not really to act on private Americans’rncharitable concern for other human beings,rnthey will bring it to a halt.rnRepublicans have long dominatedrnpresidential elections, but now that thernDemocrats have captured Washington,rnthere is bound to be some reexaminationrnof this notion. Indeed the current infightingrnseems to suggest that the scapegoatrnwill be the true conservative wing ofrnthe party, especially the religious right,rnand that there will be a move toward thern”center.” The so-called moderates willrnattempt, as they did at the 1992 RepublicanrnConvention, to get rid of the antiabortionrnplank of the platform. If theyrnsucceed, it will mean that the RepublicanrnParty will have been reduced for thernforeseeable future to a minority party.rnWhat the moderates seem to havernforgotten is that Roe v. Wade broughtrnfundamentalist and evangelical Christiansrninto the political process, often forrnthe first time. Ronald Reagan’s supportrnof them on the abortion issue and onrnmany others made them one of the RepublicanrnParty’s strongest blocs of support.rnIt is clear that Bush was elected becausernhe was seen, albeit illegitimately, asrna successor to Reagan’s views. PatrnRobertson recently said that 50 percentrnof born-again Christians eligible to voternwent for Clinton. Of course, the economyrnwas an issue, but it was not just that.rnAt the Baptist Temple it was clear thatrnthese people, who in all likelihood votedrnfor Reagan, were completely alienatedrnfrom the Republican Party. Indeed, inrnmy conversations before the election Irnmet with no one who was a strong supporterrnof Bush, only people who did notrnwant to vote for Clinton or Perot. Thernreason for this lack of support was thatrnGeorge Bush never understood “the visionrnthing.” The Scriptures say that forrnwant of a vision the people will perish. Itrnis clear that a political party will perish,rntoo.rnAfter we had all assembled outside,rncandidate Gritz, along with several ministersrnand even more obscure presidentialrncandidates, set fire to the U.N. flag.rnWhile it was burning, we all sang “GodrnSave America” and offered up a prayerrnfor our nation. I hope that what symbolicallyrnwent up in smoke that day wasrnnot the grand vision of the failed ReaganrnRevolution, perhaps the last attempt tornreturn this country to a set of principlesrnthat are recognizably American.rnWilliam L. kley, Jr., writes from Carmel.rnLetter FromrnPhiladelphiarnby fames L. SauerrnWomen’s History MonthrnApril is the crudest month, accordingrnto Mr. Eliot. But I bel ieve March isrncrueller. For March is Women’s HistoryrnMonth, and from out of every crevicernand dark hole, like Ores scurrying fromrnJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Minas Morgul, comernshe-things swinging their war-axes, cravingrnblood and ideological battle. Behold,rnthe wrath of Mordor.rnFeminism is no longer an option; inrnthis, the Fourth Age of Middle Earth, itrnis a mandatory torture. It is in our textbooks,rnin our libraries, in our media, inrnour churches, in our businesses. We allrnmust suffer through it. And now, unfortunately,rnwe must pass through a secularrnFeast of the Feminist Obsession on arnyearly basis. We must intone our solidarity;rnworry about the statistical anomalyrnof the 70 cents each woman makes torneach man’s dollar; and strike our breastsrn(not theirs) and repent of the sins of patriarchyrnand male oppression.rnLadies’ History Month is importantrnto the gals. Somehow, they have developedrnthis incredible inferiority complexrnand think recounting the exploits of variousrnfemales of the species for onernmonth will even things up against thernpatriarchal prigs who have dominatedrnhuman history. Men, after all, have hadrnthis incredible habit of working, inventing,rnwriting, battling, composing, building,rndestroying, and otherwise shapingrnthe facades of society from time immemorial.rnWomen, on the other hand, have traditionallyrnbeen responsible only forrnbringing human beings into existencernand nurturing all that is good at the familyrnhearth, not important things like havingrncareers as sewage treatment specialists.rnBut the Ma and Pa Cleaver era isrnover, and new gods have conquered old.rnYaweh must move over for the goddessrnwithin, while New Order Womvn makerntheir covenant with death, as Isaiah says;rn”You burn with lust among the oaks. . .rnand you sacrifice your children in thernravines. . . you uncovered your bed, yournclimbed into it and opened it wide . . .rnyou descended to the grave itself.”rnThe liberal churches long ago gave inrnto the demand for a Gender InclusivernDivinity. They pray to the Ground ofrnBeing and worship the Sacred It. This isrna malady of modernism that only recentlyrnhas affected the more conservativernbranches of Christendom: Catholicismrnand Evangelicalism. Yet even as wernLIBERAL ARTSrnA LIBERAL EDUCATIONrnfaculty and officials at the University of Iowa have protested a new requirement that they warn students before showing sexually graphicrnmaterial in class, reported the New York Times last December. ‘Hie IOWTI Board of Regents had imposed the requirement after a landmarkrngay film, “Taxi to the Bathroom,” shown in a September 1991 German class led to complaints by students, parents, alumni, andrnlegislators.rnWhen a teaching assistant in the art department subsequently showed a local artist’s eight-minute video depicting men engagingrnin oral sex, the Regents responded by ordering the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa tornestablish policies to protect students. While the Regents’ president, Marvin Berenstein, called the University of Iowa policy nothingrnmore than a courtesy to students, the teaching assistant attributed it to “an atmosphere of homophobia.”rn42/CHRONICLESrnrnrn