Legacy Of Capitulation

by Christopher G. Adamo

A favorite tactic of political demagogues throughout history has been to goad weak opponents into a fight, defeat them, and then viciously humiliate them for having ever resisted in the first place. The benefits of this ploy are twofold. First, of course, is the immediate victory. Secondly though, no other faint-hearted observer will ever dare to stand against the victor.

Admittedly, this approach possesses a risk, in that the tendency of the victim to concede must be well established. But the aggressor can usually make such an assessment with confidence, based on the past record of the opposition. Sadly, when it comes to legislative battles in the U.S. Congress, Washington Republicans have been all too predictable in their responses to attacks from the left. A consistent pattern of half-hearted resistance, followed by spectacular “caves” has, in the minds of many, rendered Republicans as the permanent minority party, regardless of their actual numbers in the House and Senate.

During his 1988 campaign, the senior President Bush rode to victory in large part on his infamous “read my lips” pledge to not raise taxes. Though his resolute words did much to win him the White House that year, they ultimately cost him re-election in 1992. In the budget battle of 1990, Democrats recognized the importance of raising taxes, not only for their immediate agenda, but also as a philosophical defeat for Bush. So they remained intransigent in their insistence that no budget would be implemented unless Bush abandoned his promise. And of course he did. Two years later, those liberal antagonists who had been most vocal in their insistence that he go back on his pledge became his loudest critics.

Similarly, House and Senate Republicans once again fell into just such a snare during the budget battle of 1995. Having gained majority status in the House for the first time in four decades, Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich steadfastly insisted that his party would hold the line on spending, even if doing so resulted in the government being shut down until the budget debate was resolved. But barely two weeks after the government shutdown commenced, public pressure to “end the bickering” resulted in Bob Dole's famous “enough is enough” capitulation to an immovable President Clinton.

Prior to Dole's acquiescence, Clinton's popularity among the general public was plummeting to its lowest point in his entire first term. However, once Dole not only conceded, but did so on terms essentially accepting guilt for the impasse, public anger that had been directed at the government in general was refocused specifically on the Republicans. Dole not only cost his country the immeasurable harm of unrestrained government growth ever since, he also doomed his chances to take the White House the following year.

Tragically, Republicans once again find themselves trapped in a similar scenario. Last week's “gentlemen's filibuster” over the President's stalled judicial nominations failed to weaken Democrat determination to violate the Constitution and prevent an “up or down” vote on prospective appointees. Throughout the thirty-hour debate, Democrats repeatedly charged that by remaining fixed on the issue of judges, Republicans were preventing Congress from fulfilling its necessary duty to implement new social programs. Unfortunately, no Republican possessed sufficient fortitude to respond by characterizing the effort as a fight for the integrity of the Constitution itself.

Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a courageous and principled conservative, angrily forewarned of Republican backlash the next time a Democrat president attempts to appoint an activist judge of the sort that Bill Clinton successfully installed on so many occasions. Unfortunately, Santorum's statement begs the question of why such judges, quantifiably unfit for office as they were, ever received confirmation in the first place. Furthermore, by now everybody knows what Santorum's threat truly means. After only a few nights of hysterical news reports of citizens being “denied justice,” owing to “unprecedented obstructionism by the GOP” or some such nonsense, Senate Republicans, starting with the “moderates,” will rapidly begin to cave once again. Republican “unfairness” will then be universally blamed as the cause of much unnecessary contention.

Throughout the years in which Republicans were a minority in the House and Senate, or were subjugated to a Democrat President, they continually promised to “fight the good fight” once they regained the majority. They had better do so now. For they are grossly misled if they believe that the Constitution (and hence, the country) can be trashed on their watch without it being a reflection on their own integrity.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.