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TIm RIPON SOCIE'IY CONGRESSIONAL

ADVISORY BOARD Sc03.IOr Chuck Hagel (NE)

Senate Chaimlan

~pTe$Cnla(ivc Nancy L. Johnson (Cl1 House C hai rwoman

Scmllor Rich:ard. Burr eNC) &o:l.Ior Lincoln D. Chafec (RI ) Sc:nalor Norm Coleman (MN) Senator Susan M. Collins (ME) Semllor Orrin G. Hatch (UT) Senawr Pal Robens (KS) Semllor Gordon Smith {OR} Senator Olympia). Snowe (ME) S~na!Or Arlen Specter CPA) Senator Ted Stevens (AI<) Rrpre!;ennnive Judy Biggen (IL) Rcprescmativc Sherwood Boehlerl (NY) Representative Ken Calvert (CA) Rcprcscnralive Dave Camp (MI) Rcprcso:ntativc Eri(: I. GOlor (VA) Rcp~SCn{ali,~ Michael Castle (DE) Rcprcsc:nt:.uil"C Howard Coble (NC) Rc:prcsc:nlalivc Ander C renshaw (FL) Representative Thomas M. Davis, III (VA) Rcpresenr.uiv( Vernon Ehlers (11.11) Rcprcsc:n[;uiv( Jo Ann H. Emerson (MO) Rcprcsc:nt'3.liV(: Philip S. English (PA) Rcprcsc:n12dvc Mike Ferguson (NJ) Rzpl'CKm:lIiv~ Mark Fol~ (FL) Ikprescnt<llivc ViIO Foutlla (NY)

Represcnl~li,~ Rodn~ Frdinghu)'s~n (N]) R~prcscnmi\'C Paul E. Gillmor (OH) Rcprcscnmi\'~ Kay Gr.angcr (TX) R~prescl\lati\'~ Melissa A. Hart (PA) R~pll:$(m:l(ivc Robin Hayes (NC) R~pll:$(ntadvc David Hobson (OH) R~pll:$(ntalivr SU~ W. Kelly (NY) R~prescntalivr Jim KolJx (AZ) R~prescnlalivc Ray H. laHood (IL) Represemative St~ven LaTourette (01-1) Reprcscnt-advc Jim Leach (lA) R~p=madve Jerry Lewis (CA) Rcprescnradvc Jim McCrery (LA) Represcm:nivc Michael G. Oxley (01-1 ) Represcmativr Thomas E. P!:ui (WI) R~prescntaliv~ Dcootlih Pryce (OH) Reprcscmativc Adam Putnam (Ft) Reprcscmativc Jim Rammd (MN) Represemative Ralph Regub. (OH) Repl'CKntative E. C lay Shaw, Jr. (Ft) Represenl;IIi1~ Christopher Shays (CD Representative John E. Sw«n~ (Ny) Rcprescntatil~ William M. Thomas (CA) Rcprcscntalil'C Fred Upton (M I) Rcpl'CKmativc James T. Walsh (Ny)

The Ripon Soc...,. is I reoclrcb 100 poli<ympn""tion Ioeo,r.;! 'n .~ W.u.ington. D.C. n..",.", ~Hil~.l N.,iomal A..ociol~ mcmben ......., ~ th.-our;h<>ul the Uniled SUtd. ~ Ripon is "'1'1"'''..1 by ,hop'" ..:=;;' dun, indjvid.w ron"jbu.ion •. ond """,nut> fn:<m ill publi(:uion'.

Th~ Ripon Forum · MaylJun~ 2005

VOLUME 39 • NUMBER III • MAY/JUNE 2005

4 Note From the Executive Director

POLITICS 5 The Hillary Question . by Roben Stacy McCain

8 Why I'm a Republican . by Mercedes V. Schlapp 10 The Politics of Race . by Patrick M. Garry 12 Blacks and the GOP ~ by Star Parker

INTERVIEW 14 Scandal at the United Nations

. Interview with Senator Norm Coleman

FEATURES 17 Controlling the Deficit · by Paul Wei nstein Jr. 19 PAYGO Works · by Sen. lincoln C hafee

CAPITOL FORUM 20 Improving Financial Literacy ~ by Rep. Judy Biggert 21 Homeland Security Strategy . by Rep. Rob Si mmons 22 Benefits of Association Health Plans

- by Sen. O lympia J. Snowe

PUBLIC POLICY 24 America's Tariff System ~ by Edward Gresser 26 Energy Legislation Prospects . by Stephen F. Manfred i

FOREIGN AFFAIRS 28 The Year of Democracy . by Rep. David D reier 29 A Nuclear Iran ~ by Lawrence F. Kaplan

THE JUST CAUSE 30 Europe's Last Dictatorship . by Jeffrey T. Kuhner

TIN Jb,..~ fiI""" (lSSN 0035-~)26) io publiolood ""·monlhlybyn.. Ripon Soc...,.. The- Ripon Sociny io Iocattd at 1300 L S(fttl,

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Execu.ive Direc.or E.h·is Oxley

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Jdr~ T. Kuhn .. r

Policy Diru.o, St~ph(n F. Manrr.-di

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C Copyrigl .. 2005

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4

* ~ n~~:~~;~:w,:~~,::,~~:,:~~:,,~l:~~:~r .~::::::;;;I~ 0 in governmenl. I illustrate my feelings on this issue with the following r 0/ example. You have a choice of fWO doctors. Doctor # I has maintained

.... his private practice for 25 years and h;!.S not read a new medical journal nor r participated in any new cl;!.Sses on updated techniques. He only knows the road

from home 10 his office and books. Doctor #2 keeps her skills finely IUned and updated. ShC' artends ann ual international conferences. She meets regularly with members of the pharmaceutical and device man umct uring com munities in ordt:r to be advised of innovations in technology. Who would you [rust to make the right decisions about your health and your family's well -bei ng~ If ~ Doctor" was replaced with ~ Elected Representative,~ who would you choose 10 make educated policy decisions that shape our COUntry~

AJso on [he forefrom is the currcm schism between the parties. Anger seems 10 rule politics more than friendship ought to, or at the very least a collegial atmosphere. Jack Valenti, former leader of the M PAA and comributor to Tht" Ripon Forum, recently spoke to a NIAF audience on this same subject. He noted the decline in collegiality across party linC's-a trend he noticed beginning 10

magni£}' soon after thC' end of tht: Reagan administration. Therefore, I strongly encourage members of Congress 10 extend thC' ir hands firSI to determine mutual gains from good ideas and only then, should lhal not work, be prepared to address differem plans. Congress is not meant ro be a Utopia of rogelherness and like-minded behavior, but it is hardly meant 10 be completely obstructionist and amagonisric down party lines either. Be kind 10 your neighbor. and try to fostC'r mutual respec!.

To that end, I'd like to encourage those in elected office and business 10 lead by example. Set high bars for morality and ethics-the kind Bryce Harlow is famous for- and ensure your team plays follow the leader. Weed Out those who spurn authority and lack Siandards of proper conduct. Be mindful of behaviors like narcissism, sarcasm and obsessive compulsiveness. Encourage your stafT to grow {heir minds with whalC:ver classes they need. In short, build an educated and self-sufficielll suA". work force or constituency by promoting positive change.

As for me, this will be my laS! letter as ED of The Ripon Society. In Jim Brown fashion, I am riding ofT to another opportunity to hone my skills and abilities whilC' I'm still on tOp. I wish all of my readers well. Go fight the good figh ts.

www.riponsoc.org

Sincerely,

~I~ Ex«urive Director roxJry@ripol/Soc.org

The Ripon Forum ' M3ylJun~ 2005

The Hillary Ouestion:

an e in? With Republicans overwhelmingly

favored to mainlain control of Congress in the 2006 midterm

elections. pundi ts arc already looking ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign and asking the question that increasingly dominates American polit ical discussion: Can Hillary win?

Hillary Rodham Cli nwn, the New York senator and former first lady who is at the center of such speculation, has defl ect­ed questions about her plans for 2008-but all observers expect her to run, and most of those consider her a shoo-in for {he Democratic Part y nomination. Many Democrats have already made her the focus of hopes for a revival of theiT parry.

As Republicans consider likely con­tenders for their party's 2008 presidential nomination , the key question is, which one is the best candidate to beat Hillary~ To answer that question, :ulother queuion must be asked: What kind of presidential candidate would H illary be~ The most com mon cri ticism of Mrs. Clinton's presi­dential prospem is that she is "polarizing. " An Imernet search using Google with the rerms "Hillary Climon" and "polarizing" produces more than 11 ,000 hits. University of Virginia poli tical sciemist Larry Sabato describes her as "a d~ply polarizing figu~ in American pol itics."

That label doesn't help much in appraising Mrs. C limon as a candidate. It means merely that she is beloved by Democrats and hated by Republicans. In the rancorous partisan atmosphere that has gripped the nation since her husband's presidency, most major national figures in both parties are "polarizing."

George W. Bush- who campaigned in 2000 as a "un iter not a divider" and has assiduously cou rted congress ional nominatIOn In 2008.

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005 www.ripollsoc.org

. New YorI( . faces front-runner for the Democratic presidential

5

Politics: The Hillar Question

Democrats- is nonetheless thorough ly hated by Democratic partisans. But being "polarizing" did not prevent Mr. Bush's record-breaking fe-eleCtion in November, and it probably won't stop Mrs. Clinton in 2008.

As a candidate, Hillary has several fil e­tors working in her favor. Most important­ly. she has a very high level of name recog­nition . In political terms, she's a "rock STar, ~ as for mer Nebraska Senator Bob Ke TTer recently said.

It's not JUSt Democrats who consider the fo nncr first lady a formidable candi­date. Former Reagan spee<:hwri lcr Peggy Noonan declared in Tb, \Vnll Str,.,t Journal that whi le it is "pointless to be afraid" of Hillary, it is ~good 10 be concerned ." Mrs. C lintOn is ~smarle r than her husband," and has been "playi ng every ca rd righ t the past five years" .. s a senator. And Newt Gingrich has warned: "Any Republ ican who thinks she will be easy to beat has rot .. l amnesia about the Clinrons . ~

Learning Curve The former House Speaker should

know. AfIer Republicans gained comrol of Congress in the 1994 el ect ions. Mr. Gingrich and his colleagues lost key battles with the Clinton White Ho use. The GOP was blamed for the 1995 government 5huI ­down~al t hough it was President Bill C lilllon who had provoked the crisis by vetoing emergency spend ing bills. In 1996, in the midst of a re-election campaign , Mr. C linton signed inro law a welfa re-reform measure, a major elemenr of the Republican .. genda that he had vetoed twice before. That frustrated Republ ican campaign strategists who had expected a third vero that would hel p them portray [he Democrat-controlled \'(fhitc House as an obstacle to reform.

The success of the 1996 Clinton re­election cam paign showed that Team C linton had learned from the public-rela­tions disastcrs of their first tWO years in Washi ngton, when a d isorgan ized staff and a series of politically tone-deaf gem tres had made the Climon admi nistrat ion look like an amateurish repeat of thc hapless Jimmy Cartcr's presidency.

One of those blunders, the ill-man­aged 1993-94 effort to enact a comprehen­sive hcal th ca re progra m, had been Hillary's pet project. The health care deba­de solidifi ed Hillary's image as an ambi­tious extrem ist (as criti cs charged th e

6

"H illarycare~ plan would have national iu:d one-seventh of the U.S. economy) and ;1

manipulative Lady MacBeth , using her husband's position 10 advance her own agenda.

Already a darling of her parry's liberal ideologues, Hillary guaralHeed her sums as Democraric hero in 1998, when her accu­S:ltions of a ~vas [ right-wing conspiracy" helped her husband survive the Lewinsky scand:ll. [n tim episode. Hillary followed the "pol itical ju-jitsu" tactics of o ne of her early men tors, radical activist Saul Alinsky, turning the tables on her husband's critics. Afrer Mrs. Clinton's appearance on the "Today" S[IOW, publ ic ~nention shifted front the accusation that the president had lied under oath about his intern/girl friend (which he had), to the question of whether Republican parrisans had hclpt:d expose the scandal (wh ich they had).

W h ile her con spiracy-mon gering charge was widely mocked, Mrs. Clinton's mble-mrning stratcgy helpcd buy ti me fo r the Clinton team to use the med ia to shape public opi n io n about the scandal. By August 1998-when Mr. C linton fi n'llly admitted that, comrary to his ini tial denials, he d id have sex with "that woman , Ms. Lewinsky" ~the publ ic had been care­fully prim ed to parrOI the central Democrat talking point that the president 's wro ngdoing d id not "rise to the level of irnpeachmcn1. ~ It was all ironic outcome fo r Mrs. C linton. who in 1992 had mocked the idea ,hat a polit ical wife should "stand by her man," but scored a major political victory by doing JUSt thar.

Victorious Victim Mrs. Clinton's victory in her 2000

Senate campaign surprised many, and highlighted her srrengths as shc overcame obstacles that might have doomed another candidate.

T he Illinois native. who'd attended coll t:ge in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and lived in Arkansas and Washi ngron, D.C.~but never New York~proved curi­ously immune to charges of carpet bag­ging. Nor was she damaged by the percep­tion that she was an opportunist who had exploited her husband's career for self­aggrandizement , evcn though it was widely believed from the begi nning of her Senate campaign that she viewed the office as a stepping-stone to her own presidency. Taken together, New York voters in 2000 had every reason to think of Mrs. ClilHo n

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as a ruthlessly ambitious outsider without any real concern for their interests.

Yel she was elected. She campaigned tirelessly and proved hersel f a strong fund-raiser. She positioned hersel f as an advocate of upstate residents. where die loss of industrial jobs had produced econo mic woes. And she benefi ted fro m the misfort une of her strongest opponcm, New York's Republican Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani , who had to drop Oli t of the race after being diagnosed with cancer.

One episode from her 2000 campaign beSt illustrates why Mrs. Cl inton wou ld be a difficult opponem for Republicans in 2008. T he fall contest in New York was characterized by a barrage of negative TV ads ro the point that the ads thcmselves became an issue.

I n a Idcvised dcbatc, Rep. Rick Lazio, the Long Isla nd congressman who won the GO P no mination afler Mr. Giuliani quit dl(' race, asked Mrs. Clinton to join him in pledging ro cunail such adven ising. As New Yorkers watched , Mr. Lazio produced a written pl edge and walked to Mrs. C linton's lectern , holding out the paper and asking her to sign it. If Mr. Lazio's aides thought this would be a clever visual Stunt, Ihey thought wrong. On TV, the move had an appearance of unwarranted aggression: Mr. Lazio looked like a bully.

More than just a miscalculatio n by the Republica n, however, that ep isode showed why a Hillary Clinton presidential bid in 2008 would be lOugh !O stop: Confrontational hardball taClics don't work against femal e cand idates. Hillary can aHack her opposition all she wants, but a male oppo nent who responds in kind looks like a mean -spirited goon picki ng on a woman. Th is dynam ic is at play whenever a male candidate challenges a female oppo­nent. but it is doubly true for Mrs_ Clinton because a sympathetic media will always respond to her campaign's claim that she is being unfai rly attacked .

T hat 's why so many Rcpublicans have suggestcd that it might be best if the parry could find i[S own female candidate to face Hil lary in 2008. Secretary of State Condolcez'l..a Rice's name has been band ied about~but despite Dr. Rice's many q uali­fi cations. she's never ru n for publ ic offi ce before, and a presidential election is liot a game for beginners. And wh ile the Republicans have no shorrage of experi­enced female officials, like former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

and Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, none can match Mrs. Clinton in terms of widespread grassroots support within their own party.

Moderate Talk , Liberal Record As a senator, Mrs. Climon has careful­

ly moderated her image-if not necessarily her voting record. Most importantly, afrer the 9111 terror auacks, she avoided the anti-war turn that hurt Democrats in the 2002 and 2004 election cycles. She voted to authorize military action against lraq­when 20 other Democratic senators including Ted Kennedy voted no. But while Senator John Kerry joined her in vot­ing for action against Iraq, Mrs. Climon also voted in October 2003 for $87 billion 10 fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Kerry was o lle of 12 sen­atOrs who voted no on thar measure, later famous ly saying that he voted for ii, before voung agatnSI It.

Her vOles on such milirary measures will protect Mrs. Clinton agai nst the charge that she's another soft-on-defense Democrat. Otherwise, however, she has compiled a pre­dictably liberal record. In 2004, for instance, she rated a 95 from Americans for Democratic Action- fiti ling to score a per­fcct 100 only because she missed a vote on a Democrat-backed amendment (offered by California Senator Barbara Boxer) to block deployment of a missile-defense system. Mrs. Clinton did get a perfect 100 score from the AFL-C10 in 2004.

W hile reliably voting the liberal Democrat line, however, Mrs. Clinton has begun talking mo re moderately-even conservatively- on social issues. ~ We should agree that we want every child in Ihis country 10 be wanted, cherished and loved," she tOld a pro-choice gathering in January. ~We can all recognize that abor­tion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic, choice to many, many women. ~

On immigration, Mrs. Clinton has talked tOugh, telling a New York radio sta­tion: ~I am, you know, adamantly agai nst illegal immigrants." (Though critics note that she has, in fact, voted in favo r of sev­eral "open borders~ measures.)

In an apparent reaction to exit polls showing Ihat "moral values" were a key facto r in the 2004 election, Mrs. Clinton has praised the role of "rel igious and moral values~ in discouraging "early sexual activity~ among teen-agers, and declared: "I've always been a praying person. "

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

Her efforts ro craft a more moderate image have produced some results. In April, a poll by Rasmussen showed that 43 percent identified Mrs. Clinton as a liber­al, compared to 5 1 percent three months earlier.

Long Odds Hillary does have clear weaknesses.

When she strikes a militant pose in speech­es, her voice sometimes rises to a frigh ten­ing screech, as during an April 2003 speech at a Con necticut fund raiser. "I am sick and tired of people who call you unpatriotic if you debate this administration's policies," M rs. Cl inton yelled. "We are Americans. Wc have the right to participate and debate any administration. " Delivered just days after U.S. troopS captured Baghdad, that strident speech provided a favorite sound bire for conservative talk-show hosts.

But Mrs. Clinton's greatest liability may be the "D~ after her name on the bai­lor. Republicans have solid ified party loyal­ty in the South and West, creating a major hurdle to any Democrat's hopes of winning the W hite House.

In a discussion of Mrs. Clinton on ABC's ~This Wuk," George Will pointed out that "sim ple electoral arithmet ic" weighs against Hillary's chances in '08: ~ I n the II states of the old Confederacy, plus Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia, 173 electoral votes-the Democrats, in this century, in rwo elections, zero elecroral votes. Which of those states is she going ro carry?"

Furthermore, Mr. Will added: ~She's a senator. We don't elect senators" -John F. Kennedy in 1960 being the last president elected from the Senate-and "she's a northeasterner. The res t of the country doesn't like th e- NonheasL "

Not content to COUnt on such trends, however, some Republicans have decided that the best way to stop "H illary '08" is ro

www.riponsoc.org

stop "Hillary '06" - by defeating her in her Senate re-election bid in New York next year, they hope to hang a "loser" sign around Mrs. Clinton's neck. New York GOP Chairman Stephen M inarik has begun a "Srop Hillary Now" fund-raising drive, saying, "T his is not merely a race for New York. It 's a race- for America."

But Team Cl ilHon is ready to fight. When veteran Republican campaign advis­er Arthur Finklestein announced his own effort aimed at raising $10 million to defeat Mrs. Clinton in 2006, Bill Clinton responded by accusing Mr. Finklestein of "self-lo:llhing" - a remark imerpreted as a dig at Ihe GOP activist's recently reponed same-sex unIon.

~You can't make this stuff up," one Republican told the Associated Prm. "You've got an ad ulterous former president bashi ng a monogamous gay marriage of a Republican consulrant. It's JUSt embarrass­ing his own wife . ... Any lecture from Bill Clinton about sexuality in politics huns Hi llary."

learn Clinton's quick resort TO using the "politics of personal destruction" against her cri tics indicates that, whatever Mrs. Cl inton's electoral fate, she and her supporters are prepared to unleash any tac­tic that they th ink can help her win­either in '06 or '08. If Hillary becomes the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, Republicans can expect her team to mount a campaign as d ishonest, dirty and mean-spirited as any in American hisrory.

Can she be defeated? Of course-with the right candidate and the right strategy, Republicans have nothing to fear. But the GO P should be prepared for a nasty cam­paign of lies and vicious attacks. If Hillary gets beaten, it won't be because she's nor mean enough to win. ~

- Robm Stacy McCain is a journalist baud in Washington, D.C

7

• I

iC " ., I • •

Why I'm a Republican Party appeals to Cuban-American values

I am a proud Republican. My Cuban fathe r taught me the importance of pre­serving freedom and democracy. I

remember him tell ing me to never forget that we Jive in the greatest country in the world because we aTC free. He beca me a Republican on the very same day he was sworn in as a U.S. citizen. He was so proud to VOtC in his first Republican pri­mary, and I have followed his lead.

For as long as [ can remember, our Spanish conversations at the dinner table were about politics. In particular, they fo<:used on how the Democrats had d isap­pointed the Cuban commu nity, while the Republjcans understood our pligh t for freedom. My father shared stOries about our family and many others who lost their homes, businesses and liberties under Fidel

8

By Mercedes V. Schlapp

CastrO'S repressive regime. CastrO'S mili­lary captu red , tortured and incarcerated my finher for 6 years because he fought for the liberation of Cuba.

President Ronald Reagan, who inher­en tly understood and expressed the plight of the Cuban people, also inspired me. Individuals like my father, who came to th is country from (Olalitarian regi mes, con­necled with Pres idem Reagan and his vision to spread freedom. President Reagan's unwavering defense of democracy and human rights resulted in the defeat of Soviet communism. His historic achieve­mentS could not help but realign American polilics and set the Republ ican Party on its current course.

These lessons, passed down by ind i­viduals like my falher, along with President

www.riponsoc.org

Reagan's inspirational leadership, have led me and many other young Hispanics to

make a commitment to public service. After moving to our nation's capilal, I soon found myself helping to elect then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to the presiden­cy. During the 2000 campaign, I worked with the Spanish media and fou nd my cul­cu{e and language to be a great asset.

Following rhe 2000 victory, I had the pri vilege 10 work al the White House as the Spanish spokesperson for President Bush . I saw fi rsthand how Ihe President reached out to the Hispa nic comm unity and com­municated his message in Spanish. In May 2001, the President delivered the fi rst pres­idential Spanish radio address, which ai red on national and local Hispanic stations. I also coordinated a series of historic

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"Many Hispanics, like my father, left their homeland to come to the United States in pursuit of freedom, democracy and a better life for their families. They too share a special connection with President Bush. He understands their love of freedom and importance of family."

Hispanic inidalives, including the first While House Spanish Web sile and the first presidential Spa nish :tddress to the people of C ub:l, which was transmitted by Radio Mani.

Many Hispanics, like my f.1thcr, left thei r homeland to come to the United States in pursuit of freedom , democracy and a benet life for their famil ies. They tOO share a special connection with President Bush. He understands their love of freedom and importance of famil y. I am proud to have worked for a presidenl who

The Ripon Forum · MarlJune 2005

has helped many Hispanic families achieve the American dream. Because of the President's policies, more minorilY fami lies own homes; more Hispanic child ren arc learning (0 read; and morc Hispanics can invest in their own businesses. Like President Reagan, President Bush's deler­mination and vision has also led to Ihe removal of oppressive regimes and the lib­eration of millions around Ihe world.

Within the United States, I have met a growing number of Hispanics, who share the Republican Party's values. They sup-

wv.'W. ripon.soc.org

pon the President 's commitmem 10 the expansion of liberty and peace around the world.

We are seeing a wave of positive change within the Hispanic community and the Republican Party. A greater num­ber of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic groups who traditionally have backed Ihe Democrats, as well as those who VOIOO fo r the firs! time, supported President Bush during the 2004 elect ion. Due to hi s policies and leadership, President Bush has led more Hispanics into the Republican Party. In the coming years, I believe more Hispanic ch ildren will grow up to become proud and active Republ icans-just like me. (;'I

- M~rftdtl V Schlflpp if currmtiy a cOIUl/!ram and a stay-at-hom~ moth~r oflur

two daughurJ, Viana and ulurilla. Shr workrd as Dirrctor of Sprcialry Mrdia

ill l"~ Djfift of M~dia A./foirJ at thr W/,iu Housr Illld~r flu currrl/t BIl$h

adminiJlratioll.

9

The Politics of Race Democrats perpetuate racial divisions

Racism srancd out as an issue of human rights, and the fight against racism became a crusade for social justice.

But now racism has grown into a political lifel ine for America's oldest party.

The ideological and political identity of the Democratic Party hinges largely on race. When party leaders wish ro energi'lt' their base and sanctify their cause, they deliver the sermon of racial justice and revive the image of America's civil rights muggles. $enalOT John Edwards did this in his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when he spoke of 1950s-sryle segregation as if it was still a th reat to contemporary America.

In accepti ng his parry's nomination for president, SenatOr John Kerry said il was "time to reject the kind of politics calculat­ed to divide race from race. " Hut that is JUSt whal the Democrats have been doing for years: creating and then exploiting racial divisions for their own political advantage. They frequently imply Ihat nothing in America has changed since the days of the Ku Klux Klan and the night riders.

In a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Kerry said there was a "Do not enter" sign on the White House door to

keep out blacks, even though Presidem George W. Bush has appointed a record number of minorities to high government positions. And following the 2002 midTerm elections, Senator Hillary Clinton clai med that twO Republican senators were eI«:ted because of their racist appeals. She never named the rwo senatOrs, bur she kept up rhe allegation.

Racist America T he brandishing of generalized and

ambiguous racism charges is one of the DemocratS' most successful political suate­gies. These charges have helped the Democrars l'O create a "rncism coalition" made up of racial minorities and recent immigrant groups. T his coalition, howev­er, depends almost exclusively on the issue of racism, since on many other social issues The Democratic Party is disrincdy OUt of step with ImmIgrants and African­Americans. O n issues such as abortion,

10

school prayer, same-sex marriage and fairh ­based govern ment programs, blacks have long stood l'O the right of the Democratic Party. With resp«:t to gay rights, blacks arc far more conservative than whites. According to a December 2003 poll, 75 pcrcem of blacks opposed gay marriage, compared to 59 percent of whites.

Even on economic matters, Democrats have acted contrary to the long-term interests of many poor African-Americans. Democratic welfare policies actually made things worse than they had been under segregation. Child poverty and family break-up drastically increased following implementation of the Great Society welfare programs. However, in JUSt the five years following passage of the 1996 welfare reform act, the poverty rate for children of single mothers dropped to a record low of 39 .8 percem. Currently, there are al most 3 million fewer children living in poverty than there were in 1995.

Democrnts often paint Republicans as racist hate~mongers . In 2004 , filmmaker Michael Moore, who shared a box al rhe Democratic Convention with former Presidem Jimmy Carter, described Republicans as being "up at six in the morning" everyday "trying TO figure out which minority group they're going to" exploit and opprcss. Even Democratic Senator Zell Miller was accused of being a rncist aftcr his speech at the Republican National Convention . This allegation was made despite the faci thai , as governor of Georgia, Mr. Miller had appointed more African-Americans 10 the state judiciary than had Mr. Carter.

Moreover, black conservatives are fre­quently attacked by Democrars. NAAC P President Kweisi Mfume described President Bush's black supporters as ~ven­tri loquists' du mm ies." SenatOr Ted Kennedy called President Bush's minority judicial nominees "Neanderthals." And the firS I black female Secrelary of State, Condolet.-zl.a Rice, was called an "Aunt Jemima."

Democrats have been so successful at equating conservatives with racisrs that bla­tant double-standards have evolved. For

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Reverend Jesse Jackson leaves the Coc&Cola shareholders meeting on April 21. 2004. In WilmingtOn. Delaware Mr. Jackson spoke on the Impending deparbJre 01 Deval Patrick. chIef council at Coca.cola.

instance, when Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd praised Senator Robert Byrd ofWcst Virginia, saying rhat Mr. Byrd "would have been a great leader at any momen! " in hist'Ory, he received almoS[ no criticism, even though Mr. Byrd had once been a member of lhe Ku Klux Klan and had tried to derail the 1964 Civil RighTS Act. Yet twO years earlier, when Republican Senator Trent Lou gave a speech praising Senator Strom Thurmond at a party cele­bra ting Mr. Thurmond's 100th birthday, Mr. Lofr was forced to resign his position as Senate majority leader because Mr. Thurmond had run for presidem on a seg­reg:nionist plaTform in 1948.

Race as a Political Strategy The use of race as a political strategy

was apparent in the Democratic allegations regarding disenfranchisemem of minority voters during the 2004 presidential campaIgn. The U.S. Commission on Civil Righrs and the Justice Departmen! 's Civil Rights Division found no evidence of intentional or systematic disenfranchise­ment of black voters In the 2000 presidential election. Despite this, M r. Kerry warned that Republicans in 2004 were once again ttying to suppress the black vote, after having "stolen" one million African-American votes III 2000.

The Ripon Forum ' May/June 2005

Representat ive Jesse Jackson Jr. callcd Republicans "voter terrorists.~ Former President Jimmy Carter accused Republicans of throwing out thousands of African-American ballots in 2000. Hut since ballots are secret and in no way indicate the !<Ice of the vNer, it is difficult to see how Mr. Caner could make such a claim. Moreovcr, in 24 of the 25 Florida coumies with the highest ballot spoilage r:ne in 2000, the officials in charge of the election process had been Democrats.

Charges of !<Icial discrimination were evell asserted against African-American Republ icans. In 2004, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was accused of vOlcr intimidation after he issued a series of orders concerning the type of paper required for mail-in voter registration cards and how election officials should deal with voters who appear at the wrong polling place. Democrats claimed rhal Ihese orders could lead to voter "confusion," and hence ~disenfranchiscmenl . ~

JUSt about any measures aimed at providing security at polling places or pre­vemi ng voter fraud were depicted as being intimidating. The clai m was made Ihat the mere sight of police officers at the polls was eno ugh to scare off African-American voters. Similarly, requiring idemificalion or proof of residency was said to discriminate against minorities who would somehow be traumatized by such requests, even though minorities have no trouble in producing a photo 10 when buying an airline ticket or reming a video.

All the accusations made during the 2004 campaign aboU! racial discrimination in the electoral process bon.' an eeric sim ilarity to Democratic accusations eight years earlier conccrning racialty motivated arson at black ch urches. After a llumber of fircs at black churches in 1996, President Bill Clinton proclaimed that a conspi racy of racial hate was to blame; he compared The fires wiTh ethnic violence in Rwanda and Bosnia. Even though he had no evi­dence of any conspiracy, Mr. Clinton said it was "clear that mcial hostility" was the cause of the fires. In the weeks foltowi ng, his admi nistration continued to claim That the country was in the grip of "an epidemic of terror inspired by a resurgence of racial hatred and with clear conspiralOrial over­IOnes.~ Democrats blamed Republicans, suggesting that the fires were the TCSUlt of a heightened social raCIsm inspired by "conservative attemptS to end affirmative action, to push hard-linc policics on crime,

The Ripon Forum ' M~y/June 2005

and 10 radicalty reform the welfare system." The Rev. Jesse Jackson accused conservatives of creating a climate of racism that was "directly responsible for the church bllrnings. ~

False Claims Subsequent investigations, however,

did not support these accusations of racial hate. USA Today cond ucted all exhaUSTive study of Ihe fires and did not find any evidence to suppOrt the existence of a national conspiracy, or of any involvement of hare groups, or even of a general increase in racial ani mosity among whites toward blacks. Employing one of the largest task forces since the civil-rights years. the Jusl'icc Department also found no Iface of a racial conspiracy. Yet even aFter the task force had issued its report, Al Gore declared that " 1996 was a terrifying year, when we witnessed a blaze of violence thaI seared the na[(on's conscience."

Two years later, the same unwarranted fears were stilt being slOked. During thl' congressional elections of 1998, and in the midst of the Clinton impeachme!11, Missouri DemocratS ran an ad on black radio that proclaimed: ~When you don't vote, you let another church explode." In addition, the ClinlOn Justice Depa.nmem, wit hout a shred of evidence, charged Republicans with planning to ~intimidate" black voters at the polls-but once the election took place, no instances of such intimidation were reported.

During his presidency, Mr. Clinton talked a lot about ending racial division, but he never said a word when his own Justice Department concluded that Ihe church fires had not been acts of racial hale. Nor did any apologies come from Jesse Jacksoll or any of the other Dcmocrats who had accused Republicans of creating a climate of racial hatred that had dircctly led 10 the fires.

Racism has been used not only as a political tool TO auraci constilUem groups and discredit the opposition, but also as a kcy component in a much wider struggle being waged by the cultural left. Beginning in the 1960s with the sexual revolution and ami-war movement, many on the left came 10 sec America as a place of repression and imperial tyranny. They saw so much wrong wi th the cultural idemity of America that a complete transformation was needed. This cultural revolution, however, could only be accomplished with a powerful weapon- a weapon for which there was no defense and

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which struck at Ihe he;m of American sensi­tivities. Such a weapon was found in racism.

Ikcause of its moral weight, racism could be used to deconstruct traditional values and institutions, If the whole web of cultural values could be characterized as contributing 10 a mentality that had created and sanctioned black slavcr}', thcll dIe legitimacy of those values could be destroyed. And if the old web of cultural and moral values could be des[foyed, then a new culrural ideology could replace it- an ideology made up of the multiculturalist, relativist and deconstructionist theories now innlsing modern liberalism. Thus, race was seen as Ihe cultu ral equivalent of the Dresden bombing-a com plete eradication of the old.

The Democratic use of racism charges has expanded far beyond the realm of combati ng specific racist conduct. It has become a necessary stage in the cultural revolution that began during the 1960s-a revolution Ihat seeks 10 replace tf",lditional cultural values with ones Ihat are more secularist, anti-patriotic, anti-Wesl'ern and racially preferent ial. ~

- Patrick M. Garry is a professor at 1/)( Unill(T'Jity of SOllth D(lko/(/ School of Lnw

FORWARD TO DEFEND FREEDOM

Thank you to the many dedicated men and

women of the armed forces who proudly serve

to protect our country.

And thank you to each family member at home

for your support.

II

Blacks and the GOP Party's prospects in the African-American community

By Star Parker

More blacks are voti ng Republican. But so far, there is no reason to

conclude that any wholesale swirchover by Democratic voring blacks {O

the Republican Parry is taking place. The prediction made after the 2004 elections by former RNC Chai rman Ed Gillespie that Republicans will win 30% of the black vote in 2008 is a very rosy scenario.

T he black vote for President George Bush did increase in 2004 to 11% from the 8% the presidelll gOt in 2000. Considering that there was 25% higher black voter turnout in 2004, rhe {Otal number of blacks who voted fo r President Bush in 2004 doubled.

However, looking over to the Congress,

the Congressional Black Caucus has 42 members and is uniformly Democratic.

T he Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies takes a political snapshot of blacks every other year th rough a major polling effon. The poll captured considerable :memion in 2002 because it showed the percentage of blacks identifYing themselves as Republicans jumping from 4% in 2000 to 10% in 2002. However, the same poll showed the 10% number remaining unchanged in 2004 .

The challenges of moving blacks away from boiler plate Democratic Parry wdfure stale politics are considerable. We should appreciate the eHem 10 which Ihis agenda has been institutionali1.oo in the black com­munity. The nation's largest organiz.ations deal ing with blacks, the NAACP and the

Star Par.:.er

Urban League, have combined annual budgets of over $80 million. These organizations remain hard core exponents of the welfare state agenda.

Organizations like mine, CURE, wh ich deliver an alternative message, promoting limited government and personal responsi. bility {O blacks, have a fraction of the resources of the NAACP and the Urban League.

We should also appreciate the role that America's corporations play in perpetuating

For twenty-three years, America's favorite milk, ice

cream and cheese companies have come to the nation's capital to

make our voices heard.

12

Our world has changed over the last two

decades, but our dairy policies have not

kept pace. We need your help to create an

environment that allows us to grow and

succeed for the next twenty years. We look

forward to discussing dairy policy when

we're in Washington, D.c., on June 15-16.

www.riponsoc.org

Don't forget to stop by

IDFA's Annual Capitol Hill Ice

Cream Party on Thursday, June fs

from 4:00·6:30 p.m. in the Upper Senate Park!

R Inlematlonal 0111"/ Foods Auoclltlo~

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- N~tiooal Chee$lllnst~o.rte

• InterOitionallce Cream Associalion ..-

L('1" Brought to you by Arn~ri<a's dairy processor, and

ma.keten. the SOO member wmpanie. of the International [),airy Foods A<SOciati"n.

Vi.it _.idfa."rg.

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

the welfim: state status quo in [he black community. Firsl, a good ponion of [he NAACP and Urban League's $80 million funding is provided by corporat ions. Second, in response to pressure for affirma­tive action hiring, most major corporations have professionals on staff whose: job is specifically black outrCOich. Through these individuals and th~ programs, America's corporations officially sign off on the welfare state agenda.

Gains that Republicans are maki ng are generally with older. conservative Christian blacks. They understand the importance of [raditional val ues in rebui lding black families and communities.

However, by and large, blacks still are buying the big government, wel F..re state vision.

So what hope do Ihose of us who know that this community needs more freedom and responsibil ilY and Ics.s government have?

For one thing, truth is on our side. [t is .sadly ironic that big government, which underm ines fami ly, values and responsibiliry, causes rather than solves our problems.

Despite the War on Poverty Ihal was

I INVESTMENT COMPANY INSTITUTE~

begun in the 19605, black poverry rates remain well over 20%. Black kids are drop­ping out of the public school system at rates, in some cities, that exceed 50%. The kids that are graduating are graduating with eighth grade reading skills. A rc:ttnt study by a UCLA professor shows that affirmative aaion in law schools resultS in fewer blacks becoming lawyers than would be the case without these programs. The Social Securiry system keeps blacks, whose: average earnings and household wealth are: well below the national average, impoverished.

The gradual movement we are: seeing by blacks away from the Democratic Parry is indicative that they are beginning to distrust the welfare state solution. However, getting blacks to embrace a real freedom and ownership agenda wi ll uke much more education and outreach.

My appeal to the Republican Parry leadership is to demonstrate the same courage and boldncs.s that it asks from blacks. It takes courage for low-income workers, who have never had any type of investment account, to move ,heir Social &euri ry raxes into such an option. They will

do it because it will make them better off. But they need dariry from leaders that this is the a..nswer and not a partial solution ro maintain the Social Securiry s~tem.

It takes courage for low-income parents to declare: that the public school where they send their child is a disaster. The schools are a disaster, and pare:nts will always speak out against this injustice. But let's show them the honesry and the leadership ro admit that we need genuine school choice.

Faith*based institutions are crucial ro blacks. But let's support these institutions through tax credits rather than govern­ment grants. Blacks need less, not more government.

Family, values, responsibility and ownership are what blacks need . T his is a Republican agenda. If Republicans advance it aggressively, with dari ry and consistency, Mr. Gillespie's rosy scenario can be achieved. ~

- St<tr Park" is prrsidmr oIeURE, CMlirion on Urban Rmffl}(f/ and Education

(www. urbant"Urr.org), a columnist with th~ xnpP! HOWllni NmJ1 &rviu <tnd <tuthor

of·Unck Sami Pln1ltiltion ~

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Rl'pmmting mutual fonds and thl' 92 mil/ion Aml'ricans who USI' thl'm to savl' for "tirl'ml'nl, I'ducation, and othl'r financial goals, Ihl' lnvestmmt Company lnstitu/( is th( national association oft/I( u.s. inlJl'stmmt company industry.

For more information, visit www.ici.org.

The Rirx>n Forum · May/June 2005 www.riponsoc.org 13

Scandal at the United Nations An interview with Senator Norm Coleman

Norm Coleman was sworn in as U nil ed SU l es Se n atOr on January 7'~, 2003. T he

M innesota Republican has quickly become a leader in our nalion's upper legislative chamber. His com miunell! to hu mall rights and his effo rt to reform the United Nations have made the fi rst-term senator one of the GOP's (lsmg stars. Mr. Coleman currently serves as cha irma n of the Senate Permanent Subcommiuec on Invcslig:u ions, which is pari of the Homeland Security and Govern menial Affairs Commillce. [t is in Ihis sub­committee that M r. Coleman has con­ducted his investigation of the United Nations' Oil for Food program. He also serves as a member of the Senalc Agriculture, NUirilion, and Forestry Commillee; Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Senate Small Busi ness and Entrepreneurship Comm iuee.

Mr. Coleman was born 111

Brooklyn, New York in 1949. He received his B.A. from HofsHa University before graduating with high­esl honors from the University of Iowa

By Stephen F. Manfrroi

Law School. Mr. Coleman served for u .s . Senatof' Norm Coleman 17 years with Ihe Mi nncsora anorney general, became solicitor general of Minnesota and was then elected mayor of Sai nt Paul in 1993. He was clccu:d sena­!'Or by Ihe people of Minnesota in 2002 after defealing forme r Vice Pres ident Walter Mondale.

Mr. Coleman kindly agreed to a face­to-face interview in his Senatc office. We wish 10 thank his staff-espedaJly Leroy Coleman-for their cooperation and gen­erosity in making the interview possible.

HF: For our readers, would you briefl y explain what the U.N. Oil fo r Food scmdal is all about?

Coleman: T he program was put in place in 1996 because of Ihe impact of the embargo of the sale of goods 10 and oi l from Iraq. It became dear thai the embar-

14

go was having a negalive impacl on the Iraqi people. So as a hu manitarian gestu re, the United Nations with U.S. cooperalion and others, said lei 's replace il with a sys­tem whereby Iraqis sell their oil-bul il will be strictly monitored . It will be oil for food, medicine and olher essemial sup­plies.

When all was said and done, folks like Charles Duelfer go over to search for weapons of mass destruction and find OUt Ihal Saddam was able ro rebuild military capacity. He was able to fund terrorism through cash he was getting from Ihe Oil fo r Food program. On every transaction made under the program, Saddam Hussein was taking a piece for hi mself. So, in facl, if you were going ro do business under the program-if you were 10 scll goods, equip­mem and machinery-yoll would have to

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contract with Iraq is through Saddam. Saddam himself was literally the one able 10 do the comracts and there was

. no Ih ird parry. He would get a per­centage of every uansacrion. So if you were going ro sell eq uipmenr for a $ 1 0 million contract, Ihe Iraqis would come back and say that it's going 10 be $12 mi ll ion. And, by the way, $2 mil­lion is going into a private accou nt and that is a condition for selling this e<luipmenl to us.

In addition, in terms of oil sales he would give vouchers 10 friends, polilical cronies and journalisrs who were doing his bidding. In one of Ihe mosl serious cases, vouchers were given ro Benon $cvan, who was Ihe U.N. head overseeing the program. There are records that he gave $evan vouchers, which are allocations that would allow somebody 10 purchase 100,000,500,000 or 1 million barrels of oil. The individuals that he gave them 10 would selilhem 10 compan ies like Bayoil, and Ihey would get a per­centage, a fee. T hese vouchers had dollar values and they would give them 10 you, because you are a writer pushi ng his [Saddam'sl agenda, and

you would then sell them 10 legitimate oil companies and get hundreds of Ihousands, if not millions of dollars as a result. In effect it's a bribe ... O il fo r Food became like an ATM fo r Saddam. It was his access 10 cash. As a rcsult, in the Duelfer Report, we tell you Ihat Saddam used th is cash to rebuild his military industrial complex. What you have is Saddam using a program pUI in place for humanitarian purposes 10

get bribes, a percenrage of every transac­lion and 10 gel around the sanctions. That is what th is is all aboul. The sanctions real­ly had no effect on Saddam while Oil for Food was going because he was awash in ash.

HF : As chair m an of t he Senate Permanem Subcomm ittee on Investigalions, you have conducted an

The Ripon Forum ' May/June 2005

Exclusive interviews with leading politicians in every issue.

investigation into the U.N. Oil for Food 5candal. What is the most compelling ~i­dence of corruption you have found?

Coleman: The secretarial was paid S 1.4 billion to o\'ersee lhe Oil for Food program. ThaI's Kofi Annan'5 office. His hand-picked person to oversee the program, Benon Scvan, clearly was bribed by Saddam Hussei n. In the first Voleker Report, Voleker says that Sev:m lied to the invesrigators about rhe money he reporred. The real issue is how much did he get that he didn't reporl. He report ed about $50,000 a year for about four yea rs. He said that the money came from an allnt in Cyprus. The investigators went to see the aunt in Cyprus. She was a pensioner living On a pension. and had no money. So he lied about the source of money. The principal U.N. overseer of the program was on the take. no quest ion about that.

And thell there are serious concerns that have been raised about Kofi Annan's son and a conflict of imerest with his com pany that got a comr.lCI for Cotecna. They gOt the contract and ..... e find that Kofi 's son worked there. He supposedly left them in November 1998. They gOt the contract a month later. And yel we find out that he was on dleir payroll for years and he lied about the amounr he got. Originally. it was less than $200,000. Now we find OUt it is closer to $500,000. This is a 20-something year old kid, who is getting a $500-per-day retainer­S500-a-day consul ting fees. He used to work for a company who gOt the contract and Kofi was criti ci1.ed by Volekcr for FAi l­ing to deal with this problem. Apparemly Kofi Annan spent one day looking at this conflict, but he m .. "Ver said anything about it, never talked aboul it. and never dis­closed it. So that's another issue that kind of hangs out there that we sti ll quest ion

..... hat happened. In addition to that, in our not hear­

ing, you'll see very direct evidence that folks connected [Q member states on the U.N. Security Council received significant bribes from Saddam. Why is this impor­tant? It is important because il rt."Vcals Ihal Saddam believed he owned the Security Council. He owned the U.N. He never feared the U.N. taking action against him. All you need is key U .. N. officials working fo r you to tie things up.. Uh im:ltely, I real­ly believe that he never feared the U.N. tak­ing action against him.

H P: Who were the winners and losers of the Oil for Food program?

Coleman: Saddam was a winner at the ume. The losers were the Iraqi people. One of the ways he made money was seil­ing substandard medical supplies and hav­ing the comractor charge full price sell ing, and then Saddam splitting the COSt differ­ence bctv.een worthless goods and the value of quality goods. The people who lost were obviously the Iraqi people. They never benefited in the way they should have. Saddam was allowed to bolst"er up his regime while sanctiOns continued. He was allowed to rebuild weapons capacity .. The other losers may well be the American soldiers who are dead in Iraq today ... ln the end, we had ro rake military action because orthe U.N.'s Failure to respond. What if Saddam acrually believed Ihe U.N. would respond?

RP: You have called for Kofi Annan's resignation in the past. Do you still think he should resign and why?

Coleman: Now more than t'ver. As we began our investigation, I remember folks saying that they wert' confident that

"The United States cannot be the world's sole policeman

or humanitarian agent. We need partners and the U.N.

should be a partner. But if you have a U.N. that has Oil for

Food fraud and mismanagement, allegations of snual

harassment, and brutal, horrific stories of child rape and

prostitution by U.N. peacekeepers, you have a problem."

Th~ RiJlOn Forum · MayfJunc: 2005 www.riponsoc.org

nothing would come of rnt' &van charges and that this was all rumor. But a lot has come of it. The release of the U.N. orders themselves document gross mismanage­ment. Kofi 's chief of staff shredded three years worth of documents after there had been a ban on removing any files related to

Oil for Food. The buck really does SlOp with the secretary general. This is nOt about some abstract situarion- pt.'Ople may say Abu Ghraib. Donald Rumsfcld didn't hire the guards at Abu Gh raib. T here have been other U .. N. scandals involving rape and child prostitution in Africa. I don't Fault Kofi for the action5 of those U.N. soldiers. I fault him for his Failure to thorough ly investigate accusations of U.N. officials engaging in sexual harassment. When fi rst raised, Kofi defended them and refused to take action. Only after the media pushed the issue did he fi nally take action 6-8 months later.

Kofi is the head of an organization that Failed to rectifY the massive abuse which took place under his watch-which was overseen by his direct office. You can't push it off to the Security Council because thaI's really saying that no one is responsible. By the way. is there some culpability across the board for everyone? I think so. BUI clear­ly, in any other business organization-a CEO whose overseeing and whose in charge of a massive scandal, whose personal em ployees are involved in fraud and cor­ruption, whose own Family and son is involved in a potential con fli ct of inrerest that is nor thoroughly investigated by him-those are all grounds to remOllc him .. If you care about the future of the U.N., the ultimate question is: can rhe U.N. be reforllled~ There is no way the U.N. can be reformed if its head is a guy that was there during the time of all this fraud and cor­ruption and whose credibility has been tar­nished. Again, I am making no charge against him of fraud. I've never said that, but his credibiliry in terms of investigating confli cts has been challenged and criticized by his own investigators.

HF: To what extent do you believe France and Russia's resistance to the war in IrAq was influenced by their oi l interests~

Coleman: I don't know, bUt I am con­cerned. Clearly in the case of Russia you arc going to find massive amounts of n10ney that show people have been bene­fiting from the Oil for Food program and that principals in high places were bribed

15

·1 II<' . Rl Jon Interview I ' ''nlill

Senator Coleman cooooues to Invustogate allegations of corTUpfAOn and Ilfibertln the u. N Od for Food scandal He has called lor the reSIgnation of U.N . Secretary General Kafi Annan

by Saddam. I think the evidence is preuy Sirong in thai rq;ard. In France, I jusl don't know. I've ralked 10 the French ambassador who says their actions were nOI

impaclcd ... Bull have concerns and serious questions have betn raised. [don', know if we will ever gct [0 the oouom of iI,

but we're ccnainly going to try and explore il.

HF: Koll Annan considers the Vokker Report an Mexoncration~ of his actions with regard to the Oil for Food program. What is your position on Mr. Vo1ckcr's rcpon?

Coleman: T he Volckcr Report said JUSt the opposite. h is nOt an exoneration. In f::act, [ think the Volker Repon is very damning. It is very damning because i t h ighlighlS th e mismanagement. It highlights Kofi's failure [0 investig:ne. It highligh ts the destruction of documents by his chief of staff. II highlights another allegation that one of his staff people blocked the audit by submiuing documents to the Security Council. .. 1 think it's disappoiming Ihal Kofi has failed to look in the mirror and realize how wounded he is. He is puuing his own inlefCStS above the U.N.'s.

RF: In the wake of Ihe Oil fo r Food and sex abust: scandals, do you believe the Uniled Nat io ns C2n still be reformed and whal role should Ihe international organiulion play in today's world~

16

Coleman: I think th2t is 2n imporr:l.Ilt question and I W3m 10 dan up the U.N. so it can be 2 sHong force to dal with human­itarian crises, the probkms in Darfur and the Saddam Husseins of the world. The United $Utes cannot be the world's sole policeman or humanitarian agent. We need partners and the U.N. should be a partner. But if you have a U.N. that has Oil fo r Food fraud and mismanagement , allegations of sex ual harassment , and brutal, horrific stories of child rape and prostitution by U.N. peacekeepers, you have a problem.

There's also the st ruCtU I'C of the U.N. T he fact is that Cuba, Libya and Sudan shouldn't be on the Human Righls Commission. It's absurd... You have structural problems regarding the Securi ty Council itself. You have India, the world's largest democrncy, nOI on the counci l. You have Brazil, a major economic power. not on the counciL.The U.N. needs struclU r:l.1 reform. It m:cds inregrity reform. So that's my whole push with Kofi. It is more about U.N. reform than Kofi.

RF: In a recent spee<:h you noted that "sovereignty is sometimes destroyed in defeat in a war. More often , it is whinll-d away, slice by slice, so you hardly notice." Is the U.N. slowly whinling away America's sovereignry~

Coleman: That's a very good (Illescion. I'm not slire. But let me JUSt say this: I :Wl

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not farful thai we are going ro lose our sovereignty. BUI I raised a clarion call because I think il is something we always have to be cognizant of ... 1 just think it is something we have to be careful of. It's like a lot of things-if you don't think about it, if you don't reflect on it-all of a sudden you find youfst:lf on a perilous path. Thai was my POint. Let'S nOI go down that perilous path.

We have: an interest in prolecting our sovereignty. The president is responsible for the security of the: United States. So if he thinks Kyoto is a bad thing, I respect that. That does nOt mean that we have to act unilaterally. In fact, I am a believer that we can aCI in a broad multilateral way and still protecl our own sovereignty. BUI I think we should always reflect on that. With questions of giving up jurisdiction to the International Cri minal Court, many of us don't believe that is the right thing to do. But in saying that, I want to be careful­none of thai is meant ro imply a unilateral approach at all limes.

RF: What are your fl't'l ings about President Bush's nominatioll of John Bolton to represent the United States at the United Nations?

Coleman: My feelings are that he is extr:l.ordinarily righl [for Ihe job]. He: has a rl'Cord of service and accomplishment. He gOt rid of the Zionism is racism U.N. resolution. He has been actively involved in working with international organi1.a­(lOllS. He is a trusted and capable illlernalionalist. Working with the ilHerna­tional commun ity, he is very lOugh .. What [ worry about is that some of the opposit ion [to Bolton] is ideologically driv­en. That's what this is about. It 's no longer a discussion about Bolton. Clearly he has the qualifications. He has Ihe ability 10 do the heavy lifting. We need aJohn Bolron­we need someone with the strength of Bolron to help us reform the U.N.

I believe Ihal the president has the right to pick his appointees if they are: Competent, if they have the capacity to do the job. That's the test. And they arc not accused of anything heinous, or shown to have commined an y offensive aClS. It's preuy simple. The president won the electiOIl and gelS ro pick his tam, and the next presidelll will also get ro pick his or her own team. <::.'I

- Strphrn F. MllIifrtdi is policy dirrCloT at The Ripoll Socitty

The Ripon Forum ' May/June 2005

The NatIOnal Debt Dock IS seen February 19. 2CD4 111 New Yoril atv· According to a Treasury Oepart;ment report. the US government's nabOnal debt reached 8 total of more than $7 trillion for the first time.

Controlling the Deficit A bipartisan plan to stop runaway spending

______ CB"y_'c"c,C-ll Weinstein Jr.

John McCai n was right. The GO P that once stood for fi scal res traint has vanished. As Senator McCain said lasl

spring, today's Republ icans, at a lime of national crisis, "have thrown caution 10 the wind and continue 10 spend, :lIId spend. and spend-allthe wh ile cuning faxes. ~

h has bc.'Cn fi ve years sina America had a record surplus of $236 billion and many were projecting the debt CQuid actually soon be erased. I-Iow limes have changed. Instead of securing Social Security for fmure generations and eliminating thC' ~debt lax" on our children, our polit ical leaders have bought us a ticket o n a fiscal "runaway train" that is a serious and di rect threat 10 our mil ion's long-rernl economic health,

Fiscal year 2004 closed with a $413 billion defi ci t and the 10 -year budget shortfall is projected 10 be $2.3 trillion­assuming healthy econom ic growth, discre­tionary spending slows by two-thirds from itS recent pace, all lax cutS arc allowed to

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

expire on schedule, and nothing is done to reSHain the growing middle class bite of the alternative minimum tax. Using more plau­sible assumptions put forth by the biparti­san Concord Coalition . the projected 10-year deficit is probably closer 10 $5 trillion.

The Republican Party of Eisenhower, Ford and Reagan, the one thai believed in limited governm ent and the economic benefitS of balanced budgeu, would never have stood for this fiscal recklessness. But IOday's GOP has a difTerem attitude, one that is fa r more cavalier about the relevance of running sustai ned deficits. T his view is typified by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who dismissed the current record deficitS as "regrenable bur manageable.

K

As a result, the current admi nistration and Republican-led Congress have presided over the largest fiscal meltdown in the history of our republic-turn ing record surpluses into record deficits. Whi le Republicans have argued that our burgeon­ing deficits are the result of pol icies

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designed 10 move our country out of recession and to finance the cost of the war on terrorism, the reality is quite different.

T ile Republican-led Congress is passing pork projects at a rate three times as great as the laSt time DemocratS comrolled both houses of Congress. and it is spending at levels not seen since World War " (on a per household basis, measured in constant dollars). Add billions of dollars in debt fina nced tax cutS to that mix, and you've gOt a recipe fo r fiscal disaster. C learly, this is not your blher's GOP.

A Bipartisan Plan Why have Republicans in Congress

and the Bush administra tion turned their back on their party's long history of fisca l restraint and smaller government? Is it an insatiable appetite fo r tax CutS at any COSt? Is it a belief that the public is indifferent to defici ts~ Or is it , as some of my fe llow Democrals have suggesled, an attempt to ~starve the hcast H by creating so much debt

17

Feature: Cuntrullin the Deficit

that eventually Washington will he forced to cut government "to the boncs.~

W hatever [he causes, our counuy needs Republicans to once again make the deficit a leading issue and work with Democrats on a bipartisan plan to get our fiscal house in order before it is toO late. To gel things started, both sides should agree to (he following four steps:

Bold budget reforms. One of the keys to restraining spending and tax giveaways in the 19905 were rhe budget reforms pUi inro place 31 lhe 1990 budget summit between then-President Gcorge Bush and congressional Democrats. The budget caps and pay-as-you-go (" PAYGO») rules wece vital steps in holding down [he growth of government and eliminating the deficit.

But hoth sides must go further. In addition 10 budget caps and a real PAyeO rule that rC<Juires offsets for new emitlements as well as tax cuts, we need a new set of lOugher, addit ional reforms such as: a supermajoriry vote requirement for emergency spending and tax breaks for special interests; a constitutionally valid line-item vetO; establishment of a "rainy day fund" to hedge agai nst economic downturns; a lOughcr unfunded mandates law lhat would apply to changes in tax law that impact state and local revenues; the creat ion of a sunset process req uiring Congress to review, reform, or eliminare agencies that are nOl fu lfillin g their mandate; and a congressional budget resolution, which has the force of law, to

keep appropriators in line. In addition, Republicans and

Democrats should support legislation that denies bonuses and pay increases to mem bers of Congress and political appointees in tile executive branch in years when the budget is in deficit. Thete is prob­ably no greater deterrent 10 Washington's excessive spending than pulling money out of the pockets of its politicians.

Close special interest tax loopholes, Americans arc increasingly frustrated with the complexity of the tax code and their belief that weallhy individuals and corpora­tions are g.J.ming the system. According to an APIIPSOS poll, 70 percent of Americans think the tax code is too complicated and more than 50 percent, in an NBC poll , believe that some are not pay­ing their fair share. Their frusuations are well founded, given that Congress and the

18

president add scores of new tax loopholes for special interests each year. Since 1986, the last time major tax reform was enacted , 84 new tax laws have been passed. Included on this list is the mother of all corpor.ate welfare giveaways, last year's American Jobs Creation An, which provided $136 billion in tax breaks to viral national industries such as the archery and fish tackle box sectOrs.

Eliminating ('ax breaks for special interests is one of the best options for reducing the deficit, and an approach that both parties should agree on. In a recently issued paper entitled "Family Friendly Tax Reform," i identify $436 billion (l O-year fi gure) wonh of special interest (aX loopholes that should be cut. And the CatO institUle, a conservative Washington think tank, has estimated that the federal governmem hands out $75 billion a year in corporate welfare each year. To get the job done, Congress should create a bipart isan commission- modeled on the one used for military base closings---that would produce a list of corporate/special imerest subsidies to eliminate on which Congress would have to vote up or down.

A true bipartisan budget summit. When our nation faced a similar fiscal crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, Republicans and Democrats joined tOgether to develop ways \0 reduce our nation's burgeoning deficits. AI various times, Republican leaders such as Bob Dole and the first President Bush reached across the aisle to work with Democrats to produce a balanced approach-a combination of spending cutS, tax increases and tOugh budget enforcement rules-tO cuning the deficit. We need that spirit ofbipanisanship again.

The ({mh is the defi ci t is so large that no political party can unilaterally make the tough choices needed to balance the budg­et. Painless sound-bite solutions such as cutting taxes \0 spur growth may be good politics, but they are not rcal solutions for balancing the budget. Republicans will be more likely to reduce demands for tax cuts if they know Democrats wil l agree to spending reductions. Democrats will be more likely to agree to spending cutS if they know Republicans are nOI going to slash middle-class education, health and enviton­mental programs to pay for more tax CUtS for the wealthiest Americans. The current President Bush should rake a page ou t of his father's playbook and hold a bipartisan

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budget summit this sum mer, with the leadership of both parties equally represent­ed, and where all options are on the table, incl uding rolling back some of the 2001 and 2003 tax cutS, elim inating programs, and sensible entitlement reforms.

Veto something! Since emering office, Presiden t Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill, or much less threaten to reject one. No wonder Congress has felt unrestrained when it comes to pork barrel spendi ng. If recent trends continue, Washington will break its record for earmarked projeCts thar it set in last year's budget. If President Bush wams to get serious about reining in waslCful spendi ng, he should follow the advice of the Heritage Foundation and ~do

something he has never done before~: veto an appropriations bill.

T hese steps, and the larger goal of resmring fiscal responsibility, aren't JUSt a matter of green-eyeshade accounring. They reflect a return to basic honesty in govern ment and the application of middle-class fam ily values to the lise of tax­payers' dollars.

Stopping the flow of red ink is also in creasi ngly critical 10 our national economy. As New York Federal Reserve Board President Timot hy Geithner has warned, there's a real danger that left unaddressed, our burgeoning deficits could shake the confidence of the international investors who have been financing our debt, and in turn, the health of the U.S. economy.

Finally, politicians on both sides must understand that today's, and tomorrow's budget dcficirs, will inevitably make it difficul t, if not impossible, to adequately defend our country from threars abroad as well as promoting truly valuable new public-sector initiatives such as universal access to health care or early ch ildhood educat ion. Restoring fiscal responsibili ty will come with a price, but the rewards will be far greater fo r both sides, and morc important, the country. Of

- Palll Wtinsttin Jr. is thr chief operating officrr and smior ft!!OIU alth, Progrmive Policy Instiruu,

chiif analyst lit the Promontory Imerfimlflcilll Network, olld all adjunct

profmor III Johns Hopkins Unit/miry

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

PAYGD Works It's time to impose fiscal discipline

By U.S. Senator Lincoln ChafeI;'"

TAt a lime when the United States is waging the war on terrorism, health care cOStS are soaring and 76 million

baby boomers arc preparing 10 retire and receive the Social Securi ty and Medicare benefits due to them, Congress should be fe-exa mini ng its spending and revenue pnOrlucs. Instead , Congress has increased fmuTe liabilities through the recently enact­ed prescription-drug bcnefh and continues to produce budgets awash in red ink.

As Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently stared, "The federal budget is on an unsustainable path."

Congress has an obligation to keep the nation's fiscal house in order. If we aTe unwilling 10, or incapable of restraining ourselvcs, then fi scal disci pline should be imposed. During the Sen:IIC'S consider­arion of thc Fiscal Year 2006 budget, I joined in offering an amendment to force Congress to make tough budgct choices. Simply put , thc "pay-as-you-go" rule, or PAYGO, requires that any ncw tax cutS or entitlement spending be offsct by corresponding spending cutS or revenue en hancements. If no offset ex ists for such a proposal, then 60 scnators would need to vote to override the rule.

During fl oor debatc 0 11 the PAYGO amendmenr, oppol1enrs argued thaI our economy is showing improvement and there is no need to impose fiscal discipline. Unfonunately, thc fa ct that aspects of thc economy are, in fa Ct, improving, docs nO! mean that our federal budget is in good shape. In fact, this is the type of thinking that gOt us into the current silUation in the first place.

In 1990, aft er nearly a decade of annual deficilS over $100 billion , Congress recognized lhat the will to comrol spending was no! enough \'0 pUi us on the path to fiscal responsibili ty. So, as part of the Omnibus Reconciliat ion Act of 1990 (O BIV\), Congress enacted tough budget measures-including PAYGO. Its effect s were nOt immediately apparent , as the deficit climbed from $221 billion in 1990 to a (hen-record $290 billion in 1992. Despire this, members or Congress reali 'led thai they were forced to make tOugh budget decisions and ex tended PAYCO in 1993 and 1997--cven though the economy was booming. Those extensions proved to be wise, as the deficits began to ebb and, in 1998, there was aClUally a budget surplus. With PAYCO in place, the surplus grew to $236 billion in 2000.

Congress then determined that PAYCO was no longer sufficiently Imporram. Members were successful in getting around the restrictions through ~emergency spending" designations and waiving budget points or order. Finally, ill 2002, PAYCO was allowed to expi re.

It is no coincidence that in the same year that PAYGO expi red , the federal budget plunged $158 billion imo the red. Our budget position has only gonen worse since then. In 2004, our budget deficit reached $412 billion, and it will grow to an estimated $427 billion in 2005. The deficit problem will only get worse with the retirement of the baby boomers. Despite these faCIS, Congress refuses to inject sanity into the budget process by enaCting tough res trictions.

PA YCO is not perfect. Congress found ways around it. Bur it docs have a proven track record. It tem policies orboth parries in the same way: pay ror your priorities or find 60 scnators willing to override the rule. T his is the way it should be. At a time when our budget is awash in red ink it only makes sense to bring discipline and accountability back to the budget process. If new tax cuts or Cllliriemelll spendi ng IS InlpOrralll , shou ldn't we be able to fi nd a way to

address the costs? Including PAyeO in the budget made

sense in the 19905, when the economy was booming, and it makes sense today. <:'11

- Sm. Lincoln Chafu is a Rhod~ fJ/and &publiran

BE THE FIRST to discover the Republican Party's agenda during the 109th Congress.

~ :::? -=-'

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

To reod the lotest Ripon Society policy reports, visit us online at www.riponsoc .org . There you will fi nd interesting and influential policy popers by our notion's I .... ding experts.

www.riponsoc.org 19

.. .~ ~- .

- , II

Improving Financial Literacy Investing in our future

By U.S. Representative Judy Biggen

Thirty or forry yean ago. the a\'erage worker didn't have to put tOO much thought inw his rclirement securi ty. If

he was lucky and lived long enough to

retire, life would be r.1irly simple. He received a mOlllhly, fix ed I>cnsion check from the employer he worked for all his life, and a modest Social Security chL'Ck supplemented his pension . Maybe he had a passbook savings account or sharcs of stock in his former employer's company thaI he could use for emergencies or w leave to his children.

That was then. Now the a\'erage worker is expecled to

change jobs a dozen limes before reliring, so there's no o ne employer standing rcady to lake care of him in his l:lIer years. Most employers have replaced the tradilional defined benefil rclircment plan with 40 I (k) plans that leave the irl\'cstment choices to Ihe employees. And many workers opt for early retiremetll befo re they are even eligible for Medicare or Social Security.

Tod:ay's reali ty is thai both the owner­sh ip of and (he responsibility for economic and retirement securiTY rest more firmly than ever with the individual- not with the government or the life-long employer. And as the number and complexity of options available continue to grow, so tOO does the need for better fin:anci:al and economic educat ion .

Are we 2nd our kids ready for the responsibilities and options Ih at will increasingly come our way in the new "ownership societyft?

The good news is that Americans of all walks of life and income levels are making investment decis io ns for their own economic fu{Ure. Ne:uly 53 million--49.5 percent of American houscholds--<ilher own stocks or are invested in 401 (k) plans.

The bad news is th:at mosl of our children haven't yet grasped the most basic financial and economic concepts that will enable Ihem to prepare for their future. Sixry percent of preteens do not know the difference berween cash, credit cards and checks. Twenty-eighl percent of 1 2 -year~ olds do not know that credit cards are a

20

U.S. Representative Judy BIggert

form of borrowing, and almost 40 percent of them do not know that banks charge interest on loans.

How young is old enough to le2rn about finance and economics?

Experts agree that the most effecti\'e ttme to Impart basic financial and economic knowledge is during studellls' fo rmative years, through the K-12 educa~ lion system. Yet not all schools have standards for teaching, and too few sta tes have sr:andards and testing in the schools. Too few parents talk to their children about money, and tOO few children arc learning the lools they need now.

If our young people learn how to

manage money, credit and debt. they can become responsible workers. heads of households. investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders and citizens, It is through economic and financi:al education that these young consumers will learn to Clpir:alize on Ihe choices and fl exibility thaI this new world has CIe:ned.

Financial education is a lifelong learn­ing process. It has been linked to lower delinquency rates for mortgage borrowers. higher panicipation and contribution rates in reti rement plans, improved spending and savings h:abits, higher net worth and morc positive att itudes towards money.

There are liter:llly thousa nds of outStanding financial literacy programs OUt there thaI spend millions of doll:ars to

lVWW.riponsoc.org

mttt thc: challenges of promoting and providing financial education. Private sector organizations have partnered with schools, not-for-profit groups and govern­ment agencies (0 negtl audiences such as seniors, rim-time home buyers, victims of domestic violence, Boys and Girls C lubs and scouting troops.

Ie 's time we recognize the need 10 work with these groups to harness their efforts, encou rage grealer collaborat ion amo ng [hem , and more cffectivdy promote financial education in schools and [hrough­OUi communities.

Here's what you can do [0 help ensure a more finan cially literate America: • Talk 10 your children about money­

hdp them understand such basic con­cepts as borrowing, compound interes t, debt and slOck ownership.

• Encourage your local schools [Q offer courses or modules that foem on basic financial and economic skills.

• Urge your member of Congress w join the Congrw;ional Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, a group whose goal is w sponsor legislation, highlight best practices and encourage collaboration among fi nancial and economic literacy providers.

• Check out the Web site of the key federal government clearing house for fLoden'! programs, The Financial Literacy and Education Commission, at www.MyMoney.gov.

Today's more complex financial world placcs more responsibility- and provides greater opportunities-for Americans than ever before. Many careers require continu­ing educHion , allowing workers w periodi­cally upgrade their skills. In (he same way, K-12 and continuing financial education will give Americans the roots they need ro explore and take advantage of the many new savings and invcstment options avail­able w them. A financially literate America (oday will Cl'ellle a more financially secure America tomorrow. (:6

- R~p. Judy Biggrrr is an lIIinois Rrpublican alld mffllWr o/tlx Houu Financial Snvicts

Committtt and House Education and Workforce Commitu~. Sh~ is also th~

co-foulldl'T Imd co-chair of th, bipartisall Fillancial and Economic Utrrary Cnucus.

Tht Ripon Forum ' May/June 2005

Homeland Security Strategy Making America stronger, safer and wiser

As Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee's $uhcommince on Intelligence. Information Sharing and

Terrorism Risk Assessment, [ am motivated by the opporrun ity to comribute to the nat ion's homeland sc<:uri ty mission. And as a former CIA officer with more than 25 years of mil itary service, [ fed a special sense of dury (0 use my experience [0

improve America's intelligence capabili ties with the uhimate goal of preventing anOlh­er terrorist arrack on U.S. soil.

We all know the past failure to maintain an effective nat ional intelligence com munity greatly contribu ted to the attacks ofSeprcmber 11 ,2001. T he 9/11 Commission charged those of us in public office to move fo rward and "create an America thaI is safer, stronger and wiser." The Department of Homeland Security, and a permanelll committee of Congress 10

oversee ii, is pan of that endeavor. Our response requires as much energy

as il docs discipli ne. It is impossible to search every traveler, inspcct every shipping contai ner, secure every bridge and tunnel and have 24-hour patrols at every public facility. America is toO large and there arc tOO many facilities to guard. First-rate intel­ligence gathering and intelligence sharing are indispensable to our strategy and to the public trust.

T he threats America faces arc genuine. Earl ier this year, the media reported an intercepted comm unicatIon between Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al­Zarqawi thai reiremed the desire of al Qaeda to target America.

Good intelligence allows us to know and understa nd our enemy and its pursuits, which enables us to better prOtect ourselves.

To protect our freedom, America's intelligence community must make better use of open source inrelligencc (OS INT) material, which includes books, magazine anicles, foreign news service reports, the Internet, cerrain satellite images and other public information. This material is unclas­sified and can be gathered, analyzed and distributed by individ uals who do not have security clearance. And because open source material can be shared with and

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

By U.S. Represemative Rob Simmons

u.s Representative Rob Simmons

accessed by the public, the American people can participate in their own defense and UUSt the analyses drawn from Ihis ki nd of information.

In addition, it is essen tial that we increase our number of spies. America has a rremendous technological ability to gather information, but it is important that we get inside terrorist organizalions. To achieve that goal we need bener human intell i­gence. T his involves training individuals to live in foreign societies. They must master foreign languages and understand different cultures to the elltent that they can operate in them as if they were their own. Such training will take time and the work will be dangerous, but it must be: done.

Also, our nation must be as prepared as possible for another terrorist atrack. That is a terrible th ing to contemplate but it would be fa r worse to be unprepared.

New London recently hosted a simu­lated terrorist attack. These drills arc critical because we must know how our co mm uni­cations systems will operate when stressed, the time it takes for first responders 1"0

arrive on the scene, and how prepared hos­pitals are to handle mass casualties.

Some individuals have said the evem was a "fear-mongering lactic." I respect their right to dissem, but I disagree with thei r assessment. The drill was an effon to

Improve our security by identifying our

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weaknesses so we can COffeel them. Anyone who lost a friend or loved one on September II th understands the obligation of emergency preparedness and response, with the hope that it will never again be rested.

It is not a pleasant thing to acknowl­edge that our nation is a targe!. However, ignoring reality leaves us more vulnerable. If we do not prepare, and should another attack occur, many of the protestors would ask why we were ill -equipped and why the government failed to "connect the dots" again. We owe it to the victims of September 11 (h and their fam ilies to learn from that tragedy.

I recently visited Israel, a nation in which security measures are part of every­day life. My firsl encounter was with EI AI, where the ai rline personnel were profession­al, courteous and thorough . EJ AI personnel carry much of the burden for routine secu­rity and most have mil itary experience.

Upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport, our group found the same high quality of securi ty while also giving visitors a sense of welcome. Almost 50 percent of the airport's I ,GOO employees are involved with security. The Israeli Security Agency (equivalent ro the FBI) is in charge of the terminal and the Israeli police cover the grounds. Security training includes annual and monthly drills, as well as smaller dri lls occurring on every shift. I observed this degree of securi­ty awareness and professionalism through­out my visit. Although America's situation is not wholly analogous to Israel 's, it is an attitude that we would do well to em ulate.

On September II, 200 I, America entered a new era. The war on terrorism requires us to focus on a homeland security strategy that shores lip the quality of ollr intelligence to prevent another attack, while also bolstering our preparedness to respond and mitigate the potential consequences of that threat. I look forward 10 working with my col1eagues to strengthen our nallon's capacity in those key areas. ~

- Rrp. Rob Simmons is a COfJfJrClicUf Rrpubiic(1fJ

2 1

Benefits of Association Health Plans The market can solve the health insurance crisis

One of the most pressing issues f.1cing America today is the affordability of health insu rance. With so many

Americans living withouc health insurance or struggling to pay skyrocketing premi­ums, H comes as no surprISe that in poll after poll, (his issue ranks among the publ ic's tOP concerns.

Republicans often seem caught belWecn their well-founded opposition 10 a single-payer system and the undeniable imperative that they take a proactive stance by offering creative solutions. As President Gcorge W. Bush, a bipartisan majority of the House and many of my Senate colleagues know, Ihis need not be a dilem­ma. Association Health Plans (AHPs) pres­em an opportunity to drast ically shrink the ranks of the uninsured without furthe r expanding the health ClTe bureaucracy or sign iflcantly increasing federal spending.

Consider for a moment thar 62 percent of the nearly 45 mill ion uninsured Americans are employed by a small business or depend on somcone who is. Add to this the SHain on small businesses Ihal do provide health insurance for their employees, and Ihe gravity of the situation begins to emerge. In fuct, USA Today recendy identified health insurance COSts as the number one issue facing small business em ployers across the country.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, business owners (ell me [h::H the high COSt of health insurance prevems them fro m expanding their business and hiring new employees. With Ihe availability of health insurance increasingly playing a role for workers choosing a place of employment. businesses that can not afford to offer health coverage flnd themselves at ;l disadvantage. And for those who do provide insurance 10

their employees, (he high COSt can aClllally discourage the creation of new jobs, because bringing on new workers can mean taking on cripplin g health insu rance expenses.

Despite the fact that they are responsi­ble for creating;ls many as 75 percent of all new jobs, small businesses are being created like the pariahs of the health insurance

22

By U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe

U.S. Senator OlymPia J . Snowe

marker. They arc currenrly den ied the right to join together and freely negotiate for better health insurance policies under the same framework as is already available 10 larger employers. Why should small­business owners be denied a tool that would allow them to seek the best bargain for themselves and their employees?

In the interest of fairness, as well as the continued health of small business employees and our economy, the 109th Congress mUSt take action to address th is CUSIS. On February 13, I introduced the ~Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005." This bipanisan lcgisl::ltion would allow small businesses 10 pool thei r employ­ees together nationally through their associations in AHPs, also known as Small Business Health Plans.

Touted by President Bush and sup­ported by 12 mill ion employers and over 80 million Americans, AHPs will bri ng neces­sary reform to insurance markelS lhal have long trapped small businesses and their employees in a vicious cycle of escal:tting premium costs and fewe t coverage options. Republicans support AHPs because they represent a fili r, fiscally sound and already tested approach w reducing tbe ranks of tbe uninsured in [his counrry al nom inal COSt to the federal government.

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AHPs allow small businesses to pool their employees together to receive [he same bulk purchasing and administrative efficiencies already enjoyed by large employers and unions. It builds on the success of the ERISA self insurance plans used by large employers and the Taft­Hanley plans available to union employers, which currendy provide health benefi ts for 78 million people, more than half of the people who receive health imurance from their employer. AHP legislation will in jttt competition in the marketplace, offeri ng ;llrern;ltives amI reducing COStS for small businesses trapped in the current system.

And reducing COStS is the immediate relief that small businesses so desperatdy need. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reponed that betwecn the spring of 2003 and spring of 2004, health insurance premiums increased 11.2 percent. This marked the fourth conSCi:ut;ve year of double digit percentage increases-growth that has far outpaced inflation and erased wage g::lIns.

AHPs have the strong suppOrt of President Bush, as he has said in his lasl twO St::He of the Un ion addresses. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has indicated he would like to sec floor action on AHPs this year. Furthermore, the House is expL'Cted to pass its version of AH P legislation in the coming weeks and the Senate's HELP Committee, under Chairman Enzi, recently held its fiTS[ hearing on AHPs. Clearly momentum for change is building.

Perfect legislation does nor exist, so I invite critics of my bill to present their concerns and I welcome their input. I sincerely hope we can all agree on the goal of AHPs: providing small businesses and thei r employees with more and better health insur:mce options through the power of pooling and a competitive market. Aft'er all, if Republicans do not support market solutions to the health care crisis, whowim ~

- Sm. Olympill j. Snolw is a Maine Republican lllld chairs the Senllte Committee

on Small 8usinm and Elltreprt'neunhip

The Ripon Forum · M~yflune 2005

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America's Tariff System How trade barriers hurt the poor

For decades, tariff policy has been a sleepy backwater. T he SO-rear-old tariff system draws li tde artention

even from tal[ and trade specialists; no congressional committee has held a hear­ing on tariff policy since 1974. But the issue is worth a iitrie attention, because even the briefest peck at th is sleepy back­water fi nds it crawling with cO[wnmoUlhs, fire ants and alligamTs.

A discussion can begin wi th a cele­brated recent tariff event- the Bush administration's «emergency" steel tariffs of2002 and 2003. Ranging from eight to

thirty percent across mi ll ions of tons of steel imports, they caused an internatio nal

uproar. Dozens of newspapers wrote nas ty editorials. Nine foreign governments, from Japan and Europe to Brazil and Taiwan, fil ed WTO cases, Networks everywhere from CNN and CBS to

al-Jauerall and China Cemral 7a eviJiQll covered both the decision and the admin­lSUation's reuacnon.

But look a bil closer. Despite the uproar, steel tariffs still raised less money than tariffs on shoes or T-shirts. As Table I shows, steel barely outpaced brassieres.

Shoes are in some ways even more stri king. In 2003 the steel tariffs raised $224 mill ion on about $ 13 billion wonh of impo rted steel. Also in 2003,

Americans imported $ 15 bill ion worth of shoes. But the shoes brought in $ 1.6 bil­lion in tariffs, nearly seven times the re<:eipts from steel. Likewise. the Customs Service collected $20 million on steel from mighty Japan, but fully $200 million from Cambodia's humble pajamas, underwear and T-shirts. No T V network memjoncd shoes or Cambod ians. No foreign govern­ment protested.

Why the d ispari ties? Since the cre­ation of the modern tariff system under Herbert Hoover, American tariffs have appl ied to abo ut I \,000 kinds of goods, from ho rses and statues to semiconductor chips, co mbs. helicopters, spoons and but-

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24 www.riponsoc.org The Ripon Forum · M ay/June 2005

2003

tcr. Hoover's ratcs were very high, but fo ur big international t rade agreements since the 19605 (the "Kennedy Round" in 1969, "Tokyo Roun d" of 1979, the "Uruguay Round" that created the wro in 1995, and a wro agreemem on in for­mation technologies in 1997) have brough t {he average tariffs to a very low level. They now average roughly 2.6% and b ring in $20 billion a year.

But the low averages and modest rev­enues hide an uneven system. Tariffs are gone on about 3,500 products, includ ing com puters, airplanes, semiconductOrs, toys, medical eq uipmem and furn iture. Tariffs are minimal on luxury consumer goods and big indusuial imports like cars, indusuial machinery and oil. But appeals from a few induslry lobbies have kept them high on many light industry goods-especially clothes, shoes and some types of food.

T he highest single manufacturing tar­iff is on cheap sneakers: at 48%, they have a tariff rate that has not been touched since the Eisenhower administration. Like other consumer goods tariffs, th is fee is

paid by at the border, 3nd then p3ssed to cons umers m stores, magnified by markups fro m landed cOSt and state sales taxes. In effect, each ten-dollar pair of sneakers includes a hidden tax of $3.30 or so. Tariffs on acrylic sweaters are modest­ly lower at 32%; conon T-sh ins get 20%; cheap forks, spoons, plates and drinking glasses hover around betwl."en 1 0% and 18%. Bra tariffs, incidl."ntally, are 17%. And the lack of congressional anention mea ns that, un likl." other taxes, tariffs rarely change. No cheap sneakers have been made in the United States, for exam­ple, since the 1970s- but the tariffs remain in place.

Tariffs, therefore, appear to bl." the most rl."gressive part of American tax policy. And the effects produced by markups and sales taxes give tariffs larger real-life effects than thei r modest contri­bution to American government revenues would imply. Low-income families (es pecially if they have children) get hit hardest, because they use more of their income ro buy clothes, shoes and food; and because the highest tariffs are on the cheapest types of goods. A single morher may lose as much as a week's salary Duty-free each year to the hidden effects of tariffs on cloth­mg and shoe prices.

Likewise overseas, wealthy countries that

pu mp oil, print semiconductor chips or make cars rarely encounter significant tar­iffs. But low-income countries that sew sweaters or cobble shoes, like Cambodia and Pakistan, typically face permanent tar­iffs about equal to the temporary steel tar­iffs of2003 . Thus the system becomes fa r more noticeabll." for poor countries in Asia and the Muslim world than for the wealthy countries. Table 2 graphically illustrates rhe result.

What can one concl ude~ More through inattention and lack of interest [han through a plan, tariffs have become a regressive tax. They have become a fl."markably discriminatOry form of trade policy, targeting small and poor countries rather than the big and rich ones. And the continuing drain of garment jobs is testa­ment to their ineffectiveness as job protec­tors. Perhaps it is time to put this 80-year­old system to res t. <:'I

- Edward Gmur if dirutor of the Pro jut on Trade and Markets at the

Progressive Policy Institute

Tariff. 0.1%-4.9%

1

Tariff. 5%-1 5%

Tariffs 15%+

CAFTA in Trouble The Central American Free Trade Agreement is slowly head­

ing toward defeat in Congress. President George W. Bush's trade bill is encountering stiff

resistance fro m many Democrats and so me protectionist Republicans. In particular, the powerful sugar lobby is mounting a vigorous campaign against CAFTA.

However, American sugar producers' claims that the [featy would undermi ne their industry are wildly exaggerated. T he agreement would allow an exrra 109,000 meuic tons of import­ed sugar into [he U.S. market. But mis would not even come close ro threatening big sugar's dominance of the domestic mar­ket- let alone bring down the high costs of sugar paid by American consumers.

trade barriers between the United States and Central America (Costa Rica, EI Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua). It is not widely known that, because of NAFTA and the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the U.S. econo­my is already open (barrier-freel to most of Central America's likely importS. The great bene·fi t of CAFfA is that it would final ­ly open meir economies to American exporrs, especially textile, frui t, pork, chicken and dairy producrs. It is no wonder the ueaty is endorsed by dozens of V.S. fa rm organizations and most service-sector producers.

More importantly, the bill has numerous advantages for U.S. farmers and business. The treary eliminates almost all the

CAFTA's passage would not only be a great victory fo r the forces of free trade and open global markets, but also for American consumers, fa rmers and workers. T he administration would be wise to give the bill higher priori ty. America needs CArrA JUSt as much as u mral America does.

-Jeffrey T Kuhn"

The Ripon Forum ' May/June 2005 www.riponsoc.org 25

• ,/ ... ~ ), .. .- ,

Energy Legislation Prospects Bill is gaining strength

After fOllr years of mostly Democratic resistance. Republicans are cOllnti ng on larger congressional majorities and

a recent surge III energy prices to deliver their comprehensive energy bill to the pres­idem 's desk.

Supporters argue that an energy bill is urgently needed to guamntee a steady ener­gy supply, dri\'e down record prices and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

Alex Flint, chief of staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, notes that a surge in the global demand for oil has pushed prices upward as nations such as China and India experience rapid economIc expans1On .

"As the rest of the wo rld wams [0 live like America, they will have energy require­ments like America," Mr. Flint said.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which recently passed the House by a vote of249 to 183, atrempts to rect ifY supply shortfalls. It seeks to do this by offering incentilles for more domestic oil production, encouragi ng the use of renewable fuels and bener tech­nology, and allowi ng new domestic oil and gas exploration,

House Energy and COlllmerce Commitree C hief of Staff Bud Albright insists that energy conservation is an admirable goal, but increasi ng our supply of traditional sources sllch as oil and gas is all economic necessity.

"The only way to reduce prices in the long run is by produci ng more product and the only way to get more product is by drilling," he said,

By Stephen F. Manfn.-di

Mr. Albright also contends that the energy bill will enhance America's econom­ic and military security.

"We're in a world situation where we can be held hostage by the now of oil. Oil means jobs. growth and opportunity fo r Americans, and we will fight for that. Not because we're greedy or anythi ng like that, but simply because our ('conomy runs on oil,~ Mr. Albright said.

President George W. Bush Strongly endorses the Energy Policy Act and has urged congressional leadership to pass the bill as quickly as possible, President Bush argues that a comprehensive energy bill wil! help sustain economic growth, diversifY America's energ)' supply and lower burden­some gasoline prices-helpi ng American families and industry.

Immediate relief at the pump, howev­er, is not expected. President Bush noted in a recent speech to small business owners dial the "higher COSt of gasoline is a prob­lem that has been years in rhe making" and will take time to resolve. And congression­al sources working on the energy bill are in agreement that gasol ine prices will not fall for some time.

America's transition from foreign oil to alternative sources of fuel also will not occur overnight. Mr. Flint maintains that in the short-term, reducing America's dependence o n foreign oil remains a "rh('torical priority, but not a political pri­ority." He poims OUt {hat the energy bill will have little impact on reducing our nation's dependence on foreign oil and that

"Supporters argue that an energy bill is urgently needed to guarantee a steady energy supply, drive down record prices and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil."

26 www,riponsoc.org

technological advances from the private secwr offer the best hope for energy inde­pendence. On (his score, the Energy Policy Act amhorizes $2.7 billion for nuclear ener­gy research and infrasrrucrure support. It also includes $200 mill ion for grams to local governments to acquire alternative fueled :lfid fuel cell vehicles, hybrids and other nlel efficient vehicles.

Supporters of the bill ;argue that the EncTh'Y Policy Ads lack of immediate ben­efils is offset by its potential for imple­menting widespread and long overdue structural reform of America's energy indus­try. And Mr. Flint predicts [hat in a few decades, legislators will view somc of lhe "unexpected conscquences~ of the bill's pro­visions as the most important and benefi­cial.

Now, the question is: Will the Energy Policy Act of 2005 become law? Previous versions of the bill ha\'c suffered defeat over such issues as drilling in ANWR, MTBE liability and the bill's price tag ($3 1 bill ion when it was defeated in the Senate in 2003). The bill's large margin of victory in the House in April offers reason for hope that America's long wait for an energy bill is com ing to an end.

On the H ouse side, Mr. Albright maintains that "we have the beSt chance we've had in at least I 0 or 12 years" to pass an energy bill in the House and Senate. He says that there have been meaningful nego­tiations on contentious issues and a "con­cerred effort to get the price of the bill down." He predic[5 {hat Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of rhe House Energy and Commerce Committee, will be the "man who makes the difference" in getting the bill approved.

On the Senate side, where the f.1te of the bill rests, the mood is no less hopeful. Mr. Flint claims that his committee is mak­ing considerable progress on a bipartisan bill. He remains "reasonably optimistic~ that the energy bill will become law. (J

- Suphrll F. Manfrrdi is po/icy director flf Thr Ripon Socirty.

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

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The Year of Democracy Political freedom is on the march

By U.S. Representative David Dreier

The events of the nrst few months of 2005 easily qualifY it as the year of democracy. With elections in the

Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, it's easy to forget how filr we've come in such a short amount of time.

As recently as 2000, democrati7.3t ion was at best stagnating and at worst retreat­mg. Notwithstanding the collapse of [he Soviet empire, mallY u mfal Asians and Eastern Europeans remained in the grip of corrupt, aUTocratic govern­ments. In the Middle East, royal families and military strongmen impeded democratic reform. Africa was worse ofT, with countries seeming­ly laking turns suffering civil wars and ethnic strife. Other roadblocks [0

freedom ranged from junl:ls and Communi st regimes In Asia to

back-sliding democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Then, the September II Terrorist at tacks shook the world to irs core. With our renewed focus on security, some prognosticated that the United States would care little about trade liberalization, democratization and human rights, and instead focus only on imernational military and ilHelligence cooperation 10 eliminate al Qaeda.

a former Sovier republic, staged a successful challenge of manufacmred elecrion resul rs and ushered in new democraric leadership. The Rose Revolution in Georgia brought reformers to power. In Kyrgyzstan , a country that for most Americans is as hard to locate on a map as it is to spell, ye t another authoritarian ruler was tossed aside. Democracy is on the march again.

Ironi cally, however, fa r from condemning the citizens of the world

u .s . Representative DaVid Dreier speaks out in defense of democracy in LebaJlOO.

to a renewed slate of authoritarian, securiry­minded regimes, the attacks of September 11 were actually a driving force behind the latest surge of democratization. Al Qaeda is, in a way, responsible fo r the democrat ic government now raking irs fledgling steps in Afghanisran. The terrorist group's cri mes againsr the Unired STates not only led 10

the destruction of the Taliban regime by coalition forces, but ultimately resulted in millions of Afghans voting in that country's fi rst truly democratic ele<:rion.

Also, Saddam Hussei n's tyranny combined with his unrelenting threats against the world, eventually led 10 his removal by coalil"ion fo rces and 8.5 million Iraqis voring in January's election. Ukraine,

28

These victories may seem like isolated cases, but the surge of democratization is far from over. I recemly visited the Middle East, and my fore ign coun terparts consistently emphasi7.ed their desire to pur­sue domest ic political and economic reform s. Egypt's government, for example, has announced that it intends to allow multi-candidate elections for the first time. King Abdullah II is leading Jordan's ambit ious reform program. His goal is 10

establish Jordan as the Arab model of liber­alization. The fa ir election of Palestinian leader Abu Mazcn saw nearly a million Palestinians vote. It has also raised hopes for more transparent Palestinian governance and progress in negotiations with Israel.

www.riponsoc.org

In Lebanon, a country thaI has been ground zero in a devastating proxy war, I witnessed hundreds of demonstra tors sur­rounding the grave site of assassinated for­mer Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. They were protesting Syrian interference and demandi ng free and fai r elections. There I met with Lebanese students, willing to die for their cause, who told me that if elections in Iraq could be successful , rhen they knew it was also possible in Lebanon.

We are at a critical moment for the furure of democracy. Many illegitimate leaders must be worryi ng that Ihey will be

the next domino 10 fall. While there is undefSla ndable excitement at the dem­ocratic efforts in Afghanistan, iraq, Ukraine and elsewhere, we mUSt remember that these new governmentS will continue 10 require our assistance. One ele<:tion docs not a democracy make. The real work of democracy is in the establishment and protection of fundamental civil liberties and person­al freedom s.

It is critical that Congress help these new democracies fi nd their foot­ing. The House recently established the Democracy Assistance Commission to

provide peer-tO-peer contact berwecn members of Congress and members of emerging democratic parliaments. The Commission is modeled on the suc­cessful Frost-Solomon Task Force of the 1990s, which provided technical assistance to former Eastern Bloc par­liaments. Many of these now solidly democratic countries arc members of NATO and the European Union. Vibrant d emocracy depends on a

strong, independent legislature to balance the executive branch. Unfortunarely, most newly democratic cou ntries have a long his­tory of authoritarian rule, and young par­liaments arc often domi nated by the execu­tive. The Commission will deploy the U.S. Congress to tr.lin their counterpartS in gov­ernment oversight, budgeting, legislative drafting, constituent relations and coalition building. Despite a world 's wonh of chal­lenges, I believe that the Comm ission can make a real difference in ensuring the sta­bil ity and sus taillability of these new democracies. ~

- R~p. David Drri" is a California Republican

The Ripon Forum · May/June 2005

A Nuclear Iran u.s. must confront growing threat

By Lawrence E K.1plan

During his rrip to Europe in February, President George W. Bush announced (hal , when it came 10 the Islamic

Republic's campaign to acquire a nuclear weapon, the Unilcd States and Europe were now ~on the same page . ~ Shonly after the president's rcmrn to Washington, Secretary of Stale Condoleczl.a Rice announced that the administr;uion would JOLll the European Union in offering [ran incen­tives- aircraft parts and membership in the World Trade Organization-in exchange for halting its drive to build a bomb. No one, save a few optimists :u !lu: National Security Council and the State Department. acrually expects [mn to agree to dle deaL

The poim. rather, was to enl ist Europe in what IIntil then had been a mostly American efforl to smve ofT a nuclear Iran. Absent European support, afrer all, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will never refer Iran 10 the U.N. Securi ty Council-where, administration officials hope, Iran will be singled out for t'Conomic sanctions. As this diplomatic effort progresses, Anterica is also pursuing:a second, bro:ader solution to Iran's nuclear program-:a strategy aimed not so much at Iran's weapons as at the Mullahs who pre­side over them. The surest way to put an ('tid to Iran's atomic arsenal, the logic goes, is to PUt an end w the regime thr('atening 10 use it. These strategies have twO things in common.

First, they rely on acmrs other th:an rhe United States-the United Nations, rhe Europeans, the Ir:m ians themselves-to frustrate Iran's nuclear ambitions. Second, it's highly unlikely either of them will work.

As for Iran's wi llingness to honor its agreements, the ink had barely dried on America's latest offer when Iran's chief arms negotiawr dismissed it as "really not some­thing so significant that we could even dis­cuss it as a tradeoff for anything at all." Underscoring the point, deliberations over the U.S,- European init iative were inter­rupted by the IAEA's finding thaI" Iran had blocked inspectors from military and nuelear facili ties, was connnulflg apace

The Ripon Forum · Mayljulle 2005

with its efforts 10 build a heavy-water reac­tor, and was busy digging an underground tUlmc1 system .

Mon:ovt:r, European cooperation may not be nearly so forthcomi ng as some administrat ion officials assume it will be. France, Germany and other European nations have invested heavily in Iran and enjoy much closer poli tical relations with Tehran than dlCy did with Baghdad. They remain wedded to the negoli:ning process, and there may be no evidence sufficient to budge their attachment. When, for exam­ple. Russ ia annou nced at the end of President Bush's European trip that it would supply nuclear fuel to Iran-a move rhe adminimation had been lobbying for years to forcstall-European Commission foreign policy spokeswoman Emma Udwi n painted Ihe deadly shipment as "com patible with our own approach."

Even if the Europeans were to back a referral to the Securiry Council, there is no reason 10 believe the administration will fare any beu('r there than it did during the Iraq debate. Neither Moscow, itself the princip:ll sponsor of Iran's nuclear program, nor Beijing, which, in addition to ils own role in Ihat program, has just signed a $70 bi ll ion deal to purchase natural g3S from Iran. has any reason to punish its cliem. Further, Iran could always fo llow the lead of North Korea and withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treary at the lasl minute, leaving it with the materiel and know­how to construCt a bomb and with nothing in the way of doing so.

As a response 10 I ran's nuclear debut, relyi ng on popular regime change has drawbacks as well. T he policy makes moral and snalegic sense, but a democratization policy is nOt a coumerprol if­er;ltion policy- particularly since Ir.m's democr:Hs seem as eager as anyone else [Q

acqUIre a nuclear capability.

I'oww.nponsoc.org

"I hope we get ou r atomic weapons, Shirzad Bowrgnehr, Ihe reformist edilOr of the English-language InUl NewJ, told Tlu Washi1lgton Postf Karl Vick last year, "If Israel has it, we should have it." Or, as then­CIA DirectOr Gt-orge Tenet tOld the Senate Select Intelligence Committee lasl February, "No Iranian government, regard­less of its ideological leanings, is likely ro willingly abandon WMD programs that are seen as guaramccing Iran's securiry."

Nor is the problem merely that the half- life of alOmic isotOpes laStS consider­ably longer than the half-life of most gov­ern ments. While it is cerrainly true that Ameria and its all ies in the region would be bener off having the fingers of reformers mlher than the fingers of theocrats on the Iluclear button, it is unl ikely that democra­cy will arrive in Iran before a functio ni ng nuclear program docs. As the Non­Proliferation Policy Education Cemer's Henry Sokolski PUtS ii, ~No olher major gaps remain: Iran has the rC<Juisite equip­ment 10 make the weapons fuel; the know­how to assemble the bonlbs: and the missi le and naval systems necessary to deli\'cr Ihem beyond irs borders."

So where docs Ihis leave us? Either resign ing ourselves to the inevitabiliry o f a nuclear Iran or thinking the unthinkable­lhal is, milirary siri kes which mayor may not succced in halring Iran's Iluclear drive. Iran's nuclear program may be a problem fro m hell. But it is a problem that on ly America can solve. 'C'1I

- Lawrmce F Kaplan is a smior rditor at Tht Ntw Rtpublic and

a HI/mOIl hmitult fellow

1\" lunot1.1 B tan

29

Europe's Last Dictatorship 'White Revolution' stirring in Belarus

By Jeffrey T. Kuhner

The winds of change arc about to sweep across the plains of Bdarus. Since 1994, the former Soviet republic has

been ruled by Stalinist strongman Alexander Lukashcnko.

This proud nation has the d ubious distinction of bdng Europe's last d ic(a[or~ ship. Lukashcnko has stifled dissent, curbed opposition parties, imposed StaTe comrol over the media and rigged elections to

ensure his grip on power. Ami-Lukashcnko journalists face constant harassment from the sttret police, and ~cral high-profile critics have gone ~missing~-mos( likely murdered by former KGB thugs.

Iklarus' capi[3.l, Minsk. oncc the cradle of a brilliam, Slavic medieval kingdom and a ffi2jo r center of resistance to Hider's invading armies, is now frequently derided by WeS[t~rn diplomats as r~mbling "Easl Berlin. without the charm."

Yet Lukashcnko's days in office are now numbered. Outi ng a rc:cc:nt meeting with Belarusan opposition leaders at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sccrelary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the administration is backing a policy of regime change.

"The Belarusan governmenc should know that they are being watched by the international community, (hat th is is not a dark cotner in which they can [gol unobserved, uncommenced on, as if Belarus is not a part of Ihe European concinenc," she tOld reporters.

Washington is hoping thaI Belarus will follow the recent successes in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, where pro­democracy forces have toppled autocratic, Soviet-style governmencs. Presidenc Bush's policy of spreading democracy is slowly working nOI only in ,he Middle Eas" but also in the former Soviet' empire.

The administration IS providing financial assistance and other resources to Belarusan democrats in preparation for next year's presidemial elections. Opposition leaden, however, are warn ing that Lukashenko will seek to maimain his hold on power at all COSts. T he Murderer of Minsk will either rig the vote or in the

30

-- Lithuania .. aalarus

Ukraine

eve-nt of a defeat, he will refuse to accept the resultS.

This is why Belarus' brave democrats are planning massive street demonstrations this fall in the hopes of forcing Lukashenko to resign. With strong Am~rican support, they may well succttd in unleashing a "White Revolution" similar to the Rose and Orange Revolutions that occurred in Georgia and Ukraine.

But the White revolutionaries filce one major hurdle: Russia. The Kremlin increasi ngly views the- new democracies along its borde-rs as pro-American satellites, which pose a threat to Moscow's strategic predominance in the region. Presiden t Vladimir r utin is determined to nOt let Minsk go [he way of Kiev and Tbilisi. His Foreign Min ister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia will oppose any effort by the United Stales to undermine Lukashenko's government.

It is not just Russian pride that is at stake, Lukashenko has transformed Belarus into an economic and political vassal of Moscow. Russia supplies Belarus with nearly al l of irs oil and gas, and more than half of Minsk's exports are sent to its Orthodox, Slavic neighbor.

More ominously, Lukashenko is a strong bel iever in Mr. Putin's dream of a Great Russian empire. The Belarusan strongman has made no secret of his desire for a fo rmal union betwccn Minsk and Moscow.

T hroughou t the 19905, Belarus emerged as an important departure poim

www.riponsoc.org

for Russia's weapons sales and missile-tech­nology transfers to Libya and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Lukashenko is not only a menace 10 his own people. bUi to American security interests as welL

This is why the Bush administration is right to isolate Lukashenko's regime, while helping to bolsler the country's growing opposirion movement. Yet Washington should be under no illusions: there is a real possibility of violence and bloodshed. In his recent ann ual address to parliament, Lukashenko denounced any peaceful efrom toward democracy as "plain banditry." He vowed they would not take place under any circumstances.

Should Lukashenko order a military crackdown, it probably would be supported by the Kremlin. The West has turned a blind eye to Moscow's genocidal campaign in Chcchnya. It muS( not allow the same thing to occur in Belarus.

Washington must make it dear to Mr. Pu[in thar rhe United States and its allies will no[ tOlerate the Kremlin's incerference in Belarus' internal affairs. T here cannOt be a repeat of Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Russian tanks crushed democratic uprisings.

Lukashenko also must be told that any attempt to quell the demonstrations by force will trigger severe diplomatic, economic and-if necessary- mili tary consequences. His regime would become an international pariah, similar to Kim Jong-ll 's North Korea. YCt unl ike Pyongyang, Minsk is firmly rooted in Europe and, with the exception of Russia, surrounded by liberal democracies. hs neighbors-Poland. Ukraine and Lithuania- along with the European Union and NATO can exercise a decisive influence in helping Belarus embrace itS pro-Western. pro-European civilizational destiny.

It is now time for Belarus' White revolutionaries to follow the path blazed by their Ukrainian brethren. America stands with you. (:'I

- J4frry T Kuhn~r is communications dinetor at Tht Ripon Sori~ty. Th, vitws

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Th~ Ripon Forum ' May/Jun~ 2005

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