As they contemplate the approaching Clinton presidency, its style, and its policy initiatives, conservatives may wish to consider the advantages of catacombs. Despite his campaign rhetoric, President Clinton's administration seems likely to be more liberal than the administrations of Walter Mondale or Michael Dukakis would have been. Conservatives will have little chance of stopping some of the new president's initiatives; some we may be able to moderate; and some will die in the face of reality.

Probably in the unstoppable category are Clinton's proposals to raise income taxes on the most productive Americans--which may be only a first step toward taxes as progressive as those before Reagan--and to enact punitive inheritance taxes. Given the class-warfare ideology of the Democratic congressional leadership, the initial increases at least seem certain to go through.

Although he has been fuzzy on the issue, the president-elect is probably a protectionist. With possible trade wars looming with Europe, that sentiment could produce a recession much worse than the one we have just experienced. The North American Free Trade Agreement is to be "modified," which probably means killed. There is much support for doing so among the congressional Democrats.

Conservatives may at least have some chance to prevent the worst from happening to the judiciary. We already have an inkling of Clinton's notion of good judges: Harry Blackmun and Mario Cuomo. Roe v. Wade is Clinton's idea of sound jurisprudence, and we can expect his nominees to favor such things as homosexual rights and racial goals and quotas. There are now over 100 vacancies in the district courts and courts of appeals, and Congress will surely create new judgeships so that the improvements in the judiciary of the Reagan-Bush years will be severely set back and, should Clinton win a second term, quite possibly lost. It is very difficult to make a fight over nominees to lower courts, and Clinton will probably have his way with Supreme Court appointments unless he nominates some of the more radical names that have been mentioned. Conservatives should be prepared with complete information on the more likely jurisprudential radicals so that the public can quickly be informed and opposition mounted.

"President-elect Clinton is clearly no friend of defense and the military."--Robert Bork

President-elect Clinton is clearly no friend of defense and the military. He will attempt to fund his massive "investment" programs by cuts in the defense budget that would leave the United States unable to mount even a minor version of Desert Storm. In this effort he will be supported by the Democratic Congress. Conservatives' hopes of preserving an adequate military depend on events in the world that may remind Americans of the importance of a strong defense. A general West African war may be beginning in Liberia. The bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia may easily spread elsewhere in the Balkans. The Middle East will not settle down in any foreseeable future. Russian nationalism appears to be resurgent and is likely to try to reassemble the empire the Soviets once had. Nuclear proliferation is inevitable. The obvious dangers indicate that there is a chance to prevent Clinton from leaving America helpless to defend itself and its interests abroad.

It is in the cultural arena that the Clinton presidency will be most threatening to conservative values. Traditionalists have been losing the struggle for some time now. Indeed, the fact that a man with Clinton's known character defects could win the presidency is testimony not merely to George Bush's unpopularity but to a decline in what used to be called virtue, personal and patriotic. That trend seems likely to accelerate. The pro-life battle is lost, at least for some time to come, and perhaps forever. Congress will probably enact a pro-choice statute that goes well beyond Roe v. Wade. Clinton will lift the bans on fetal-tissue research and on giving abortion advice at federally funded clinics.

"It is in the cultural arena that the Clinton presidency will be most threatening to conservative values."--Robert Bork

The most obvious manifestations of the cultural conflicts ahead are Clinton's proposals to allow homosexuals in the military and women in combat. Conservatives have a chance to defeat these initiatives because there are strong constituencies on their side. The military is strongly opposed to the admission of homosexuals because of the effects on unit morale, and opposition is building in Congress. Placing women in combat roles will be more difficult to defeat, but the case can be made from Israel's experience that it is disastrous to combat effectiveness.

Whatever the fate of these two misguided proposals, homosexual activists and radical feminists are influential components of the Democratic coalition, and we may expect to see them at the White House. Both groups will continue to get strong support in television entertainment. In matters of sex and violence, the networks will continue to press the limits, and we can expect no Dan Quayle-like responses from the new administration.

Bleak as the immediate prospects look, retreating to catacombs is premature. The new president received only 43 percent of the vote. The political process does not stop between elections, and it would be a serious mistake for conservatives to adopt a "wait-until-'96" attitude. Clinton and the congressional Democrats are to the left of the American center, so it may be possible to arouse enough public opposition to defeat some of his more egregious proposals.

Robert H. Bork is the John M. Olin Scholar in Legal and Constitutional Studies at AEI.