The Making of the New Majority Party
Oliver, Daniel
are encouraging and offer a hopeful sign that we are moving toward our goal." By the middle of June the Food Price Indicators were moving up again. A staff report stated: "The price of...
...lot by discussing some of Ford's acts, ^usher invites the reader to think of nhers (many of which will have occurred fter he wrote), and the others are notne must he honest-all that bad...
...But then again, Grayson says th book is an account of "what happene when an 'economic jury' [the Price Con mission} got together—a lawyer, an ai countant, two economists, a busines school dean, a businessman, a politicia —and substituted their collective judf ment for that of the marketplace...
...Fortunately, such "appropriate action" was neither authorized nor taken...
...Is it a flesh ofesi lie is in mind...
...Rusher's main problem is to keep the reader's mind on the argument in his book and off the newspapers, because Rusher must convince him that a new party is a necessity and not allow President Ford to persuade him that it is not-the burden of which task is made heavier by the Presidential focus of our politics and the conservative nature of our President...
...And he has, perhaps not in_identally, two of the most conservative conomic advisers in Washington that a -ree-market conservative could desire...
...And that is certainly a paradox: at the cry moment the formation of a new party (rms to be a real possibility for conervatives, the occupant of the White louse is the most conservative President ie have had since-well, since the 1Mt^t latit Of the day became the imumlaut istics...
...Even the most ardent advocates of central direction of resource allocation admit that their schemes would require enormous amounts of information and data as well as sophisticated models and decision making criteria...
...But it is the "basic issue" that is key and, in a thesis he shares with Jeffrey Hart and Kevin Phillips, Rusher says that that issue is the division of the country into two groups, producers and non-producers, with the country, of the prt ducers so to speak, being run by the nor producers for the nonproducers...
...In other words, the Commission's price controls were ineffective in the face of market supply and demand forces...
...What is the fresh )11',Ci-V..tii'.c impulse he speaks of...
...His handling of the fayaguez affair was vintage gunboat .liplomacy...
...How then do you change Congress...
...I wonder what advice Grayson would have received from Harvard economists who do want to hurt business Grayson's Chapter 11 contains hi: assessment of the general impact of prici controls and his worried projections fo the future of a free society with such con trots...
...In a recent pot 59% of the voters described themselvi as, in some sense, conservative, but-and the future, very likely, of the co servative cause and the fate of the natic hang in the balance—whether they w 32 The Alternative: An American Spectator August/September 19i all march under the same banner remains to be seen...
...Box 877, 131 Enclosed is $.e...
...The Administration has announced its intention to control the regulatory agencies (freeing up the rail-toad, trucking, and airline industries...
...and (4) "a strikingly weak leadership and organizational structure in the party to be replaced...
...Book Review/Daniel Oliver The 59 Percent Solution • A William A. Rusher's compelling new book, even if it is 179 degrees off course, will do great service for the conservative cause by forcing politicians to worry about conservative voters...
...And clearly some nominal members of the Republican Party (e.g., Javits) would be happier if they were to follow some of their erstwhile party colleagues (Lindsay, Reid) into the Democratic Party...
...And on a more substantive level, Ford, after signing a horrendous tax cut bill, seems determined to veto future spending legislation...
...The Price Commission, by its own admission, was not in possession of such intelligence and techniques...
...Ford tried to reform social spending (his attempt to cut food stamps and social security increases was blocked by Congress...
...Nonetheless, some say "it" won't work, by which they mean that the political process (in this case, trying to form a new vehicle for carrying the majority's interests) is bound to fail us-a devastating critique of democracy...
...Then he posits four requirements for replacing a major party: (1) A basic issue (like slavery in 1856) that divides at least the party to be replaced and probably the other one as well...
...It is Congress...
...Just complete the coupon below and mail it today...
...Rusher...
...2) a "fresh impulse" reflecting a firm viewpoint on that issue...
...When the commissioners did consult with professionals they apparently received advice consistent with their casual approach to the problem: "I gathered about ten economists from Harvard College and the Harvard Business School, and their advice was to crack down harder on profits—not necessarily because they wanted to hurt business, but because they felt it was essential to keep public support, to hold labor to their 5.5 percent, and to hold down prices...
...It is also recommended that appropriate action be taken by the Council to alleviate the shortage of supply...
...1itA Int...
...3) a "counter-tendency" among some members of theparty to be replaced causing them to seek happiness in the other party...
...Similar reports were made for pork, fruits, and vegetables and "predictions were that prices would continue near present levels, or even go higher...
...Valid, vein\ taly, hot not fresh...
...The Alternanvt P.O...
...one...
...He is not optimistic...
...for example, the Commissio decided at the outset that "Votes woul not be taken until it was clear that w could not find a consensus position...
...and he actually kept the market aconomy a bit freer (he vetoed farm price •;upport legislation...
...Rusher to keep the coders' mind off of...
...Senator Barry Goldwater, for example, has been all but sewn up in the Ford camp...
...It is inicapiann believe...
...Spill a little capitalist blood,' one recommended...
...Put otherwise, in trying to form a new party conservatives have little to lose -though victory, I suspect, is farther off than most conservatives 1.111C1C-1!,tand current third-party talk and Mr...
...white collar, salaried, entrepreneurs skim off their own salaries, and pass o the balance to a huge welfarist cot stituency...
...Subscription Rates Are Rising...
...Whether the Commission attributed the price changes to random events or whether they realized that the movements were caused by market forces, the futility of their control techniques is illustrated by the following passage from their open letter to the Cost of Living Council late in June: "While the [food price] problem has been caused by the natural forces of supply and demand, the Commission feels that immediate action must be taken to prevent further price increases...
...Rusher begins his argument by giving us a historical background of the two-party system and taking us on a guided tour through that system from Roosevelt up through Ford's selection of Rockefeller...
...Th verbalists (bureaucrats, academics, th media and foundation types) collect th taxes from the producers (blue colla...
...The euphemism "appropriate action" can only mean command economy methods wherein all resources are directed to various uses by fiat of the government bureaucracy...
...Rusher's book to indicate...
...Lard could do that would In late the need for a new party...
...Thelast sentence of the paragraph is instructive...
...because the teal ohimn pin-Hard\ in Congress-aed List be solved there...
...His un qualified arguments against control would have been more forceful had h supported them with specific cases...
...it demonstrates clearly that even the commissioners realized that price controls were impotent in the absence of additional controls over output and, by implication, inputs as well...
...usher's answer, rycsurnabiy, is no...
...He ha first-hand knowledge and experience o the effects of controls and a clear memor' of the popular clamor for them...
...To them the proper reply is that ''it'' isn't working now...
...Close your eyes, get a friend to read from it, and you will have no doubt that this is the conservative advocate arguing, trenchantly as usual, that (a) the Republican Party not just is, but will continue to be, ineffective in bringing to pass conservative policies and (b) that a new party would be more likely to accomplish the conservatives' goals...
...1 (:)ntc.., thin one or Rusher's ov,n Stella bothers mci-doubly so becauseci set them up and could be expected to lock them dov,n so that they all pointed iward a new party...
...The coalition of interests—Rusher cal it the Great Coalition—is all-importan For Rusher identifies the tradition economic conservatives and the Walla( "social" conservatives as a single grout capable, the argument goes, of being pe suaded to vote together...
...By forming, perhaps, a new major party, with a leader who sets the national debate, and constructs, perhaps even with many of the very same old politicians (but with new ones where necessary), a political institution, with new loyalties and new commitments, a process that sheds the name Republican, and along with it not just the onus of Watergate but also the accumulated anti-Republican sentiment which is as much the product of clubhouse spirit and family ties as of rational opposition to no longer likely issues...
...A staff report stated: "The price of ready-toslaughter cattle has surpassed the February 1971 level and has now reached a 21-year high...
...Is there, one might ask, is thing Mr...
...Since many, if not most, of the issues do bated by the Price Commission were is sues of principle requiring a yes or n rather than a compromise decision, it' difficult to imagine an alternative prt cedure that would lead to a lower-qua ity common denominator in decision mat ing...
...It gets only a courtesy rating in the polls...
...It is, he stay,;, ''been struggling for effecce political expression in America for _arty twenty years.- In which case-id I do 1101 Olean to cavil on single ords- it is 1-saielli, fresh...
...Due to increasing production costs, we regret that The Alternative's subscription rates will increase soon...
...Gerald 1.t,til be able to express ai impulse as well as anyone but that is adequate for Mr...
...at Is , that is out of step with the Amerin people: for example, the consumer protection legislation now being considered by the people's representatives in Congress is opposed by 81% of the people...
...In stead, most of the book dwells o. day-to-day mechanics, the pull and tu, among the various agencies and commis sions, and the personalities involved However, some of the material is reveal ing...
...Instead he lists .ome of Ford's unacceptable actions, preiminent among which is his choosing nelson Rockefeller to be Vice President...
...All of these, as I say, are things it vould he wise for Mr...
...Ford, for whatever reason, has not been idle in making his case...
...The producers also share not economic beliefs in opposition to the not producers: they believe in a strong d( fense, a moral atmosphere (e.g., pray( in schools, no pornography) with at lea the blessing of government, the absent of such social tinkering as busing, etc...
...I %AO r , Address...
...la retleWAI 5411-tS(111,1P,!' 11- ;1;15 __for a raw 'c hr(---Cent low n,:oo,le Alternative: An American Spectator August/September 1975 33...
...We, therefore, are recommending that the Cost of Living Council place raw agricultural products under control so that the Commission may adopt measures to control food prices at each level of the production and distribution process...
...The Making of the New Majority Party by William A. Rusher Sheed and Ward $6.95 It is no secret, Rusher shows, that the Republican Party appears moribund...
...Rusher says the conservative case will never be properly advocated----enthusiastically, dependably —within the Republican Party, and after years of working, watching, and hoping, Mr...
...Rusher can wait no longer...
...You still have time to take advantage of the present low price and save, especially by subscribing or renewing for the long term...
...Surely it is not foreordained that themakeup of Congress forever conflict with statistically indicated demographic truths...
Vol. 8 • August 1975 • No. 10
