VOTING ACTS: ELECTION DAY WAS NOT A BAD DAY FOR TOLERANCE

In America, we have the Democratic Party, which can't keep its hands off
our wallets, and the Republican Party, which can't keep its nose out of our
personal lives. Each had its victories and defeats on Tuesday, but the real
preference among voters is for a third party: one that is willing to live
and let live.

This is a growing segment of the electorate. In the last 25 years,
according to Bill Clinton's pollster, Mark Penn, the percentage of people
who agree with the statement "The best government is the government that
governs least" has risen from 32 percent to 56 percent. But neither of the
two major parties gives Americans a consistent choice between being
governed more and being governed less.

So voters have to pick and choose from the available options. The clearest
evidence of the "leave us alone" trend came from the states that voted on
marijuana policy. In five referendums, citizens voted in favor of allowing
the medical use of cannabis, despite the bitter opposition of die-hard
prohibitionists from drug czar Barry McCaffrey on down. In Oregon, which
has decriminalized marijuana use, voters also overwhelmingly rejected an
attempt to make it a crime once again.

Arizonans, who saw their legislature try to overturn their 1996 vote for
medical marijuana, thumpingly reaffirmed it. In the District of Columbia,
where the same issue was on the ballot, the Republican Congress was so
afraid of the results that it barred district officials from reporting the
vote count.

Citizens of Washington state did something that may sound liberal when they
approved letting patients use pot to cure ailments that don't respond to
conventional treatment. But they did something that is regarded as
conservative by supporting a ban on racial and sexual preferences in
government contracting and college admissions. What do the two positions
have in common? Nothing, except a respect for the rights of the individual
and a distrust of government power.

The same outlook found expression in the upset triumph of former
professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura in the Minnesota
gubernatorial race. He was running against Hubert H. Humphrey III, who in
addition to having a golden Minnesota name had used his position as state
attorney general to sue the tobacco industry.

Ventura talked about legalizing prostitution and drugs and respecting gay
rights; Humphrey bragged about punishing an industry for selling people a
legal product they choose to consume. Even in strait-laced Minnesota, the
case for individual choice prevailed. Ventura got 37 percent of the vote,
while Humphrey came in third with 28 percent.

Down in the Bible Belt, there were other surprises. Alabama is one of the
most conservative and most Republican states in the country, but it has its
limits. Voters there evicted Republican Gov. Fob James, who defended a
judge's display of the 10 Commandments in his courtroom and argued for
restoring organized prayer in public schools. James had the endorsement of
religious right leaders Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson,
which may do him some good with St. Peter but failed to impress Alabamans.
By a gaudy 16-point margin, they abandoned James for Democratic Lt. Gov.
Don Siegelman.

Another favorite of the Christian Coalition was South Carolina Gov. David
Beasley, a Republican who proclaimed his moral opposition to gambling,
refused to allow a referendum on whether to establish a state lottery and
tried to outlaw video poker. Despite being governor at a time when South
Carolina is booming, and despite being a Republican in a Republican state,
he was trounced by an unknown Democrat whose most potent campaign theme was
that South Carolinians should be allowed to decide for themselves whether
to allow these forms of gambling.

California Republican Matt Fong, who publicly endorsed a law banning
anti-gay discrimination, looked like he had a very good chance of beating
incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer. But then the news broke that he had made a
$50,000 contribution to the Traditional Values Coalition, which is best
known for opposing gay rights and urging the teaching of creationism in
public schools. The connection was not a boon to Fong, who on Election Day
found he was about as popular as an oil spill.

The most conspicuous Republican victors Tuesday were those with a
reputation for independence from the party's puritans and
busybodies--George Bush in Texas, George Pataki in New York, George Ryan in
Illinois. The ones who lost were those most closely identified with Newt
Gingrich, who often sounds like he's leading a jihad. Judging from this
year's results, the party that wins in the year 2000 will be the one that
can portray itself as the party of freedom and tolerance--two traditional
values that are still very much in style.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski