When we elect a man to Congress on the Republican ticket, we expect him to stand for Republican principles and traditions. This does not mean that every Republican Congressman must vote alike on every issue; Republicans will always have their minor differences. It does mean that we expect a Republican Congressman, who was elected by the hard work and support of Republi can precinct workers, to vote for Re publican principles on key issues.
The American Conservative Union, of which Congressman John Ash- brook is Chairman, recently publish ed a remarkable document called The D.M.V. Report which proves that the liberal Republicans in Congress have voted with the Democrats on many key issues — and thus have provided the Democratic Margin of Victory (D.M.V.) for Great Society legislation.
Next year, Republican precinct workers will work hard to elect Re publican candidates to office from the courthouse to the White House. The overwhelming majority of those who give their time and money, and wear out their shoe leather in this effort, do so in order to reverse the tragic foreign and domestic policies of the Johnson-Humphrey Administration. What good will your efforts do if the man wearing the Republi can label goes to Washington and votes for Great Society programs and giveaways?
The D.M.V. Report says that those who want to defeat the Administration’s giveaways should realize that our major obstacle is the GOP members of Congress who vote against traditional Republican principles. In other words, our problem is with the men wearing the Republican label who are not in the mainstream of Republican thinking.
Many of the “building blocks” of LBJ’s Great Society could never have been enacted without liberal GOP support. The D.M.V. Report gives names, dates, and charts showing exactly who these liberals are and how they voted. The ACU research staff examined 24 major roll call votes of the last seven years. On each one, GOP liberals caused the legislation to pass by providing the Democratic Margin of Victory. If all Republi cans had voted together, these Great Society bills would have been de feated.
When a little clique of Republican liberals in the H o u s e consistently votes with the Democrats on key bills of LBJ’s Great Society program, the GOP liberals should have their defections brought to public attention.
GOP LIBERAL HELP TO LBJ
Here is a list of the Great Society legislation which could not have passed without the votes of the liberal Republican Congressmen who deserted our Party and voted with the Democrats:
1. Packing the Rules Committee (in order to increase liberal control of parliamentary procedure in the House).
2. Area Redevelopment Act ( a vast Federal spending program for so-called poverty areas).
3. Increasing the Federal debt ceiling to $300 billion.
4. Purchase of $100 million of UN bonds.
5. Foreign aid bills for fiscal 1964, 1965, and 1967.
6. Export subsidies on agricultural products shipped to communist countries
7. Urban Mass Transportation Act (authorizing Federal spending and control in a new field).
8. War on Poverty program (setting up the Office Economic Opportunity).
9. Repeal of Section 14 (b) of the Taft-Hartley Act (which was passed by the House, and later killed in the Senate).
10. Renticare (the rest subsidy program).
11. Appropriations for the housing and Urban Development Department.
12. District of Columbia Home Rule.
13. Appropriation for the Demonstration Cities program.
Is Your Congressman in the Republican Mainstream?
On all these Great Society bills, the GOP liberals in the House of Representatives voted against the Republi can majority and for the LBJ-sponsored legislation. These liberal Congressmen who call themselves Re publicans — but who are clearly out side the “mainstream” of Republican policies — thus provided the Demo cratic Margin of Victory, and are the reason why our country is now stuck with enormously-increased Federal spending and Federal control.
THE WEDNESDAY CLUB
The D.M.V. Report describes how the liberal GOP Congressmen organized a group among themselves call ed “The Wednesday Club.” The first meeting was held right after the 1964 election, with John Lindsay as its leader. The Report names the 26 members of the Wednesday Club.
After Lindsay left Washington to campaign for Mayor of New York, the C l u b fell into some disarray. More recently it has named Representative Bradford Morse of Massachusetts to head the group, and has hired as executive a young liberal named Doug Bailey, who helped organize Henry Cabot Lodges campaign in the New Hampshire primary in 1964.
A New York Times news story on January 29, 1967 told how the GOP liberals in Congress (whom they now call “moderates”) planned to develop a “responsible” minority position. This so-called “responsible” position included support of trade with Communist nations. The Times story went on to say: “The Wednesday Club keeps in close contact with moderate party leaders outside Congress. These include Governors George Romney of Michigan and Nelson Rockefeller of New York and Mayor Lindsay of New York, an alumnus of the club.” The Wednes day Club has been working hard to “butter up” the freshmen Congress men newly-elected in 1966, in order to bring them into the ranks of the Club.
Members of the Wednesday Club were caught red-faced recently when a reporter revealed that several of them had attended a secret meeting of the National Committee for an Effective Congress. The purpose of the meeting was to promote an open re volt by liberal Republicans against the present Republican leadership in the Senate and House.
A CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS?
The D.M.V. Report shows that the conservatives in Congress can be an effective, working majority, and makes these constructive suggestions for achieving this goal:
1. House Republicans should pre sent an effective and hardhitting Re publican position on all major issues; and this position should not be dilut ed to appease the minority of GOP liberals.
2. Republicans should recognize that the chief obstacle to conservative victories in Congress is the GOP liberals. Those whose “party regularity” score falls below 50 percent should be limited to only one committee assignment.
3. The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should give campaign funds only to Congressmen who vote with the majority of Repub license. This would be an effective way of disciplining liberal defectors.
4. House Republicans should create a Republican “conservative caucus” which would be a conservative counterpart of the Wednesday Club. “Just as the Wednesday Club is now searching for an acceptable liberal Republican candidate for president in 1968, such a ‘conservative caucus’ could do much to rally House sup port for a Republican candidate who believes in traditional GOP principles.”
HAWK, DOVE, OR GOOSE?
The D.M.V. Report describes what happened in a March 1967 special election to fill a vacant House seat in Rhode Island. The so-called “Republican” candidate ran on a platform calling for U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, abolition of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and a raft of other left-wing proposals supported only by the most extreme Democrats. The candidate, James Di Prete had publicly supported Lyndon Johnson and had even gone so far as to call Barry Goldwater a “fascist.” Incredible as it may seem, the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee poured $10,000 into Di Prete’s campaign. Fortunately, Di Prete lost.
When a reporter for the Washington Post inquired about the financial support given Di Prete, a spokesman for the Republican Campaign Committee said, “We don’t care whether he is a hawk or a dove or a goose, all we care about is winning.”
I don’t know about you, but I do care, and I am not willing to spend my time and money and effort in order to send a flock of geese down to Congress.
The D.M.V. Report suggests that rank-and-file Republicans should “reassess their generosity” and “earmark their money for specific conservative Republican Congressmen, who rare ly get as much as $10,000” from the GOP Campaign Committee. Just as important is the need for you to go to work now to make sure you don’t have any “geese” as Republican nominees for any office in your district. Now is the time when potential Congressional candidates are surfacing in anticipation of next year’s primary. Why don’t you make sure that a real Republican wins the nomination in your district?
The D.M.V. Report gives encouragement to all w h e n it states un equivocally: “Either the Republican Party must stand and fight this year and every year, for what it believes to be in the best interests of the American people, or it doesn’t de serve to win the ‘big prize.’ . . . It cannot afford the luxury of a directionless, haphazard response to the liberal challenge. . . .
“There are those in GOP ranks who have had enough and are will ing to fight to reassert the conservative philosophy of the majority of Re publicans everywhere.”
The D.M.V.Report American Conservative Union, 328 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, D. C. 20003.
TELEVISION PROGRAM AVAILABLE
A one-hour television interview explaining the Big X Chart on nuclear weapons (which appeared on page one of our September Report), and describing how the Democrats are disarming our country, will be avail able October 15. It is an interview of Phyllis Schlafly by a brilliant young television personality in Honolulu.
This show was first aired on a Honolulu television station recently. It turned out so well that copies are being made so this unique program will be available for use anywhere on mainland U.S.A.
This is the only television program which gives Americans the facts they need to know about nuclear weapons, and what has happened to the defenses of our country under the McNamara policies.
The time is one hour (with three spaces where commercials can be inserted). It is a 16 mm black-and-white sound movie, perfectly designed for television viewing, but equally useful for showing to your local club or study group.
This movie may be rented for postage only by any donor to the Eagle Trust Fund, provided it is returned immediately after use, in good condition. When you write, please give the date when you want to show the film, and where you plan to show it. It will be shipped to you for arrival a few days in advance.
An excellent project for your club would be to raise the necessary funds to buy the time for showing on your local television station, or to cause it to be shown as a public service.
HURRY, HURRY
A few copies are still available of Kapsule Kangaroo Konvention, the hilarious program skit on what happened at the NFRW Conven tion in Washington, May 5-6. Any donor to the Eagle Trust Fund may secure a free copy. Yes, you may secure extra copies so that each member of your cast can have her own copy. Just specify the number of copies you want and include approximately enough postage.
TAPROOT REPUBLICAN
TAPROOT is the name of a new Republican organization started last month in Illinois. This club of loyal men and women Republicans has an ingenious name.
The word “taproot” means the main, life-giving root of a tree. TAPROOT is also an acronym which stands for
TRADITIONS
AND
PRINCIPLES
REPUBLICANS
OFTEN
OVERLOOK
TODAY
There is no better way to describe the purpose of this new club than to quote Article II of the Bylaws:
“Section 1. To renew and nourish the Traditions And Principles publicans Often Overlook Today.
“Section 2. To be an effective grassroots, volunteer political organization for those individuals who believe in God, the United States Constitution, the republican form of government, t h e protection of private property, the maintenance of law and order, individual freedom, and the free enterprise system.
“Section 3. To become an influential political f o r c e for constructive action to preserve a n d protect responsible constitutional government.
“Section 4. To provide campaign assistance to all avid Republican candidates actively committed to traditional Republican principles.”
The complete name of this club is: TAPROOT Republicans of the 14th Congressional District. Its organizers selected the Congressional District as the best basis for this type of organization. Your Congressmen and your Delegates to the Republican National Convention will be selected in 1968 on a Congressional District basis. It is vitally important that Republicans who stand for Republican principles and traditions have an organization in which they can work harmoniously and constructively together.
Any Republicans who would like to form a similar organization, or affiliated with this one, may communicate directly with Mrs. Ruth Bate man, Box 215, Warrenville, Illinois 60555. She will be glad to send you a copy of the Bylaws.
THE QUESTION BOX
Does McNamara’s decision to go ahead with a “thin” Nike X to defend the U.S. against Red China take the anti-missile issue out of the 1968 campaign?
Absolutely not. McNamara’s much-publicized September 18 decision to go ahead with the Nike X anti-missile system may give us a defense against an attack from Red China in 1972 — if he doesn’t use his usual tactics of stall and delay. That is a mighty big “if.”
But what about our defense against the Soviets in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and thereafter? In the same speech, McNamara served notice that he is not going to permit the U.S. to have any anti-missile defense against the Soviets. Instead, McNamara appealed to the Russians to sit down and talk things over.
Red China does not today have the power to hit the U.S. with nuclear weapons, and won’t have for several more years. The Soviets today have the nuclear power to inflict us with a massive attack that would kill 150 million Americans. Reread the September issue of the Phyllis Schlafly Report which describes the Soviet nuclear threat.
So, McNamara is at long last (21/2 years after the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously recommended a “thick” anti missile defense) going to let us start on a “thin” defense against Red China — but he will not let us have any defense against the Soviets (the only enemy with the power to bury us).
Yes, “thin” is the right word to describe McNamara’s new proposal to build an anti-missile defense against Red China. It is so “thin” that it cannot possibly give the U.S. the defense we need. It is “too little and too late.”
It is also “thin” enough that every Republican should be able to poke holes in McNamara’s proposal and show the voters what has happened to U.S. security under the present Administration. The American people have had enough of an Administration which keeps snuggling up to Moscow, try ing to persuade the Reds to sign some new worthless uninspected agreement, instead of giving us the defense we need.
The Democrats say “extremism” is a threat to security. Please define an extremist.
An extremist is any person who thinks there should be more than one television station in Austin, Texas. Such extremism is a threat to the security — of LBJ.
Why have the Democrats and the liberals been so mean in their attacks on Shirley Temple Black?
Because she is running on a platform of opposition to pornography, crime and Communism — all issues on which the Democrats are terribly weak. When she announced her candidacy, she met the issues in a very straightforward way, saying, “All the way with LBJ, has gotten us in the shape we are in today.” The catty remarks about Mrs. Black being an actress just serve to illustrate the strange double standard of liberal Democrats. When Helen Gahagan Douglas was a Congresswoman from California (until defeated by Richard Nixon), the Democrats bragged that she was an actress.
What is Governor George Romney really like?
A good way to find out is to read the new paperback book called Romney: Behind the Image by Antoni E. Gollan. It answers many questions about Romney, including his positions on Vietnam, and what support he gave to the Republican ticket in 1964. The “piece de resistance” is the Intro duction by M. Stanton Evans, distinguished editor of the Indianapolis News, who says:
“Win, lose, or scratch, the Romney campaign is one
of the major stories of recent years, both because
of Romney himself and because of what it tells us about the disordered condition of American politics. It is a phenomenon which deserves study and I know of no better introduction to it than Mr. Gol- lari’s plain-spoken and highly readable analysis.”
You can order Romney: Behind the Image at $1.50 from Crestwood Books, P. O. Box 2096, Arlington, Virginia 22202.
Since the United Nations forced us to boycott Rhodesia, where does the U.S. now buy its chromium for making stain less steel?
From the Soviet Union.
