European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday september 15, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 people need to regain control of Cal Thomas whoever said that making sausage and legislating were processes better left unwatched was sausage being made is easy compared with observing the legislative no process of the past few weeks. or. Lincoln s Hope of maintaining government of by and for the people has been dashed. We now have government in spite of the people. One party May hold a majority in Congress but there is no longer a majority of principled men and women in that body. The person who said that republicans want the something As democrats but at 80 percent of the Cost knew what he was talking about. Gop moderates gut a Dealon crime Bill ran a headline in the Washington times. Thirty eight republicans were will ing to Settle for a $3.3 billion Cut in the democrats $33.2 billion crime Bill which they had been denouncing Only Days ago As unmitigated pork. The principled position that republicans had been taking on the Bill evaporated As the House democratic leadership pretended to wince by settling for reductions in spending the democrats had Only tacked on for show and never intended to spend. These Are not even real savings said Wisconsin Republican rep. F. James Sensenbrenner or. Neither will the crime Bill reduce no other crime Bill has and each one has included tougher sentencing More capital punishment and new prison construction. This is a sop to voters. We re being duped. And then there is health care which the democratic majority seems determined to push through in som form before the november congressional elections though polls show As Many As 65 percent of americans want to take More time to get it right. Absolute Power has corrupted absolutely. Our system of government i broken and needs immediate fixing perhaps if the Vot ers can Stop looking to government Long enough to look of what it has become they will see that we re on the titanic and supposed reforms and change have been nothing More than rearranging deck chairs. If republicans capture the House and Senate in no vember that might help but Only if they change gop has helped bring about the current crisis by presiding Over higher taxes bigger spending More regulation and larger government even while ostensibly attacking All of these. Serious Calls Are now being heard not for Reform but for revolution. The term Lim its movement continues to gain strength winning approval in most states where it appears on the ballot. Efforts to regain Power for we the people should not Stop should demand the return to a part time Federal legislature requiring senators and representatives to spend no More than three months in Washington and then return Home to real jobs where they would remaining touch with the people. Special sessions could be called if a National or International crisis should occur when Congress was not in session. If the people s Busi Ness cannot be conducted properly and frugally in three months maybe it s no longer the people s Busi Ness but the business of Congress a part time con Gress would reduce committees and subcommittees an their staffs saving taxpayers Money and slowing the legislative Long ignored 10th amendment the Powers not delegated to the United states by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states Are reserved to the states respectively or to the should be reclaimed by the people. Colorado Hawaii and Missouri have passed resolutions ordering the Federal government to Stop passing on to them unfunded Federal mandates. California and Illinois have introduced similar resolutions. New York is drafting one. Active 10th amendment committees have been formed to consider the matter in Washington Oregon Nevada Montana and Alaska. We the people is still the most powerful organizing principle any nation has Ever had. Sadly we have moved from we the people to us the government which thinks of itself As the source and dispenser of Power. It is appropriate to consider the beginning words of our 2-Century-old founding document the declaration of Independence and ask whether modern times demand a similar response when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political band which have connected them with another and to As sume among the Powers of the Earth the separate an equal station to which the Laws of nature and of nature s god entitle them a decent respect to the Opin ions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the c los Angeles times picking the key players in Dole Senate lineup seven More Iii 94" was the wild and woolly slogan perpetrated in this space almost a year ago in a report of along shot Republican Chance to capture the Senate Back then the switch of seven seats to give the gop a 5 l-to-49 majority Wasseen As a partisan s pipe dream. Now As the 94 Campaign begins in Earnest you hear George Mitchell the retiring democratic Leader predicting a loss of three or four seats not including his own while Bob Dole already busily creating Delegate Lous in the Northwest predicts Republican gains of six or seven. Hyper sophisticated political deconstructionist will interpret this to mean that the democrats Are winning the expectation convincing the Public that an upheaval is in the works anything Short of upheaval in november a five vote loss in the Senate say along with a 20 vote loss in the House democrats could characterize As a kind of midterm headline would begin republicans fillet me fall right into that expectation trap by posing the question too overconfident for prudent pols what if the re publicans actually won control of the Senate or in a dead heat of 50-50,were Able to persuade Richard Shelby of Alabama to swing Over what then with the lady in the old George Price cartoon contemplating a zookeeper in Side a Monkey Cage trying to get his Fatback from the Gleeful monkeys we can ask who s in charge Here Dole would be majority Leader somewhat less be Holden to the most conservative members than heis now. He would soon be forced to choose Between Leader and presidential candidate my guess is that he would take the Bird in hand though Ala Simpson now the whip would be pushing him hard for the presidency. The Nona Genaria Strom Thurmond the Only american official Able to Call Deng Xiaoping Sonny would be chair Man of armed services replacing Sam Nunn who might then find being ranking minority member too much of comedown and accept defense or state in the lame Duck Cabinet. John Warner would be de Facto armed services chairman until Olstrom retires William Safire in 1997. The foreign relations committee Quick who s chairman now would go by seniority to Jesse Helms unless he again affirmed his loyalty to his constituents favorite agriculture in that Case Richard Lugar would return to Lead for eign relations now in dire need of reinvigoration. Quiz answer Claiborne Pell banking would go to Alfonse d Amato and just watch those Whitewater subpoenas Fly. Orrin Hatch would head judiciary Larry Pressler Commerce Mark hat Field appropriations and Frank Murkowski Energy. Arlen Specter would become chairman of the Senate select committee on intelligence. The innermost members of the inner club in a Dole Republican Senate barring a major War would be Bob pack Wood heading the finance committee and Pete Domenici As chairman of budget. With Simpson they would decide what legislation moves. What sort of legislation would move provided there was a shift of 30 votes inthe House a full fathom five sea change would take place in the Wake of a majority change. A balanced budget amendment would pass. So would a line item veto. And a term limits amendment would pass be vetoed by a Gutsy president Clinton and have a Chance of passage Over his veto. Free Trade would get a boost. Health Reform the pre existing Dole Packwood plan permanent portable insurance with subsidies to the poor deductions to individuals and no hidden taxes would sail through. And welfare Reform sidetracked since Nixon s Good deed was done indy democrats in 1970, would have its Day in the Sun. Presiden1 Clinton s forgotten Promise of tax Relief to the Middle class would be remembered. Taxes would not Only go Down but pol icy would be directed away from con sumption and toward investment. With a lower Cap on mortgage deductions prospects would be Bright for tax free savings accounts and a reduction of double taxation of dividends. The economic emphasis would be on growth not redistribution of wealth. What would seven More in "94" do to the Clinton presidency the More relevant question is would the agile Clinton listen to the voice of the people or spend his final two years furiously trying to seep Back the wave of the future c Newyork times
