THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507260010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
Republicans, take warning and remember the political history of the 1970s when the Democrats were so fractured that many tried to form a third party. George Wallace's bid for the presidency was an attempt by conservative Democrats to participate in the process that had been denied them by their own party. The Democratic Party was being controlled by a more-and-more-liberal faction unwilling to compromise.
Today's Republican Party is in a very similar situation, but in the opposite direction. The Religious Right is drawing the party more and more to an uncompromising position.
Wake up! Didn't the Ross Perot presidential campaign ring any bells? Perot's support was not just an ``anti-Bush, balance-the-budget'' campaign. It was an alarm (that has yet to be heard). The Republican Party must pull in on the reins of the Religious Right or lose the majority of support it now enjoys.
BURT McFARLAND
Smithfield, July 15, 1995 by CNB