Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
An Immodest Suggestion

MARCH 19, 2006 --

LPR immodestly asks House Speaker Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Frist, Sen. Dole, and members of the White House staff to read this.

In recent weeks, I have received mail from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Senator Elizabeth Dole and, now, Senator Bill Frist.

The form letter from Speaker Hastert included a request for a donation. The communications from Senators Dole and Frist included a request to answer a
survey -- along with a request for money.

I agree with the March 15 Wall Street Journal editorial, "The Impeachment Agenda," -- and also with a March 15 caller to Rush Limbaugh -- that Democrats, if they gain a House and/or Senate majority in November are likely to unleash impeachment politics against the
president.

(And as LPR sees it, the gap between the people and their representatives will get even wider than it is now.)

It doesn't have to happen -- not if Republicans stand tall against Democratic attack and stand with the people under assault from economic aggrandizers.

Republicans, I believe, would win large majorities if they endorsed and were guided by the principles of representative government that are found in the first
half of Federalist 57. The basis of public service, I believe, comes from the heart and conscience -- not from a check book.

Officials who enjoy wielding power tend, I believe, to rule, rather than represent -- and to regard their oath of office as licensed to tell us how to live our lives.

It is my sense that such officials are more likely to be found in the Democratic party. Republicans, I believe, have been given power in Washington simply as the only practical; alternative we have to Democrats.

And still, the GOP has yet to demonstrate, after more than ten years --quoting an insightful Tennessean, a few days after November 8, 1994, that the Republicans are now the party of the
people.

Republicans, I think, remain unsure about their purpose in power. That purpose, I believe, is stated in Federalist 57: to serve the common good, not the goals of political insiders.

The common good, I believe, is not served by 29.99% interest rates on credit cards, nor, say, by high fuel costs.
And, I also think the common good is not served by emphasis on the need of campaign donations rather than on the spirit of liberty.

Jeffrey Immelt, head of General Electric indicated to Charlie Rose, on PBS, recently, that we need to turn away from fear and towards confidence.

Perhaps a start would be made if Mr. Immelt's counterparts at banks were to abandon their fear that credit card users will somehow defraud them.

Doesn't the experience of recent years indicate that if anyone gets stuck, it tends to be workers and consumers, not business executives?

On foreign policy, it would, I believe, be helpful if the Administration identified the causes of atrocious violence in Iraq and explained the reasons for its success, and its backers, Iraqi or foreign.

Perhaps by sharing information with the people, our purpose in Iraq would be clarified -- and less likely a matter of partisan politics.

David Broder wrote in The Washington Post, just four years ago -- March 20, 2002 -- "Unless someone steps in to
stop it, the descent to bitter partisanship in Washington will increasingly jeopardize the functioning of government."

LPR suggests that Republicans should respond to bitter attacks with confidence in the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, and to use that wisdom as policy guide, today. And the GOP should also have faith in the common sense of the
American people, including our commitment to liberty.

If Republicans continue to look to Democrats as a kind of political role model, why should they expect our
support?

LPR believes the country would prefer not having Democratic impeachment and subpoena politics on Republicans (DIASPOR) the last two years of the Bush
Administration. But it is up to the GOP to show cause why they don't deserve diaspora this November.

And so, immodestly, LPR strongly recommends that Republicans commit themselves to the governing principles set forth in the first half of Federalist 57-- and believe, truly, in the legacy of liberty given
us by our Founders--the men who gave us the Constitution our officials declare, by oath, to continue to support and defend.