IS Bob Dole a George Bush in waiting? Phil Gramm a budgetary technocrat with no feel for social issues? Lamar Alexander a chameleon in plaid? The current Republican presidential field consists of lesser evils and greater question marks, a bustling bazaar offering mostly hand-me-downs.
Where is the candidate who can bring the GOP’s presidential politics into line with the advanced state of its congressional (or at least House) politics? If naming the right person is difficult, outlining the right qualities isn’t. The first quality of Candidate X is an awareness that the economic goals of the Republican Party go well beyond balancing the budget. Whether big government is funded by borrowing (budget deficits) or taxes (balanced budgets), it’s a drag on the economy and an intrusion in people’s fives. Deficit mania is already getting in the way of the tax cuts that would mean less money in the pocket of government and more in the pockets of the American people. Freedom and opportunity, words so central in the Reagan years, are rarely heard these days. Unless
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