posted 04-23-2004 05:25 PM            

http://www.etherzone.com/2004/sabr042304.shtml

By: Murray Sabrin

Politics, we have been told ad nauseum, is the art of compromise. Supposedly, neither the left nor the right can enact all it wants, and therefore must "compromise" with the other side so we can reach a happy medium. That's been the mantra of virtually all political pundits.

Historically, the right has done all the compromising. The growth of government in the United States since the Hoover and Roosevelt New Deal has been more like a steamroller rather than a give-and-take between the right and left.

The so-called conservative movement is supposed to be a cohesive force for limiting government, lowering taxes, protecting the unborn and protecting owners of property and guns. In short, real conservatives are supposed to be skeptical of centralized power and defer decisions to states and local communities to deal with many social issues. Moreover, real conservatives prefer the private sector and nonprofit sector to play the leading roles in society, not the state, in creating institutions and delivering goods and services to the public.

On international issues, the conservative movement is split. The neoconservatives want to intervene in the Middle East and other regions to spread the blessings of liberty and democracy. The "isolationists" do not want to use the military to intervene for "democratic" nation building.

President Bush, one would think, as leader of the Republican Party and alleged conservative, would want to have as many proponents of limited government in Congress to enact a conservative agenda. Instead, we have witnessed the greatest scam in American politics.

By endorsing Senator Arlen Specter and actively campaigning for him in Pennsylvania this past week, President Bush has embraced the second most left-wing member of the Republicans Party in the United States Senate.

Bush said the following about Arlen Specter: "He is a tough and principled legislator. He can get things done for the people of Pennsylvania. He's a little bit independent-minded sometimes. There's nothing wrong with that. He is dedicated to the people of this state."

According to Pat Toomey's website, the congressman who is challenging Senator Specter in the primary, Citizens Against Government Waste gave the three-term House member a 94% rating while Spector was rated 54%, the second worst among all Senate Republicans. The National Taxpayer's Union has given Toomey a lifetime rating of A, and Specter a C grade.

Specter is pro abortion, pro gun control, pro hate crimes legislation, pro human cloning, and pro quotas, and supports virtually all the left wing's domestic agenda. In short, Specter votes no differently than most Democrats.

And President Bush has endorsed Arlen Specter with all his heart and soul.

For conservatives who still believe President Bush is with them, his endorsement of Arlen Specter speaks volumes about the president's real agenda--to continue governing like another Texas president who took us to war on false pretenses and expanded the welfare state.