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SELLING OUT PRINCIPLE BACKFIRES ON GOP by Chuck Muth April 19, 2004 When, oh when, will the Republican Party and the White House start listening to its limited-government, constitutional conservatives? It seems every time they make a “strategic” move for political rather than philosophical reasons it comes back to bite ‘em in the wahzoo. Yet they never seem to learn. Some recent examples include... Shoving that new prescription drug benefit down our throats - the largest expansion of government since the reign of LBJ - in hopes of sucking up to senior citizens for next November’s elections. Not only is the plan going to cost a king’s ransom more than projected (just as limited-government conservatives predicted), but it’s had no effect whatsoever in moving significant chunks of seniors into the GOP column. How about that illegal alien amnesty program the president proposed in January hoping for a political payoff from Hispanics in November? Major backfire. Instead, he’s lost considerable support from segments of his base which cleave to the radical notion that if you reward illegal behavior you get...well, even more illegal behavior. Go figure. Then there’s the president’s endorsement for that anti-state’s rights constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in order to shore up his political support among social conservatives. Except that an exhaustive recent poll of evangelicals shows a majority of them OPPOSE the federal marriage amendment and believe the issue should be resolved at the state level. But for my money, the most egregious sell-out of principle by this administration and its cohorts in Congress was the cave-in to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, over campaign finance reform. And since there IS justice in this world, that act of political cowardice is coming back to haunt them - in the immortal words of Vice President Dick Cheney - “big time.” After steadfastly opposing McCain/Feingold for years, a handful of Republicans gave up, packed it in and allowed a vote on this anti-American piece of legislation. It passed. And why not? The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) included riders which (a) stopped opponents from saying bad things about incumbent congressmen in the days leading up to re-election, and (b) made it even harder for challengers to raise money while making it easier for incumbents. Now, no one can be too surprised at Congress voting for an unconstitutional law which benefits them so handsomely (they do it all the time), but how does one excuse the President of the United States for signing that bill? You can’t. The White House thought they’d buy off McCain politically while dumping the whole mess in the Supreme Court’s lap, believing the court would do their dirty work and find the law unconstitutional. Only the court, to its own shame and disgrace, shredded what’s left of the First Amendment and declared McCain/Feingold a perfectly acceptable infringement on speech. So it’s with a perverse form of pleasure to watch the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Bush/Cheney team howling like scalded dogs these days about liberal money from the likes of George Soros and those yo-yos over at MoveOn.org being diverted to anti-Bush campaign efforts. Frankly, they’re getting what they deserve. Nevertheless, the GOP is petitioning the FEC to intercede and stop these liberal groups and individuals from using “soft” (generally, corporate and union) money to fund their anti-Bush activities. And when that effort likely fails, they intend to appeal to yet another court of law in yet another attempt to restrict yet another form of political speech. For the nation’s sake, let’s hope the FEC and the courts tell the Republicans and the White House to pound dirt. You reap what you sow. Live with it. We need MORE political speech in this country, not less. Plus…forward-looking constitutional conservatives are going to need the same flexibility and freedom to mount similar independent campaign expenditures in 2008 against the greatest gathering threat to limited-government since FDR: Madame Hillary. God help us and pass the soft-money collection plate. # # # Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citizen Outreach. He may be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
