Political Potpourri
Zip Dobyns
I debated calling this article “political postmortem,” but the name is too close to accurate for comfort like the “death of civilization” if we define the latter as humans caring for their fellow humans rather than living by the Darwinian “law of the jungle.” When you look at the passage of Proposition 187 in California which denies education or any except emergency health care to the families of illegal aliens, there is a very hollow ring to talk about increasing spiritual awareness. Within two days of 187 becoming our “law,” despite it being immediately tied up in the courts and both teachers and doctors reassuring the public that they would not enforce it, a young Mexican boy died because his father was afraid to take him to the hospital.
There is no question that people are anxious and angry. They are told that unemployment is going down and inflation is not a problem, but the big companies keep “downsizing,” the polite term for firing employees; only people in high wage jobs are getting raises; people who have stopped looking for work are no longer counted in the unemployment ranks; many people are self-employed or working part-time or for minimum wages and living below the poverty line. But we are told that the only solution lies in more competition, getting leaner and meaner like the big multinational companies whose CEOs make more money in a few months than most people make in a lifetime of hard work and whose companies increase their profits by reducing the standard of living of their employees.
So after two years of Democratic control of both Congress and the Presidency, the 30+% of citizens who bothered to vote decided to see whether the Republicans could do any better. They may be shocked if the Republicans actually carry out some of their proposals such as eliminating any welfare for unmarried teenage mothers and putting their babies in orphan asylums. The cost of building and hiring staff and maintaining such asylums would be much higher than the money given to the mothers to care for their own children, but the new leaders obviously want to punish the teenagers for having children at the same time that they hope to deprive them of birth control information and abortions.
The military will now get more money. Taxes will be cut for the wealthy, starting with the capitol gains tax. Even more jails will be built than was planned in Clinton’s big crime bill and all money for rehabilitation will be canceled. Like teen-aged mothers, criminals are to be punished, not helped to become law-abiding citizens. Business regulations will be reduced or eliminated so the elite at the top will have even more freedom to widen the gap between rich and poor. I wonder how many astrologers have associated such results with Uranus moving into Aquarius? “Do anything you like as long as you give me the same privilege and as long as the law continues to hold property rights more sacred than human needs.”
So who are our congressional leaders for the brave new world of the next two years? We have an accurate birth chart for Robert Dole, the new Senate majority leader, cited as “J. Hill quotes his letter in Mercury Hour” in IDEA (A data). We lack a birth time for Newt Gingrich who will be the majority leader in the House of Representatives. I am including a speculative chart for him. Readers can follow progressions and transits to the planets and asteroids, remembering that the Moon’s degree is not reliable and the houses are speculative. I am also including a chart for Senator Alphonse D’Amato of New York, whose birth data comes from his mother via Lois Rodden and is marked “A” data. D’Amato hates Clinton and he has already announced that in his new position as the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee he will conduct another investigation of Whitewater.
Bob Dole was born in Russell, Kansas on July 23, 1923 at 0:10 A.M. CST. He has been the leader of the Republicans in the Senate for many years. He plays hardball politics but is more moderate than some of his very conservative peers. He is seriously considering running for President in 1996.
Dole’s chart has fewer factors above the horizon than most people who have spent their lives in the public eye. Part of his reported “meanness” may have been developed as a consequence of serious war injuries and many months in the hospital as he recuperated from his wounds. Part of it is probably a shield against his sensitive Cancer nature with three factors in the sign and four in the house of Cancer. All of his first house rulers, Venus, Mercury, and Mars, the natural ruler, are in either the sign or the house of Cancer so he is very identified with this side of life. The expression of this can range from being a very private person devoted to one’s home and family to being devoted to one’s homeland. Dole’s Kansas roots tie him to the land and the home state farmers who vote for him.
In addition to the importance of his home base, the area of work is emphasized in Dole’s chart by the placement of the planet and two asteroids associated with it in the work houses. Vesta and Saturn are in the sixth (Virgo) house which describes the details of one’s job, and Ceres is in the tenth house which symbolizes career in the larger sense—how we fit into the society and the degree to which we claim some of its power. The air signs present in the earth houses usually indicate an individual who earns his living with his conscious mind, learning and communicating with his fellow humans. Dole has enough Aries, Leo and Scorpio to enjoy power, but it is less common to find the fire in water houses in people with important power positions. Water often plays the “power behind the scenes.” Scorpio, the sign of his Moon and Jupiter, can be manifested through either cooperation or competition. In general, Dole’s chart looks more like a team player than like a bulldozer, yet he has certainly played dirty pool on occasion in the past. His Mars conjunct Mercury in Leo and square the Ascendant and Jupiter are probably the primary keys to his frequent verbal assaults on his enemies.
Dole’s progressions for the 1994 elections offer clear indications of this being a time of major change for him. His P MC entered a new sign in early 1994 and its trine to Mercury, a ruler of the sixth house, and opposition to Vesta and P Mercury in the sixth house fit his changing job from minority to majority leader of the Senate. His P Ascendant in Washington, DC is conjunct natal Mars and octile P Mars, clues to major changes in personal action and potentially to major conflicts. The potential for power struggles in Dole’s work is also shown by P Saturn holding a square to his MC for many years as well as an opposition to Chiron. The combination could mean frustration of his effort to attain the top power position in the U.S., the Presidency, with both Saturn and the MC representing the executive and Chiron in Aries showing personal (Aries) goals (Chiron like Jupiter). Or it could mean his battles with the top executive; in this case, with Bill Clinton. At the 1994 elections, Dole’s P MC in Washington was intensifying the picture with a conjunction to Chiron, a square to the MC, and an opposition to P Saturn, while his P Moon on his P East Point was square natal Vesta and P MC.
These conflict patterns could have been interpreted as a defeat for the Republicans in the election. Since that certainly did not happen, we have to look for other interpretations. The position of Republican Whip which is next to the majority leader in power was formerly held by Alan Simpson, a strong supporter of Dole. Senate Republicans have elected Trent Lott to replace Simpson. Lott is a close friend of Newt Gingrich, the new majority leader in the House of Representatives, and of Phil Gramm who is also talking about running for president in 1996. Some commentators are suggesting that this choice of Lott will hamper Dole’s presidential aspirations but others say that unless Lott plays ball and helps pass the Republican agenda, it would hurt all of the Republicans, and that Dole will get the credit if people are satisfied with the results.
Of course, Dole also had some aspects which could fit a successful move into power. His P Venus was conjunct Saturn though it was natally square Saturn and in a few months it will start a square to its own natal position. P Venus was also quincunx P Uranus and P Juno was opposite P Uranus, both aspects indicating possible work changes with P Juno in Virgo and P Venus in the sixth house. P Ceres was sextile P MC, trine natal Vesta, opposite natal Mercury, and quincunx P Moon and P East Point—still more indications of change in the work area with Ceres in the tenth house and carrying some of the connotations of Virgo.
Though there are some sextiles and trines, the majority of the emphasis in Dole’s current patterns is on change and conflict. Like Clinton’s chart in 1992, I suspect that the message is that the current election results are temporary rather than long-lasting and that the two years ahead will be saturated with conflict, inside as well as between the two Parties. As one commentator remarked, the next two years are going to be spent campaigning for the presidency in 1996. Whether the results include more gridlock or just more hardships for the people at the bottom, we will be seeing one side of Aquarius: freedom emphasized at the expense of equality.
We might look at a few of the asteroids before leaving Dole’s chart. Among the interesting ones is P Hybris (hubris) on the Descendant. Does that point to Dole or to his partners and/or opponents or to all of the above? P Williams is on P Jupiter! Does that mean that Bill Clinton’s disfavor in the country will continue to help Dole? Or will some of Dole’s actions in the next two years make Clinton look better by contrast? Dole’s P Moon will be on his P Washingtonia when the new Congress takes over the power. P Newtonia (Newt Gingrich’s given name is Newton) is in 5 Virgo holding squares to Dole’s local Ascendant in Washington and his P Antivertex. Newt’s aggressive ultra-conservatism has already given Dole some uneasy moments. That does not mean that they will not cooperate most of the time. P Newtonia is moving into a trine to P Pallas and in 3-4 years it will trine Dole’s birthplace Ascendant. We will save Dole’s 1996 progressions for a later article and just comment here that his P Mars will trine his natal MC at that time and his P Pallas, our most political asteroid, will trine his natal Ascendant.
Turning now to my speculative chart on Newt Gingrich, I am exploring a Leo Ascendant for him to fit his arrogance. He is reportedly even more mean than Dole in addition to being much more of an opportunist. He was an active liberal in college but switched to the conservative side when the voting trend moved in that direction. He changed his church to the one favored by the majority in his state of Georgia—Southern Baptist. He reportedly discussed the divorce he was seeking with his wife when she was in the hospital following cancer surgery. He denies saying what a friend claims, that his reason for wanting a divorce was that his wife had cancer and she was not young and pretty enough to be the wife of a president. If this report is true, it speaks to an ambition that may even exceed Bill Clinton’s.
Even if the Leo Ascendant is not accurate, Gingrich has four factors in Leo which form several squares to his Taurus factors. A morning birth puts his Moon opposite Saturn while a birth late in the day would move it into a T-square to Sun and Neptune. The patterns certainly fit a power struggle life, and politics are a proper arena for that. Another reason for picking this birth time is that Gingrich’s mother was married just long enough to conceive him. She married at 16 after her father died and she left her husband just three days later when he hit her. She went home to live with her mother and married a military officer about three years later. The immediate separation between his parents would fit the close Moon-Saturn opposition, and the change in Newt’s close relationships would fit his P Ascendant reaching his north lunar node at about age three. One of Newt’s half-sisters is a lesbian and another one supports the right of women to have abortions. Newt is in a second marriage and his first wife had to take him to court twice to get her legal child support payments. When he preaches about conservative, traditional family values, Newt admits that his family is not the approved model.
In addition to the power struggle aspects of Newt’s chart, what struck me most was a similarity to Bill Clinton’s in its emphasis on air and fire signs, though Newt has much more earth with a grand trine between Ceres, Neptune, and Juno in earth signs. The weak element in both charts is water, but Clinton’s Neptune exactly on his Ascendant and Mars shows his potential for empathy and compassion. Newt may have planets in water houses—my speculative chart puts his Antivertex in Cancer and four factors in the twelfth house—but Jupiter is his single planet in a water sign. He is said to like animals, but demonstrates almost no compassion for people. He is very verbally fluent with his strong Gemini and his Sagittarian Moon, very competent and hard working with the grand trine in earth, and very confident and aggressive with a grand trine in fire.
We will come back to Gingrich in a future article, especially if someone is able to get his birth time. I will just add that he has Aletheia, the goddess of truth, in Aries on the midpoint of his Saturn/south lunar node, a lesson. Is the chart telling us that he is too blunt and arrogant, convinced that he has final truth and willing to impose him ideas on the world? P Aletheia squares his Jupiter-Juno opposition. P Laverna, the goddess of thieves, squares Newt’s natal Sun and IF my speculative birth time is right, it is on his P Ascendant and square his P MC. P south lunar node holds a long conjunction with Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus who looked backward rather than forward. P Epimetheus opposes Pluto. P Williams (for Bill Clinton) is on P Elba, the name of the island where Napoleon was first exiled. There is no doubt that Gingrich would like to send Bill into exile.
Alphonse D’Amato was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 1, 1937 at 10:15 EDT. The data is from D’Amato’s mother through Lois Rodden. I don’t know much about D’Amato, though I have heard that he has problems with alcohol. I usually see a fixed emphasis in the charts of people with problems involving over-indulgence, though mutable conflict aspects involving letters nine and twelve are also common with alcoholics who drink out of frustrated idealism. D’Amato has Mars in Scorpio in a T-square to Vesta in Leo and Ceres in Aquarius. He also has his Leo Sun widely square Uranus in Taurus, and most of his factors in fixed signs are also in fixed houses since D’Amato has a “reverse zodiac” with most signs in their opposite houses. Fixed squares often produce a life of power struggles, whether we choose to engage in them voluntarily or project the power and attract others who force us to fight. Individuals with this emphasis can express it in healthy, “game-playing” competition, learning to win some and lose some and sometimes compromise for mutual pleasure. D’Amato also has squares between Gemini and Virgo in the Sagittarius/Pisces houses, so he could be struggling with chronic frustration.
Saturn in the seventh house points to a lesson in personal relationships. Putting Saturn in the sign of Mars and the house of Venus is equivalent to a cardinal T-square, needing to integrate self-will, sharing with peers, and power. But D’Amato also has many aspects for success, including Mars trine Pluto and the Descendant in a grand water trine with his Ascendant, East Point, and Antivertex sextile Pluto and Mars. He also has Uranus trine Neptune, Jupiter and Pallas in a grand earth trine, Venus and Chiron trine Ceres in air signs and sextile Vesta in an air house, and the rising Juno trine Moon and its south node which are also in air signs but fire houses. Saturn is trine the Sun in fire signs. The mixed harmony and conflict patterns fit a life of both power struggles and at least periodic success.
Since Bill Clinton is slated to be a primary target for D’Amato, I was especially curious to see what aspects he had to the asteroid Williams. His natal Williams is 24 Taurus 38, with exact squares to Vesta and Damocles, the latter in 24 Aquarius. He is going to be holding a sword over Bill’s head for months or years. D’Amato’s P Williams is 13 Gemini 24, conjunct the true south lunar node and square P Aletheia, the goddess of truth, which is retrograding in 13 Pisces. Asteroid P Albertine which might work for both Al Gore and Al D’Amato is in 8 Gemini 25 on D’Amato’s P south lunar node. It looks as if everyone has something to learn out of this struggle. Albertine, Williams, and the lunar nodes are in the ninth house which is related to law courts and judgments based on what is considered true and morally right. D’Amato also has P Vesta, the “tunnel-vision” asteroid, opposite his natal Aletheia. Will his efforts reveal the truth or distort it? Only time will tell.
I have written about Bill Clinton’s chart several times, and keep debating whether to write again or to wait until closer to the time which looks very critical in his chart—the winter of 1995-6. So many stressful aspects keep showing up in the charts of everyone involved: Bill, Hillary, Chelsea, Al and Tipper Gore. But there are also threatening aspects in the chart for the U.S. Declaration of Independence and in cycle charts for that period including the Sun’s cardinal ingress charts and the Earth-Mars charts about which I have written repeatedly.
The New Moon in 19 Aquarius which occurred in October 1994 in my new version of the Declaration chart was quincunx natal and P Williams in the chart, forming a yod which would fit the country being separated from Bill Clinton. The financial newsletters I get have been insisting for months that he was going to be forced out of office by the revelation of much more serious crimes than Whitewater. Even the main line news magazines are now carrying stories about that possibility. The December 5, 1994 issue of Newsweek carries an article with the headline “Imagine Dumping Bill.” They suggest that Al Gore remains popular and might help the Democrats if he replaced Bill. The Newsweek article is talking about the election of 1996, but the publications which sell greed and fear to the people who are primarily driven by their need to get or to keep money are talking impeachment, forced resignation, or a murder that would be made to look like suicide. I haven’t always agreed with what Clinton has done. I was against NAFTA and GATT which will primarily benefit the elite, the people already at the top. But I hate to see someone who has tried so hard being hated and attacked the way Clinton is. If any of our readers are willing to add the Clinton family to their prayer list, I would appreciate it.