Bob Dole's acceptance speech.

Bob Dole's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was eagerly anticipated and widely praised. Beyond the pretty - even Helprinesque-prose,though,it represents perhaps the most comprehensive document of what, as of today, Dole will do as president (especially since he has done what the can to distance himself from his party's platform). Hence, the annotation - of inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and just plain bad ideas - that follows. President Clinton's speech had its problems - notably his preference for promising new government goodies for every class of Americans over taking on issues, such as entitlements, that require hard choices and sacrifice. Still, there were few surprises based on his record of the past four years. And of course, Dole didn't mention entitlements either - except to promise to protect them.

...to those who say it was never so, that America has not been better, I say, you're wrong, and I know, because I was there. And I have seen it. And I remember. And our nation, though wounded and scathed, has outlasted revolution, civil war, world war, racial oppression and economic catastrophe.... What enabled us to accomplish this has little to do with the values of the present. After decades of assault upon what made America great, upon supposedly obsolete values, what have we reaped? What have we created? What do we have? What we have in the opinion of millions of Americans is crime and drugs, illegitimacy, abortion, the abdication of duty, and the abandonment of children....

Most of the problems Dole identifies would seem to predate Clinton's ascension. If values trickle down, as Dole argues here, our decaying moral fiber - much in evidence in the 1980s - is certainly as attributable to George Bush and Ronald Reagan as it is to Bill Clinton.

Only right conduct distinguishes a great nation from one that cannot rise above itself. It has never been otherwise. Right conduct every day at every level, in all facets of life - the decision of a child not to use drugs, of a student not to cheat, of a young woman or young man to serve when called, of a screenwriter to refuse to add to the mountains of trash, of a businessman not to bribe, of a politician to cast the vote or take action that will put his office or his chances of victory at risk but which is right.

Dole seems to have forgotten his opportunistic election-year conversion to supply side tax cuts, which he had long and wisely resisted, or indeed his own vice-presidential nominee's politically expedient decision to abandon long held positions on the rights of immigrants and affirmative action because the Dole-Kemp team thought it would enhance their prospects for victory.

And why have so many of us - and I do not exclude myself, for I am not the model of perfection - why have so many of us been failing these tests for so long? The answer is not a mystery. It is, to the contrary, quite simple and can be given quite simply. It is because, for too long, we have had a leadership that has been unwilling to risk the truth, to speak without calculation, to sacrifice itself. An administration in its very existence communicates this day by day until it flows down like rain and the rain becomes a river and the river becomes a flood.... Now, which is more important? Wealth or honor? It is not, as was said by the victors four years ago, "the economy, possess the wit and determination to deal with many questions, but certainly not limited to them.

Dole is right that values as well as economics matter. But he doesn't acknowledge the link between the two. An unmoderated free market economy inevitably encourages a profit-at-any-cost mentality, which leads to the sorts of activities, whether violent screenplays or businessmen offering bribes, he deplores.

All things do not flow from wealth or poverty. I know this first hand, and so do you. All things flow from doing what is right. The triumph of this nation, the triumph of this nation lies not in its material wealth but in courage, sacrifice, and honor. We tend to forget this when our leaders forget it, and we tend to remember it when they remember it.... In the last presidential election, in the last presidential election, you, the people, were gravely insulted. You were told that the material was not only the most important of these three but, in fact, really the only one that really mattered. I don't hold to that for a moment.

[But] No one can deny the importance of material well-being. And in this regard it is time to recognize that we have surrendered too much of our economic liberty.

I do not appreciate the value of economic liberty nearly as much for what it has done in keeping us fed as to what it's done in keeping us free. The freedom of the marketplace is not merely the best guarantor of our prosperity, it is the chief guarantor of our rights. And a government that seizes control of the economy for the good of the people ends up seizing control of the people for the good of the economy.

And our opponents portray the right to enjoy the fruits of one's own time and labor as a kind of selfishness against which they must fight for the good of the nation. But they are deeply mistaken, for when they gather to themselves the authority to take the earnings and direct the activities of the people, they are fighting not for our sake, but for the power to tell us what to do.

And you now work from the first of January into May just to pay your taxes, so that the party of government can satisfy its priorities with the sweat of your brow, because they think that what you would do with your own money would be morally and practically less admirable than what they would do with it. And that has simply got to stop. It's got to stop in America. It is demeaning to the nation that within the Clinton administration a corps of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered and never learned, should have the power to fund with our earnings their dubious and self-serving schemes .... I say, let the people be free to keep as much of what they earn as the government can strain with all its might not to take, not the other way around. I trust the American people to work in the best interest of the people. And I believe that every family, wage earner and small business in America can do better if only we have the right policies in Washington, D.C.

This is, to put it mildly, misleading. First, Dole is referring to all taxes that Americans pay: federal income tax, payroll and excise taxes, and state and local taxes. To attribute all of those to the "party of government" - i.e. the Democrats - is akin to, well, calling World Wars I and II "Democrat wars." In addition, Dole's tax cut addresses only the federal income tax, which constitutes only about a third of the taxes that were used to come up with the "January through May" construction. In fact, the typical American works only until January 30 to pay his or her federal income taxes, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Second, Dole's calculus is based on "average" taxes paid. The problem, though, is that in a progressive tax system there's no such thing. Calculating averages - total taxes divided by total income - gives disproportionate weight to the larger taxes paid by the wealthy. Dole should use medians.

Finally, over three quarters of Americans pay more in federal payroll taxes than they do in federal income tax; the payroll tax, arguably, is the real burden on working men and women. Nothing in Dole's tax proposal addresses this fact.

And make no mistake about it: my economic program is the right policy for America and for the future and for the next century. And here's what it will mean to you:

* It means you will have a president who will urge Congress to pass and send to the states for ratification a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. It means you will have a president and a Congress who will have the will to balance the budget by the year 2002.

Dole has yet to specify exactly how he will do this; his proposed tax cut would eventually add $132 billion a year (in 1996 dollars) to the federal budget deficit, according to estimates by Citizens for Tax Justice. Yet Dole has said Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans' benefits, defense spending, and energy labs are off limits for budget cuts. We are eager for an explanation of how he's going to balance the budget and fund his tax cut at the same time.

* It means you will have a president who will reduce taxes 15 percent across the board for every taxpayer in America. It will include a $500 per child has credit for lower-and middle-income families. Taxes for a family of four making $35,000 would be reduced by more than half, 56 percent to be exact. And that's a big, big reduction.

What Dole doesn't say is that, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, the richest 1 percent of all families would save an average of $29,000 a year in taxes under Dole's plan - and would get 27 percent of the total tax cut. (These figures are based on all the proposed Dole cuts, including the capital gains tax cut.)

* It means you'll have a president who will help small businesses, the businesses that create most new jobs, by reducing the capital gains tax rate by 50 percent. Cut it in half.

The notion that slashing the capital gains tax in half will stimulate massive growth is a fallacy. The existing capital gains tax break already does more to funnel money to existing businesses than to small businesses, because it provides equal rewards for investing in new businesses and merely trading. Given that, who wouldn't play it safe by buying and selling the Standard & Poor 500, rather than investing in a start-up?

* It means you will have a president who will end the IRS as we know it.

* It means you will have a president who will expand individual retirement accounts, repeal President Clinton's Social Security tax increase, provide estate tax relief, reduce government regulation, reform our civil justice system, provide educational opportunity scholarships, and a host of other proposals that will create more opportunity, and security for all Americans and all across America And I will not stop there. Working with Jack Kemp and a Republican Congress, I will not be satisfied until we have reformed our entire tax code, and made it fairer, and flatter and simpler for the American people. The principle involved here is time-honored and true: and that is, it's your money. You shouldn't have to apologize for wanting to keep what you earn. To the contrary, the government should apologize for taking too much of it.

The only Social Security tax increase Clinton enacted was on those able to afford it: seniors with incomes over $34,000. By Dole's own estimates, revoking that increase would mean the loss of $27 billion in revenues from 1993 to 2002.

As notable as what Dole addresses here is what he ignores: Will he protect Medicaid? What about Head Start? Dole doesn't mention any programs that help anyone but senior citizens. The elderly aren't the only Americans who need a helping hand from government; they just happen to be the most politically powerful.

The Clinton administration just doesn't get it and that's why they have got to go.... I have learned in my own life, from my own experience, that not every man, woman, or child man, woman or child can make it on their own. And that in a time of need, the bridge between failure and success can be the government itself. And given all that I have experienced, I shall always remember those in need. And that is why I helped I will be the president who preserves, protects, and strengthens Medicare for America's senior citizens. Let me speak about immigration. The right and obligation of a sovereign nation to control its own borders is beyond debate. We should not h e here a single illegal immigrant. But the question of immigration is broader than that, and let me be specific. A family from Mexico who arrived here this morning, legally, has as much right to the American dream as the direct descendants of the founding fathers.

But they don't have the same right to social services. The recently passed welfare reform law denies legal immigrants the welfare benefits available to citizens, and the immigration bill the Senate passed in May (which Dole voted for) would make it much more difficult for legal immigrants to obtain various federal services, from legal aid to Head Start.

The Republican Party is broad and inclusive.... The notion that we are and should be one people rather than "peoples" of the United States seems so self-evident and obvious that it is hard for me to imagine that I must defend it.... The principle of unity has been with us in all our successes. The 10th Mountain Division, which I served in Italy, and the black troops of the 92nd Division who fought nearby, were the proof for me, once again, of the truth I'm here trying to convey. The war was fought just a generation after America's greatest and most intense period of immigration. And yet, when the blood of the sons of the immigrants and the grandsons of slaves fell on foreign fields, it was American blood. In it you could not read the ethnic particulars of the soldier who died next to you. He was an American....

The black trooped Dole refers to were in the 92nd division because a segregated U.S. Army confined blacks to their own units, in only two divisions. None of the 1.2 million African Americans who fought in World War II received a Medal of Honor; 50 years later, the Army acknowledged that racism was the reason. When black soldiers were injured, they were usually placed in segregated hospital wards. And when they came home from the war, their "ethnic particulars" were very much an issue.

The guiding light of my administration will be that in this country we have no rank order by birth, no claim to favoritism by race, no expectation of judgment other than it be evenhanded. And we cannot guarantee the outcome, but we shall guarantee the opportunity in America. I will speak plainly on another subject of importance. We are not educating all of our children. Too many are being forced to about the fads of the moment. Not for nothing are we the biggest education spenders and among the lowest education achievers among the leading industrial nations. The teachers, unions nominated Bill Clinton in 1992, they are funding his re-election now, and they, his most reliable supporters, know he will maintain the status quo. And I say this - I say this not to the teachers, but to their unions-I say this: If education were a war, you would be losing it. If it were a business, you would be driving it into bankruptcy. If it were a patient, it would be dying. And to the teachers, unions I say, when I am president, I will disregard your political power, for the sake of the parents, the children, the schools, and the nation.

Dole is right to challenge the teachers' unions' priorities: As this magazine has many times noted, they to often put self-preservation over the interests of children. And he's right that Chelsea Clinton doesn't deserve a better education than any education than any other Washington, DC, child. But the school choice and vouchers that Dole advocates aren't the answer. His "Opportunity Scholarships" would give 4 million low and middle income families $1,000 for a child in high school, to be applied to public, private, or parochial schools. The problem is that tuition at Chelsea's school starts at $11,851. No voucher is going to get an inner city child there. There are some inner city parochial schools with tuition as low as $1,300 - but certainly not enough to accommodate all the children now stuck in sinking public schools. He's essentially advocating that we abandon the public schools; since most low-income children won't be able to afford a decent private school, that will mean a two-tiered (or, more accurately, multi-tiered) education system in which those with money have a way out, and those without are left on the Titanic.

I plan to enrich your vocabulary with those words you fear, school choice and competition and opportunity scholarships, all this for low and middle income families so that you will join the rest of us in accountability, while others compete with you for the commendable privilege of giving our children a real education.

There is no reason why those who live on any street in America should not have the same right as the person who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the right to send your child to the school of your choice. And if we want to reduce crime, if we want to reduce crime and drug use and teen pregnancies, let's start by giving all our children a first-class education.

And I also want these children to inherit a country that is far safer than it is at present.... And as our many and voracious criminals go to bed tonight, at, say rD in the morning, they had better pray that I lose the election. Because if I win, the lives of violent criminals are going to be hell.

During the Reagan administration, we abolished parole at the federal level. In the Dole administration, we will work with the nation's governors to abolish parole for violent criminals all across America. And with my national instant check initiative, we will keep all guns out of the hands of criminals. And I have been asked if I have a litmus test for litmus test for judges is that they be intolerant of outrage, that their passion is not to interpret the Constitution, that they are restrained in regard to those who live within the law and strict with those who break it....

And for those who say that I should not make President Clinton's liberal judicial appointments an issue of this campaign, I have a simple response. I have heard your argument: the motion is denied...

On the whole, Clinton's appointees to the bench haven't been all that liberal - certainly nowhere near as liberal as Reagan and Bush's were conservative. Clinton has concentrated on appointing moderates more notable for their diversity than their radical legal philosophy.

And it must be said: Because of misguided priorities, there have been massive cuts in funding for our national security. I believe President Clinton has failed to adequately provide for our defense. And for whatever reason his neglect, it is irresponsible. He believes that defending our people and our territory from missile attack is unnecessary. I do not. And on my first day in office, I will put America on a course that will end our vulnerability to missile attack....

Dole's grasp on the facts here is slippery. Clinton spent $3 billion on a missile defense system in FY 1996 alone; he has adopted a strategy that would have a "test-ready" ballistic missile defense system ready by 1999. Then, if the system is deemed necessary, the deployment stage will begin. As of now, we don't have the technology for a missile defense system; deployment isn't yet an option. Not only that, but on one level, defending America against a missile attack is unnecessary - as of now, no country hostile to the United States has a long-range weapon able to reach an American city. (For more on Dole and Clinton's approach to missile defense, see "May the Force Be With You" in the September Washington Monthly.)

And I ask for our vote so that I may bring you an administration fundamental issue is not of policy, but of trust-not merely whether the people trust the president, but whether the president and his party trust the people, trust in their goodness and their genius for recovery.... For the government cannot direct the people, the people must direct the government. This is not the outlook of my opponent-and he is my opponent, not my enemy....He and his party brought us the biggest tax increase in the history America....

This is an oft-repeated Dole charge (on other occasions, he's claimed that the Clinton tax increase was the largest "in the history of the world"). Unfortunately, it's not true. In 1982 Dole pushed through the Senate, and Ronald Reagan signed, a tax increase nearly twice the size of Clinton's, when measured as a percent of GDP. The truth is that Clinton's tax increases (which, by the way, have helped halve the deficit during his term) raised taxes only on the top 5 percent of american families - and it lowered taxes on the bottom 10 percent.

With my feet on the ground, and my heart filled with hope, I put my faith in you and in the God who loves us all. For I am convinced that America's best days are yet to come....