By Pat Trueman, AFA Director of Governmental Affairs

April 1997 – Not a day goes by without news of scandals, ethical lapses and potential criminal activity that implicate our President. Whitewater with all its tentacles, Oval Office fund raising, the sale of American foreign policy and sexual harassment charges are matters that should trouble all American citizens. Yet, the damage these matters cause the country can be repaired once Clinton leaves office if voters have the wisdom and discernment to select a successor with a sound moral compass. Of far greater concern should be the more lasting effect his policies will have on our way of life. Emboldened by his re-election, Clinton is forcefully pressing a nefarious agenda on America. Here are six items on his agenda that should worry you:

Abortion
On February 13 the U.S. House gave Clinton a victory when it voted for his bill to expand his overseas abortion crusade by $123 million. More funding will now go to International Planned Parenthood Federation and other militantly pro-abortion groups which use our tax dollars to support China’s forced abortion policy and press foreign governments to change their pro-life laws. Clinton fought hard in this battle against unborn children. The New York Times reported that he even called wavering House Democrats shortly before the vote from his car as he returned to the White House from the funeral of Pamela Harriman, the late U.S. Ambassador to France. His allies inside and out of Congress fought with equal fervor though with a strange mix of compassion and candor. One House Democrat argued from the floor that the Clinton measure was necessary to protect American jobs. In other words, killing off populations of developing countries is a patriotic act. This was topped by Audubon President John Flicker who lobbied Congress for the Clinton bill with a letter that read “the National Audubon Society wishes to remind you that we approach population growth as one of the most critical environmental issues threatening the survival of birds and their habitat.” The score thus far on pro-family issues is birds-1, babies-0, illustrating that there will be no easy congressional victories for the pro-family movement this term.

The next abortion vote, to ban partial birth abortions, is a likely winner for the President also. Recall that Congress passed a bill last term banning this gruesome late term method but it could not muster the votes of two-thirds of the Senate to overturn the President’s veto. The numbers just aren’t there for a pro-life victory this time, but at least the pressure from pro-life America has caused some in the public and the press to re-examine their support for abortion.

Pornographic “Art”
In his fiscal year 1998 budget the President has proposed more than a 1/3 increase in the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts to $136 million, from $99.5 million. What did the agency do to earn this Presidential vote of confidence? It put its imprimatur on more pornography. The latest news on the NEA, which came to light while the President’s budget was being drafted, was a grant that went to a group promoting lesbianism called Women Make Movies, Inc. (WMM). It totaled well over $100,000. The WMM catalog graphically describes many of the videos it produced with your money. They include Ten Cents a Dance which includes a depiction of bathroom sex between two men; a video titled Coming Home about “the sexy fun of trying to fit a lesbian couple in a bathtub” and another called Sex Fish about oral sex and “restroom cruising.”

Prior to her confirmation NEA chair, actress Jane Alexander, promised to clean up the NEA but things haven’t changed. They won’t. This year, however several prominent fiscal conservative groups have joined pro-family groups to make ending federal funding of the NEA a priority. But keen observers of the issue believe President Clinton would not have requested an expansion of the NEA unless he thought he could win.

Judicial Activists
One key element of the pro-family agenda will be stopping President Clinton’s more radical nominees to the federal courts. This is a President who talks tough on crime and champions family values, but then nominates judges who he knows will be liberal activists ignoring our Constitution, coddling criminals and overturning conservative legislative enactments. If they were not hard-core liberals they would be disqualified from his selection process. Recall that prior to his first election, Mr. Clinton promised he would have a litmus test to select only pro-abortion individuals to the bench. There isn’t room in this column for a litany of outrageous decisions by Clinton judges. One recent ruling that will interest if not upset AFA supporters deserves mention, however. Clinton appointee Judge Shira Scheindlin of New York City ruled unconstitutional the Military Honor and Decency Act passed by Congress late last year which prohibits the sale of pornography in military base stores. Penthouse magazine has a constitutional right to sell its filth there she said. Don’t bother to look up that right in your home copy of the U.S. Constitution! Already President Clinton has appointed 202 federal judges in his first term, better than 1/4 of the federal judiciary. Before he leaves office, he will likely have appointed the majority and they will be people who share his values and vision for America. Will they destroy yours?

But the problem isn’t just President Clinton. It is also a timid Republican Senate majority which regularly approves Clinton court nominees by a process called “unanimous consent,” that is, without a roll call vote, a minute of floor debate or a moment’s consideration of the liberty you and your family will lose. There’s a modicum of hope here. A broad coalition of 260 national and state grassroots organizations have joined together under the leadership of Washington, D.C. lawyer, Thomas Jipping of the Free Congress Foundation, to fight against the president and Senate on this critical matter for America’s future. The Jipping coalition has a goal of forcing roll call votes on all nominees in the hope that some of the more offensive ones will be defeated. Even if the coalition is successful the Clinton judicial legacy will be remarkable in its destructive impact on America.

Gambling
Last year Congress voted to establish a nine-member federal commission to study the impact of gambling in America. Under that legislation, the President, the House and the Senate are each to choose three members. Almost $500 billion is wagered annually producing over $40 billion in profits for the gambling industry, countless ruined lives and families, political corruption, and increased crime. The Washington Post recently editorialized that the “big-money gamblers are betting a bundle on President Clinton to do their bidding” and “stack” the commission with those favorable to the gambling interests. According to the Post, on the President’s short list are many with close ties to the gambling industry, including Bill Bible, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) has already used one of his two choices to appoint the chairman and CEO of a Las Vegas casino company. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO), a recipient of big gambling bucks, who gets one selection, favors the head of a union representing casino employees, the Post reports. Thus, the President’s three picks may determine the outcome of the commission’s work. He could make such a positive impact on America if he would only appoint three people with sound Judeo-Christian values and no ties to the gambling industry. Then we may learn the true impact of widespread gambling on America, and then states and communities may have some ammunition against the gambling industry as it seeks to expand. Will the President do the right thing? Don’t bet on it.

Americans’ Security
During several campaign stops last year, President Clinton declared, “there is not a single, solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight. Not one. Not one. Not a single one.” It is a claim he repeated often, and it is a lie. His own military chiefs have advised him that China has nuclear missiles pointed at America’s children. In fact, a year ago a Chinese official predicted the U.S. would not intervene in a fight over Taiwan “because American leaders care more about Los Angeles than they do about Taiwan.” This was a thinly veiled threat to destroy our nation’s second largest city. And while Russia has agreed not to target its nuclear missiles at the U.S., it could retarget them in a matter of minutes. According to one Russian general the agreement was “a public relations gimmick.” The United States is vulnerable now at least to an accidental or unauthorized nuclear attack from those two countries. Soon rogue nations which hate the United States may have nuclear capability if they don’t already. America has no defense what-so-ever against a nuclear missile once launched. Thus, the President’s opposition to proposals in Congress which would establish such a defense seem inexplicable. One defense system under consideration by Republicans would cost just $3 billion. My kids are worth much more than that!

Homosexuality
There seems no end to what this President will do for the homosexual movement. He continues to appoint “gay” activists to influential government positions (but not a single leader of the pro-family movement.) His administration encourages the use of federal facilities for events that celebrate the homosexual lifestyle. It holds mandatory diversity seminars designed to reprogram the thinking of captive federal employees who may not agree with Clinton on this moral issue.

This legislative term the President will again push for passage of Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination in hiring based on “sexual orientation.” The bill would pave the way for quotas and, once interpreted by Clinton-appointed judges, would undoubtedly prohibit your school district from discriminating against pedophile teachers.