ASHCROFT OFFERS BOLD PLAN FOR TAXES, DEBT

It was just a little over a year ago that Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft let it be known that he was considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. In the first year of that quest, Ashcroft has gone further and gained more attention than, frankly nearly any informed observer could have forecast. Now Ashcroft is out front with a bold tax-cutting plan that is gaining him more attention.

Ashcroft is proposing $1.7 trillion in tax cuts for working Americans. He is pushing the plan with $26,000 worth of newspaper and radio advertising in Iowa, followed up with $175,000 in television ads in our neighboring state, home to the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating caucuses.

"Imagine a tax code in America that instead of attacking the family, supports values like marriage, work, charity, compassion," says the former governor. "Think about what families could do. They could chart their own future. They could develop their own destiny."

The Reaganesque rhetoric is no accident and is a welcome addition to the debate. Ashcroft proposes to arm Americans with an estimated $1.7 trillion in tax cuts and a 30-year plan to pay off the national debt. The centerpiece of the plan is a two-tiered system: Three-fourths of all taxpayers, those who earn less than $68,400 annually, would pay income taxes of 10 percent. Those who earn more would pay 25 percent of their earnings to the federal government.

"Virtually everyone in America who pays taxes would get a tax cut," said Ashcroft. Moreover, Ashcroft proposes $1 trillion in cuts in bloated federal spending, which would certainly be healthy.

Ashcroft advisers are circulating the plaudits of a handful of well-known figures such as Arthur Laffer, the economist who inspired Reagan-era tax cuts. Laffer enthused: "This is about as good as it gets. It's absolutely spectacular."

Good for John Ashcroft as he continues to earn national attention. This sounds like a plan worthy of a great campaign and worth fighting for.

A CANADIAN SEPARATION

It is a historic ruling sure to fuel the ongoing controversy in our neighbor to the north. In the first legal ruling on Canada's most divisive issue, that nation's Supreme Court said recently that Quebec -- home to a powerful separatist movement -- can't secede without seeking the federal government's consent. But the high court left open the possibility of a breakaway arranged at the bargaining table. It said Canadian federal officials would be obligated to negotiate if, as separatist leaders hope, a clear majority of voters in mostly French-speaking Quebec approved secession in a referendum.

"The constitution isn't a straitjacket," the court said in a unanimous ruling. It said political leaders, not the court, would have to determine the standards for a fair referendum, as well as guidelines for any secession negotiations. "No one suggests that it would be an easy set of negotiations," said the court in quite an understatement.

The provincial government of Quebec has a government firmly committed to secession from Canada. Readers will recall that a referendum on the subject a couple of years ago in Quebec failed by a razor-thin margin after a vigorous campaign. It is likely the issue will be revisited again and again in coming years.

All this serves as a warning to Americans about something we too often take for granted: cultural cohesiveness in a great continental nation such as ours. Cultural cohesiveness begins with the speaking of a common language, and it is precisely the lack of this in French-speaking Quebec that produces the open sore that is this issue for Canadians. We Americans should be forewarned.