I think

that if they mulled it over carefully, most conservatives

- nonpolitical ones, I mean - would agree that,

of all the changes they would like to see in our

government, the two most critical are the permanent

dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service and the

ratification of a balanced budget amendment.

When I say

"nonpolitical," I mean conservatives like me,

average folks who want to see our freedoms preserved but

who are not attached at the hip to any political party.

We vote

Republican more often than not, at least on the national

level, because that's the party most likely to do the

things we want done. But after we vote for Republicans,

we watch them with a certain amount of cynicism to see if

they are really going to do what we want done, or if they

just said they were going to do those things to get our

votes.

A case in

point is term limits. They were part of the so-called

contract with America, and part of the reason the voters

turned Congress over to Republicans. And although

Republicans did, in fact, fulfill all of the promises in

the contract - to bring all ten items to a

vote - you can tell which items they considered

truly important because they brought them up again and

again.

Correct me

if I'm wrong, but I don't think I've heard one word about

term limits out of the Republican Party since the one

vote failed. Limits are pretty much a token issue, placed

on the contract because polls showed that conservatives

want them.

But

politicians of any stripe, once elected, get to liking

the power, the ego-stroking attention, the many personal

benefits lavished on members of Congress, and they don't

want to give that up no matter what their constituents

want - no matter what they may have wanted

themselves when they first decided to seek office.

The need

for term limits is not the top issue on my list, but it's

a lot more important than you might think. A return to a

citizen House made up of people from all walks of life

who go back to their former pursuits after six or eight

years of service would be a watershed change that would

automatically shift the focus of those people while they

are in office.

But doing

away with the graduated income tax so that the majority

of Americans no longer have to fear their government, and

placing within the Constitution a guarantee that our

leaders won't buy today's votes with tomorrow's dollars

are "tens" on a scale of ten, whereas the term

limits issue is around a three.

Unfortunately,

our Republican Congress has focused its efforts on trying

to out-Clinton Clinton. Congressmen are fighting with

Clinton over each program and each budget, trying to show

that they can spend more than he does on some of the

hot-button items, but doing it in a way that's more

Republican.

Currently

it's education. They put more money in the education

budget than Clinton was asking for, but tagged it as

block grants to give the states ultimate control rather

than the federal government.

If you want

to give the states ultimate control, then leave the money

in the states to start with. Don't collect those taxes at

all. Do away with the federal Department of Education

entirely.

But in the

meantime, don't give in to tunnel vision and get so

focused on those little fights that you forget what's

most important. Take advantage of your control of

Congress and mount some serious efforts toward a balanced

budget amendment, and income tax eradication - not

reform, eradication.

We

conservatives don't have much of a choice. If we put

Democrats back in control, they wouldn't balance the

budget for one year, much less limit themselves to doing

so in the future.

The Reform

Party? I believe in diversity, but not total disparity.

There's no agreement among the leading candidates as to

what that party is all about, so it's basically a joke.

But here's

a warning, Republican leaders. If someone comes along and

puts together a truly conservative, no-nonsense party

with a balanced budget amendment and tax reform as the

foundation of its platform, and then finds some

candidates who can articulate their philosophy and fight

for a basic, conservative government, you won't have to

worry about alienating your base... you won't have one. 8`

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