Bob Dole of Kansas was Mr. Conservative in national politics in the early 1980s when the nation struggled through one of the periodic recessions which have tormented the rich and tortured the poor over all of the country’s economic history.
Sen. Dole rose to become leader of the Republican Party and of the U.S. Senate when his party held a majority. His political career ascended steadily until it culminated in his nomination for president in 1996.
It was natural, therefore, that Dole was turned to in 1982 when tough challenges arose. When it became apparent that the Social Security program was at risk, it was Dole who led a study that resulted in raising the payroll tax on both employers and employees, increased the amount of income on which the tax was paid and — very, very gradually — increased the retirement age.
By increasing revenues and cutting back a little on the benefits bestowed, Social Security was made sound again.
Dole and President Ronald Reagan — another conservative icon — then turned to the deficit and attacked it with the same formula: cut spending, increase taxes. The result was a very large increase in federal revenues. The deficit didn’t turn into a surplus, but it was sharply reduced. This common-sense tactic restored confidence in the economy and the recession gave way to another period of solid and sustained growth.
Both Dole and Reagan stepped away from partisan orthodoxy and put the good of the country first — and learned that raising taxes in a recession turned out to be exactly the thing to do, a lesson that may very well apply today.
LAST SUNDAY, that same Bob Dole wrote a piece for the Topeka Capital-Journal for a series the newspaper is publishing on the “Soul of Kansas” to mark the 150th anniversary of Kansas. He didn’t deal with today’s need to deal with the fiscal threats to the nation’s entitlements programs, but reflected instead on the lessons learned from his personal victories over adversity.
Dole fought in World War II and was gravely wounded and spent the better part of three years recovering. He earned the right to reflect on the reputation bestowed by others on his generation:
“ . . . I must confess: I have always felt a somewhat mixed emotion whenever my contemporaries who served in World War II are described as uniquely selfless or brave.
“ . . . It may be more accurate to say that between the Great Depression and the global war that followed hard on its heels, my generation was uniquely tested. In meeting those tests, however, we were following in the footsteps — and the traditions — of earlier Kansans who faced challenges in their own way no less grave.
“Imagine the ordeal of anti-slavery settlers in the years when ‘Bleeding Kansas’ offered a dress rehearsal for the Civil War. Or the frontier courage of pioneering families ‘out there’ —as some still refer to any place west of Salina — as they confronted drought and fire, clouds of grasshoppers, and paralyzing snow storms. Indeed anyone who has ever tried to scratch a living from the soil knows all about the Soul of Kansas.
“ . . . . There is a good reason our state motto proclaims: To the stars through difficulties. It has always been that way here, where life can be hard but the people aren’t. To me the Soul of Kansas will forever be enshrined in a battered cigar box placed where the people of Russell could discretely drop a couple of bills or whatever change they might scoop from their pockets . . . to add to the Bob Dole Fund . . . to help defray my hospital bills (as doctors labored to ) restore as much use as possible to my battle-scarred arm and hands.
“ . . . That’s why, for me, the title of Greatest Generation applies, not just to those of us who spent our youth in distant places fighting to uphold Kansas values — but to all of those on the home front who, in welcoming us back, demonstrated the true Soul of Kansas. More than 60 years later, their example is both our inheritance and our inspiration.”
Bob Dole is one of the gifts that Kansas has made to America.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
