Douglas Wilder made a splash in New Hampshire lastnAugust, when he devoted a pre-campaign speech tonthe theme of putting America first. “We cannot focus all ournenergies on the international arena at the expense ofnAmerica’s finances and economic health.” Denying he is annisolationist, Wilder asked, “If jobs are going to be found,nwhy not for Americans? If schools are going to be built, whynnot schools for Americans?”nIn part, Wilder’s patriotic rhetoric derives from thenDemocratic strategy of conceding Mr. Bush his foreignnpolicy successes and scoring off his poor showing onndomestic issues. But there is a growing sentiment that thenRepublicans want to hold on to the White House not innorder to run the country but only to control the StatenDepartment. Peace in the Middle East occupied so much ofntheir time that they have none to spare on bringing peace tonBrooklyn or Los Angeles. What is left of the U.S.S.R. isnimportant, the Republicans insist, because of its potential fornworld markets, but in America SAT scores continue tondecline. How are these ignorant savages — that is, ournchildren — going to compete against European childrennwho learn math, foreign languages, and the habits ofndiscipline?nWilliam Bennett, upon resigning his position as Secretarynof Education, declared victory in the SAT battie. Later on asn”Drug Czar,” he presumably licked the drug problem in thenUnited States. On the strength of these victories, he nownholds multiple positions on foundations as the RepublicannParty’s guru on American culture. His groups hold meetingsnon the state of American culture and invite all the usualn12/CHRONICLESnPERSPECTIVEnAmerica Firstn1941/1991nby Thomas Flemingnnnjournalists and report-writers from D.C. and New York. Allnthat’s missing are novelists, poets, playwrights, painters,nmusicians, and film directors — anyone, in short, who hasnanything practical to do with American culture.nThere, in a nutshell, is the Republican Party in the 90’s:nspeeches without substance, policies without results, distinctionsnwithout differences. They are allowed to go on in thisnway for two reasons: first, because the Democrats are tooncowardly to oppose the President on any fundamental point;nthey showed a whole warbonnet full of white feathers duringnthe so-called Gulf War. Secondly, the American people ofnall classes and levels of income are a lot dumber than H.L.nMencken ever dreamed. Give him a bellyful of instant food,na case of beer (or Chardonnay), and a medicine cabinet fullnof prescription dope, titillate him with a steady stream of softnporn on his VCR, and the American voter will ignore thenevidence of his senses and support the Tweedledums ornTweedledees offered by the two wings of the ruling party.nThe Democrats, give them their due, have some faintnnotion of what is wrong. American voters, they mustnbelieve, will grow tired of watching the evening news: Serbsnkilling Croats, Zulus killing Xhosa, amateur night in thenKremlin, and who knows what bogus international crisis willnbe used to boost the ratings next week. It is a cozy littienconspiracy between the networks desperate for viewers andnthe administration desperate for votes, although my wifeninsists that the various Eastern European and Third Woddnthugs hold scheduling conferences to determine who gets tontake over the headlines this week. Eventually, the Democratsnhope, the mob will get tired of their circuses and beginn