A SALON Roundtable


























Left to right: Martin Anderson, Elizabeth Drew, Barney Frank, Arianna Huffington, 
Stephen Moore, Charles Peters, James Pinkerton












Does the


[GOP]


revolution have a future?











The Republican revolution appears to be imperiled. The crown jewel of Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, a budget balanced on his terms, now appears unattainable unless the Republicans win the Presidential election. With a revived Bill Clinton looking like a better bet in November, a fratricidal fight for the GOP nomination looming and the militant GOP freshmen threatening to turn on their own leadership, serious questions are being raised about the staying power of a political program that seemed unstoppable just a few months ago.

Nor have events been kinder to the leader of the revolution. Just weeks ago Gingrich was pronounced Time's "Man of the Year" -- now he has to beg his fellow radicals to reopen the federal government and watch the stock market sink like a stone when he opens his mouth. 

Despite these setbacks, the Republican radicals have succeeded in fundamentally shifting the terms of political debate. Have they peaked -- or can they carry out the rest of their agenda? 

In this issue, SALON looks at the present and future of the anti-government revolution. In the SALON Roundtable below, we ask a number of political analysts to assess the revolution's successes and failures, the role of its leader, and whether he and his movement have a future. In "Burning Down the House," Gary Kamiya looks at the revolution's leader, and, perhaps, its greatest liability -- Newt Gingrich, the subject of a damning Frontline program that airs Tuesday, January 16 on PBS.




Also, for a lighter look at the Republican Revolution, check out Tom Tomorrow's cartoon.





 


THE PANEL (click on any name to go to discussion):




Martin Anderson is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution , Stanford University. A senior economic policy adviser and the Nixon and Reagan administrations, he has written several books on welfare, the military and other issues. His latest book is "Impostors in the Temple" (Simon & Schuster, 1992).


Elizabeth Drew is a long-time Washington journalist and author who has written seven books on politics, including most recently "On The Edge: The Clinton Presidency" (Simon & Schuster,1994), an account of the first 18 months of the Clinton presidency. Her next book, "Showdown: The Struggle Between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House," is due out in June 1996 from Simon & Schuster.


Rep. Barney Frank is an eight-term Democratic congressman  from Massachussetts and an active leader of the minority House Democrats. He is the author of "Speaking Frankly : What's Wrong With the Democratic Party and How to Fix It" (Times Books, 1992).


Arianna Huffington is a leading conservative commentator and Washington hostess. Author of books on Picasso ("Picasso: Creator and Destroyer") and Greek mythology ("The Gods of Greece"), her latest book is "The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the Soul" (Simon & Schuster, 1994). She is a senior fellow and board member at the  Progress and Freedom Foundation, a Washington-based policy think tank closely associated with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. She is also chair of the  Center for Effective Compassion, which aims to provide alternatives to the government-funded welfare state.  


Stephen Moore is the director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute. He was assistant to House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Tex., and an economist at the Joint Economic Committee. Formerly a budget expert at the Heritage Foundation, he is a contributing editor to the National Review and a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, and Human Events. He is the editor of the just-released book by House Republicans, "Restoring the Dream: What We Plan to Do Now to Strengthen the Family, Balance the Budget, and Replace Welfare."  


Charles Peters is the editor of the Washington Monthly. He is the author of "How Washington Really Works" (Addison-Wesley, paperback,1993). 


James Pinkerton was a deputy assistant for Policy Planning in the Bush Administration. A columnist for Newsday, his writings appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and National Review. His latest book is "What Comes Next:The End of Big Government and the New Paradigm" (Hyperion).












What's the future of the Republican Revolution? Go to Table Talk's Issues category to speak your mind.  (Remember to register if you haven't already done so.)