European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 22, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday november 22, 1994 commentary the star3 and stripes Page 15 top s pressing issues press Cal Homas the bumper sticker on my neighbor s car has silently taunted me for the past two years Bush lost get Over now democrats Are beginning to fee the exasperation that goes with losing and they Are venting their frustration through a sympathetic Media. Much of their exasperation is directed at one Man the incoming speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia. Abc nightly news repeated the hyped Gin Grich Story that he supposedly asked his cancer stricken wife to sign divorce papers shortly after she had undergone surge. Lbs Eric Engberg said in an interview with the washing ton Post the fact that Gin Grich is conserva Tive is not nearly As important As the fact that he s very outspoken and very who elected Engberg to decide the appropriate level of spoke Ness and partisanship Engberg then delivered this unveiled threat if Gingrich thinks he s been hit hard up to now he s going to be hit even v the temptation for Republican especially those in the House who have wandered in the political wilderness for40 years will be to intensify their hatred and distrust of the Media which have rarely Given them or their arguments re would love republicans Tofall into that trap because it diverts Atten Tion from gop goals to a contest they can never , Gingrich and the new Republican majority should ignore the Label Inland stereotyping and assume the role of College professors instructing the people about Why the economic social and Cul Tural systems currently in place Are dysfunctional. When Gingrich has done that As he has in recent Days through interviews Andin a Brilliant unscripted discourse at the heritage foundation he creates a list of undeniable truths then become the Pivot of debate not Gingrich s personality. Perhaps his strongest thesis is one he began using before the midterm election and now often repeats. It brought Down the House at heritage we have had an Experiment for approximately a Quarter of a Century with that left Wing secular world View. The re sults have been astonishing. As a historian i m looking Forward to a Chance to go to any Campus or any venue in the coun try to defend the following statement it is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-Olds having babies 15-year-Olds killing each other 17-year-Olds dying of aids or 18-year-Olds getting diplomas they can t read. So we Are really in a crisis in America and in every state in the country our civilization is decaying. It is a grand irony because we managed to contain the soviet Empire for half a Century win an enor Mous Victory for Freedom and in the same Cycle begin the process of decaying our that kind of talk concentrates Atten Tion where it should be on the issues. Take welfare. The Republican should not re fight the compassion Battle. That debate assumes that welfare has been a positive Force in the lives of those who receive it and that anyone who wants to separate the poor from their government checks is cruel and mean spirited. In fact the opposite is True. Addicting people to welfare has robbed them of incentive and dignity. We Don t criticize those seeking to free drug addicts from chemical should the welfare replaces be treated with scorn. Republicans need to reposition them selves As liberators. Just As they did in their successful Cru Sade against communism with the Hel of some Democrat republicans should support cultural liberation. Such efforts would free people from students to retirees from the economic intellectual and moral gulags that have imprisoned our citizens and kept them from achieving their maximum potential. Self control riot victim Hood immutable values not moral relativity personal accountability not shifting blame hard work and the ability to keep More of what one earns not confiscation and re distribution by omnipresent government. These things must be imposed from the schoolroom to the boardroom be cause people Are not Angels and will More often surrender to their lower natures if not challenged to the higher Good. Ideas have always fuelled revolutions. They can also fuel revivals. Gin Grich and sen. Bob Dole of Kansas should Call a Republican Summit at which All of them pledge not to discuss or de Bate the Way they Are treated by the Media or to attack the press but to focus Lase like on the ideas that will Lead this country to moral and economic Prosperity. C Loang i Telmet in an this is my new motto keep Al Gore healthy. Because when Newt Gingrich becomes speaker of the House that puts him third in the line of presiden tial succession after Gore. And that is a terrifying Prospect for the moral Compass of this country. Not because Gingrich is a Republican or a conserva Tive but because in Only a week he has become the most powerful Public purveyor of the politics of exclusion what might be thought of As the cult of otherness. Otherness posits that there Are Large groups of peo ple with whom you have nothing in common not even a discernible shared humanity. Not Only Are these groups profoundly different fro you they Are also covertly somehow less less worthy less moral less Good. This sense of otherness is the single most Perni Cious Force in american discourse. Its not like us ethos makes so much bigotry possible racism sexism Homo phobia. divides the country As surely As the Mason Dixon line once did. And it makes for mean spirited and punitive politics and social the deepest sense that they Are not like us that they do not love or live or Hurt like us makes it Possi ble to decree As Gingrich has that one Way to Reform the welfare system is to deny Aid to the children of mothers under 21 and build orphanages if they Are Ren s Noreen possible to pretend that there Are enor Mous plan for anyone who has com pared the Cost and Home care in any area knows that the latter is i Ich Jim Che a expensive than the former. This is Public atonement for the sins of teen age pregnancy and poverty at the expense of Little kids. If you think of these mothers As people very much like Vou in some essential Way if you think of these children As like your own the proposal Falls apart repellent in its moral if they Are other different above All less the mental leap to the orphanage is far less taxing. If Immi Grants Are not like us in som Basic fashion it is easy to accept discrimination against them. Believing that Only they get the disease makes it simpler to slash aids funding. Gingrich began milking the politics of exclusion Long before the election returns were in and he dismissed the president and first lady As count Ercul meeting with a group of lobbyists Natch he said he would seek to portray Clinton democrats As the enemy of Normal in a speech several weeks ago he described America As a Battleground Between men of god like him and the secular anti religious View of the s mind is not far reaching enough to encompass those of us whose politics Are to the left of his Ana yet who Are deeply religious who raise our Chil Dren with discipline and yet Are proud to Call . It is so much easier to stereotype. It is troubling that much of this comes cloaked in Patina of conspicuous christianity anyone with even a passing knowledge of the new Anna Quindlen on otherness testament knows that its message is Charity love for our Fellows inclusion. The american Catholic Bishops meeting in Washington took appropriate note of this. There has to be personal responsibility said the auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore John h. Ricard. We also believe the society has a responsibility for those who cannot care for there Are some Bright spots on this Gray horizon quite aside from the fact that Al Gore is a Young and vigorous Man. One is that a Little of Gingrich goes a very Long Way and that soon even his fellow republicans May be tired of his bombast and his love affair with the open Micro phone. The other is that he has inspired More moderate Republican voices those not satisfied to stand mute As the party is driven into the fallow ground of meanness the Purview of the schoolyard bully picking off the weaker one by one. Gov. Christie Whitman of new Jersey sounded their Counte Clarion Call Cut taxes Cut spending and re place programs that fail with government that works. Above All include include everyone. As i say at the end of my left leaning prayers amen. C new York times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are inno Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
