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In Joseph Heller's loony World War II novel, "Catch-22," the main character, a paranoid Army Air Corps bombardier named Yossarian, wants desperately to stop flying bombing missions over Europe. However, there's a catch. In order to stop flying, his friend Doc Daneeka tells him, Yossarian must meet two criteria: he must be certified as insane and he must file a personal request to be grounded. Continuing to risk his life by flying further missions is considered the actions of a lunatic, thereby meeting that condition. Unfortunately, filing a request to be grounded demonstrates a concern for one's own personal safety, and since this certifies his sanity, he must keep flying. At one point in this surreal scenario, Yossarian rebels and refuses to fly any more missions, at which point, his demented commander, Colonel Cathcart, offers him a deal: Yossarian can stop flying if he simply promises to say nice things about his commanding officers.

Today's conservative Republican candidates must feel like modern day Yossarians. They run for office on principles most Americans share. After being elected, they try their best to keep their campaign promises. But like poor Yossarian, they are told that there is a catch. In order to do the things they were elected to do, they must continue to be re-elected. In order to be re-elected, they must compromise their principles and make deals with their political enemies. Furthermore, like the hapless Yossarian, they are required to praise their leaders, who have already sold out on so many issues it is frequently impossible to distinguish them from those they opposed for office in the first place.

Today's conservative Republican candidates know that their hero, the intrepid Ronald Reagan, never had to sell out in order to be elected. Many of them were inspired to enter politics by the Gipper's courage and desire to do what was right for America. They want to support their party leaders and present a united front against their ideological foes. But they are continually asked to turn their backs on the beliefs that brought them into public service in the first place.

It is an amazing thing to witness Sen. Joe Lieberman being abandoned by his Democrat colleagues for failing to toe the party line on the war in Iraq, especially after watching President Bush support liberal Republicans like Arlen Specter simply because they have the letter "R" behind their names. Lieberman has been a loyal Democrat all his life. A pious man who publicly admonished Bill Clinton's alley cat behavior in the Oval Office, the senator from Connecticut nevertheless voted against removing him from the presidency for the actual crimes for which he was impeached. And Lieberman had to jettison a whole list of principles in order to be the dutiful running mate of the dementedly left-wing Al Gore.

Republicans allowed Ted Kennedy to foist upon our public schools a huge federal power grab known as "No Child Left Behind." GOP leaders enacted a Medicare prescription drug bill that is the largest and most expensive new entitlement in American history. Scandalous border policies have permitted a veritable foreign invasion of our country. And after five-and-a-half years in office, President Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill.

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