[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 2 (Thursday, January 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H78-H79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TAKING AIM AT OUR NATION'S PROBLEMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I just want to take this opportunity to rise 
and follow up on our wonderful celebration on Tuesday of this week when 
the new Congress, the 105th Congress in our country's history, was 
sworn in and to remind my colleagues that amidst our welcome 
celebration it is good to harken back to the words of Winston 
Churchill, who said in 1942, ``The problems of victory are more 
agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.''
  With that in mind, I am anxious to work with my like minded 
colleagues on both sides of the political aisle to serve our 
constituents, who elected us to solve the many problems facing our 
country today, and make no doubt about it, those problems are real and 
they are severe.
  Bill Bennett, a man that I very much respect, former Education 
Secretary and Drug Czar, was quoted the other day as saying the 
following: ``America is the most powerful, affluent and envied nation 
in the world, but America also leads the industrialized world in rates 
of murder, violent crime, juvenile crime, imprisonment, abortion, 
divorce and single-parent families, the production and consumption of 
pornography, the production and consumption of drugs, and that is just 
a partial list.''
  So, Mr. Speaker, I would submit that the lasting lesson of this 
election, the lasting lesson of politics in America has little to do 
with the big winners and losers on election day. The real moral of the 
story, the real moral of this election is simply this. Our faith in our 
politics cannot be separated as we look at the issues and as we address 
the problems facing the American people. Whether it be crime in the 
streets, skyrocketing teen drug use, problems in education, a tax 
system that bankrupts the family, the crisis of illegitimacy and so 
forth, an individual's position on these topics is greatly influenced 
by one's moral and religious perspective.
  In fact, as the Speaker suggested in his remarks to the Congress 2 
days ago, religion is the single most important factor in determining 
how we vote. It is more influential than gender, race, or income. Still 
there are some who want to take morality and religion out of politics 
altogether. They want our leaders to conduct their business while 
keeping religious and moral convictions outside of the political 
debate. After all they would argue you cannot legislate morality.
  In truth, however, the only thing that can be legislated is morality, 
for every legislative act is a moral judgment. Abraham Lincoln 
understood this clearly when in 1860 our country faced a similar 
cultural crisis. His opponents and even some of his political advisers 
told him then not to bring morality into politics or politics into 
religion, but he saw through their empty arguments and recognized 
slavery for what it was, a moral crisis that demanded a political 
response. Lincoln was a true statesman. He understood the moral of the 
story.

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  So, Mr. Speaker, I believe that we can work together to make 
government more efficient, more accountable and less intrusive, that 
working together we can make the problems of victory our greatest 
opportunity.

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