These Guys Don’t Fit Political Mold

Tex Lezar drapes a boot over his armchair and stares out his office window. Street sounds from gritty Washington grind out below. The urban congestion is not a scene the Dallas conservative and the group he heads, Empower America, choose to ignore.

Unlike some conservatives, Empower America’s high-profile conservative cast wades into urban and social challenges. The stars include Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick and William Bennett. Lezar, who ran for Texas lieutenant governor in 1994, is the organization’s new president.

Actually, the term “progressive conservatism” may better describe Empower America’s ethic. Kemp frequently uses the phrase, such as when he championed the cause of America’s slums as President George Bush’s housing secretary.

Lezar says progressive conservatism implies “a willingness to step out of partisan jargon.” The former Dallas lawyer notes how Empower America directors Kemp, Bennett and Kirkpatrick “are not always with the GOP.”

True. Kemp and Bennett publicly opposed California GOP Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1994 move to cut off benefits to illegal immigrants. Some Republicans disliked their opposition, perhaps costing Kemp a chance to raise enough funds for a 1996 presidential bid.

The two Empower America directors also opposed Pat Buchanan’s 1996 anti-immigrant putsch. Lezar says the Kemp-Bennett duo has “stood at the gate on immigration.” The Yale graduate notes one reason for their stand: legal immigration’s “positive impact” on new high-tech companies.

Empower America also broke out of a partisan box recently by hosting an urban conference with the Progressive Policy Institute, a moderate Democratic think tank. Lezar says the conference’s aim was to “figure out how to rejuvenate urban centers.”

One urban reform that progressive conservatives favor is redirecting the tax code. Kemp suggests that a single tax rate could attract capital back into Washington, a city struggling with a steep tax bite.

The idea has some surprising followers. Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, for example, has proposed a flat tax rate for the District of Columbia, which she represents in Congress.

Some skeptics may wonder whether progressive conservatives want to use only THEIR ideas to address social problems. But Kemp ruffled some conservative feathers last week with a surprising “Wall Street Journal” op-ed piece:

He wrote that Democratic financier Felix Rohatyn was correct in recently calling for a bipartisan economic agenda, which places economic growth as the top priority. But to get Democrats to agree that growth should be the chief aim, and not redistributing wealth through the tax code, Republicans must be honest, too, Kemp wrote.

“To Republicans, I humbly suggest that we make it possible for Democrats to give up their quest for redistribution of income and wealth by our acceptance of an appropriate role for government in financing those public goods and services necessary to secure a social safety net below which no American would be allowed to fall. Equally important, we must agree on rebuilding a ladder of hope and opportunity that all our people can climb to reach their full potential.”

Such words have not exactly poured forth from many new zealous GOP legislators. Indeed, in asking several Washington conservatives their thoughts about Kemp’s piece, I was struck by their derisive dismissals.

Debate does not bother Empower America, however. Lezar suggests the organization, funded by a number of entrepreneurs, is a “paradigm for what the GOP can be. … Not everyone agrees here.”

He points out that Bennett was slower to embrace the “growth agenda” of Forbes and Kemp, which relies upon a flat tax rate for all citizens. But “you don’t throw someone out the door just because you disagree,” Lezar says.

Some state Republican parties should consider that wisdom. The abortion wars dominating last weekend’s Texas GOP convention are not unique among state Republican organizations. But the Texas feud should give national Republican leaders pause: Stifling dissent ultimately causes organizations to wither.

Of course, new thinking is scary. But blending such progressive ideas as expanding programs that serve children, with conservative approaches like attracting capital into cities, offers Americans an alternative.

Our politics seems stuck between an outdated New Deal governing ethic and fears of a heartless conservatism. A fresh progressive conservatism presents a different approach. At least that’s what organizations like Empower America hope.