Election 1994: Revenge of the white guys

Off Our Backs, Dec 1994 by Douglas, Carol Anne

Election 1994: Revenge of the White Guys

What happened? Weren't the white guys in power, anyway? Aren't Bill and Al straight, Christian, pro-capitalist white guys? Not sufficiently. They aren't (and their administration isn't) white enough, straight enough, Christian enough, capitalist enough, or men enough for most of the white, straight, Christian men in this country. There were a few cracks in the barricades, so the Republicans leapt in to reinforce them.

initiative victories

There were a few bright spots -- voters turned down Colorado-clone anti-lesbian and gay rights initiatives in Oregon and Idaho and an anti-abortion initiative in Wyoming. The Oregon and Idaho initiatives would have prohibited the passage of lesbian and gay rights ordinances. The Idaho measure lost by only about 2,000 votes. Although the Oregon measure lost by a more comfortable 53 to 47 percent, that was down from Oregon's 56 percent vote against a more rabidly worded anti-gay initiative two years ago.

The Wyoming initiative would have restricted abortions to those performed to save the woman's life and to cases of rape and incest in which the crime has been reported to the police; doctors performing illegal abortions could have been jailed for up to 14 years. The measure also defined life as beginning at conception.

Opponents of these initiatives emphasized traditional western resentment at government interference.

The right-wing groups that sponsored the initiatives say they will try again. The Citizens Alliance groups, which sponsored the anti-gay measures, also tried to get measures on the ballot in many other states this year. Legislation is also a possibility, Idaho lesbian and gay activists fear, with a new Republican governor and legislature in their state.

The Colorado initiative on which these initiatives were based has been struck down by the Colorado Supreme Court, but the state is appealing the verdict to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lesbians and gays were not the only ones whose rights were challenged by initiatives. In California, voters by an overwhelming 2-1 adopted Proposition 187, an initiative refusing state services, including education, health care, and public assistance, to people who are not in the United States legally. Educators, health care workers, and public employees would be required to investigate the status of all people who use their services and report any who are not in the country legally to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a process that could put everyone who is Latin in the position of having to prove citizenship. California is believed to have more than 1 million undocumented alien residents.

A federal court has blocked implementation of the initiative, which conflicts with a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring states to provide education for children regardless of their parents' residency status. 4.6 million people voted for Proposition 187, giving it more votes than any candidate in the country won in 1994. That vote is likely to bring increased federal action against undocumented aliens. Already supporters of the initiative are threatening to recall public officials who have asked the courts to rule on its constitutionality.

back to the future

Voters were willing to reject Republican candidates -- if they had sold arms to Iran, helped the Contras run drugs, and committed perjury before Congress; that is, if they were Ollie North, who was defeated in Virginia's U.S. Senate race. Otherwise, the country went so Republican that if Richard Nixon could have run from the cemetery, he would have won a seat in Congress.

The Republicans captured both houses of Congress for the first time since the '50s, thus blocking Clinton from doing anything other than taking administrative actions (that can be overturned by Congress), vetoing bills, presenting programs they can reject, nominating people they can reject, and getting on television and asking for people's support.

Sen. Bob Dole, R.-Kan., will be Senate Majority Leader. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R.-Ga., a right-winger who says that Clinton is not a "normal" American and who wants the children of women welfare recipients to be put in orphanages, will be Speaker of the House. Incidentally, the speaker is next in line of succession to the presidency after the vice president. The gay-obsessed Sen. Jesse Helms, R.-S.C., who was a major supporter of the Contras in Nicaragua, will chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

There is one new woman in the Senate -- a moderate Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine. There is only one new black House member -- a Republican man. Gov. Ann Richards of Texas, famed for saying that George Bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth, was defeated by son of silverfoot, George Bush Jr., who has done nothing but be George Jr. and owner of a sports team.

All ten women who ran in governor's races were defeated. Nine Democratic women House members were defeated. Ten new women were elected to the House, but six of them are Republicans; several are anti-abortion, according to the New York Times.