THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
According to the latest Perot-a-thon and several recent polls, less than a year after the Republicans took Congress, the electorate is as disillusioned with Washington as ever.
Six in 10 say the country is headed in the wrong direction. That's not just dispossessed Democrats talking but an across-the-board sentiment. Republicans and independents think so too, men and women, rich and poor. Seventy percent say you can't trust government to do the right thing. A majority disapproves of the job the new Congress is doing, according to polling by Stan Greenberg and Fred Steeper.
A report in The Wall Street Journal gives several reasons for the disenchantment. Congress failed to pass term limits, a balanced-budget amendment and campaign-finance reform. People think Republicans play the same game as the Democrats, cutting funding for political enemies and providing help to powerful friends.
``Most important of all,'' according to The Journal, ``the much-touted `Republican revolution' hasn't yet touched the lives - and economic prospects - of ordinary Americans in any practical way.''
This is surely the crux of the matter. In election after election, voters have demonstrated their concern about an American Dream in peril. They are petrified of a less prosperous future for their children, a world in which home owning is harder, jobs disappear, pensions go up in smoke, health care and college are unaffordable. They fear schools aren't educating workers to meet the competitive challenge, businesses aren't creating jobs that pay a living wage, government is taxing and spending but not solving problems.
Voters want these fundamental issues addressed head on. Clinton talked about them when running, forgot about them when elected. Yet Republicans aren't dealing with Americans' fears either.
The tax relief they propose, if passed, may not be enough for most middle-class workers to notice. Proposed federal belt tightening raises worries about the Medicare that middle-class seniors rely on, the availability and cost of student loans, and protection of health, safety and the environment.
Though lucrative tax breaks and regulatory reform are planned for corporations, there's no certainty that any gains will trickle down to the average paycheck or provide more jobs at home instead of overseas. Nor has it escaped notice that House freshmen, according to Common Cause, have received 70 percent more in special-interest contributions than their counterparts two years ago.
Most disheartening, the pack of Republican candidates hounding President Clinton seem unable or unwilling to address middle-class economic, education and job concerns. Sen. Bob Dole is absorbed by legislative minutiae. Sen. Phil Gramm's mantra is less government.
Others, like Gov. Pete Wilson and Pat Buchanan, don't have things they want to do but scapegoats they want to punish: ``federal tyrants,'' in Wilson's hyperbolic phrase, career criminals, those who have benefited from affirmative action, illegal immigrants (though they appear to have more faith in the country's future than its politicians).
None of the candidates has the optimism of a Ronald Reagan, the economic confidence of a Jack Kemp. No wonder so many Americans are gloomy. The politics of diminished expectations is no fun. It also leaves the door wide open for someone who will speak to middle-America's hopes and dreams. by CNB