From: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com (Richard Wojcik,snake)
Newsgroups: pnw.general
Subject: Re: The Election
Date: 6 Nov 92 19:37:27 GMT
Reply-To: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com
Organization: Research & Technology

In article mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU, mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin) writes:
>The best things that can be said about this election is the stunning
>defeat of the Religious Right in elections throughout the country and
>the adoption of term limitations in Washington and several other
>states.  The danger of a Robertson vs. Clinton race in 1996 has been
>significantly diminished, although it isn't eliminated.

I doubt that the Religious Right is going to go quietly.  The Republican Party
is in deep trouble because moderate Republicans have not cared enough about 
their party to take an active role in it.  Being out of power is sure to sober
them up a little, but it may be a long time before they regroup enough to present
a viable opposition.  Lowry is already moving to incorporate some of the better
known moderate Republicans in his administration, and that may help to dilute
Republican opposition even more in the future.

I suspect that term limits on federal office will eventually be struck down by
the Supreme Court, but you never know.  Given the popularity of term limits around
the country, it really ought to be proposed as an amendment to the federal
Constitution.  Personally, I oppose them, but I can see that most people favor
them.  I wish that we could cap *spending* in campaigns.  Putting a cap on 
contributions or terms in office is going to do very little to bring about real
reform.  But I think that politicians would rather put phony caps on campaign
contributions than real ones on campaign spending.

>This is a good learning experience for the conservative movement.  All
>of Bush's posturing towards the Religious Right failed to save the
>election for him.  What it did do is alienate a huge number of voters;
>a great many voters voted to fire Bush, not to hire Clinton.

You are talking about Republicans.  I think that most of Clinton's supporters
voted to hire him.  The Republicans that supported Clinton just didn't have a
good enough excuse to vote for Bush.

>There was dancing in the streets of Baghdad and mouring in Kuwait when
>the news of Bush's defeat came in.  A number of our allies are afraid
>that President Clinton will lead the US down the slippery slope of
>trade protectionism.

Neither of those sentences belong in the same paragraph.  If Bush had done a
proper job in Iraq, there would be mourning in the streets of Baghdad, too.
Bush has already started down the path of protectionism with the failed GATT
talks.  Clinton is not just inheriting a domestic mess from Bush.

>I fear it is too late to prevent a Washington State income tax.  Look
>for an emergency budget crisis to appear, complete with scare tactics
>about shutting down schools, police and fire departments, and
>hospitals.  That, on top of an emotional appeal by Governor Lowry,
>will probably suffice.

Scare tactics and emotional appeals.  Hmmm.  You wouldn't stoop to those kinds
of things, would you?  Halloween is over.  So why talk about an income tax?  :-)

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Disclaimer:  Opinions expressed above are not those of my employer.

    Rick Wojcik   (rwojcik@boeing.com)   Seattle, WA