LETTERS: GOP SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR GRIDLOCK IN CONGRESS

To the editor:

You have to give the liberals credit: They have a way with words. Consider David Broder's lead in his Wednesday column: "As Congress lurched toward adjournment...." As if the only way Congress can be successful is to pass bad legislation.

Let's see what's so terrible about what Congress did not do: GATT may be good,but we haven't had it until now. We can wait a little longer before passing it without the world coming to an end. The telecommunications bill might have speeded access to the fabled info superhighway but there's no crisis here, and private enterprise is going to provide all the access that most of us need -- without any cost to taxpayers. See, when Congress gets involved it usually costs us money.

Access to the Library of Congress may help a certain number of people but I suspect a lot of taxpayers are scratching their heads and saying, "What?" when told they're going to have all this wonderful new information. As they do just about anytime Al Gore gives a speech about anything.

I suspect the Superfund bill would have cost billions. We've been passing clean water acts with nearly every Congress. Delaying this one will simply delay funneling more tax dollars to more cities. Just what is Broder saying, that we need another federally funded housing bill to aid the inner cities when HUD is already running around announcing $100 million grants to St. Louis and other loyal Democratic-voting cities like some kind of new national lottery? Deliver the votes and you win 20 years of taxpayer largesse at the rate of $100 million a year.

Broder writes of the "tortuous legislative maze" as if it were something foul, but we should remember that process helps prevent liberals from spending tax dollars faster than the government can print them. Democrats left Washington calling Republicans obstructionists. More power to the GOP this time. Gridlock, when it keeps a liberal Congress from acting, usually saves us dollars.

Consider what the GOP failed to do. It failed to stop a pork-laden crime bill, which the national media lauds as if it were actually the panacea that Clinton claims it will be. The urban areas have been putting more cops on the street for years. Has it stopped the spread of crime?

Look at it philosophically. People in small cities and rural areas such as Southeast Missouri for the most part have crime in their neighborhoods under control without federal aid. Why should we applaud when they send our tax dollars to St. Louis, and similar urban areas, to help them combat the crime spawned largely by the welfare state and idiotic immigration policies?

The GOP failed to stop a budget that reneged on a promised middle-class tax cut, that in fact set in motion a huge tax increase that produced legions of "rich" middle-class taxpayers. For example, taxpayers who receive part of their income as bonuses now find that Clinton and cohorts are withholding 40% said bonus, double what the rate had been.

Republicans should be commended for gridlock. Now, next year, they may have a chance to not only prevent bad legislation but to actually reform some of the expensive damage liberal congresses have done. But will they? They bear some of the blame too, and we will have to hold them accountable.

BILL ZELLMER

Cape Girardeau