Pubdate: Tues, 11 Aug 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA) 
Section: op-ed page
Contact:  
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Donald G. Smith

IT'S ALWAYS 'FOR THE CHILDREN' 

Once more we head into an election season, and it is wise to be prepared.
The traditional harangue from liberal candidates already is cranked up and
ready to go.

Their opponents hate the poor and the homeless, want to take food from the
elderly and medicine from the sick, and seem to have a passion for poisoning
the water.

In addition to this basic liberal pap, we will receive a pitch that al-ready
has been tested in Washington. There is a new battle cry that punctuates
everything and anything that liberals want to shove down our throats.

It's "for the children." We heard this inane caterwauling when the U.S.
Senate so wisely defeated the tobacco tax gouge in June. The bill had
nothing to do with children and was, in fact, a piece of very bad
legislation, but it went down in the liberal camp as a direct attack on the
children of America.

Sen. Barbara Boxer and Reps. Henry Waxman, Pete Stark, Lois Capps and the
entire contingent of California's legislative lefties are even now warming
up in the bullpen in anticipation of the November elections.

They will be pitching, of course, not for themselves nor for the team, but
always "for the children."

As a longtime observer of the political scene, I would like to see this band
of liberals accomplish its goals, so I offer suggestions.

First, we should give the children's parents a big tax cut. This would
provide more spendable dollars in the household, which surely would be an
immediate benefit for all children. More important, it would enable many
working mothers to stay home with their children rather than he forced to
earn money just to pay the taxes on their husbands' incomes. Second, we
might work to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, thus taking the
federal bureaucracy out of our local schools. By cutting all of the
unnecessary interference and red tape from distant sources, we would not
only save money but we would create more time for direct classroom teaching.
Again, the children would benefit, and we are all "for the children," aren't we?

Legislators also could help our children by devoting more time and energy to
the war on drugs. This could be accomplished by stopping all anti-tobacco
activities and concentrating on illegal drugs, which represent far more of a
threat to children than tobacco. This would help our children immeasurably.

Finally, I would suggest to all California legislators who are running for
re-election that they use all of their Washington connections and do some
digging to find out what really happened to Vince Foster. Why was the
investigation so sloppy and incomplete? With most adults this is just idle
curiosity, but the children would like to know the truth. Kids can be so
curious.

Examiner contributor Donald G. Smith is retired from the world of corporate
communications. He is the author of 'People I Could Do With-out'

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett