Editorials and Opinion Pieces

Is There A WORLDWIDE CONSERVATIVE CRACK-UP?

By: Grover Norquist, contributing writer to the Weekly Standard

Date: August 25, 1997
Section: Pg. 9

Length: 23,700 words

In June, the editors of THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked 28 writers, thinkers, activists, and political professsionals for their thoughts on the following proposition:

Conservatives worldwide are in a peculiar state. On the other hand, their ideas seem to be ascendant; on the other hand, the parties and politicians that represent them seem to be getting battered. Clinton, Blair, and Jospin are victorious, while politicians allied with what we think of as " conservative" ideas about the free market, regulation, the size of government, and traditional morality are reeling from defeat after defeat. In the United States, the Republican Congress has lost its moorings in the wake of Bill Clinton's reelection.

What's going on? What does it mean? What happened to the confident conservatism of Thatcher, Reagan, and the 1994 Republican congressional victory? Their responses appear below, in alphabetical order.

Grover Norquist

Britain’s Tory Leader John Major raised taxes on the British people 22 times and was rejected by the voters. Jacques Chirac’s first act as French President was to raise the VAT by 10 percent. This, with George Bush’s truncated career, confirms that tax increases are the one unforgivable act for a conservative government.

Now, in the United States are conservatives "reeling from defeat after defeat"? Well, let’s look at the present situation: Republicans control both houses of congress for the first time since 1955, 32 governors representing 75 percent of Americans are Republicans, since Clinton’s election in 1992, 395 elected Democrats have switched to the GOP, and Republicans have 5l percent of all state legislators outside the south. Republican mayors are running Los Angeles, New York City and Jersey City.

Congress is now passing its first net tax cut since Reagan’s 198l tax cut, Welfare and agriculture subsidies have been ended as entitlements. In 31 states "shall issue concealed carry" laws have been passed. Free trade with China withstood attack, union membership has declined to new lows and deregulation is inevitable in electric power and banking. Internationally, social security systems are being privatized in Chile, El Salvador and soon New Zealand and tariffs are falling.

Conservative angst flows from two sources.

First, old tried and true "wedge" issues that used to guarantee republican advantage have been lost or weakened. Our victory over Soviet Imperialism made the election of a draft dodger possible. Democrats can no longer be counted on to oppose the death penalty, imprisoning criminals and a strong defense. Democrats now claim to support a balanced budget and vulnerable Democrats vote for a constitutional amendment to require one. This is called winning. Ten years ago a person who said socialism was a failed economic system, the Soviet Union was an evil empire, murderers should be executed, criminals imprisoned and the budget balanced would be considered a right winger. Now that describes the average American.

We knew how to beat old Democrats. Now we must create, strengthen or simply recognize new wedge issues that divide Americans 70/30 with Democrats holding the "fuzzy end of the lollipop". Cheerfully, an arsenal of new issues is at hand. School choice enjoys 70 percent support and reaches deep into black and Hispanic communities. Democrats are forced to stand in the schoolhouse door refusing to let children out in order to please their teachers’ union paymasters. Tort Reform divides every American against 70,000 trial lawyers/DNC donors. Abolishing racial and gender preferences and quotas has 80 percent support among whites and blacks and leaves Clinton and his demagogues isolated. Banning partial birth abortions unites all Republicans and divides Democrats from the radical feminists, who, at 7 percent of the population with them, demand Democrats vote in support of this "procedure." Abolishing the capital gains tax and the death tax unites the small businessman, farmer, homeowner, and the Chamber of Commerce constituency; and forces Democrats to resort to class warfare. Demanding the deployment of Strategic Defenses (SDI) against ballistic missiles recreates the GOP pro-defense coalition and puts the Democrats back into their position of weakness on defense issues.

Other possible "wedge" issues present themselves. Louisiana just passed the "covenant marriage" that offers an alternative marriage contract that is more difficult to enter into or divorce out of. This could be introduced in all 50 states come January and create a women’s issue the feminists won’t touch. Legislation making adoption and trans-racial adoption easier, allowing consumers to opt out of paying for "pain and suffering" through Auto Choice lower cost insurance, cutting back on foreign aid and payments to the United Nations all recommend themselves as popular conservative positions that divide the Democrats.

The second source of conservative frustration stems from Bill Clinton’s veto and the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate. We cannot move forward on significant tax cuts, real entitlement reform or many of the issues listed above as long as Bill Clinton is in the White House with the veto pen. For many victories we must wait until 200l and a new President. This is frustrating. Conservatives of good heart lose patience and begin to gnaw on each other rather than use the forced wait as a time for training, institution building, fundraising and cadre building. In the Second World War, as the allies prepared for the Normandy invasion, the troops in Britain had a great deal of time. Smart leaders filled the time with training, practice and logistical support. Anxious men with too much time on their hands and too little to do tend to drink too much and beat on each other. Conservative leaders must help direct such energy into useful movement building and issue education campaigns.

Our June 6, 1944 comes in January 200l.

No prisoners.