"The Republicans have now had total
control -- an absolute Republican majority -- for more than a year. And
what did they do during this time? The usual -- nothing. No egregious
legislation was repealed. The welfare state was not rolled back an inch.
No federal programs or departments were eliminated. No budgets were cut.
In fact, legislation got worse (the USA PATRIOT Act), the welfare state
was strengthened (a new prescription drug plan), and a new federal
department was created (Homeland Security). So now that the initial
euphoria over an absolute Republican majority has subsided and the
Republicans have been in charge for a year, the Republican record can be
soberly addressed.
"There is only one way to describe the record of the Republican
majority during its first year: a dismal failure. To students of
political history, however, this was not only no surprise, it was to be
expected and, in fact, predictable on the basis of the actions of the
Republican Party in the 20th century, whether they held the presidency,
the House, the Senate, or any combination of the three, including an
absolute majority. Because the history of the Republican Party is one of
compromise after compromise and sellout after sellout, there are a number
of things that a Republican majority has not meant, and in fact, will
never mean."
What a Republican Majority Has Not
Meant
by Laurence M. Vance, September 29, 2004
This article was originally published in the July 2004 edition of
Freedom Daily.
It has been more than a year now since the Republicans gained an
absolute majority in Congress and the White House. The road to this
majority began in the third year of Bill Clinton’s first term. The
Republicans gained complete control of the 104th Congress (1995-1997),
held on to control in the 105th Congress (1997-1999), and remained in
power during the 106th Congress (1999-2001) through the end of Clinton’s
presidency.
After 40 years of Democratic rule, the Republican majority in the
Congress during most of Clinton’s term in office appeared at the time to
be a welcome sight. But because the presidency eluded them, the
Republicans seemed to have an excuse for not rolling back the welfare
state, even though it is the legislative branch that passes all
legislation -- not the executive branch. And besides, Clinton made a good
scapegoat. Then, if only for a brief moment, it appeared finally to be
official -- there was an absolute Republican majority in the House, a
50-50 split in the Senate with a Republican vice president to break ties,
and a Republican president in the White House. But when Jim Jeffords, the
Republican senator from Vermont, switched from being a Republican to
being an Independent on May 24, 2001, the Republican majority fizzled,
giving the GOP another excuse.
But then, no more excuses. The 108th Congress, which took office in
January of last year, was solidly Republican. But since the Republicans
have gained control of the Congress, the federal budget (over $2
trillion) and the federal deficit (over $500 billion) are the highest
ever, the national debt is over $7 trillion (and increasing an average of
$2 billion per day), hundreds of Americans have died on foreign soil, and
Americans have even less liberty now than they had before. This time,
however, the Republicans have no excuses. The lame excuse that they are
not responsible because they didn’t control the entire government will
not work anymore. And the even lamer excuse that the defection of Vermont
Sen. Jim Jeffords so early in Bush’s presidency didn’t give the
Republican majority enough time to do anything won’t work either.
The Republicans have now had total control -- an absolute Republican
majority -- for more than a year. And what did they do during this time?
The usual -- nothing. No egregious legislation was repealed. The welfare
state was not rolled back an inch. No federal programs or departments
were eliminated. No budgets were cut. In fact, legislation got worse (the
USA PATRIOT Act), the welfare state was strengthened (a new prescription
drug plan), and a new federal department was created (Homeland Security).
So now that the initial euphoria over an absolute Republican majority has
subsided and the Republicans have been in charge for a year, the
Republican record can be soberly addressed.
There is only one way to describe the record of the Republican majority
during its first year: a dismal failure. To students of political
history, however, this was not only no surprise, it was to be expected
and, in fact, predictable on the basis of the actions of the Republican
Party in the 20th century, whether they held the presidency, the House,
the Senate, or any combination of the three, including an absolute
majority. Because the history of the Republican Party is one of
compromise after compromise and sellout after sellout, there are a number
of things that a Republican majority has not meant, and in fact, will
never mean.
Republican sellouts
A Republican majority has not meant any more than
it did the last time the Republicans controlled both the Congress and the
Oval Office, since the intent of Republicans is not to dismantle the
welfare state with its entitlements and income-transfer programs. The
83rd Congress of 1953-1955, which had the advantage of serving under the
Republican president Dwight Eisenhower, represented the last time in
recent memory that the Republicans commanded both houses of Congress and
the White House. Before then, it was during the first two years of
Herbert Hoover’s presidency that a Republican Congress convened under a
Republican president. With the Republican Eisenhower in the White House,
and a Republican majority in Congress, one would think that the entire
New Deal could have been repealed and the government restored to at least
its pre–New Deal levels. Yet during this period, the Bricker Amendment to
protect U.S. sovereignty went down in defeat, the Cold War took shape,
and the judicial activist Earl Warren was appointed to the Supreme Court.
This Republican majority was short-lived, as the voters turned out the
Republicans for what was to be the longest tenure of one-party rule in
U.S. history.
A Republican majority has not meant anything different from the last time
a Republican Congress had to contend with a Democratic president, because
the Republicans have no desire to rid the country of affirmative-action
policies, anti-discrimination laws, or anything else granting special
privileges based on race, sex, perceived victim status, disability, or
“sexual orientation.” Before the Clinton regime, the last time a
Republican Congress found itself in this position was during the 80th
Congress of 1947-1949, which assembled during the second half of the
first term of the Democrat Harry Truman. One would have to go back to the
last half of Woodrow Wilson’s second term to find a like occurrence. It
is apparent that a Republican majority in Congress for the first time
since the New Deal would at least have been able to block the legislative
agenda of Harry Truman. But ability and willingness are two different
things. After authorizing $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey in
1947 and the $17 billion Marshall Plan in 1948, the Republicans in
Congress were still replaced by Democrats in the next election.
A Republican majority has not meant anything different from the last time
the Republicans held a majority in the Senate, because the practice of
appointing and confirming judges and bureaucrats who trample the
Constitution and infringe the liberties of American citizens has never
abated. Throughout Ronald Reagan’s first term, and for the first half of
his second one, the Republicans had a majority in the Senate under a
Republican president. The only other two times this century that this
occurred were during the terms of Hoover and William Taft. Although not
possessing a majority in the House of Representatives, with a majority in
the Senate, and the most conservative president since Calvin Coolidge,
the repeal of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society seemed within reach. Some
good was done during the period of this Senate majority, but Sandra Day
O’Connor, who proved to be a dismal failure to conservatives, was
installed on the Supreme Court. The Social Security tax rates were also
gradually raised throughout this period, something that cannot be blamed
exclusively on a Democratic-controlled House. Further compromise with the
Democrats resulted in additional “tax reform.” A Republican House was
never elected to complement the Republican Senate, and the Republicans
lost the Senate for the remaining two years of Reagan’s final term.
A Republican majority has not meant something dissimilar from a
Democratic majority with a Republican president, because the Republicans
have made no effort to eliminate the laws, mandates, regulations, and
restrictions that strangle business and burden the American people. The
last Republican president to preside over a Democratic Congress was
George H. W. Bush. Every Republican president since Eisenhower has had
the disadvantage of serving with a Democratic majority in Congress for at
least part of his term, and usually for the entire duration. It was
expected that an attempt would be made by Bush to block Democratic
legislation. But not only were some horrendous bills passed with the help
of Republicans in the House and Senate, President Bush signed them
instead of using his veto power. The Americans with Disabilities Act, the
Clean Air Act, and the Civil Rights Act are three notable examples, not
to mention the disastrous budget deal that raised taxes.
A Republican majority has not meant any more than business as usual with
a complete Democratic majority, because the reckless, globalist foreign
policy of the United States is adhered to by most Republicans. The total
Democratic control of the government, such as existed under Roosevelt,
Truman (second term), Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton (first half
of first term), has done much damage to the country. Yet many of the
increases in taxes, social spending, and federal powers, with their
assault on liberty and private property, were passed with the help of
Republicans at the time they were supposed to be the opposition party.
Republicans in the House and Senate supported Clinton’s crime bill and
the annual multi-billion dollar foreign aid package.
The solution
It is understood that with a Democrat in the
White House, a presidential veto can squelch Republican plans. That
excuse may have seemed plausible under the Clinton regime, but it does
not hold anymore. No matter how often Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh sing
their praises, the Republicans cannot be taken seriously. A Republican
majority in Congress and the White House has meant virtually nothing
positive for liberty, and will never do so, until they undertake a
systematic dismantling of the welfare, regulatory, interventionist state.
It is not just a matter of enacting more legislation to combat 40 years
of Democratic rule. Limiting spending increases to the rate of inflation
is not satisfactory. A balanced-budget amendment is not the answer.
Indexing taxes on capital gains to inflation is not the solution. A
freeze on federal spending is not enough. Welfare and Social Security
reform are not needed. More crime bills will not do. It is pointless to
argue that the Republicans will feed the federal leviathan less than the
Democrats. Instead of slaying the federal leviathan, bipartisanship,
sellout, and compromise will ensure that a Republican majority feeds it
instead. Unless the emphasis is on the elimination of all facets of the
federal monstrosity, including the repeal of the New Deal of FDR, the
Fair Deal of Harry Truman, the Great Society programs of LBJ, the
blunders of Republican presidents, and the sellouts of Republican
Congresses, a Republican majority will never mean anything positive for
freedom.
Ultimately, the solution lies in the hands of the American people. The
libertarian principles of the Founders, and especially the limited role
of government in a free society, should be on the lips of every American.
It is then, and only then, that elected representatives can begin to
eliminate the funding and power of the FDA, FTC, EEOC, OSHA, EPA, HHS,
HUD, BATF, CPB, NEA, IRS, and all the other acronyms that rob the
American people of their money, property, and liberty.
Laurence M. Vance
teaches at Pensacola Bible Institute in Pensacola, Florida. Send him
email.
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0407d.asp
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
- What a Republican Majority Has Not Meant MJ
