Bush Plan to Aid Cities Stresses ‘American Dream’

We have an awful lot to be grateful for as a nation. These are troubled times, times of discontent. It isn’t just America . . . . Take a look at Germany; take a look at France; take a look at what was happening in England before their elections. There seems to be a turmoil, an anti-political mode.

But . . . we have a lot to be grateful for. We have effected, helped effect, worldwide change. Democracy is on the move. There’s turmoil in Eastern Europe, but it’s moving in the right direction. Totalitarianism is dead. . . .

Our kids can go to sleep at night in this country with far less fear of nuclear war. That is significant change. That is worldwide change and we had a hand in bringing it about, everybody that supported the strong defense of the United States. . . .

The spirit of Desert Storm is not dead in this country. The country came together after we were the ones that stood up to aggression, formed a coalition and said to the rest of the world: “One country, a big bully of a country, is not going to take over another.” And that has given us the standing around the world that I think is unprecedented, certainly in recent times.

Now, what we’re trying to do domestically is to take that move for change and bring it to bear on our problems right here at home. It’s been put in focus by the troubles out in Los Angeles. And we have a program that ties in and fits nicely to solving the problems in not only Los Angeles, but the problems that are plaguing our cities. And indeed many of the answers spill over into rural America as well.

. . . The first thing I would say is we have to support our law enforcement people. . . . We have a program now that is called “weed and seed”; weed out the criminals and then seed these neighborhoods with hope and with opportunity. But we must not move away and try to explain away those who--the gang members and the terrorists in our cities. . . . We must support our police.

You know, I made that comment in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church right in the heart of South-Central L.A. . . . and the church came out in spontaneous applause. The people in the neighborhood know that they are the ones that are being ravaged by the gangs and the criminal element.

The next point, though, is not just weed, it’s not just law enforcement, law and order; it is also seeding the area with hope and with opportunity. This program we have--anti-drug, pro-family, pro-investment--is a good one. So we start with our first incentive: Fund our weed and seed program.

The second one, we’ve got to rebuild community. . . . The enterprise zones--there is an idea whose time has come. And everyplace (Housing and Urban Development Secretary) Jack (Kemp) and I went in the neighborhood, whether it was Hispanic, whether it was a Korean neighborhood, whether it was in the largely Afro-American neighborhoods, those community leaders were saying: Give us enterprise zones. Change the tax structure so that this place can serve as a magnet to bring jobs with dignity into the private sector.

That idea is . . . on the table right this minute in the Congress, and the Congress ought to pass it and pass it fast!

And along with it is another concept: homeownership. Isn’t it far better . . . for the dignity and strength of a family to have a person own a home or have a tenant-managed project than it is to go to some desolate bricks and mortar that has no heart, no soul, and falls apart because nobody cares? Homeownership is an idea whose time has come, and we’ve challenged the Congress again: Get moving and give us more to take to the American people in terms of homeownership. That’s the third one.

The fourth one, welfare reform. And some say: “Well, when you talk about welfare reform, you’re injecting race into the situation.” That isn’t what we’re talking about at all. . . . I saw a case the other day that if a little girl saved a little money in a welfare family, got past $1,000, and she was penalized. . . . We’ve got to reform the welfare system, not only to make it so there’s workfare and learnfare and give the states a chance to innovate, but to change the rules so people are not punished for saving.

It’s not a racist thing. It isn’t black versus white or Hispanic versus anybody else. It’s what’s fair and right. We’ve got to give some dignity to the family, and the way to do it is to reform the welfare system, and we’re going to keep on trying.

Number (five), job training. . . . We have a “Job Training 2000” program that calls for one-stop shopping, so a person that doesn’t quite know how to filter his way around through all this big bureaucracy of ours can go and take his tiny little problem to the one-stop office and try to get some job training that really is effective. . . .

And then the last point of these six is the question of education. . . . Our education program won’t solve the problems of the cities overnight. But if you take a look at what we really have to do in this country, we literally have to revolutionize education. . . .

And what we’ve done is design a program called “America 2000.” . . . It emphasizes things like choice. We find that, when parents have a choice of where their kids go to school, not only do they get a much better shot at what they want, but the schools that are not chosen improve themselves.

. . . We ought to get that done right now for the American people.

. . . I have challenged the Congress in this manner. I’ve said to them: “Look, I know we have political differences. I’m a realist about the election, and I know that the closer and closer we get to the election, it isn’t going to be easy. You’re not going to want to see me get one leg up, and I’m going to continue to fight for the things we believe. But let’s take the things we agree on now.” Homeownership is one. Enterprise zones is one. . . .

And rather than play the political game--I’ve had two meetings with the leadership, both Republican and Democrat, and I said: “Look, let’s agree on several of these points and pass it and show the American people that we can move forward instead of standing around there playing politics as usual. . . .”

Let’s pass what we can and pass it now.

Now, if you think of these points I have outlined, there are themes to all this: personal responsibility, opportunity, ownership, independence, dignity, empowerment, and that all adds up to the American Dream. And we are not going to give up on the American Dream . . . .

Overlying these issues, there are enormously big issues, and one of them is we’ve got to stop mortgaging our kids’ future. And the way to go about doing that--and there’s another idea whose time has come--finally we are getting bipartisan consideration of the balanced-budget amendment, something I’ve been talking about for 12 years--and it’s time to pass it. We’ve got to phase it in, but pass it. And that will discipline not just the Congress but the executive branch as well. . . .

And the other one which I consider a great big issue that fits into the idea of fiscal sanity is this: Forty-three governors can take a pen and they can ax out something that they consider is irrelevant in terms of spending, or excessive in terms of spending. So I say, and ask for support from the American people on this one, you give me the line-item veto this fall and let’s see if we can’t do a better job cutting the spending that is ruining America’s fiscal standing.

And the third issue of that nature . . . is legal reform. We’ve got to help each other more and sue each other less. And the way to do it is through tort reform.

And the last point I want to make today has nothing to do with “Murphy Brown.” . . . I’m talking about family values. And I’m going to continue to talk about that. . . .

And I had a meeting with the National League of Cities. I mentioned this in the State of the Union. Key mayors, Tom Bradley of Los Angeles . . . a Republican mayor from a tiny town in North Carolina and all size city mayors from in between. One from Plano, Tex. And they came to me and said: “We’ve been thinking what we can do about the cities, and we think that the single most important problem is the demise, the dissolution, the decline of the American family. . . .”

They weren’t saying: “Send us all this money.” Of course, they’d like to have that. But they addressed themselves to the decline of the American family, and they asked me to appoint an urban commission, a commission on the American family, which, as you may recall, I did. . . .

We have got to find ways to strengthen the American family. And that’s why I ask you to give sincere consideration and support to those six objectives that I spelled out above, because each one of them in some way or another strengthens and does not diminish the American family. . . .

I know that there are those who are deprived, who are born into almost hopeless situations, but there are all kinds of ways that we can help. You can lift up the kid that starts off with a tremendous disadvantage through what we call “points of light” activities. You can look at every single piece of legislation to see that it doesn’t encourage husband and wife to live apart. You can do what you can in the whole field of education.

But all of us, as Americans, must address ourselves to the idea that we must find ways to strengthen the American families, because Barbara Bush is right: What happens in your house is much more important than what happens in the White House.

So here’s our agenda. I think it’s a good one. I think it is an optimistic one. I think it is an encouraging one. And I will be proud to be taking this case to the American people in the fall. . . . Please help us . . . move this hope and opportunity agenda through the United States Congress. . . . We need the help of the people. And now is the time.

NEXT: Patrick J. Buchanan

THE CANDIDATES’ KEY THEMES: Campaign Clipboard

Fund ‘weed and seed’ program

Enterprise zones

Homeownership

Welfare reform

Job training

Revolutionize education

Balanced-budget amendment

Line-item veto

Family values