Hoosier Review

Volume 2, Number 15

May 3, 1998

College Republicans hold final mass meeting of 1997-98

By Scott Tibbs

The Indiana University College Republicans are busy preparing for the 1998 elections, and the April 20 mass meeting helped underscore that fact. CR President Robert Brothers said CR's are entering an exciting time. Brothers announced that College Republicans are actively supporting County Councilman Jeff Ellington in his bid to unseat incumbent State Rep. Jerry Bales in the 1998 Republican primary.

Ellington told the crowd he is running because being a state representative means something. Since 1981, Jerry Bales has supported Democratic tax increases and tried to raise taxes every year since then. Elllington said the biggest issues in Indiana are taxes, roads, and education.

Hostettler encourages crowd

The featured speaker of the evening was U.S. Representative John N. Hostettler. Hostettler began by addressing the question "What happened to the Republican Revolution?" Hostettler said that while the leadership has not been as active in promoting conservative government as many activists would hope for, we need perspective when analyzing the current situation. In 1994, the Clinton Administration proposed a budget with a $225 billion deficit. But the GOP won control of Congress, and submitted a balanced budget. Now, the Congressional Budget Office estimates there will be an $18 billion surplus in 1998. Even if economic growth is not up to par, the surplus will be at least $8 billion. While balancing the budget, the Republican Congress cut capital gains taxes from 28% to 20%, a move that encouraged investment and resulted in more revenue to the Treasury.

Hostettler decried Clinton's downsizing of the military. Hostettler claimed we do not have the ability to launch another Desert Storm. In 1991, nine Army divisions were in Iraq out of 18 total divisions. Now, there are ten total army divisions, with one permanently deployed in South Korea. To have the same level of military buildup now, we would have to commit our entire armed forces to the conflict.

Hostettler also expressed strong support for a ban on partial-birth abortions. The American Medical Association has declared that this procedure is never needed to save the life of the mother. Originally, it was thought there were 500 partial-birth abortions occurring in the United States every year, but now the estimate is around 5000.

Hostettler noted there is progress being made on tax reform. Hostettler said the flat tax is good but leaves the system in place that could grow as complicated as the one we have now. At one time, the tax code was simple, but grew into a 9000 page code. Because of this, Hostettler supports a national sales tax.