COLUMN RIGHT/ TOM CAMPBELL : New Coalition Has Principles, Plus Tolerance : GOP group hasn’t abandoned values, but has agreed some belong at home, others are religious rather than political.

Ronald Reagan recently set these principles for the Republican Party:

“We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense and maximum individual liberty. . . . As to other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.”

Taking former President Reagan’s words as a guide, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, former Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and I formed the Republican Majority Coalition.

Americans have traditionally turned to the Republican Party for fiscal responsibility. But a witness to the Houston convention and the autumn campaign would have thought that abortion, sexual orientation and religious practices were the issues that most concerned Republicans.

These are, of course, important issues--but they should not define the party. Good Republicans, good Americans, can feel differently about them. Barry Goldwater is pro-choice. Ronald Reagan is not.

One of the criticisms of our new coalition is that, in following Reagan’s advice to exclude issues drawn from morality as tests for being Republican, we are unprincipled.

No. We have deeply held principles. Among our principles is tolerance for other viewpoints. I recall Milton Friedman’s comment that he wasn’t a conservative because he knew he was right on issues but because he was profoundly unsure that he, or anyone else, could claim to be right. Tolerance is built into the very fabric of believing in less government.

The family and the church are vital institutions to America. They teach morality, spirituality, ethical behavior. The business of government is to get out of the way so families and churches can do so.

Some have instead looked to government to supplant what a family or church might teach with their own beliefs. Creationism versus evolution, moral judgments on homosexuality, the question of when life begins--these topics are torn from the family and the church and decided through politics. I believe that is a mistake. And while we expend energy on these issues, look at all that we could be addressing:

We have the largest national debt in history. President-elect Clinton says we can grow out of it--by federal spending. I fear this will mean more deficit, crowding out money for the real engine of recovery--private investment. Cutting government spending is hard, but it’s essential.

* We have the costliest health-care system in the world. Competition is the only reliable way to keep costs down. But some want the government to set up an agency to decide what medical procedures are needed and how much each must cost.

* We have a welfare system that is appalling, deepening dependency rather than relieving it. We must keep Clinton’s feet to the fire, holding him to his pledge to insist on work for welfare to break the cycle of poverty.

* Too many Americans lack adequate housing. We should give poor Americans a chance to own their own homes, so they have the incentive to keep them up and to keep neighborhoods drug- and crime-free. Against us are arrayed the forces that brought the “crackerjack” housing projects of the ‘60s.

* Some in Clinton’s proposed Cabinet are intent on building up their spheres of influence in Washington. But government works best when it’s closest to the people, at the local or county level.

* We will soon be fighting the battle for the free trade agreement with Mexico. America will be enriched by freer trade, as will Mexico--which will help ease the illegal immigration problem from which California suffers. But some groups powerful with the President-elect oppose the free trade agreement.

As individuals, we each have our own views of morality and ethics. None of these is surrendered by focusing our political energy on building a society with more freedom for its citizens and the economic means to enjoy that freedom.