COLUMN: GOP Contract With America places politics ahead of country's well-being

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by Anita Raman

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They say that the budget impasse was an orchestrated effort to reduce the credibility of the GOP in the eyes of the American populace.

Rather than place the blame on Clinton for their recent dismal showings in the polls, Republicans should instead take a closer look at their own party platform and the rhetoric of their leaders.

As early as April, vocal party leaders such as Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio) were discussing with the media the possibility of a governmental shutdown, intending to create a massive standoffif Clinton did not agree to their legislative terms.

Though Republicans now claim they were against the shutdown, earlier statements show clear intent to press the increased national debt ceiling to the crisis point. Kasich said in a July 26, Associated Press on-line interview, "I don't see the government shutdown as negative. I see it as positive if things get righted."

What incentive does Clinton have to agree to the Contract With America?

Why should he place his support behind a plan that cuts programs that ensure the security of the nation's elderly, working class and young rather than promoting the welfare of the people?

The only possible reason for compliance would be political leverage, and had Clinton been seeking reelection only, he would have agreed to the Republican budget proposal, incomplete and stop-gap as it was.

Yes, he chose to take the moral high ground. Someone in power had to, and the Republicans obviously did not have room on their agenda for "principled leadership."

Clinton did not need to discredit the Republican Party. The GOP was more than willing to do it to themselves in their own attempt to discredit the president. Their decline in the polls is not a measure of Clinton's maneuvering skill. It is a measure of the intelligence of the American electorate.

The Contract With America is the ultimate in political weaponry, winning the support of the people with its short-term benefits and gaining vocal opposition because of its lack of comprehensive planning for the long run.

However, the nation cannot be fooled for long. The electorate is realizing that the GOP, in its attempt to destroy the Democratic Party and the president, has pointed the heavy artillery at our future generations.

Will a more rapidly balanced budget seem as important when the elderly are unable to receive neces- sary health services and the young are unable to afford education and training to become productive members of society? Will charges of political wrangling help the nation then?

The GOP derides Clinton's statement that he would rather leave office at the end of this term than agree to an improperly balanced budget.

Ironically, according to a recent poll by ABC News and the Washington Post (Nov. 12, 1995) the majority of Republican voters also dispute the Republican strategy to blackmail the president into signing a bill with which he does not agree.

Is it so wrong to have a president who is willing to renounce his interests in the favor of the welfare of the nation? If the GOP wishes to call him a self-made martyr, then so be it.

At least we can count on a president who stands on his principles.

Anita Raman is a member of the Rice Young Democrats and a Jones College freshman.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the December 1, 1995 issue.

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