[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 12 (Friday, January 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       THE SECOND REVOLUTION RETURNS AMERICA TO ITS BASIC VALUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I am excited to be a part of what I 
believe is the second American Revolution, because this year I truly 
believe that the American hour is upon us. It is time for this country 
and this Congress to decide once and for all which direction we are 
going to turn.
  Are we going to continue down the same failed path of LBJ and FDR, 
where we turn to bigger and bigger government to answer every question? 
Or are we instead going to turn back to those simple, basic values that 
our Founding Fathers laid at the foundation of this great country, 
values like family and faith and hard work and personal responsibility?
  Thomas Jefferson wrote that the government that governs least governs 
best. James Madison said:

       ``We have staked the entire future of the American 
     civilization not upon the power of government, but upon the 
     capacity of each of us to govern ourselves, control 
     ourselves, and sustain ourselves according to the Ten 
     Commandments of God.''

  But Washington has ignored these values for too long. Because of it, 
we find ourselves $4 trillion in debt in a country were we have, as the 
Speaker has pointed out, 12-year-olds that are having babies and 15-
year-olds that are shooting each other and 18-year-olds that are 
graduating from high schools with diplomas they cannot even read.
  So what is the answer? The answer, Mr. Speaker, lies in many of the 
proposals that the Republican Party has set forth in the Contract With 
America, but beyond that, we have to go back to the original Contract 
With America, the Constitution of the United States, and read the 
amendments, read the 10th amendment in particular, which states that 
all powers not specifically given to the Federal Government are 
reserved to the States and to the individuals.
  If we start doing that, then we can return back to what our Founding 
Fathers intended this country to be, and that is a nation of 
communities, a nation of communities where families and individuals 
decide what is best for them, instead of turning to Washington for 
every single answer, and instead of having Washington dictate what 
doctor they are going to choose and how they are going to teach their 
children and how they are going to protect their family.
  That is what this unfunded mandate debate is all about. It is about 
restoring power to States and families and individuals to once again 
take control of their lives and take control of their families and take 
control of their business and take control of their communities, 
without interference from Washington.
                              {time}  1550

  We are not trying to jam anything through that every single State and 
family and individual has not begged for for years, and, that is, to 
once and for all take the chains off of them and get the Federal 
Government out of the way.
  But when we talk about unfunded mandates, and the fantastic bill that 
has been put forward that is going to be voted on next week, and when 
we talk about balancing the budget and finally making the Federal 
Government do what middle-class families have had to do forever, we are 
told that we are going to somehow going to make my 91-year-old 
grandmother go without, or somehow we are going to harm my 7-year-old 
boy and his education.
  We do not need a Department of Education bureaucracy in Washington, 
DC to teach my child how to read and write and get along in this world. 
And yet we continue turning back to Washington for bigger and bigger 
government. That is why I am excited to be part of a reform movement, 
excited to have signed the Contract With America, excited to be on 
board with the unfunded mandate bill that should pass, and excited to 
be supporting the balanced budget amendment with a three-fifths tax 
limitation.
  Let me tell you something. You are going to be hearing a lot of talk 
about this next week. You can call it what you want, but in the end, 
that three-fifths requirement is the taxpayers' protection plan, and 
that is why I am excited about supporting it. That is why I am excited 
about supporting this unfunded mandate bill. That is why I have not 
wasted time listening to these charges about GOPAC or hearing these 
claims about Nazi historians, or hearing this talk about the book deal.
  Let me tell you something. It is a sad day when the party of F.D.R. 
and Harry Truman can bring forth no other proposals other than 
attacking Members personally.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that we all get together as a country and support 
the unfunded mandate bill and support the taxpayer protection plan.

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