It's always 'for the children'

By Donald G. Smith
SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER

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 already 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 be 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.