What was a radical to do? For weeks, House G.O.P. freshman Sam Brownback of Kansas had been trying to find someone with seniority who would listen to the ideas that he and other new lawmakers had for going beyond the ``Contract with America.'' And for weeks, he had got the same perfunctory responses: ``Maybe later, after things settle down a bit''; ``Maybe after you've been around a bit longer''; ``Maybe Maybe Maybe '' Then Brownback got a phone call from Budget Committee chairman John Kasich. Said Kasich: ``Okay, you want to start a revolution? We'll start a revolution.''
Brownback, the freshman-class president, hastily rounded up as many of his fellow newcomers as he could find and trooped over to Kasich's office. There they learned that their radical ideas were not quite as radical as the chairman's. Not only had Kasich thought of many of them himself, but he wanted to up the bidding. So, the freshmen wanted to eliminate three Cabinet departments? Why not four? How about adding the Commerce Department, that gigantic bureaucracy whose main use has been to dispense patronage jobs and favors for campaign contributors?
In the incoming crop of House members, Brownback said, Kasich found ``a chorus of angels singing to his soul.'' And last week, as the freshmen unveiled their plan to dismantle the Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing departments, Kasich stood with them. ``This is serious! This is real! And I love 'em all!'' the chairman crowed.
Then again, Kasich needs all the friends he can get these days. As Budget Committee chairman, he is charged with pulling off a trillion-dollar feat: wiping out the deficit by 2002, while lowering middle-class taxes by better than $100 billion. Moreover, it all has to be done without cutting defense, touching Social Security or raising taxes. Kasich has the advantages of the single-minded and the weaknesses of the true believer. He has proved that he is willing to march ahead; whether he can convince enough people to follow him is another question. As he makes his plans clearer, the grousing is getting louder, with some of the bitterest complaints coming from fellow committee chairmen. Snapped one Republican: ``He wants to be secretary of everything.''
Understandably, the White House is offering no help or cover in the struggle that the Republicans have taken on by putting forth such contradictory goals in their Contract. Clinton sent Congress a budget with a scant $80 billion deficit reduction over the next five years, a gesture that told the Republicans they were on their own. Kasich, Clinton Budget Director Alice Rivlin told TIME, ``has got a huge job. The Republicans have undertaken an enormously difficult task.'' Yet the six-term Ohio Congressman seems to feel it is his responsibility, if not his destiny. ``We have an obligation to leave the planet better off than we found it. If we pile on debt, are we going to be able to look our kids in the eye and say we failed to tackle it?'' he told TIME. ``If you're going to fail, you better have tried.''