Gingrich: Back to principles
October 26, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward
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Because America remains a fundamentally right-of-center country, conservative leaders can retake the initiative in Washington if they reassert their principles, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Heritage Foundation members in Dallas last Thursday.
Watch the video on MyHeritage.org.
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Speaking to more than 800 people at an event coordinated by the Dallas/Fort Worth Committee for Heritage, Gingrich expressed frustration with the Republican Party’s sometimes lackluster commitment to conservative principles. He argued that the GOP has squandered the 1994 Republican Revolution, which he helped engineer, and has become a party of big spenders.
But conservatives can regain the initiative, he continued, since America is at its core a conservative country. His research shows broad agreement among all Americans on such issues as protecting America against its enemies, protecting worker rights against big labor and maintaining the death penalty for murderers.
A modest jurist
“I’m just an ordinary person to whom extraordinary things have happened.”
That’s perhaps the most important message Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas explained to thousands of Heritage Foundation members and supporters in a series of events over the past week. And it’s a key theme in his New York Times-bestselling memoir, My Grandfather’s Son.
Buy the book today on Amazon.com.
Watch a video of Justice Thomas speaking to the New York Area Committee for Heritage.
He also reaffirmed his belief in the proper role of judges. For example, when asked in Omaha about the importance to Constitutional law of various theories of racism and sexism, he said a judge should follow the law and only the law. And he said Supreme Court justices should listen to both sides of the argument with less interruption; “sounding smart” is not in a justice’s job description, he joked.
Justice Thomas’ book tour, sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, the National Center for Policy Analysis and Harper Collins, drew large audiences in New York, Atlanta, Omaha, Chicago and Dallas.
Cut taxes, don’t raise them
On Thursday, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) announced a tax reform initiative, and it’s a mixed bag. While the plan would hurt the economy with a massive tax increase, it contains some good ideas, like repealing of the Alternative Minimum Tax and trimming corporate tax rates.
Heritage economist J.D. Foster writes in The New York Post that the proposal, with its new surtax that would “raise tax rates for married couples, individuals and small businesses,” largely misses the mark. “With Washington already taking a bigger cut of America’s income than is the modern norm, Congress should be looking to lower taxes, not raise them.”
In a lengthier analysis for The Heritage Foundation, Foster argues that some parts of the bill deserve another look. “For all its flaws, the bill has some virtues that ought not be lost. Repealing the AMT and cutting the corporate tax rate are very high priorities for tax policy. Hopefully, someone in Congress will introduce legislation to achieve these goals without the thorns of the Rangel proposal.”
Heritage on the border
Securing America’s borders is one of the government’s most important functions, and Heritage Foundation experts are hard at work to ensure policymakers fulfill this obligation. Heritage national security expert James Carafano recently traveled to America’s southern border to examine firsthand the progress made and challenges remaining in border security.
There is good news from the front lines, Carafano reports: “We are safeguarded by great men and women — dedicated, talented professionals who take their jobs seriously.”
“For years they have been fighting a losing battle because Washington never gave them the real resources they needed to get the job done,” he continues. “They are finally starting to get what they need to fight the good fight. Congress should support them and stop trying to micromanage them.”
Carafano wrote about his experiences with Customs and Border Patrol agents in a series of posts on Townhall.com. Not only did he visit border sites in San Diego, but he also visited ports of entry like the Port of Los Angeles and LAX airport. And he reports on the environmental impact of illegal border crossings — and how radical environmentalists are nevertheless trying to halt security measures.
The importance of choice in health care
Liberals in the House of Representatives have again passed a dramatic expansion of a government health care program for children. If signed into law, this legislation would drive many children out of their existing private health care coverage and into government-subsidized plans.
Like the earlier version of the misguided plan, which President Bush quite rightly vetoed, this latest measure also failed to garner sufficient support to override a threatened veto.
Heritage domestic policy expert Jennifer Marshall offers an alternative to left-wing dreams of government health care: choice. Health care reforms that reduce government mandates and turn to the free market would not only expand the availability of care, but would also allow individuals to choose providers that meet their ethical standards.
“Individuals and families can no longer afford — financially or ethically — to be passive recipients of third-party decisions,” Marshall writes. “They should be free to control their health-care dollars. Americans need the freedom to choose health care they can trust.”
In other news
- A liberal-backed move to pass the DREAM Act, which would grant in-state tuition at public colleges to illegal immigrants, failed to overcome a Senate filibuster Wednesday. Heritage’s Kris Kobach warned about this bill’s consequences in an important paper last month.
- The media have discovered a way to spin the good news in Iraq: cemetery workers are seeing their business decline as sectarian violence drops. For all the latest on Iraq, visit Heritage’s Progress in Iraq page.
- Scientists are developing strategies to “manage” hurricanes and divert their courses. They should be mindful as always, though, of the law of unintended consequences.
- President Bush’s recent address on Cuba was partially broadcast in the communist nation. “No U.S. president is known to have been shown on Cuban television for so long and without editing since 1960,” the Miami Herald reports. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) spoke Thursday at Heritage about Cuba’s future and its continuing threats to our national security.
- At a conference last week, European leaders agreed on a new constitution for the European Union. News reports say that only Ireland will hold a referendum on the long and unwieldy document, which would further reduce the sovereignty of member states — including that of strong American allies like Britain. Heritage’s Nile Gardiner and Sally McNamara argue that Britain should reject this abominable treaty.
- Poland’s prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was defeated in last weekend’s elections. He will be replaced by Donald Tusk, who supports further European Union integration and questions Poland’s cooperation with the United States on Iraq and missile defense.
- How silly are America’s campaign finance laws? When television comedian Stephen Colbert jokes about running for president, his network’s lawyers scramble to ensure they aren’t somehow in violation of the various “reforms” passed by Congress.
- Texas has seen a marked increase in new doctors since the state capped medical malpractice damages in 2003.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Thursday, Oct. 29 at 10:30 a.m., a panel of experts examines American reliance on China’s growing power to manage Asian crises.
- On Thursday, Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m., author Abraham H. Foxman delivers a rebuttal to the idea of “The Israel Lobby” and the myth of a global Jewish conspiracy. This event is rescheduled from Oct. 18.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Colin Gowan contributed to this report.
