The Reform Party: America's laughingstock

Mr. Sarkar's Wild Ride
    By Saurav Sarkar

When Ross Perot created the Reform Party, it seemed that the entire enterprise was just a tool for Perot's Napoleon complex. However, despite the fact that it will probably never succeed at the national level, the Reform Party didn't just fizzle out and die. Instead, over the course of its existence, the party has managed to do one thing both consistently and effectively: thrust eccentric political figures in front of the camera. We can always thank Reform candidates for at least making politics more bizarre, if not more productive.

Yet despite how amusing Reform Party personalities have been, the continuing confusion as to what exactly the Reform Party is attempting to reform—and how they will do so—is distressing to anyone who thinks that there really is something wrong with the way American politics works. Aside from vague notions of trade protections and keeping government open and accessible, what exactly do these people want?

SHAWN CHENG/YH

The 1997 Reform Party mission statement reads, "We, the members of the Reform Party, commit ourselves to reform our political system. Together we will work to re-establish trust in our government by electing ethical officials, dedicated to fiscal responsibility and political accountability."

This may be a fine image of political leadership, but party leader Perot more closely fits the image of one of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz—in both bodily form and annoyance factor. Then the Reform Party gave us Jesse "The Mind" Ventura, who probably doesn't even know who Aristotle is, let alone that he had stolen The Mind's nickname. The Reform Party has always been a curious beast, and as it turns out, its next candidate probably will be as well.

Now the party has a two-horse race for the 2000 election between Donald Trump and Pat Buchanan? Appalling, isn't it? I didn't think it was possible to have two Presidential candidates less qualified than George W. Bush, DC '68.

First, there's Patty, who has essentially run for eight straight years. How is a man who used to write speeches for Richard Nixon going to restore ethical government? Not to mention the fact that Buchanan has long been accused of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. In 1992, Buchanan declared a culture war on—er, for—the soul of America at the GOP convention, and he has since written hundreds of columns in an essentially hopeless quest to become President. While it's interesting to have a candidate around who doesn't bow to the party line on free trade, Buchanan makes himself out to be such a lunatic that his very support discredits even the few semi-legitimate ideas that he backs. And to top it all off, Buchanan recently wrote a book in which he made several controversial remarks about Allied involvement in World War II. As a result of this development, he was invited to leave the GOP by fellow Republican John McCain, who said, "I've just reached the conclusion that anyone who repudiates our involvement against Nazi Germany obviously does not reflect the views of America, much less the Republican Party."

Donald Trump, meanwhile, claims to have an excellent perspective from his perch atop Trump Tower. Despite his immense wealth, Trump said in a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "America Needs A President Like Me" that he will be "speaking for the working men and women" of the United States. Trump also pledged to apply three principles in running the country: "one term, two-fisted policies and no excuses." A Trump victory would put the President well on his way toward becoming an American Julius Caesar.

The Reform Party thus offers us a choice between a tiresome, fist-pounding, failed demagogue and a man without integrity who would attempt to buy the Presidency outright with the billions in his pocket. Of course, there's always the chance that either Buchanan or Trump really would lead us to a safer, healthier, happier world. On the other hand, the Reform Party's shaky past precedes these candidates. If you string together the names of all the people from the Reform Party you've ever heard of, it sounds like the cast of a particularly bad episode of Politically Incorrect—not a group of people fit to exercise control over American government.

Recent Herald Columns by this Columnist:
NOTE: SITE WILL APPEAR IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW

• A call for global responsibility, 9/24/99

Back to Opinion...