The Rise and Fall of Orrin Hatch
by Timothy Rollins
May 11, 1998
"Beneath the Surface"
In
November 1976, a trial lawyer and political unknown by the name of Orrin Grant
Hatch was elected to the United States Senate from the State of Utah, defeating
favored three-time incumbent Frank Moss. Hatch told Utahns that Moss was out
of touch with the constituents back home, and that when push came to shove,
he voted with fellow Democrats over the will of the people of Utah. He campaigned
very effectively on that issue and offered ideas that were clear, well defined
and whose time had come.
As a freshman senator, he proved to be a uniquely bad headache for President Jimmy Carter, opposing nominations that had no business being sent to the Senate in the first place. He was key in sending a number of them in the tank where they belonged. Under the tutelage of the late Senator James Allen (D-AL), Hatch learned the rules of the Senate and used them to masterful advantage in helping advance a course of action that put America back to greatness under President Ronald Reagan, who rebuilt our defenses and sent a message to the world that we don't take flak from anybody.
I met Orrin Hatch in 1982 while I was an undergraduate and when he was running for his second term. Affable, highly intelligent, concise and articulate, he generated an atmosphere of excitement and energy. So impressed was I with him, I did the occasional campaign bit by telling friends why Orrin Hatch should be returned to the Senate for a second term.
Which is what makes the Orrin Hatch of today unrecognizable by comparison. The Orrin Hatch who was elected in 1976 in an upset would have never come up with political abortions the likes of S. 10 or S. 507.
For the unfamiliar, Senate Bill 10 puts all kinds of restrictions on guns that are unnecessary, cumbersome and time consuming which smack of harassment of legitimate gun owners. And using the RICO statute is like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. Hatch's rationale is that juvenile crime is out of control. This legislation will do NOTHING to reduce that. What will reduce it are parents working with their children, and not running away from their responsibilities and leaving the State to take care of them. It is that attitude that has us in the mess we are in now. The State has shown us how good they are at taking care of children.
Though I do not like Hillary Clinton at all, she is right to a certain extent when she says it takes a village to raise a child. Communities are in place so people can help one another out. It teaches children that problems that cannot be solved alone can be solved with cooperation and teamwork in many cases. Now do not assume that I think it is the only solution, as I think Hillary uses that angle to "justify" more government control over our lives. That is wrong. And it is this extremism that Hatch has bought into that makes him a now fallen leader.
That, and the mess behind S. 507.
In reading one of the bios on Hatch, a portrait is painted of Hatch as a caring, compassionate man, and that shows very clearly in the writing. He comes across in the book and in my meeting with him as one who cares deeply for America and her people and wants what is best for them. Yet S. 507 is a sell-out of all Americans because it would remove existing patent protections and make them for sale to the highest bidder, domestic or foreign. America makes the overwhelming majority of new inventions, and this statute would rob decent hard-working people of the advantage we have earned a right to. To add insult to injury, in a clear case of both conflict of interest and blatant hypocrisy, Hatch is also seeking an extension of copyright law to extend the length of copyrights for music and recorded work, such as the CD of religious music he produced with Janice Kapp Perry. You can't have it both ways, Senator!
While Hatch has fallen in a sense, he has made an invaluable contribution to American society and should be applauded and commended for it. Yet he also needs to wake up and take a look around, as he is falling into the trap of more government control of which Bubba himself is the chief architect thereof. ***
© 1998 Timothy Rollins
COPYRIGHT © 1998 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.