Phillips: Stop Moral Decline

Harvard University has served as the launching pad for United States presidents from John Adams to John F. Kennedy. In this presidential campaign, another Harvard alum is making a run at the Oval Office, but it's unlikely that anyone will ever dedicate any form of Harvard edifice in his name.

Howard Phillips, chair of the Conservative Caucus, a former Nixon Administration official and member of Harvard's class of '62, is running as the nominee of the U.S. Taxpayers Party. In next Tuesday's primary, he will be listed on the Independent Voters Party (IVP) ballot.

Call him a low-profile Pat Buchanan--someone who is running in this campaign in order to lay the groundwork for a conservative run at the presidency in 1996. Phillips' hope is to use the "microphone of the presidential campaign to change the current party."

The central problem of government today is the spiraling federal debt, Phillips says. As a result of the debt, the American economy will deteriorate to extreme depths, according to Phillips.

"No modern president has ever proposed a balanced budget," Phillips points out. "In order to get the system under control, we need presidential leadership."

Phillips espouses traditional conservative values, and cites the "moral decline" of American as a major problem.

"This moral decline has led to increases in crime, abortion and sexual promiscuity," Phillips says.

And he believes that the moral decline is largely government's fault.

"To a certain degree, government has subsidized (the moral decline)...by giving money to organizations like Planned Parenthood and Gay Men's Health Crisis," Phillips explains. "Millions of dollars have been spent in promoting a way of life which is counterproductive and destructive."

Phillips admits that no one outside the major parties can win the presidency in 1992, but he sees a drastically changed political environment in 1996.

"The Republican party, if it wins in 1992, will have won its last election," predicts Phillips.

He says that the "internal stresses" in the Republican party, which were "papered over by the charm of Ronald Reagan," are growing greater.

"If the economy continues to go downhill, people of ambition will not want to be on a Republican ticket," Phillips says.