KINDER'S COMMENTARY: MINDLESS ASSAULT ON TOBACCO IS AN ATTACK AGAINST FREEDOM

Twenty years ago this summer, I converted a couple of apathetic fellow classmates to the cause of conservatism by lending them a remarkable book by former Treasury and Energy Secretary William Simon. Entitled "A Time for Truth," Simon's battle-cry theme was as riveting as it was simple: "A fundamental assault on freedom is transforming the country."

Simon's book was so persuasive, the threats to freedom he documented so pervasive, that this tome can be said to have played a lead role in preparing the ground for the conservative gains achieved in the midterm elections of November 1978. Those gains were in themselves a mere foretaste of the massive, 44-state Reagan landslide of two years later, with its huge Republican congressional gains and the unexpected GOP takeover of the U.S. Senate.

Now, another "fundamental assault on freedom" threatens to "transform the country." It is the mindless assault on tobacco, a crop whose dangers have been known throughout its 500-year history in North America.

Until recently, one of the few people in public life to question the alarming tobacco deal Congress was moving to embrace was U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri. Says he: "There is something that really hasn't been talked about in the debate: individual responsibility. I think that ought to be understood."

From a recent column by Wes Pruden of the Washington Times:

"CBS News reports that the White House is developing an `aggressive anti-cigarette enforcement program' to regulate the distribution of tobacco products. All manufacturers, importers, exporters and wholesalers of tobacco would become licensed agents of the government, and thousands of mom-and-pop grocers would be required to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"These are the same trigger-happy ATF agents who are trained to shoot first and ask questions if anyone survives. It's a scheme that could be dreamed up only at the Children's Hour. (Nobody has thought about the risks of a shootout in the Oval Office, between the ATF and the Secret Service, if the president lights up one of his frequent cigars."

One big difference from 20 years ago: In 1978, Washington, D.C., was a free-fire zone for the GOP, with Democrats controlling the White House and everything in Congress. This year Republicans control both the House and Senate.

Memo to GOP congressional leaders, basking in this month's great polls: You can't out-nanny the Democrats. They'll see you, and raise you, big. Americans will respond to strong leadership that attempts to awaken them to the threat to our liberties posed by all this runaway tobacco madness. You had better summon the stomach to fight, and start taking principled positions defending our freedoms, or voters may just decide to send Republicans the way of the Whigs.

* * * * *

Clinton, NOW

Here is National Organization for Women president Patricia Ireland's recent take on President William Jefferson Clinton:

"He knows how to respect women like Hillary, [Secretary of Health and Human Services] Donna Shalala and [Supreme Court Justice] Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But other women can be used just like Kleenex. He is not my dream man."

* * * * *

Whose Role Model?

Meanwhile, the pages in the Iowa State Senate caused a minor flap by removing President Clinton's photo from the background of their annual group photo. "He's not the best role model for young people," says one teen-ager.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.