EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, ].0. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnfanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnEILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja Tn/ioviernLEGAL-AEFAIRS EDI TORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnCIRCLILATION MANACiERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternApubliaition of The Rocl^ford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IE 6110?.rnWebsite: uuAV.chronicle.sniagazine.orgrnEditorial Phone: (815)964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-58B.rnSubscription Department: P.O. 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Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernrelumed unless accompanied h- a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnV o l . : ^ , No, S 1LI 21)01rnI’rintcd in the I inik-tl Slates orAmcnt.irnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn George W, BushrnWilliam Murchison’s take on PresidentrnGeorge W. Bush (Cultural Revolutions,rnFebruary) reminded me of a cartoonrncalled “Jim’s journal” that I used to see inrnone of the student newspapers at the Universityrnof Wisconsin. This simplisticrndrawing, complete with stick-figure characters,rncentered around Jim and his dailyrnlife. For every event, whether mundanernor extraordinar)’, he would reply with thernword “okay.” “I went to the store todayrnand it was okav,” or “I went on a walk andrnit was okay,” or “I spent five-and-a-halfrnyears in college and it was okay.” Thatrnwas the gag.rnThus, Mr. Murchison’s Bush, as governorrnof Texas, was “okay.” As president,rnhe’ll be “okay,” too, and when his four orrneight years are all over and done with,rnAmerica will be “okay.” Not being a Texan,rnnor having lived in Texas when Bushrnwas governor or knov’ing him either informallyrnor personally as Mr. Murchisonrndoes, I will respectfull}’ defer judgmentrnon these points. And Mr. Murchison isrnright when he says that we will not see arnLani Guinier enforcing civil-rights laws,rna Lawrence Tribe on the Supreme Court,rnor a veto of a partial-birth abortion ban inrna Bush administration. But we couldrnhave gotten this from a Pat Buchanan,rnHowie Phillips, or Harn’ Browne administrationrnas well, or the administration ofrnmost of the other Republicans who werernrunning for president last year. ThatrnBush is the one in the WTiite House andrnnot one of these others savs a lot about therncurrent state of the Republican Party.rnBesides those things Mr. Murchisonrnmentioned in his piece, there are manyrnother initiatives we won’t see in a Bushrnadministration. We won’t see a reductionrnin government agencies or a rollingrnback of regulations, a repeal of NAFTArnor GATT, anv limitations on immigration,rnor the return of our troops from thernfar-flung posts of the empire.rnhi fact, in just the first couple of weeksrnof the new government, we saw appointedrnas labor secretary a person who knowinglyrnbroke the law by harboring illegalrnaliens and then lied to the FBI about it;rnwatched the current expansion of governmentrninto education continue unabatedrnwith the administration’s education proposals;rnand witnessed the creation of arnbrand-new go ernment bureaucracy, runrnby Democrats, to dispense taxpayer fundsrnto religious charities and organizations.rnYou don’t have to be an atheist or a memberrnof the ACLU to see the inherent dangerrnof extending the tentacles of governmentrninto the private and spiritual realm.rnIn fact, the next time you receive therncollection plate at church, the moneyrnyou give may very well go to pay thernhigh-priced lobbyist that the church hasrnsent to Washington to get more fundingrnfrom the federal government for its souprnkitchen, provided it meets OSHA andrnEPA standards after a thorough inspection.rn(Gee, weren’t both of tho.sernagencies bequeathed to us by RichardrnNixon?)rnAll of this signals the return of thernGOP to a Western Furopean/GanadianrnTor)’ conserx’atism, commonplace in thernadministrations of Eisenhower/Nixon/rnBush pere. Republican officeholdersrndon’t talk about this change becausernthey’re too busv taxing, spending, and distributingrnenough boodle to stay in power.rnBut the political record shows that suchrnTorvism caused the destruction of thernProgressive Gonservatives in Ganada, thernwreckage of the Gonservatives in Britain,rnthe defeat of conservative opposition partiesrnin Europe, and the near-collapse ofrnthe GOP after Watergate. Whether thatrnwill happen to the current GOP is unclear.rnBut the track record is not promising.rnPerhaps in mv sixth decade, I willrnagree that getting the best you can isrn”okay.” But at a youthful 28,1 would likernto believe that there is something betterrnout there for nnself, my future famih’,rnand my homeland than just “okay.”rn— Sean ScallonrnEast Ellsworth, WJrnSave a Stamp! E-mail your letters to the editor to:rnFolemics@ChroniclesM(i^azine.or£frn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn