Why this lifelong
Democrat will vote Republican next November
BY ZELL MILLER
If I live and breathe,
and if--as Hank Williams used to say--the creek don't
rise, in 2004 this Democrat will do something I didn't do in 2000, I will vote
for George W. Bush for president.
I have come to believe
that George Bush is the right man in the right place at the right time. And
that's a pretty big mouthful coming from a lifelong Democrat who first voted
for Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and has voted for every Democratic presidential
candidate the 12 cycles since then. My political history to the contrary, this
was the easiest decision I think I've ever made in deciding who to support. For
I believe the next five years will determine the kind of world my four
grandchildren and four great-grandchildren will live in. I simply cannot
entrust that crucial decision to any one of the current group of Democratic
presidential candidates.
Why George Bush? First, the personal; then, the political. I first got to
know George Bush when we served as governors together, and I just plain like
the man, a man who feeds his dogs first thing every morning, has Larry Gatlin
sing in the White House, and knows what is meant by the term "hitting
behind the runner."
I am moved by the
reverence and tenderness he shows the first lady and the unabashed love he has
for his parents and his daughters.
I admire this man of
faith who has lived that line in that old hymn, "Amazing Grace,"
"Was blind, but now I see." I like the fact that he's the same on
Saturday night as he is on Sunday morning. And I like a man who shows respect
for others by starting meetings on time.
That's the personal. Now, the political.
This is a president who
understands the price of freedom. He understands that leaders throughout
history often have had to choose between good and evil, tyranny and freedom.
And the choice they make can reverberate for generations to come. This is a
president who has some Churchill in him and who does not flinch when the going
gets tough. This is a president who can make a decision and does not suffer
from "paralysis analysis." This is a president who can look
This is also a
president who understands that tax cuts are not just something that all
taxpayers deserve, but also the best way to curb government spending. It is the
best kind of tax reform. If the money never reaches the table, Congress can't
gobble it up.
I have just described
George W. Bush. Believe me, I looked hard at the other
choices. And what I saw was that the Democratic candidates who want to be
president in the worst way are running for office in the worst way. Look
closely, there's not much difference among them. I can't say there's "not
a dime's worth of difference" because there's actually billions of
dollars' worth of difference among them. Some want to raise our taxes a
trillion, while the others want to raise our taxes by several hundred billion.
But, make no mistake, they all want to raise our
taxes. They also, to varying degrees, want us to quit and get out of
I find it hard to
believe, but these naive nine have managed to combine the worst feature of the
McGovern campaign--the president is a liar and we must have peace at any
cost--with the worst feature of the Mondale campaign--watch your wallet, we're
going to raise your taxes. George McGovern carried one state in 1972. Walter
Mondale carried one state in 1984. Not exactly role models when it comes to how
to get elected or, for that matter, how to run a country.
So, as I have said, my
choice for president was an easy decision. And my own party's candidates made
it even easier.
Mr. Miller is a
Democratic senator from Georgia and the author of "A National Party No
More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat," published last month by
Stroud & Hall..
