I am pleased that Stephen Moore’s Club for Growth Advocacy fought valiantly on the House floor last November against the abomination that was President Bush’s Medicare prescription-drug bill—which has now become law, adding another $395 billion to the mushrooming federal debt.  (See “Night Moves,” Vital Signs, February.)  Likewise, Mr. Moore should be commended by all fiscal conservatives for acknowledging just how incorrigibly profligate this Republican President and Congress are and how little the Karl Rove political operation values the independent judgment of legislators.  The thuggish floor managers for “Bush 43” doubtless feel no shame for their actions.  Yet, I must sincerely ask Mr. Moore why he is unashamed to remain within the GOP. Why not break completely with this crowd?  If not even 20 percent of Republican members in either the House or Senate were willing to oppose this reckless measure, then what is the value in having a Republican Party in the first place?

Defending the “heroes” of the drug-bill fight against primary challenges instigated by the White House, while laudable, is insufficient.  Far better would be a strategy of running third-party challengers this November against the roughly 200 socialist Republicans who cowered before the LBJ Republican residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

        —James Moses
New York, NY

Mr. Moore Replies:

James Moses asks: Why stay in the GOP in the wake of the GOP sellout on Medicare?  My answer is that we need to try to rebuild the Republican Party rather than abandon it.  We need to take on the Republican establishment when appropriate and find good primary challengers to liberal Republicans.  The Republicans can be counted on to do the right thing when every other option has been exhausted.  This is the party of Reagan, and we need to keep it focused on smaller government, lower taxes, and more personal responsibility.  The alternative—the big-government Democrats—is unthinkable.