BRUCE KESLER ON MARK TAPSCOTT
Mark Tapscott: Quo Vadis, November 3, 2010
Diogenes would find an honest man in Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor for The Examiner. Rare in Washington, D.C., Tapscott has not been compromised by decades there, retaining clear conservative vision and fortitude, always reaching out to promote others rather than himself.
In his editorial, Tapscott writes of the coming major Republican gains and the widespread disillusionment with Democrats’ statism, “the message for the GOP: Voters seem willing to give you one more chance to do what you’ve promised for decades — cut federal spending, reform entitlements, and restore limited government. Don’t blow it.”
As always, Tapscott demands much of our politicians, and of us. He and we will likely have many disappointments.
President Obama will still have the veto, and shows little proclivity to be any less ideologic or self-centered. Even at the most optimistic gains next Tuesday, the Republicans – even if all stick together in legislative battles – will not have a veto-proof weight in Congress. Plus, the regulatory bodies, stocked with Obama allies, will continue to push the left’s agenda.
If the Republicans are wise, there will be many, many opportunities, however, to stall the Obama administration’s leftward march and to expose its waywardness. That will well-serve Republicans and Americans as we consider the 2012 choices.
But, rollbacks, especially major ones, are unlikely, for now.
Just consider, post-1994, how the liberal Congressional minority and its allies in the media even successfully resisted cuts in the federal funding for PBS. And, consider how President Clinton cooperated with Republicans for major welfare reform, compared to the partisan rigidity in all things exhibited by President Obama.
Many will, thus, feel the wind slackening from our sails during the next two years, unless we keep to our oars toward the shore of 2012, to replace President Obama and to send even more courageous Republican conservatives to Congress.
Mark Tapscott and I once reminisced together about how we both started out, lonely in overwhelming Democrat locales in 1964, to see through perseverance following that the growth of a new, vibrant conservatism onto the national stage and mind. I am as optimistic as ever, and so should you be, if we persevere.
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