[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H121-H122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1040
                   ACCEPTING THE MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, first I would just 
say to the gentlelady who just spoke that I do not doubt that the 
President wishes to create jobs. The fact of the matter is he just 
doesn't know how. The record would suggest that.
  When I first came to this House, the year was 1979, January. We were 
in the midst of what history has shown us was a failed Presidency. We 
had something called the misery index. We had unemployment rising. We 
had inflation rates around 20 percent. We had, by all gauges, a 
difficult time, a time that many people looked upon with despair, and 
many suggested that the issues were so large and the problems so great 
that no President could possibly deal with it, no Congress, and the 
American people could not.
  It was just prior to that time that I met a gentleman from Georgia, 
Mr. Gingrich, as we were both freshman Members elected. And we began 
talking about the fact that our party had

[[Page H122]]

not been in the majority for well over a generation, that there seemed 
to be a lack of a vision for the future, and that there was an 
acceptance of mediocrity and failure and second-class status for 
America.
  Our belief was, at that time, that we could come together with a 
number of other Members and try and at least give voice to a new idea, 
a new vision, a more positive vision for America. We worked together 
with other Members and formed what was called the Conservative 
Opportunity Society because we thought that that was a positive vision 
for the future of America, consistent with Republican principles and, 
more importantly, consistent with and expressive of American 
principles. We thought it was an antidote to what we saw leading us at 
that time as the liberal welfare state. I think history has shown that, 
with the election of Ronald Reagan and the embracing of the 
Conservative Opportunity Society vision of America, that America could 
turn around.
  We are confronted with what I believe to be a failed Presidency at 
the present time. We are confronted with questions and some great 
despair in families around America for the failure of an opportunity 
for jobs. And I would suggest that, at this point in time, it is 
appropriate for those who have visions, those who are ready to 
challenge the conventional wisdom, those who believe that America's 
best days are ahead, not behind, to come to the fore.
  There are those who look at the faults of Newt Gingrich. I'd like to 
suggest that he was the one person that I know that had a vision in 
this House of how this House could be changed, how we, working as an 
institution, could work with a President to make changes and, 
ultimately, how this side of the aisle could, for the first time in a 
generation, actually be the majority.
  Following his ascendency to Speaker of the House, we actually had 
balanced budgets. We actually had some bringing down of some of the 
size of the Federal Government. We actually had some progress around 
the country. So I would say, for those who look at the faults of 
others, let's look at their accomplishments.
  This is a time when it seems to me we ought to be serious about the 
future of America. We ought to be bold about the future of America. We 
ought to have some confidence in the greatness of America, the 
greatness of its people, not necessarily the greatness of its 
government. We need to have a good governmental structure that allows 
the greatness of the American people.
  There are some on the Presidential debate scene today who are willing 
to challenge us with bold ideas. That has been done in the past and has 
proven successful. It seems to me we should not shrink from the future; 
we should embrace the future. We should, in fact, be leaders of the 
future.
  I am not one elected to this House to be satisfied that the future of 
America for my children and my grandchildren is any less than what it 
was for me as a child growing up. I will not stand here and allow us to 
act in vain so that the sacrifices of my parents, some call the 
Greatest Generation, I say one of the greatest generations, will have 
been in vain. They worked hard. They accepted the challenges of the 
future with an innate confidence in the goodness of the American 
people, the capabilities of the American people, and, yes, the common 
sense of the American people.
  My hope is that as we go forward in this year, those of us who seek 
office for both the House, the Senate, and Presidency will accept that 
mantle of leadership that has been cast upon us from those in the past.

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