PERSPECTIVEnLeveraged Buyoutn*5^^>n)^5In• L-N^nMnby Thomas Flemingn1 ”Un1 7 ^*nI -AnEvery nation has the government it deserves.” Joseph denMaistre’s hard saying can give small corhfort to Americans.nOh, it is true, we have a paper Constitution that promisesna republican form of government, but all three branches ofnthat government have for several generations conspired tonevacuate the republican content from the system, leaving onlyna decorative and ceremonial shell of elections without issues,nghost-written speeches, and congressmen haranguing an emptynchamber for the benefit of C-Span cameramen. The UnitednStates is a republic in the same sense that Great Britain isna monarchy. In theory, the Queen might declare a dissolutionnand summon new ministers more to her liking, but the attemptnwould bring her unfortified palace down around Her Majesty’snears. Over here, it is the people who reign without ruling.nWhatever our form of government might be in principle, thenreal American system has little in common with the republicnof our not-so-distant ancestors. If there is any doubt of this, wenhave only to consider the apparently inverse relationship betweennthe quality of leadership and the quantity of power. In the beginningnwe elected Washington, Adams, and Jefferson but refusednto grant them even a fraction of the power we cheerfullynsurrender to Jimmy Carter and George Bush.nIt is not so much the form of government that defines a nationnas the character of its governors. The Leaders We Deservenwas the title of a provocative book by Alistair Mant, who describesnbad leaders as men (typically) who cannot conceive of anynvalue or significance beyond their own personal victories. Theynhave learned, since early childhood, when to attack and whennto flee, and they are bound by no loyalty to principle or institution.nThe Lyndon Johnsons and Margaret Thatchers, henargues, may be kind to those who serve them, but they are incapablenof laughing at themselves, because they have no criterionnbeyond their own personal success. Such people do not becomenpolitical leaders except in countries where the entire leadershipnclass is dominated by such personality types.nIn symbolic terms, our own mling elite consists of Geoige Bushn(assisted and mirrored by James Baker, William Bennett, NewtnGingrich, and GOP chairman Rich Bond) on the Republicannside; and Bill Clinton and/or Paul Tsongas among the Democrats.nThat we have,sunk so far from the republic of Washington andnJefferson is no occasion for wonder—“All human things are sub­nlO/CHRONICLESn^•rnt nn’^’M.nm llmWnMm 1n^np/nSS-IU-‘Xn^ v ^nnnject to decay”—but that we fall so short of the glories of GrovernCleveland and Calvin Coolidge, that is the festering wound innour national conscience.nWhat a contest it will be, assuming Mr. Bush and Mr. Clintonnreceive their parties’ nominations. Unlike George Bush, Clintonnis not even a credible imitation of a man. “Governor Elvis,”nas he is sometimes known in his home state, is too cute for words,nthe Peter Jennings of politics, an Al Gore with the commonntouch, a male model who knows how to flirt and leer at thenaudiences that even he must despise for their gullibility.nBill Clinton is a very familiar type to those of us who wentnto college in the I960’s: the well-dressed frat boy who isnalready planning his political career. (Isn’t that the realnsignificance of his letter to the National Guard?)nA politician with a program to cure every human ill, Clintonnonly lacks a principle with which he can connect up all the littlendots of his policies. Selected as his party’s dream candidate,na Southern moderate, Clinton has oriented his entire campaignntoward keeping Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition within thenDemocratic Party. Even George Bush, the feeblest Republicanncandidate since Wendell Willkie, not excepting Gerald Fordnwhom he so much resembles, even George Bush ought tonbe able to mop up the floor with him, especially when more ofnthe governor’s rejected mistresses come back to haunt him.nMr. Tsongas, it must be said, is both more intelligent andnmore honest than the front-runner, but are we ready for a moralizingnprig who made his money as a lobbyist? Tsongas doesnhave the ability to laugh at himself, but that is one morensign of his superiority over lesser men. Jerry Brown, for my money,nis the best of the lot: smart, clearheaded, and brave enoughnto tell America the truth about itself, that we no longer haventhe best Congress money can buy. If we must have social democracy,nthen we would be better off under Brown, who promisesnsomething like German efficiency in the service of Catholicnsocial thought, than under either of the more prominent liberalncandidates, Clinton and Bush.nMr. Bush, to his credit, makes a good impression on foreignersnwho do not speak English. He wears his clothes well, and unlikenClinton who can never shut off his coprophagous grin, thenPresident knows how to appear graveon serious occasions. Unfortunately,nhe is another Monroe—Marilyn, not James—^whon