Letter: Be wary of GOP in White House

Sunday, March 21, 1999 | 11:23 a.m.

This realization, I believe, came with the actions in 1995 of the Congress, which I must admit didn't pussy foot around about their goals and intentions.

I remember Newt Gingrich, in a speech to a wildly cheering Republican caucus and other right-wing supporters, saying "we are going to let Medicare wither on the vine but we will need a Republican president to do something about Social Security" (the implication being to abolish it).

Well, Bill Clinton stopped their assault on Medicare cold so they now pin their hopes on electing a Republican president (any Republican will sign their legislation regardless of declarations of" compassionate conservatism, which is an obvious oxymoron anyway).

All Americans who are toying with the idea of voting for a Republican president (no matter how "charismatic" or moderate he may appear) and keeping a Republican Congress should look at the last time there was such a situation (1928-32).

They should also realize that under an all-Republican government there wasn't and would not have been any Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, minimum wage, 40-hour work week, GI bill, etc. and take their chances of losing these and many other things they now take for granted!

David Olivier

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