THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190008
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By LOUIS HERRINK and STEPHEN MERRILL
LENGTH: 81 lines
Your editorial ``Lamm to the slaughter?'' (June 19) discussed the fact that the National Reform Party may nominate former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm as its presidential candidate rather than Ross Perot. Since Governor Lamm is even more blunt about the immediate need for fundamental change in federal entitlements than is Perot, the editorial found the prospect of having a ``truth saying'' candidate in the field tantalizing. But it also concluded that the entire reform-party effort is thus far a waste of time since the party is not in this election running its own candidates for Congress and for state offices.
On behalf of the Virginia Independent Party, which is the Virginia chapter of the National Reform Party, we take issue with the editorial's basic assumptions - that the sole justification for a political party is to get its own candidates elected from local courthouses to the White House. That is the only way, in the editorial writer's view, that reform initiatives could be passed into law.
The central purpose of the National Reform Party is, indeed, to have its policies of small, clean government passed into law. Our goal is to end the special-interest-money politics that dominates the legislatures in Washington, D.C., and the 50 state capitals today. Unlike the Republican and the Democratic parties, whose sole interest is in getting their own candidates elected to public office, the Reform Party stands only for a set of public policies.
Our party is ready to support any candidate on the ballot who promises to seek enactment of laws like congressional term limits, campaign-finance reform, fundamental tax reform, balancing the federal budget by reducing spending and the expansion of personal freedom. We are not partisan. We do not engage in mud-slinging. We demand action. It makes no difference what a candidate's party label is. What counts is whether the candidate is in favor of empowering the people rather than the politicians.
Since the other two parties' candidates are completely flexible in what they would support in exchange for a majority of the votes cast, the Reform Party's policy of endorsing candidates based on their public-policy positions and voting record is an ideal way to get meaningful reforms enacted. Our constituency, the angered middle class, is the key voting block in almost every congressional district.
Even though he was not elected, the continuing importance today of the Perot presidential bid in 1992 is a case in point. Perot was the only candidate that year to talk about the runaway federal deficit and the entitlements time bomb that are ruining our nation's financial standing. Because of his surprising success after telling the American electorate the truth about the federal budget, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress today are committed to balancing the budget (but, unfortunately, so far in rhetoric only).
So what could a truth-saying candidate elected to the presidency achieve even if faced with 535 Republicans and Democrats in Congress? The answer: a lot.
If the president is elected with a clear mandate, as any Reform Party candidate would have to be, Congress will go along with the president if its members still desire to be re-elected. It may well take several elections, but as long as the voters are determined to wrest control of their futures from Washington, it will happen.
Your editorial also concluded that the Reform Party is not sufficiently ``grass roots.'' The history of our party here in Virginia could not do more to refute that conclusion.
The Virginia Independent Party is a growing collection of novice political activists from every corner of the state. Our party achieved statewide ballot access, no small feat, with no involvement or financial assistance from Ross Perot or any special-interest group. We are self-financed. Even in this presidential-election year, our party has not yet taken financial help from the National Reform Party.
Most of the leaders in our state party are self-employed business people. Our common goal is to decentralize power in this country so the people can lead their lives as they choose. We do not go to Richmond or Washington with our hand out.
By comparing that profile with the other two parties in Virginia, one would conclude that the Virginia Independent Party is the first truly grass-roots political rebellion in the commonwealth in many, many years. MEMO: Louis Herrink of King George is state chariman of the Virginia
Independent Party. Stephen Merrill of Norfolk is the party's membership
chairman. by CNB