Highlights of the 1996 Republican Convention

* The Hutchinson attack on the Clinton administration.
* The Nancy Reagan remembrance of her husband.
* The Powell summation speech in which he identified himself as a Republican.
* The J. C. Watts (black congressman from Oklahoma) speech emphasizing family values and the opportunity offered by the U.S. to minorities.
* The Molinari keynote (dull but notable because of the deliverer).
* The Elizabeth Dole description of her husband's efforts to help people, e.g. his establishment of an institution to supply help for physically challenged individuals.
* The McCain nominating speech emphasizing Dole's concern for POW's and the identification of the fact that Dole had worn McCain's commemorative bracelet.
* The Kemp Acceptance Speech (dull but notable because of the deliverer).
* The Dole Acceptance Speech (inspirational).

Highlights of the Dole Speech

1. The times are perilous for American culture and the past was much better. If you wish a return, follow me.
2. A missile defense system is crucial.
3. A 15% across the board tax cut and a 50% reduction in capitol gains are necessary to rejuvenate the economy.
4. The Republican party is inclusive and any member who does not support that position should depart.
5. Saying "It takes a village to raise a child" is to emphasize collective responsibility and therefore to minimize the significance of the family.
6. The teacher's unions are the source of the problem in declining performance of public schools.
7. The US should avoid subordination to the UN.
8. The Clinton performance relative to the trade deficit has been poor. The US should avoid trade regimes that cause loss of domestic jobs.
9. A Dole administration would avoid diminishment of Social Security and Medicare programs.
10. The Federal Government should view itself as the servant of the people instead of the reverse.
11. The IRS should be redesigned and eliminated in its current form.
12. A revitalization of the military is necessary due to the excessive cutting done by the Clinton administration.
13. Mr. Dole describes himself as a great optimist and reiterated his belief that America's greatest days are in the future.
14. Mr. Dole said, "Age has advantages. I remember when American life was better."
15. The US should do everything to stop illegal immigration while at the same time giving every assistance to legal immigrants.
16. Mr. Dole also said, "If elected, criminals will return to hell."

My analysis:

It is courageous of Mr. Dole to suggest that American culture has so declined that we should entertain a return to the past, because the authors of the present, feminists, aren't likely to be happy to hear their handiwork described in this way. This means that Mr. Dole does not understand the forces that have put us in this position. This is no criticism, since hardly anyone does, but, for those that do, an evaluation in light of this understanding, regarding the possibility of a return to the past is available. Those forces producing our march towards feminism emanate from population pressure and will continue to assert themselves. None the less, it is probably advantageous for a president to adopt this view, since it may have the effect of minimizing the damage from forces we cannot control, for a while, at least.

The Democratic Party

Continue the current policies of:

1. Emphasis on multiculturalism as the natural solution to ethnic conflict.
2. Move U.S. institutions towards acceptance of World Government headed by the U.N. and with the U.S. playing a dominant role.
3. Emphasis on feminist values by placing feminists in government positions as frequently as possible.
4. Support in every way possible for the core feminist strategic political positions, pro-choice in reproductive rights (this is the precise issue on which Abraham based his creation of the Judeo/Christian ideology), and homo-sexual equality.

The Reform Party

1. All government programs should undergo systems analysis, solutions proposal, debate, testing and debugging before reinstallation.
2. Taxes should be simplified and adjusted so that expenditures match revenues or fall slightly short of them.
3. Illegal immigration should be ended and dealt with by deportation.
4. PAC's should be outlawed.
5. Foreign lobbyists should be disallowed.
6. The welfare system should be ended. The American Indians are a test case demonstrating that the system of federal support, since it deprives the individual of self respect, is counter productive. The only workable system is private efforts of individuals or through churches.
7. Richard Lamb pointed out that there is no difference between immigration and export of jobs, thus identifying the real problem as overpopulation.

This party is unduly preoccupied with financial issues, which may lead to disaster, but until now have not, and don't appear to be closely related to the most compelling problems of the culture.

Libertarian

1. Dramatically reduce the size of the central government and leave the problems to be dealt with by the states.
2. Discontinue restrictions against activities, such as drug use, that would generally be labeled as victimless crimes.
3. The central government should be confined to its original role as the maintainer of the nation's defense and the institution responsible for foreign relations.
4. The central government should be required to rely on revenues from import duties.

The Natural Law Party

1. Redevelop government policy in accord with current understanding of natural law.
2. Emphasize traditional environmental or green policies.
3. Use transcendentalism as a means of overcoming anti-social behavior.

The candidates of this party are members of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi founded Maharishi University in Fairfield Iowa. It is, apparently, a fully accredited university with a wide range of programs, but with a founder like the Maharishi, it cannot fail to emphasize Indian, which is to say feminist values. This is immediately detectable in the movement of emphasis from the object to the subject in the Maharishi's opening statement on the University's home page.
The Maharishi is a Vedic scholar, which is to say, Hindu.
The idea of returning to natural law must be questioned regarding its meaning. A fruitful way of doing this would be to look at cultures that exist in this state. The most basic feature of this state of being would be avoidance of the non natural. I would point to the American Indian before the arrival of Europeans as the best example of this exemplary life style, but to imagine a return to primitivism now must include acceptance of a great die off of humans. This whole idea is basically contradictory, since it envisions a marriage of feminism and masculinism, ideologies that are basically contradictory in their current state of development, and which cannot be imagined as achieving compatibility except through undevelopment or declining consciousness. This statement is also contradictory to the Maharishi's notions.

Overall Evaluation

If one compares these platforms with a prioritized list of problems, thus:

1. Crime/Cocaine distribution
2. Illegitimacy
3. Education
4. Immigration/Overpopulation

It is clear that there is no comprehensive solution proposed by anyone, though it could possibly lie in Natural Law.
The Republicans suggest that racheting up the war on drugs is the answer to the first problem, in spite of the failure of many efforts along the same lines. The source of the second problem to the extent they define it at all is suggested to be welfare. Undoubtedly related in a peripheral way but surely unrestrained sexual contact is the real cause. The third problem they lay at the door of the NEA and similar organizations. Probably correctly. The only solution offered by Dole was to ignore their power, while the Democrats endorse them without restraint. The solution offered on the fourth problem was to ignore the overpopulation question and demand border enforcement. Since, in addition to immigration, overpopulation is a function of procreation and the long standing war against anything that threatens the life of individuals, we can't expect much from the candidates here.
The Libertarians address the problem of crime by minimizing its definition. This will have the effect of taking the profit out of those activities no longer proscribed and therefore will be effective in dealing with crime. The effects on the culture of widespread legalization of destructive activities of individuals can't be predicted with any assurance, but, one would guess that America would not react dissimilarly to other countries with weak law enforcement, say Nigeria, or Mexico, or Russia.
The Reform Party is suggesting that, the only area that can be dealt with effectively in these times is the budget and this is a big enough problem to preoccupy anyone. That putting one's financial house in order will have benefits throughout the culture.
The minor parties, not surprisingly, are more honest about the problems and the prospects for solution.
Since there is no debate on what feminism actually is and what features of life it touches, there can be no expectation of actually reaching realistic conclusions, so that the expectation should be that the Democrats will proceed towards their vision of multiculturalism and one world with the U.N. as the mediator. Thus we can expect no or minimal progress on any of the four main problems. The Republicans will gradually decentralize the central government in order to rid itself of social programs it can no longer fund. It will identify feminist based problems but will not be able to alter them in any significant way due to the need to include feminists in its party. The Democrats will increase taxes and social welfare and the Republicans will do the reverse.
The minor parties would dramatically alter the course of the country. The Reform party less so than the Libertarians, but, profoundly, none the less. The Reform party, would effectively require a balanced budget amendment and an end to large political contributions. These steps would have profound consequences of an unknown variety. Since Perot is aiming at legal solutions for moral problems, (selling votes), and since those moral problems have arisen concurrently with other feminist inspired problems, and since, in general feminism favors chaos over order, we can safely conclude that such immorality as afflicts lawmakers has more to do with the rise of feminism than other factors and therefore may not be accessible by laws. That is to say that, if laws are passed eliminating large scale contributions in public, they will move underground.
Decentralization of the sort envisioned by the Libertarians is currently being accomplished in Russia. Perhaps it would be neater here, who knows?
The one party to offer potentially comprehensive solutions is the Natural Law Party, but their positions and orientation are so foreign to common thought in this country that it cannot be imagined that they will begin to have serious impact for several more years, yet.
One supposes that the function of political seasons is to rejuvenate the problem solving spirit among the participants. To talk inspirationally about the prospects for reducing problems by reversing the policies of one's opponents and by providing a forum in which chauvinism is allowed to provide its warm glow of comradeship.

So, to review, the Republicans are proposing a return to masculinism while the Democrats propose continued development of feminism. The Reform Party suggests that basic management skills need to be emphasized, while the Libertarians suggest dissolution of the central government. Finally, the Natural Law Party proposes transcendental meditation as a solution.