    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [February 27, 1991]
    [Pages 184-187]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Meeting of the American Society of Association Executives
    February 27, 1991

        Thank you very, very much. And what a wonderful reception. And I
    interpret that, I think properly, the same way I interpreted the
    applause at the State of the Union message: as strong support for those
    men and women that are serving our country overseas. And now the war is
    almost over, and I think we owe them a vote of thanks, and I think I
    heard it right now. So, thank you, Bill, and I'm just delighted to be
    here.
        I want to shift and talk about domestic matters. And Bill, I
    couldn't help but glance at this marvelous quilt coming in here, and I
    do think that we owe you and all the others in the association a vote of
    thanks for following through and, indeed, being Points of Light.
        I want to salute our Attorney General who is with us today; our two
    able Secretaries so concerned also about what we're talking about today,
    Secretaries Kemp and Sullivan; Ted Sanders, who is doing a superb job as
    our Acting Secretary at Education; and, of course, my old friend, a man
    so well-known to all of you, Bob Woodson of the Center for Neighborhood
    Enterprise. You know, it's hard to believe that a year has passed since
    the challenge Bill mentioned, since I challenged the members of ASAE to
    channel the tremendous energy of this organization and transform a
    nation through community service. And what a terrific job you've done.
        Looking around the room today, peeking before I came in here, I see
    so many familiar faces, so many people that are making a difference in
    the lives of others. Every man and woman here believes in the power of
    the individual and is bolstered by the conviction that America is indeed
    a land of opportunity. For more than 200 years, America has been the
    home of free markets and free people. And there is no question:
    Opportunity in America is the envy of the entire world.
        The story of America has been the story of opportunity. Throughout
    our history, we've pioneered the frontiers of liberty for all humanity.
    Our Founding Fathers created perhaps the most simple yet profound
    document in modern history: our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Abraham
    Lincoln broke forever the chains of human slavery. The suffrage movement
    made the promise of democracy a reality for women. The founders of our
    public schools unleashed our national potential through universal
    education. And by their struggle for equal rights, the leaders of the
    civil rights movement helped bring dignity to the oppressed and
    disenfranchised. The story of opportunity in America is the story of
    Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton, the Wright brothers,
    Rosa Parks.
        But it doesn't end there, with these heroes from our past. There are
    the new American heroes of today, many of them in this room. And they,
    too, are inspired by pride, integrity, faith in the dignity of man, and
    courage, yes, courage to overcome the odds. It's called leadership by
    example, and it's made America the world's great beacon of freedom.

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        These modern visionaries are the ones that are making history,
    propelling us into the next American century. Theirs is a movement--it's
    more than 200 years old, as old as the Declaration of Independence--a
    movement defined by what Jefferson called ``the American mind'' and what
    I've been calling ``the American idea.'' It continues to sweep our
    country today with a vigor as strong as ever. It's a vision driven by
    the strength and power of the American dream.
        And I share that vision, for what is the American dream if it isn't
    wanting to be part of something larger than ourselves? If it isn't
    creating a better life for our children than we might have had? If it
    isn't the freedom to take command of our future? For most people, these
    aspirations means enjoying the blessings of good health or having a home
    to call one's own or raising a family, holding a stake in the community,
    feeling secure, secure at home or in our neighborhood.
        But for others, sadly, America has not yet fulfilled the promise of
    equality of opportunity. We know who they are: They're the hopeless and
    the homeless, the friendless and the fearful, the unemployed and the
    underemployed, the ones who can't read, the ones who can't write. They
    are the ones who don't believe that they will ever share in the American
    dream.
        I'm here to tell any American for whom hope lies dormant: We will
    not forget you. We will not forget those who have not yet shared in the
    American dream. We must offer them hope. But we must guarantee them
    opportunity.
        It's been said, ``Hope is a waking dream.'' That awakening begins
    with learning, understanding the power and potential of individual
    effort, developing a skill, and with it, independence, earning a living,
    with dignity and personal growth. More skills mean more freedom, more
    options for even greater opportunity.
        Today, our administration is proposing an agenda to expand
    opportunity and choice for all. It involves more than six major
    initiatives across the scope of our entire Government: restoring quality
    education, ensuring crime-free neighborhoods, strengthening civil and
    legal rights for all, creating jobs and new businesses, expanding access
    to homeownership, and allowing localities a greater share of
    responsibility. In its entirety, I believe it represents one of the most
    far-reaching efforts in decades to unleash the talents of every citizen
    in America.
        In several weeks, I will have legislation to enact this agenda on
    the desk of every Congressman. The administration's educational
    excellence proposals, by way of example, will put choice in the hands of
    students and parents so that they can choose the best school to attend.
    Our higher education system is clearly, unquestionably, the finest in
    the world: creative, innovative, and highly competitive. From the GI
    bill to Pell grants, college students already have the power to choose.
    And now it's time that our education system, all of it, became the
    finest in the world.
        We're also proposing education reforms to build flexibility and
    accountability into our school systems. We've seen what education reform
    can do, from East L.A. to East Harlem. We're encouraging Governors to
    bring together teachers, parents, and administrators to work together to
    meet the needs of all students. We must cut the dropout rate and ensure
    that every student in America arrives at school ready to learn and
    graduates ready to work.
        For some time now, the administration has called for the
    restructuring of American education. We've got to raise our expectations
    for our students and our schools. But if we're going to ask more of
    them, it wouldn't be fair to tie the hands of the teachers and
    principals, particularly those who make a difference. We need responsive
    schools, customer-driven ones if you will, schools that are more market-
    oriented and performance-based, because it's time we recognize that
    competition can spur excellence in our schools. Choice is the catalyst
    for change, the fundamental reform that drives forward all others. These
    ideas will stir us and guide us toward meeting the national education
    goals the Governors and I set up after that famous education summit,
    because we can't expect to remain a first-class economy if we settle for
    second-class schools.
        Millions of jobs await America's graduates in the coming years. But
    to fill those jobs,

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    entrepreneurs will look increasingly to America's minorities--blacks,
    Hispanics, and Asians--and to people just entering the economic
    mainstream--workers with disabilities and mothers who have chosen to
    work outside the home. The majority of those jobs are safer, are
    cleaner, higher skilled, better paying jobs. And they will go to the
    ones who have what it takes, a quality education.
        Everyone knows the best education takes place in a safe, drug-free
    environment. It is difficult for children to learn if there's violence
    in the classroom or crime out in the schoolyard or drug pushers along
    the way home. And older students and workers find it hard to attend
    night school or put in late hours at the office because of the danger
    that darkness brings, especially in crime-ridden neighborhoods.
        Low-income Americans are the ones more likely to be intimidated by
    crime, less likely to be able to take advantage of opportunities that
    may be across town or even just around the corner. They're the ones
    defending themselves and their families from the drug dealers and
    muggers down the hall or down the street. And they're the ones who need
    opportunity the most.
        It is in their name that this battle for the streets of our cities
    must be waged. The thugs and the gangs and the drug kingpins should be
    the casualties of this war. Our tactics: mandatory sentences for using a
    firearm in a violent crime; strengthened protection against sex crimes
    and child abuse; tough prosecutors; courts that mete out equal justice,
    swiftly and surely; a prison system that is up to the job. And finally,
    our strategy must include an unequivocal commitment to our young people.
    There are meaningful and adventurous alternatives to a life of crime.
    And it starts with an education, a neighborhood that's safe and secure.
        Opportunity is built on these foundations, but the door is opened by
    one thing: a job. Every American who wants a job should be able to get
    one. Of course, vestiges of the past remain. Bigotry and discrimination,
    regrettably, still do exist. But we have powerful legal tools for
    eliminating discrimination. And remember, the legal guarantees of
    equality of opportunity are largely in place: Brown versus the Board of
    Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
    the Fair Housing Acts of both 1968 and 1988, the Americans with
    Disabilities Act of 1990.
        To assure that every American enjoys the equality of opportunity and
    access, I am determined to continue the vigorous enforcement of these
    and of all our civil rights laws. And where our laws need improvement, I
    am committed to refining them. We will soon introduce legislation with
    strong new remedies to protect women from sexual harassment and
    minorities from racial prejudice in the workplace. And I call on the
    Congress to act promptly on this important initiative. But legislation
    that only creates a lawyer's bonanza helps no one. We all know where
    opportunity really begins. As I said above, it begins with a job.
        In our hardest hit urban and rural areas our enterprise zone
    proposal will create new small businesses. We're providing new
    incentives for employers to hire more workers by eliminating the capital
    gains tax on businesses in these areas and attracting more seed capital.
    Our proposals mean economic growth, more minority entrepreneurs, and
    most importantly, again, jobs.
        The American dream also means choosing where to live and, for many
    working people, owning a home someday. We're offering public housing
    residents not only control and management of their own community but,
    for the first time, access to home ownership and private property to
    gain a stake in their communities. We've asked the Congress to provide
    much-needed funding for the HOPE program in 1991, to make this
    opportunity a reality in our inner cities this year. And we're proposing
    that Americans be allowed to use the money from their IRA's to buy their
    first home. These initiatives will bring us closer to our goal of 1
    million new homeowners by 1992.
        You know, there's something reassuring about becoming
    a part of a neighborhood, a community that pulls together in times of
    crisis, that looks out for one another. Each community in America is
    different, and its residents know best how to take care of each other,
    what the best options are for programs and services for those who need a

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    hand. And so, we're proposing to allow communities to restructure
    programs at the local level.
        Our strength as a nation lies in the strength of our communities,
    the sum of our neighborhoods and families, our hopes and dreams for the
    future. This is our administration's agenda for opportunity. It begins
    in the heart of every person who believes in freedom and lives on in the
    American dream. Every man and woman in this room shares its vision. The
    great poet Carl Sandburg put it this way, ``nothing happens unless first
    a dream.'' Our mandate is to make the dream a reality.
        We face a new century, a new American century. Half a world away,
    our allied troops face a defining moment in the new world order. And
    they are succeeding in their battle because each and every one of them
    possesses a pride in their country, integrity in their cause, and
    courage in their heart.
        Our troops will be home soon, coming home to a grateful nation. And
    I want to ensure that their return is to a land of equal opportunity.
    And just as they have stood to safeguard our freedom, the world's
    freedom, let us stand with pride, integrity, and courage in our hearts
    and expand the freedoms of all Americans. It's up to each of us to
    secure the triumph of the American idea. And that idea is opportunity.
        With God's help and yours, we will succeed. Thank you all very much.
    And may God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of
    America.

                        Note: The President spoke at 11:08 a.m. in the Grand
                            Ballroom at the J.W. Marriott Hotel. In his
                            opening remarks, he referred to R. William
                            Taylor, president of the American Society of
                            Association Executives; Attorney General Dick
                            Thornburgh; Secretary of Housing and Urban
                            Development Jack Kemp; Secretary of Health and
                            Human Services Louis W. Sullivan; Acting
                            Secretary of Education Ted Sanders; and Robert
                            L. Woodson, president of the National Center for
                            Neighborhood Enterprise.