The GOP at Tidewater III

...Washington-USA THE GOP AT TIDEWATER III BY ANDREW MOLUSON Easton, Maryland Outside the Tidewater Inn, cold wind from the Chesapeake Bay whipped the last flecks of snow from the pancake-flat seed corn and soybean fields Inside, an hour and a half from the distractions of Washington, elected Republicans from across the country were convening for the third straight year The Tidewater Conference of statewide elected officials and members of Congress develops new party positions in a way far different from the Gold-water-Rockefeller broadsides that?even when fought through milder, media-wise surrogates like Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford—embittered the previous decade and a half of internal GOP debate Following the pattern developed by Senator Bob Packwood in the similar Dorchester conferences he started 15 years ago for Oregon Republicans, the conferees (more than 100 the opening day and 60-odd the next) met the first weekend of this month Discussion of each topic started at small table-size groups, with wives allowed to participate, and ended after two rounds of debate and compromise, with the voting on resolutions restricted to office holders The outcome can be described either as bland or as displaying the realism missing from proverbially ignored national convention platforms Except for a handful of issues—such as this year's 60-40 per cent decision to oppose draft registration for women—there was sufficient unanimity to insure that the elected officials, certain of backing within their party, will actually try to carry out the policies outlined In the evening, sing-alongs at the Courthouse Square Pub are used to smooth out wrinkled brows, regional disagreements and family arguments from the day (Liz Taylor and her husband, Senator John Warner of Virginia, won the weekend's public-feuding Oscar hands-down with a sharply-worded series of exchanges over the female draft She, a worker since the age of 10, was for it, he, a former undersecretary and secretary of the Navy, was against ) Some fanatics continued talking politics In one booth on Saturday night, a gaggle of congressional assistants shouted over the din about the merits of a constitutional convention In another, reporters traded Presidential tidbits and outrageously confident predictions based on encounters with housewives in Bangor and Waterloo But under Packwood's firm direction, the emphasis was on song The pounding, driving beat of the GOP singers slowed to urge Tom Dooley to hang down his head and cry, then double-timed through a snappy Mair-zie Doats before roaring onward aboard "Kennedy's favonte train," the Wabash Cannonball All around them curious Easton-area Democrats—dime store clerks, oyster tongers, fanners, a plumber, teachers-tvied to pick out the senators or suggest the next song to Packwood and banjo-plucking Ohio Congressman Tom Kindness Overwhelmed in volume, if not in numbers, most finally gave up trying to control the proceedings Republicans, whose fundraising festivities show that they can't dance nearly as well as Democrats, are clearly superior when it comes to singing old melodies And this year even the Democrats are singing their song The success of outnumbered Republicans in setting a conservative national agenda for political debate is based in no small part on their annual gatherings here It was at Tidewater 1 in 1978 that GOP members of Congress and holders of statewide office declared "We support substantial permanent reductions in Federal income and capital gains tax rates in order to restore incentive, encourage real economic growth and expand the reward for working, saving and investing ' There was a tacked-on prediction that such a program would "achieve a balanced budget," but the political message was clear Reversing three decades of party priorities, prominent Republican office holders had decided tax cuts were more important than a balanced budget As a short-term tactic, which is all that most American party declarations pretend to, the policy was a bust With Republicans running platforms of big tax cuts for working people in 1978...

...the Democrats countered bs passing such cuts just before the election?holding GOP gains in the House to 13 seats It could be said, though, that for the first time in years the Republicans to some extent fulfilled the opposition party's obligation to propose ideas before their time has come The unity forged at Tidewater also is one reason that the biggest complaints about the deficits run up during the first three years of the Carter Administration are coming from two Democrats, Edward in Kennedy and Jerry Brown, rather than the Republicans in this year's Presidential race And the GOP's gradual disenchantment with salt II can be traced through the conferences At Tidewater I, a blunderbuss warning shot was fired "The current Democratic policy of unilateral U S disarmament, in the face of mounting Soviet military aggressiveness, is a serious mistake Therefore, in the vital search for peace, any agreement on arms limitations must fully protect the security of the United States and our allies " Last year, at Tidewater II, direct aim was taken at the almost completed treaty "The Carter Administration has been consistently insensitive to the aggressiveness of the Soviet Union and its clients, and inaccurate in forecasting Soviet behavior," the conferees declared "Therefore, be it resolved in the negotiating process for and in considering ratification of the salt treaty, the Umted States should not be limited to considering only the terms of the treaty, but should in addition consider the ability to verify the treaty and the total military and foreign policy relationship existing between the United States and the Soviet Union " As Tidewater III opened on February 1, Packwood observed "That's linkage, and it's the policy that was followed in practice, whatever the explanation, when the President withdrew the treaty from Senate consideration last month " This year's defense resolution did not even mention salt Republicans consider it dead The foreign policy resolution that emerged from Tidewater III called for the United States (a) to rebuild its defense capabilities, including formation of a rapid deployment force, (b) to use unspecified incentives "to revitalize Reserve and National Guard Forces", and (c) not to reinstate the draft "at this time", but (d) to register eligible males for the military draft "to ultimately meet our readiness requirements " The big fight came over exclusion of females from draft registration The family feud between Liz Taylor (include women as soon as their equal rights are guaranteed) and her husband (exclude women, because there will be no shore jobs for male sailors on rotation if half of the Navy's slots are filled by females) amused some onlookers, appalled others and instructed most Senator John Tower of Texas seemed startled to be hissed by several of the nice ladies present when he predicted that there would be a severely negative psychological impact on a male soldier if he were forced to look down upon the body of a female American soldier who had j ust had'' her guts blown out " The split clearly indicated that the question of drafting females will not be a party-line issue in Congress this year Some other dynamic is at work But future partisan battles can be predicted on the basis of other resolutions adopted by almost unanimous votes Last year the Republicans proposed only "immediate consideration" of a constitutional amendment to limit Federal spending, this year they suggested "seeking a constitutional amendment in order to accomplish this goal [of] establishing Federal spending and tax limitations as a percentage of gross national product " They are obviously edging year by year toward endorsement of such an amendment, although the cautious voices—like that of House Minority Leader John Rhodes of Arizona—are still able to water down the position Turning to Social Security, Tidewater III proclaimed that the program "has failed to keep up with the changing role of women in the economy, [and that] neither the Social Security system nor the IRS code treats equally one- and two-income families " It urged that the Internal Revenue Code, "with special reference to the tax on marriage," and the Social Security system be "revised to end economic injustices for men and women in the work force " Toward the end of the conference, the news from Washington that several members of Congress had been "implicated" in an FBI sting produced a long diversion This culminated in passage of a resolution damning the Democrats, telling them their control of Congress made them responsible for the honesty of its members, and urging a quick Congressional investigation in order to get the videotapes on the public record before the Justice Department could hide them through submission to a grand jury The sudden burst of hope that the videotapes might become the Democratic equivalent of the Watergate tapes was questioned by only one participant, Representative Kindness, who wondered aloud whether Congress would be trampling all over a Justice Department probe The civil liberties aspects of the FBI tactics were not brought up The weekend concluded by killing off what some looked upon as two pernicious proposals One would have asked the Census Bureau to identify all illegal aliens this year, Senator Harrison Schmitt of New Mexico quashed that The second would have declared that "in the absence of a drastic revision in the Defense budget to provide a genuine conventional war capability," the United States could not guarantee the safety of the Persian Gulf Between those who disagreed and those who agreed but thought the resolution an unfortunate signal to send to the Soviet Union, enough votes were obtained to "postpone consideration for one year " As a final gesture, the conferees amended the rules about who can participate in Tidewater IV In addition to members of Congress and state office holders, next winter's conference will be open to participation by "a Republican President and Vice President of the United States " ANDREW MOLLISON a frequent NEW LEADER contributor is chief political writer for the Cox Newspapers...