wartime President who vowed to fight our enemies, rather than a spineless Democrat
who did not comprehend we cannot negotiate with Muslim fanatics.
The President’s popularity ratings continue their decline. Political observers have begun to conclude that he and the GOP have
misread the November elections. There is more than just a touch of hubris being seen in the President’s behavior.
The Republican product these days is a government that won’t stop spending on failed programs, including the Department of
Education, which the Republican icon, Ronald Reagan, proposed to shut down. Countless failed programs go merrily along wasting
billions of taxpayer dollars. Though the Contract promised to “strengthen the rights of parents in their children’s education”, the
opposite occurred. Total federal support for education reached about $100 billion by 1997, up 160 percent from $37.7 billion in 1990.
Yes, the original Contract and its results were impressive, but only for a short while. The few rule changes in the way Congress
conducts public business did occur after the Contract with America, but a Republican Party that can’t or won’t change a Senate
rule to get an up or down vote on judges is a far cry from its heady first days in 1994.
Today, the federal government continues to increase regulations, adding $800 billion to the cost of everything Americans do. The
government's spending programs continue to increase. Its so-called “entitlement” programs are bankrupt. And expanding! There are
more and more federal crimes added to the books. There is less and less power at the state governmental level, where the Framers of
the United States Constitution wanted it.
The federal government today has the look of an asteroid headed for America at high speed.
The elections in 2006 may just resemble those of 1994, if enough voters decide it is time to wrest control of Congress from the GOP
and enough Republicans decide to stay home.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
American Government & the U.S. Presidency
American Government & the U.S. Congress
Taxation & Government Spending
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com).
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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