The "Compassionate Conservative".

One of the most dangerous far-right presidential candidates up for election in 2000--George W. Bush--is running as a moderate rather than on his right-wing agenda. The Republican govenor of Texas claims his agenda is one of "compassionate conservatism" but his track record paints a different picture.

One of Bush's priorities in 1999 has been a parental notification law that defines a fetus as "an individual human organism from fertilization until birth." This definition means that a Texas girl seventeen years old or younger who becomes pregnant, as a result of rape or otherwise, cannot get a prescription for the "morning-after" pill to prevent implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus--the same pill given to Kosovar women who were raped, despite the Vatican's objection. It also means that grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, and aunts cannot be a substitute parent, regardless of how abusive or neglectful of their daughter a parent might be. Actually, only one in four children live in two-parent families in Texas.

Bush signed the notification measure into law after he had started his presidential campaign and described himself as a "compassionate conservative." But such a law cannot fit the definition of conservatism, which various dictionaries cite as a term for social and political philosophy or attitudes stressing traditional values and rejecting sudden radical change. Under any definition, Bush has rejected the traditional definition of a person and given a fertilized egg weighing a fraction of an ounce--with no body, brain, or sex--the rights now given only to those who have been born.

As for Bush's claim to be compassionate, the Texas Observer has been quick to refute it. In its June 25, 1999, edition, Lucius Lomax recounts a scene at the governor's mansion in the presence of a small tour group:

   An aide abruptly appeared with papers he held out to the Governor. "It's
   the death warrants to sign, Governor. There are two executions scheduled
   for tonight."

      Absentmindedly, the governor took the offered pen. But in mid-signature
   he lifted his hand. He looked hard at his aide.

      "They're not white, are they?"

      The aide flashed a nervous smile. "Governor," he asked, "would we do
   that to you?"

      "It's not a woman either, is it? I'm not executing any more damn women.
   That last one--I was getting telegrams from as far away as Bolivia. What
   the damn Bolivians, or anyone else in Europe, know about law and order in
   Texas I can't imagine."

      The aide reassured him. "Both prisoners are male, Governor. One's black
   and one's Hispanic. Nothing out of the ordinary."

      Pacified, Bush nodded. "That's okay then," he said. In an instant the
   aide retrieved the signed warrants and was gone.

On April 6, the Observer disputes Governor Bush's "successful record in Texas," as stated in a fundraising letter to wealthy New Hampshire Republicans. Commenting on the letter's claim that Bush pushed through the largest tax cut in Texas history--a $1 billion property tax cut--the Observer notes:

   The property tax cut money "dissolved" (disappeared) the moment it hit the
   school districts, which had to raise rates to compensate for the loss in
   revenue. And it came from a supposed budget "surplus" in a state that is
   47th in the delivery of social services and 38th in teacher salaries.

Commenting on the letter's claim that Bush reduced the growth of state government spending to its lowest rate in twenty-five years, the newspaper says:

   Bush's Texas is "lowest" or nearly lowest in a lot of things: 47th in per
   capita state funding for public health; 51st (below DC) in the percentage
   of children without health insurance; 50th in the percentage of poor
   working parents without health insurance ... 48th in spending for parks and
   recreation; 49th in spending for the arts.

With respect to the letter's claim of "restoring local control" to public schools and "raising standards," the Observer notes that "Bush supports school vouchers; e.g., taking money from public schools and handing it to private school parents in a transparent giveaway." And in response to the claim that Bush "reduced the welfare rolls by 335,000 people, a 47% reduction," the Observer counters, "If you make 'em disappear, the poor no longer exist. A half a million Texans remain officially unemployed, and more than half of those kicked off the rolls have not been able to find work."

The June 11 Observer criticizes Bush's decision to aid Texas industrial polluters, primarily the big power companies: "In 1997, when state regulators proposed that `grandfathered' industrial facilities, exempt from the Texas Clean Air Act since 1971, finally be required to follow the law, Governor Bush quickly counterattacked." He pressured the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission to create a "voluntary" program instead of one required by law. Bush later promised reduction of 25,000 tons of pollution per year, but an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund ten months after showed "only three companies had actually reduced emissions, and then by only one-sixth of the promised total." The Austin-based nonprofit Public Research Works reports that Bush received more than half a million dollars in campaign contributions from forty-three of the top 100 polluters. And the May 14 Observer writes that Bush's "exploratory presidential campaign raised more than $316,000 from PACs, individuals, and law firms with connections to the top 100 grandfathered polluters from March 4 to March 31 alone."

Bush also approves cutting taxes for the wealthy and, in some cases, the middle class. But he isn't interested in using either tax income or government to lift poor people out of poverty. Neither does he believe in universal health coverage or health insurance for all children. In April he signed into law a $45 million tax break for the oil and gas industry but rejected insurance for all children. A member of the Texas legislature quoted in the May 9 Kansas City Star says, "I know a whole lot of uninsured children but I don't know a lot of poor oilmen."

Finally, like most "good" Texans, Bush opposes gun control. According to the April 4 Kansas City Star:

   In Bush's Texas, permits to carry concealed weapons are legal. Texans with
   valid permits were charged with 2,104 crimes, including 16 murders and 103
   cases of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. There were 28
   arrests for rape or sexual assault, and more than one in every 20 arrests
   of concealed handgun license holders involved family violence.

In June he signed into law a bill making it illegal for any city or local government to file suit against gun manufacturers.

If Bush is elected president in 2000, he'll be sure to do to the rest of the United States what he's done to Texas--and that's a frightening prospect.

John M. Swomley has a Ph.D. in political science and international affairs from the University of Colorado and is professor emeritus of social ethics at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri.3