By JAMES PLUMMER
Opinion Editor
WASHINGTON, DC - "The good news for you and other young Americans is that the Republicans will still have control of the House and Senate." That was Oliver North's spin on things at 8:30 last night, pretty much conceding the presidential race to Bill Clinton. The official line was something else, though, as the GOP had a preess release out as late as 10:30 denying Dole had conceded anything. By 11:30, however, Dole had given his short but sweet consolation speech. So what can we expect now that the Republicans will apparently be holding, perhaps even making gains in the Congress, as Clinton holds the presidency? Can Americans, avoiding the polls in droves once again, turned off by our leviathan national government, hope for any relief?
The short answer is, maybe a little.
With a stronger hold on Congress, the GOP may be able to more effectively combat the President's insatiable appetite for government power. The problem is, most Republicans have similar urgings, even they are often in different ways. The last two years have given us a hike in the minimum wage, baby steps toward the further socialization of medicine, (in the form oif the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill), the Comuncations Decency Act, the V-chip and expanded national police powers under the guise of "anti-terrorism" legisation (even though one of the primary rationales for these expanded powers, the crash of TWA 800, now appears to have been caused by a mechanical failure).
So why do I have even the slightest hope that tonight's results may not continue the rapid expansion of government? There are a couple of reasons.
The Republicans, who traditionally choose their nominee based on a system resembling primogeniture, may have finally shed their strongest connections to the Eisenhower era of "me too" -ism, a party that promises to preside over unconstitutional and damaging federal programs, but to do it kinder and gentler than the other party.
But now the GOP has gotten Dole out of their sytem. The party is slowly moving towards a group that more or less believes in things like gun rights and ending welfare as we know it. Sure, they have their problems -- endless digressions about morals, pushing for an anti-flag burning amendment, and so on. But it appears that while the Republicans will be stronger, they won't have an overwhelming majority in either house of Congress. Things like the school prayer amendment will never go to the states.
Of course, the Crook-in-Chief will remain on Pennsylvania Avenue. The presidency is very powerful regardless of who controls Congress -- witness Clinton's recent executive order seizing a good fraction of Utah for federal control.
But Clinton will have troubles outside the 105th Republican Congress. The never-ending scandals, from Whitewater to Travelgate to Filegate, show no signs of going away. Armstrong Williams, the popular black conservative talk show host who emceed tonight's events, predicted Hillary would be indicted "within 6 months." He ran away before I could ask him what odds he would give me on three.
We cannot hope, however, that a scandal-ridden Democratic administration and a slightly more conservative Republican congress can make any real gains towards restoring American fredom. For all the talk this evening aboyt the GOP being the "party of ideas," the crowd at the Renaissance Hotel tonight was more into tribalism than philosophizing. They cheered a nominee utterly devoid of ideas, a man who admitted in his consolation speech that "tomorrow will be the first time in my life I don't have anything to do." It remains to be seen whther Dole will be able to adapt to a life that doesn't involve deliberating and cutting deals on how best to spend other people's money.
The party faithful cheered each Republican victory flashed on the screen. No less reputed an ideologue than Oliver North himself said of liberal Repub lican Senator John Warner's reelection, "He's a Republican, isn't he?... Then it's a good thing." Even as the old Republican party fades aeay, we can expect the Republicans in Congress to go along to get along, and continue to expand the size and power of government over our lives, even if by smaller amounts and in the same old ways. Don't expect another glorious federal shutdown anytime soon. Republicans apologized and ran way from the issue this season rather than ask the electorate if they were really affected or explain why they felt is was necessary. Williams cited the shutdown as one of the Republicans greatest mistakes.
If there's a ray of hope in tonight's results, it is that the old Republican party is slowly falling apart and a second Clinton term promises to hold almost as much, if not more, corruption and trials than Nixon's. We could be watching the beginning of a dramtic dealignment of American politics. It may lead to the emergence of a serious alternative to the current politics of the growing state. On the other hand, it could degenrate into large groups -- the Christian right, unions, immigrants, corporations, minorities, environmentalists -- all fighting each other for the money and power of a large federal government hurtling into bankruptcy.
Whatever the next 10 or 20 years bring, it promises to be interesting.
From The Cavalier Daily, November 6 1996.
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