Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9410150002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Yeah, right. As if Virginians are supposed to believe what he says.
Leaving aside his demonstrated contempt for the Constitution during the Iran-Contra affair, North today comes across as distinctly un-conservative even on fiscal issues.
While incumbent Democrat Charles Robb is the late Lyndon B. Johnson's son-in-law, North is the one promising guns-and-butter big-spending budget policies that make LBJ look like a minor-leaguer.
Under the Clinton administration, federal budget deficits have been cut, but not by enough. As a percentage of the national economy, the climb in that legacy of the '80s deficits - a huge national debt - has been slowed but not reversed.
So what does North offer? He wants to boost defense spending by about $50 billion annually. (Never mind that the Soviet Union has gone kaput. Calling for more Pentagon pork barrel can still win votes in military-dependent Tidewater.)
North would increase personal exemptions on the individual income tax, and offer tuition tax credits to families who send children to private schools. (Never mind that the exemption-increase comes unaccompanied by a proposal to offset the forgone revenue, and that tuition tax credits would be inappropriate giveaways. Giveaways can buy votes, too.)
Social Security or Medicare, which amount to nearly 30 percent of federal spending? Off limits, North says. Nor does he mention vote-costing cuts in any of the other entitlement programs that make up another 20 percent of federal spending.
That leaves ... well, the remaining biggie is servicing the deficit-fed debt. These days, that runs to more than 20 percent of federal outlays, double the percentage in the '60s and '70s. If North favors repudiating the federal debt, he should inform the holders of various U.S. Treasury securities - including many widows, and no doubt some orphans - that he wants to render their investments worthless.
Oh, North proposes a few hot-button slashes: Whack congressional pay in half, make Congress pay for parking perks at National Airport, etc., etc. Those ideas may have symbolic value, but their dollar impact is microscopic. If you exclude defense, entitlement programs and debt service, only about 10 percent of the federal budget is left for everything else: not just congressional pay and perks, but also national parks, federal courts, the FBI and so forth.
Robb, by way of contrast, has much to answer for on other counts - but can claim to be a fiscal conservative without insulting voters' intelligence.
Unlike chattering chickadees such as North, who support only Dr. Feelgood gimmicks like a line-item veto but specify no means of cutting the debt, Robb has been a deficit hawk in the Senate. He has shown a willingness to support difficult tax-increasing and spending-control measures required to get the job done.
When Robb said last week he would "take food away from widows and orphans" if that would help cut the deficit, he was presumably trying to emphasize his conservative credentials. The reaction to his remark underscores the problem we face: an America that wants it all and rewards politicians who promise it.
Independent candidates Marshall Coleman and Douglas Wilder, among the chickadees, are criticizing Robb for what should be a strength: his courage in supporting the modest tax increases and entitlement limits that, by reducing deficits, have helped shift the nation's economy back into forward gear.
And North, pushing proposals to do just the opposite, deceptively pronounces himself in favor of budget balancing. North? Deceptive?
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB