[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12148-S12150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REFLECTIONS
Mr. COATS. Mr. President, the end of the 105th Congress marks the
beginning of my transition from Senator to
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citizen. This ends 24 years for me of public service: Two in the U.S.
Army, four as a legislative assistant and district director for then-
Congressman Dan Quayle, and 18 in the Congress. While I look forward to
life after politics, I know how much I will miss this place and its
people, and so I want to acknowledge some debts.
I want to acknowledge the privilege of serving under two remarkable
Republican leaders and one Democrat majority leader, all of whom I hold
a great deal of respect. Senator Mitchell was majority leader when I
arrived. He gave me nothing but the utmost courtesy, fairness and
respect. I have a great deal of respect for him in the way he conducted
this Senate. Senator Dole became my friend and mentor. His life is a
tribute to a true patriot and to someone whose commitment to public
service, I think, is nearly unequal. Our current leader, Senator Lott,
is someone who is a dear friend, someone who I greatly respect, and I
think certainly has a great future as majority leader.
There are many others that have made a deep impression on me and
provided friendship and support in ways that I will never be able to
adequately acknowledge: The senior Senator from Indiana, whose lifetime
of public service serves as a model to many; my staff, who have
faithfully and tirelessly served. I have always said good staff makes
for good Senators. I don't know if I fit the quality of a good Senator,
but I know I had a good staff. Any failings on my part are not due to
my staff, they are due to me. They have been exceptional. I think they
are the best Senate staff assembled. I say that for the very few who
are left that have not secured employment. Some of you are passing up
great opportunities if you don't grab them.
I have had three very, very able administrative assistants, chiefs of
staff: David Hoppe, who now serves as the floor's chief of staff and
served with me for my first 4 years; David Gribbin, who many of you
know, assistant secretary of staff for Dick Cheney for many, many years
in the House; and now Sharon Soderstrom. All have been exceptional
chiefs of staff. They have assembled a wonderful staff.
The Senate support team: All those who man the desks and work the
cloakroom and make sure we vote on time; the guards who protect us and
make sure we are safe in our jobs; the staff who serve us, and the
people who make this place work, they are a family. They have treated
me like part of the family. I have tried to treat them as part of the
family. They make it possible for us to do so many things and they
certainly deserve our acknowledgment.
Our Chaplain, who has meant so much to me from a spiritual
perspective, and my colleagues, my friends, who I can't begin to thank;
those who share my ideals and have voted with me and those who don't
but who have engaged in respectful, meaningful dialog in debate, and
who, at the end of the debate, we have been able to meet at the center
aisle, shake hands, acknowledge, ``Well done, we will get you next
time,'' or ``See you at the next debate?''--all of those mean a great
deal to me. I come from here with many, many memories.
I want to thank my wife for her love and support and sacrifice. She
is the best mother that any three children could ever have had. She has
been a father many times when I haven't been there to do the job as a
father. My children have been patient and had stolen moments which I
will never be able to recover. I thank my colleagues, as I said, those
who have shared ideals and those who we had honorable and honest
disagreement. Finally, the people of Indiana who have seen fit to elect
me many times to the Congress and twice to the Senate, thank you for
giving me a privilege beyond my ability to earn the privilege of their
trust, the honor of their votes.
In times of change you become reflective, and it is nice to think
about your accomplishments. It is also a time to reflect on unfinished
business, business that I hope will help shape the direction of this
Congress that some have indicated an interest in, and hopefully others
will pick up that interest.
By constitutional design, the measure of success in the Senate, I
think, is different from other parts of government. We are employed to
take a longer view, insulated from the rush of hours to see the needs
of future years. This is the theory. In practice, the pace of politics
makes this very different, very difficult. This has been the greatest
source of personal frustration during my years in this institution,
that we have not spent nearly enough time dealing with the larger
issues that face us, things that will matter down the road, topics that
will be chapters in American history, not footnotes in the
Congressional Record.
If you allow me the privilege, I will briefly mention three of those
matters that I trust will remain central to the questions of our time.
All of you know of my interest in the issue of life. I believe there
is no higher call of government than to protect the most defenseless
among us. There is no greater honor in this Senate than to use our
voice to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Perhaps
uniquely among our deliberations, the cause of life is informed and
ennobled by a simple truth: Humanity is not an achievement. It is an
endowment, and that that endowment is made by a Creator who gives
inalienable rights, first among them the right to life. This is a
founding principle of our political tradition. It is the teaching of
our moral heritage. And it is the demand of our conscience.
Abraham Lincoln wrote of our Founders:
This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of
the universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble
understanding of the justice of the Creator to his creatures.
. . . In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the
divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be
trodden on. . . . They grasped not only the whole race of man
then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the
farthest posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their
children, and their children's children, and the countless
myriads who should inhabit the Earth in other ages.
My question is, Will that beacon shine for all our children, those
born and yet to be born? Or will we, in the name of personal liberty,
stamp out the divine image and likeness of the most defenseless of all?
I believe it is one of the central questions of our time.
I know we are divided on that issue. I hope, though, that we would
all put aside some of the harsh rhetoric and continue to engage in the
discussion about the meaning and the value of life and what our duties
and responsibilities are to protect that life, to expand the ever-
widening circle of inclusion that our great democracy is known for:
bringing women, the defenseless, the handicapped, African-Americans and
minorities within this circle of protection in our democracy. And I
believe--my personal view, and I hope one we would certainly debate and
discuss--that extends to the unborn.
Secondly, another great issue that I believe demands our continued
attention is the long-term strength of our Nation, the resource and
planning that we devote to the defense of liberty. Here we are, not
weak as a nation, but I fear that we are on a trajectory toward
weakness--that our power and authority are being spent and not
accumulated.
It has been one of the highest callings and privileges for this
Senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and to use that
position to advance the cause of our men and women in uniform. I deeply
respect and honor those who have served our Nation in war and peace as
watchmen on the wall of freedom, but the test of our appreciation is
measurable by the firmness of our determination that their lives will
not be needlessly sacrificed because we have allowed the deterrent
power of America's military to decay. The history of this country is a
history of military victories, but it is also a history of how our
Nation often invited future conflict and unnecessary loss of American
life by too swiftly disarming after our victories and squandering the
opportunities of peace.
In 1939, Army Chief of Staff, Malin Craig said:
What transpires on prospective battlefields is influenced
vitally years before in the councils of the staff and in the
legislative halls of Congress. Time is the only thing that
may be irrevocably lost, and it is the first thing lost sight
of in the seductive false security of peaceful times.
Mr. President, I believe we have been living in peaceful times. We
have enjoyed prosperity and peace that is almost unprecedented in
America these
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past several years. I fear that storm clouds are gathering, however, on
America's horizon, that the ``seductive false security of our peaceful
times'' is fast fading. We see a frightening proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction. We see worldwide terrorism, much of it directed at
Americans and American interests. We see political instability and
human suffering, social disorder resulting from ethnic hatred, power-
hungry dictators, and the very real prospect of global financial
distress with all of its attendant consequences. All of this, I
believe, calls for eternal vigilance, a national defense second to
none, a military equal to the threats of a new century.
We have a unique opportunity, I believe, and a strategic pause that
is fast fading to build a new military equal to the new challenges and
the new threats of the future. Closer to home, it is my hope that the
Senate, in every future debate on social policy, will focus on the role
of families, churches and community institutions in meeting human needs
and touching human souls. This is a world of heroic commitment and high
standards and true compassion that must be respected and fostered and
protected, not harassed or undermined by Government or Hollywood. It is
a world of promise that I urge all of you to take the time to discover.
I believe our Nation needs a bold, new definition of compassion. We
need compassion that shows good outcomes, not just good intentions. We
need to get rid of the destructive welfare culture. We have taken a
great step in that direction, but we still need to fulfill our
responsibilities to the less fortunate and disadvantaged, the children
and the helpless. We need to abandon our illusions about Government
bureaucracies, but we still need to keep our human decency.
How is this possible? I am convinced there is a way--a hopeful new
direction for change, because there are people and institutions in our
society that can reach and change these things. Families and
neighborhoods, churches, charities, and volunteer associations have the
tools to transform people's lives. They can demand individual
responsibility. They can practice tough love. They can offer moral
values and spiritual renewal--things that Government can't do, and we
should not want Government to do.
I believe a bold, new definition of compassion will adopt this bold
dream: to break the monopoly of Government as a provider of compassion
and return its resources to individuals, churches, synagogues,
charities, volunteer associations, community organizations and others.
This, I believe, is the next step of the welfare debate and the next
stage of reform, the next frontier of compassion in America.
Before I close, let me add a personal note, and it is difficult for
me to say this. I have deliberated long on whether I should say this.
But I believe, since I am not going to be here next year, this is
something I would want to have said. So allow me to briefly do that.
I resolved when I came here, like many of you, from the moment I took
the oath, that I would do my best not to do anything to bring this body
into disrepute, that I would try not to tarnish it by word or action,
that whatever I did in public policy, I would try my best not to
contribute to public cynicism or a diminishing of the office. I think
all of us feel this burden. It is one of the reasons that I believe
this impeachment process, which we are contemplating, which looms large
on the horizon of this Senate, has to be taken seriously. I don't
presume that any of us should draw a conclusion at this point. But I
believe it is a serious thing to consider. I don't believe that moral
deregulation of public office is ratified by public apathy. It will be
a terrible thing if the ethical expectations of public office are
allowed to wither. The Nation could double its wealth, but we could
have a shrunken legacy. I believe each of you who will be here have a
high duty and moral responsibility to address this with the utmost
seriousness and the absolute smallest amount of partisanship that is
possible, and I speak to my colleagues on the Republican side, as well
as the Democrat side.
It is my hope that when the time comes, the Senate will give evidence
to the ideals that I have seen displayed so many times in this body. I
believe these things strongly, but I don't want to end on this point. I
make the points because I have learned from so many here in the Senate
and from so many great Americans who served before me how honorable
public service can be. I am not leaving the Senate disillusioned in any
way. I leave having seen how important and how sometimes noble elective
office can be, after nearly two decades of service. I believe in this
job and in its goals, and I am confident that the country is well
served by my many friends and colleagues who will continue to serve and
lead this institution.
Again, I thank my great State of Indiana and the people and friends
who made it possible for me to serve here. I thank my God for the
privilege of service in this place, and I thank each of you for being
my friends and my colleagues and leaving me with memories that I will
never, ever forget. I will leave here extolling this institution as the
greatest deliberative body in the greatest country in the history of
the world, and I have been privileged to be a part of it. Thank you
very much.
[Applause.]
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