To the Editor:

I’d just like to submit my thoughts on the candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Bob Dole: He’s been running for ten years, has a reputation for being too moderate and too mean. Is he too old? You judge.

He’ll be in his mid-eighties if elected to a second term. This is not a slam on the elders of our society. It is just an interesting thing to ponder when you take into account the differences between the “new” Republican politics and “old” or “Dole” Republican politics.

This could be a long piece in and of itself so we’ll just move on to candidates who are more fun to pick on.

Phil Gramm: Favors the flat tax. The claim is that the flat tax will be more simple. The truth is, the actual rates under a flat tax go down for the wealthy and up for those in the lower brackets.

This man is always speaking of the “America I grew up in.” The truth is, without the government programs he so despises he wouldn’t be where he is today. He didn’t grow up IN America, he grew up ON America.

Richard Lugar: This Indiana Senator wishes to eliminate all taxes and replace them with a 17 percent national sales tax. Sales taxes tend towards regressitivity. I’ll bet the low income families will just love that.

Morry Taylor: Illinois businessman running on the Perot idea of “the should be run like a business.” Taylor wants to eliminate 1/3 of the bureaucracy… immediately, balancing the budget in say, 16 months. Big deal. Any idiot can balance the budget. The questions are how, and how will it affect the country? Will Taylor’s company re-hire the thousands and thousands of people who would be immediately out of work?

Pat Buchanan: He’s not electable, so why bother?

Bob Dornan: He’s a war hawk who screams about moral decay with no idea of how to solve social moral issues. He isn’t electable either… why bother?

Alan Keys: A mover of audiences, as well as stomachs. He’s right when he says the breakdown of the two parent family is related to poverty. But he never wants to address the chicken and egg issue.

Arlen Specter: Doesn’t stand a chance of nomination. Why? Republican primary voters tend to be very conservative. Specter advocates abortion rights.

The funny thing is, out of all the candidates, Specter could have the best chance at beating Clinton… if nominated. Why? Think about it.

Pete Wilson: He too supports abortion rights. He’s also trying to win the nomination by being a reactionist to affirmative action policies… many of which he himself signed into law in California. Ho hum.

Lamar Alexander: Claims to be Washington outsider who wants to abolish the Department of Education.

So much for national standards. Why reform things when it’s so much easier to wipe them out? That seems to be the simple Republican way.

Now, why oust Bill Clinton? He campaigned on deficit reduction. Since taking office the deficit has been reduced from roughly $280 billion to $140 billion, lower than in almost every year Reagan was in office.

Look folks, in 1992 people voted largely on economic issues. The deficit is down, housing starts are up… on and on. Let’s think really hard before we do away with a good thing.

Brian Cleveland

Junior

History