By: Matt Buckley

Why will I vote for Dole? I suppose my own personal electoral calculation conveys the futility of it as well as anything. As an out-of-state student, I had the chance to register either in Michigan or Iowa. I chose to vote in Iowa since Dole needs my help there more: he is down 14 points in Iowa, as opposed to a ten-point deficit in Michigan. It's all over, the fat lady is singing -- why vote Dole?

I wish I could look at the tax cut with a gleam in my eye and optimism in my heart. I wish I could look at plans to cut the Department of Education with a sincere belief that it will actually happen. What I would give for a believable and credible plan by the Dole-Kemp brigades that a GOP administration would lead to lower taxes, increased deregulation, and at least some token gestures to stem the tide of moral relativism which society has apparently embraced. To be honest, though, I don't pretend that Dole can be the entire answer to these or a host of other problems.

I will vote for Dole, however, and I suppose in the lack of a compelling policy answer, I need something else. What one should look at is current conservatism in general. This is what Dole represents, and in a political realm where a candidate is unable to single-handedly change the policies of the nation, principles matter. As an example, Dole's tax cut policy is part of a larger principle of lower taxes by conservatives. While his plan is probably politically unobtainable, the principle is sound and contrasts with Clinton and the Democrats.

Neither party can be proud of their candidates at the moment. While Dole suffers from the perception of age and being out-of-touch, Clinton suffers from the all-too frisky passions of youth, especially being figuratively and literally "in-touch" with oh-so-many of his constituents. Both have records of compromise with commitment to party principles. In this election, then, the principles of the parties matter. This race is not just Dole v. Clinton; both leave much to be desired. With two such malleable candidates, principles and party matters.

On this point, the decision is a simple one.

Republicans stand for smaller government, lower taxes, and a government that trusts people with their own money. Democrats fundamentally view people as selfish, naive incompetents. They view your money as something given to you, almost gift-like, at the blessing of government tax policy. And what the government giveth, have no doubt, the government can and will taketh away.

While both parties look stupid over Bosnia, the Republicans support a foreign policy that gives America its due as a great power. Republicans realize that America has responsibilities in the world, and do not shirk the fact that in many cases economic interests and the advancement of freedom coincide. Democrats by and large picked the wrong side of most of the major foreign policy conflicts of our time, from the Cold War to Iraq, from NAFTA to Somalia.

In education, the Republicans think parents have a right to choose aspects of their children's education, that schools prosper under competition, and that real educational standards are necessary to insure that our future is placed into competent hands. Look into the public school system and see what liberal Democratic education policy has left us. Parents and parental involvement are often seen as hindering "enlightenment" of children at the hands of social workers, competition is hissed about in haunting intonations, and "standards" claim that knowledge of remote cultures is of equal importance as basic math.

Though Republicans generally draw fire for positions on social issues, at least they are realistic. Do we seriously believe affirmative action is mending wounds in our society, or do realize that allowing the government to create and use race-based differences pushes us away from a goal of a race-blind society? Do we believe statistical evidence that there is no correlation between illegitimacy and crime? Do we want to become a society in which morality becomes subjective, where no position is morally untenable and people are not expected to be responsible for their actions? The Democrats have in large part ran social policy for the last thirty years, and where the hell has it gotten us? How the Republicans could do much worse is beyond me.

On these issues and others, I find myself more and more pro-Dole. He is not a magnetic candidate. He will not play the sax and tell me soothing half-truths about American grandeur. He is probably not able to "feel your pain" as well as Clinton. However, the party he represents is the right one. His principles are the correct ones. On that basis Dole deserves my vote. This November, he will get it. MR