|
Politicians: Tear Down That Wall!
By David R. Zukerman, NYC and Winsted
According to John Feehery, press secretary to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Republicans will pursue their "centrist to right, moderately conservative agenda," focusing on "fiscal responsibility" and "national security" issues that are the GOP's "biggest strengths." Mr. Feehery took my call on November 7, as I was trying to find a source (I am one of the few Americans without a computer) to tell me how many Republicans were elected on November 8, 1994 to the 104th Congress. Mr. Feehery recalled that some 230 Republicans were elected and six Democrats switched to the Republican side of the House aisle that year.
In this year’s election, Republicans made very modest gains in the House to hold the majority, but they have not reached their numbers in the 104th Congress. This is the fifth election in a row that Republicans have held the House majority, but until the GOP gains a much greater majority—fifty seats, say—Democratic despair seems exaggerated. This is not to deny frustration in the Democratic camp that the levers of power are not in their hands. Nor is this to deny the possibility that House Democrats might maintain the posture of sharp criticism they adopted after Newt Gingrich led Republicans to control of the House in 1994.
I asked Mr. Feehery how Republicans would respond if Democrats continue their sharp attacks on Republicans. He indicated that when Newt Gingrich gave up the Speaker's post, the Democrats lost their "bogeyman" and will not be "credible" in their criticism of Republicans pursuing a "centrist" program that aims to reform, not dismantle, government. Before our conversation ended, I called to Mr. Feehery's attention William T. Barrante's recent Voice article "Political Observations" [November 1], and also Federalist 57.
Listening to the 6 p.m. hourly news on the CBS radio network on November 6 (I was between exits 46 and 45 on Route 8, heading to a Canon camera class at the Photo Shop in Torrington), I heard a professor comment on the low voter turnout on this election day. Two days later, a CBS news staffer was kind enough to give me the full quote and the source. Colby College political science professor Calvin MacKenzie commented, on the low voter turnout: "I think what we're seeing here is that Americans are deeply disengaged from politics." When I heard those words, I thought that the professor has things reversed: the problem is not that people are distancing themselves from politics, but that politicians are removed from us.
There is no doubt in my mind that we would see our Constitution revive if our legislators gave equal access to the people. For this to occur, all we need are legislators who honor their oaths of office.
True, mainstream papers like the New York Times, Hartford Courant and Washington Post might comment, from time to time, on the corruption in our politics. But the silence of the mainstream media on specific instances of government abuse of power—as when officials in New York City used power, not rules, to get new owners at Dayton Seaside—taught me firsthand that the mainstream media serves the present political system, which is of the insiders, by the insiders and for the insiders.
If a mainstream paper criticizes people for not voting, I understand that paper to be annoyed that we do not ratify a political system where government is just a form of business and is closed to those not on the lists of major campaign donors. If instead of chiding us for our perceived lack of engagement, a powerful media outlet had instead used its bully pulpit to report the facts regarding Dayton Seaside, for example, I have no doubt that attention would now be more focused on the disengagement of elected officials from constitutional government.
Connecticut has two senior Republicans in the House majority: Nancy Johnson and Christopher Shays. If Ms. Johnson and Mr. Shays help tear down the wall that separates the insiders from the rest of us, I think voter turnout will be much larger in 2004. It is, after all, not that difficult to tear down a wall that offends the spirit of liberty. They did it in Berlin, didn't they?
|
|
