Here is Dobson's wish list from Congress:

--Take away all funding for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, because the organization operates abortion clinics.

--Ban condom distribution to young people through federally backed, Title X safe-sex education programs.

--Pass laws that require a young woman to receive parental consent before having an abortion.

--Ban human cloning outright.

--Allow prayer in public schools.

--Give all students the right to choose their school and eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.

--Eliminate the "marriage penalty" tax.

--Stop funding the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dobson has a right to demand action from the Republicans, but then we all do. How is it that Dobson thinks his demands are more important than yours or mine? Well, because he is threatening to pull out of the Republican party and take millions of conservative Christians with him.

So if Republicans don't play by Dobson's rules, one would assume he'll take his followers and go home -- home to a new political party. An idle threat, I believe. A party filled with conservative Christians would have so much internal chaos that it would split within a decade.

Here's the problem. Many of these people, including Dobson, believe they are acting on behalf of the Lord himself. They live with no ambiguity. So if a new party were formed and held its first convention, there would be some disagreement. And the differences would grow over the months.

At the second convention there would be open brawling. There wouldn't be a safe place to stand on the convention floor. People would be fleeing in complete terror.

I exaggerate, of course. The point is, everyone would have to agree with those eight principles. And that is almost an impossibility.

It's possible to achieve 100 percent agreement in a religious organization like Dobson's Focus on the Family. If you don't agree with Dobson's line of reasoning, you don't buy his products. So only like-minded people follow Dobson.

But in a political party, there has to be room for compromise. And that is exactly the opposite of what the religious right wants. They want all their principles to be adopted. They want to own the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the White House and every member of Congress.

Dobson writes, in a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, "In short, my concerns -- and the concerns of millions of evangelical Christians -- are not political in nature. They are profoundly moral and ethical, and we are determined to defend them with our very lives, if necessary."

You can see in that short statement that Dobson is a true believer, convinced he is fighting a battle on behalf of the Almighty. There will be no compromise.

And doesn't it seem strange that conservative Christians say their issues are not political? So why use the political system to achieve their goals? If they are moral and ethical issues, shouldn't they preach and teach until those issues are clearly implanted in every American heart?

But when you think about Dobson, you have to sympathize at least a little bit. His contention that his eight principles have not become laws of the land is correct. No school prayer and abortions are still happening. The National Endowment for the Arts is still cranking out projects. And government-initiated prayers are not being said in public schools.

I am not aware of one conservative Christian proposal that has been passed into legislation in complete form in spite of 12 years of Republican presidents and now a Republican-dominated House and Senate. No wonder Dobson is frustrated.

On the one hand, Republicans want the support of Christian conservatives. On the other, Congress knows most of the eight principles are too controversial in their content. There simply are not enough votes to pass them into law.

Therefore, I would like to make a suggestion. Rather than bellyache to members of Congress, Dobson should take his considerable wealth and run for Congress. He's a high-profile guy who probably could get elected. Then he should get other famous Christians to run for office. That way, he will understand how difficult it is to bring about radical change.

Clark D. Morphew