[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 92 (Wednesday, June 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            COLLEGE PROFESSORS IN CHARGE OF OUR GOVERNMENT?

                                 ______

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, June 7, 1995
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, let me commend to you the following article 
written by a constituent of mine, Mr. John Mark Hancock. Citing House 
Speaker Newt Gingrich, House majority leader Dick Armey, and Senator 
Phil Gramm as examples, this insightful commentary discusses the 
important role former college and university professors are playing in 
defining the 104th Congress.
             College Professors in Charge of Our Government

                         (By John Mark Hancock)

       One of the ironic and perhaps overlooked facts about the 
     sweeping Republican victory in last November's elections is 
     that former college professors are actually taking control of 
     our federal government. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House 
     Majority Leader Dick Armey, and Senator Phil Gramm, a 
     frontrunner for the 1996 GOP Presidential nomination, are all 
     former teachers from various universities.
       Since academia has long been the province of self-
     righteous, bleeding hearts, and the centers of most of our 
     liberal thought, and even Marxist views, on government and 
     social policy, it is especially gratifying to conservatives 
     that these new leaders have come from that realm. It must be 
     galling to the majority of college professors to know that 
     the architects and engineers of the Republican ``Contract 
     With America'' are from their domain, one they have long 
     sought to preserve as a bastion of liberal ideology.
       The ivory towers of America's colleges and universities 
     have for too long now been dominated by leftist views. These 
     professors have promoted such themes as Keynesian economic 
     theory, big government social policies, gay ``rights'', 
     prisoner's ``rights'', animal ``rights'', and studies which 
     glorified Communism, by imparting such ideas to their 
     students in class and in their policies of hiring others of 
     their number, despite a decided trend in the opposite 
     direction on a worldwide scale, with the breakup of the 
     Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
       It is therefore especially satisfying to those of us who 
     have received a great deal of higher education to find that 
     the dream does indeed rise to the top. Our nation's voters 
     have found that the voice of the conservative Christian 
     minority on campuses nationwide is actually the voice of the 
     overall majority of Americans.
       As a former member of Young Americans for Freedom and the 
     College Republicans during my student days in the 1970's, it 
     was hard for me to find professors who agreed with what has 
     become the mainstream philosophy of people who are fed up 
     with government's intrusion into their lives. Having served 
     as president of the graduate student body at my school in 
     1979-81, it was disconcerting to find so many professors 
     wanting to preserve the status quo on campus.
       Perhaps this pervasive liberal attitude is to be expected 
     from institutions that thrive on government monies and 
     assistance for their very livelihood. Without huge taxpayer 
     funded mandates, colleges and universities would be unable to 
     help minorities, assist students in paying fees, pay premium 
     salaries to certain professors, achieve research contracts, 
     and perpetuate bloated bureaucracies that are top-heavy with 
     useless administrators.
       Cutbacks in government will inevitably mean that our 
     educational institutions will suffer. But, maybe that's not 
     so bad if it weeds out some of the deadwood that some schools 
     have been harboring for too long. The views they hold are the 
     main hindrances and stumbling blocks to us bringing about a 
     better America, one in which government gets out of our lives 
     and pocketbooks, and off of our land.
       America was founded as a nation of independent ideas and 
     rugged individualism. It has become a nation dominated by the 
     government that was intended to serve the people, rather than 
     having the people serve its ends. It is long past time for 
     the pendulum to swing back in the other direction.
       We have long been a people known for plain speaking and 
     straight talking. The failed policies of FDR's New Deal and 
     LBJ's Great Society programs have finally come home to roost. 
     Their net result is a country that is bankrupt, financially, 
     morally, and spiritually.
       Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and Phil Gramm are shining 
     examples of political leaders who are teaching us all in 
     their academic style, polished in their years as professors, 
     that dependency on government leads to a lack of self-esteem 
     and a country that perpetuates a permanent underclass. They 
     will lead us out of the abyss we have created by deluding 
     ourselves into thinking government is the answer to all of 
     our problems. As Abraham Lincoln once said, ``You can't help 
     the poor by weakening the rich.'' How true.
     

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