Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS Did you vote for bigger government By Richard L Lesher President Chamber of Commerce of the United States The clearest message to emerge from the midterm congressional elections is that there is no clear message Those looking for a strengthened conservative coalition in the results will be disappointed pointed Similarly those seeking to unearth a national of will have to dig all the way to China before they find it it Consider these hese contradictory results Conservatives Conservatives suffered moderate losses in the House o of Representatives but not a single seat in the Senate Several liberal candidates defeated conservative House members in the South but in California conser swept the top offices from liberals In New York ork one of the most liberal states gubernatorial candidate Lew Lehrman who is more conservative than the President himself won 48 per er cent of the vote against all odds by ad- ad advocating advocating supply side tax cuts and a tougher approach to crime Republicans were toppled in areas with higher than average unemployment ment yet nationwide voter exit polls con con- conducted ducted by the major news organizations revealed significant strength for the President and his policies For example a survey of voters by NBC and the Associated Press showed that 57 percent of Americans believe is either a success or deserves more time Despite this mixed bag of results the nations nation's capital Is rife with speculation that President Reagans Reagan's support In Con Con- Congress gress has been shattered and that Ve y a are in for two ye years rs of stalemate in Washington others even suggest that liberals in Congress have been handed a mandate to reverse the course we have been pursuing for the last two years But did you cast your vote for higher taxes more spending and bigger deficits Do you know anyone who did I pose those questions for this reason President Reagans Reagan's economic policy based for the most part on the premises of supply side economics means cutting taxes spending and regulations to even even- eventually eventually s spur ur growth and jobs in the private sector A reversal of that course can on- on only only ly mean higher taxes more spending and greater reliance on government By no stretch of the imagination can it be said that voters flocked to the polls to demand bigger government By doggedly adhering to the basic premise of his that administration his mission in office is to cut the scope of the government President will make further progress in the next two years While it will be more difficult the con con- conservative coalition that passed sweeping ta tag and budget cuts in 1981 can be reassembled on a vote by vote basis to curtail growth of federal spending weed out unnecessary regulation and put Social Security on sound fin financial footing My confidence stems from the fact that when all the rhetoric is put aside the one thing members of Congress understand more than anything is grass roots pressure from the home folks And organizations like the Chamber of Com Com- Commerce merce intend to work harder than ever everto everto to see that the grass roots message of a majority of Americans is brought to bearon bear bearon on Congress over the next two years |