[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 30, 1992]
[Pages 675-679]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Bush-Quayle Fundraising Dinner in Columbus

April 30, 1992
    Thank you, George, and thank all of you. It's a great honor to be 
introduced by Governor Voinovich, a man I've known for a long, long time 
and with whom I've worked for a long, long time. And thanks for that 
introduction, and to Janet, my respects. Barbara sends her love. And let 
me say what a great job the Pickerington High School Tiger Band has done 
with us tonight. Thank you all very much once again; appreciate it very, 
very much. And thank you, Rabbi Huber, for the invocation. Mr. Stokes, 
thank you for leading us in the pledge. And may I salute Columbus' 
mayor, Greg Lashutka; and my old friend with whom I've worked in 
Washington, now doing a great job here, and who I want to see back in 
Washington, the Lieutenant Governor, Mike DeWine. Mike, delighted to see 
you; Fran, to you let me just say Barbara is looking forward very much 
to being at your house in the next few days, and so I'm glad to see you 
here.
    And may I salute Bob Bennett, our State chairman, doing a superb job 
in that great Ohio organizational way. With me tonight is our national 
finance chairman for Bush-Quayle, Bobby Holt, from west Texas, and I 
want to thank him and our regional chairman, Dick Freeland; our Bush-
Quayle State chairman and dinner chairman, Tim Timken, another old 
friend from whom we heard tonight. He is always out on the firing line 
doing a superb job for the President, but also for the party of Ohio. 
Nobody has done more, and I'm very, very grateful to him. And may I 
thank fundraiser extraor-

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dinaire Vinny Gupta, and I'd be remiss if I also didn't thank the Indian 
community. And also I don't know who is looking after the hospitals in 
Ohio tonight, but I feel very safe here tonight. [Laughter]
    And Jim Rhodes, the man who fought the lonely battle in favor of the 
caribou up in Alaska, is here with us tonight. What a job he did serving 
this State. Jim, delighted to see you. What I'm referring to about those 
caribou, Jim was very far-sighted, recognizing that this country ought 
not to become more and more dependent on foreign oil and pointing out 
that a pipeline would not bring environmental disaster to Alaska. And he 
was absolutely right. He's been proven right. So you have a clairvoyant 
in your midst as well as an ex-Governor. Jim, I'm glad to see you.
    Now, I was here just a week ago for the opening of AmeriFlora, and I 
want to congratulate Columbus. I see Mr. Wolfe sitting here, and he had 
some help on this. I know he's been in the forefront of it all, John, 
but what a job Columbus has done on this major international event.
    I was here to commemorate a voyage 500 years old; made me think of 
the Democrats. They aren't impressed with such antiquity. Most of their 
ideas are older than that. [Laughter] While the Democrats build their 
agenda, literally, if you look at it, on timeworn policies, we have 
built the Republican agenda on timeless legacies, three underpinnings: 
good jobs, strong families, and George dwelled on this one a little, 
world peace.
    Yes, it is campaign season. I've seen these seasons come and go. 
I've watched sound bites compete with sound policy, the battles of the 
bumperstickers and the war of words. But I believe democracy is more 
than that. During one political season in Great Britain, here's what 
Margaret Thatcher said: ``We were told that our campaign wasn't 
sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment.'' You see, I believe 
that elections are about more than winning people's votes; they're about 
winning the trust of the American people. And that's what I will try to 
do again come November.
    I've watched candidates try to convince people that the sky is 
falling just so they can promise the moon. But our national symbol is 
not Chicken Little; it is the American eagle. Our national spirit isn't 
self-doubt; it is self-confidence, self-reliance. What is the American 
dream? It's a dream that we struggled to make come true.
    Now, I know this, and we all know it, and we all feel it in our 
hearts: There are places in America where people are caught up in a 
tragic cycle of despair and poverty. But the answer to a system that 
perpetuates such a cycle is change, peaceful and thoughtful change. 
Tonight I call on every American to show restraint and to respect 
people's rights and property.
    The violence that we saw last night wrenched our hearts. We saw it 
there in east L.A., and it must not be repeated. It was ugly, mob 
brutality, selfish attack, mob brutality, the ugliest kind. And TV 
cameras didn't capture it all by any means. According to Los Angeles 
fire officials, between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m., they were 
called to respond to an average of three new fires every minute. But 
worse, there were firemen, public servants, unheralded firemen risking 
their lives fighting arson, who were assaulted themselves, sometimes 
with gunfire, even with axes.
    We must condemn violence. We must make no apology for the rule of 
law or the requirement to live by it. At the same time, we must not 
tolerate racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, or hate of any kind, anywhere. 
Not over the dinner table, not in the board room, not on the playground, 
nowhere in America. We must stand together on that. When we're in 
troubled times, and these are, we must work to make the dream of such a 
society, just society, real for our children. I believe in my heart, I 
really believe that we can do just exactly that.
    As President, I pledge to this Nation I will do what I can to heal 
the wounds. I will see that the law's enforced. When it comes under the 
responsibility of the President, yes, I'll do that. Society deserves 
that sense of order. But I will do my level-best to heal the wounds and 
to bring people together in the aftermath of the ugliness that we 
witnessed last night. A President should do no less.
    Now, think of what we've accomplished, building on what George said, 
around the

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world. It is indeed inspiring. Years ago when we thought about the 
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, we dreamed of free people with freer 
markets and fewer bombs, and then we all worked to make that come true. 
I take great pride that it was American leadership that has diminished 
for our children the threat of nuclear war. No longer do they go to bed 
at night worrying about whether we're going to be caught up in a nuclear 
holocaust. That is big; that is important, significant change for the 
whole world. I am proud to have been a part of it.
    For our neighbors in South America, we envisioned peace and 
democracy. Now we are on the threshold of an entirely free and 
democratic hemisphere. When the Iraqi nightmare threatened to engulf the 
Middle East, America protected the people of Israel and Turkey and Saudi 
Arabia and helped liberate that small country of Kuwait. In the process 
we turned what had been the mirage of 44 years into an oasis of hope. We 
brought Arab neighbors, in something that is truly historic, face to 
face with Israel for the first time, for the first step towards peace.
    There were those that said that the defeat of communism, the 
liberation of the oppressed, the triumph of democracy, that all these 
things were nothing but a dream. They were right. It was an American 
dream.
    America helped create a world of freer people and freer markets. 
That has brought greater prosperity, but it's also brought greater 
competition. There's good news: All around the world more and more 
people are buying American. Our exports shot up 7 percent in February to 
a record high of almost $38 billion. That's bad news for this Chicken 
Little mentality, but that's good news for America. It sums up words 
that will help chart a new American destiny: If we are to succeed 
economically at home, we have to lead economically abroad. We are not 
going to pull back into some isolationistic or protectionist mood as 
long as I am President of the United States.
    You see, by expanding trade with other countries, we expand 
opportunity within our own. And sure, the competition's tough; we know 
that. But the answer isn't to build up trade barriers; it's to get other 
countries to tear down theirs. Last week I met with the heads of 
Europe's Common Market, Mr. Cavaco Silva and Mr. Delors, to talk about 
the world trade negotiations. If these negotiations succeed, an 
agreement could pump $5 trillion into the global economy over the next 
10 years, with the U.S. share topping $1 trillion.
    We're also working on our southern trade front with negotiations on 
what we call NAFTA, the North American free trade agreement, an 
agreement that would increase trade with Mexico by billions of dollars 
and create good American jobs right here in the State of Ohio. This 
agreement isn't about good politics; it's about good policy and good 
American jobs. And I have faith in open trade because I have faith in 
the American worker. And when trade is free and fair, the American 
worker can beat the competition fair and square, outwork, outhustle any 
worker anywhere in the world.
    Fair competition, though, doesn't just mean playing by the same 
rules, it means competing with the same tools. I'm talking about the 
cost of capital. Tough competition from Germany, no capital gains tax 
there; Japan, an entrepreneur who sells the company he's built from 
scratch pays a tax of one percent. A low capital gains tax rate 
encourages investment, and that means new jobs.
    When I listen to our critics rail against capital gains and then 
turn around and complain about foreign competition, it makes me think of 
someone who would price eggs at $100 a carton and then complains that no 
one wants to make omelets. A lower capital gains rate wouldn't just 
benefit someone who runs a business, it would help people who own homes 
or farms or simply seek better jobs. It's time to quit playing politics 
with this issue and cut the capital gains tax. And I will keep pushing 
the Congress to do just that.
    While they're at it, I'd like to see them pass my first-time 
homebuyers credit--it would stimulate the housing market--and our 
investment tax allowance that would stimulate investment in our 
productive machinery in this country. We're going to

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keep on trying to get that through Congress in spite of this election 
year.
    If America is to remain truly competitive, we've got to stop 
regulating our businesses out of business. Washington really doesn't 
understand the deadly process that can turn redtape into pink slips. And 
here in Columbus, the city government--the Mayor knows this--they have 
projected that over the next decade the cost of complying with Federal 
environmental regulations alone would be $1.6 billion. That's for a 
community whose entire city budget last year, Greg, was what, $591 
million?
    It's time to put a stop to costly, counterproductive regulations. In 
January I announced a 90-day moratorium in that State of the Union 
Message--that was what, 92 days ago--moratorium on Federal regulation. 
We blocked regulations that hurt growth and speeded up regulations that 
help growth, and our efforts have paid off. Just since January the 
reforms we've set in motion will save consumers $15 billion to $20 
billion a year. That is a saving of $225 to $300 a year for the average 
American household, and that is just the beginning. It is not being done 
to put worker safety at risk or the environment at risk. Wednesday, I 
ordered a 120-day extension of the moratorium on new regulation. And I 
put Congress on notice, telling them that I will veto any bill that 
attempts to put excessive new burdens of regulation on the backs of our 
families, our consumers, our workers, and our businesses. There will be 
no return to business-as-usual in the field of regulation.
    I know there's been a lot of talk about change in this election 
year. Most of it has been just talk. But that's not good enough if we're 
going to build a truly better America. I've called for reform. More 
importantly, I've acted with far-reaching proposals for reform, and 
George generously referred to one of them: education, also in health 
care, in our courts, and in our campaigns. We've won our battles, but 
we've not yet won the war. Too often, in too many ways, Congress and an 
army of special interests have stood in the way of change. They're not 
interested in reform. They stand squarely behind the status quo. They 
may be powerful. They may be influential, too. They may be well-
connected. But let me tell you this: They are wrong. They are not going 
to stand in the way of bringing the kind of change that American people 
want.
    First, our legal system: Volunteers--and everyone has a horror story 
on this--volunteers are afraid to volunteer, doctors are afraid to 
deliver babies, parents afraid to coach Little League, all because of 
the fear of lawsuits. And that's wrong. People should spend more time 
helping each other and less time suing each other. That's why we've 
introduced proposals to reform our legal system. And sure, the system's 
complicated, and yes, people's rights must be protected. But the system 
needs reform, and we are not going to let any powerful lobby stand in 
the way. This is going to the American people to be decided in November 
if I can't get action by the Congress this summer.
    Second, in education, our America 2000 reforms are gaining steam, 
break-the-mold schools, national standards and testing, community by 
community. And whether it's among public schools or private schools or 
religious, parents deserve the right to choose their children's schools. 
It's a giant undertaking to change the Nation's education system, but we 
are going to do it with or without a note of approval from the NEA or 
the Congress. Fortunately, much of our America 2000 program can be 
decided by the people in the communities. This is happening with Ohio 
2000.
    Third, health care: No one should have to go broke just to get 
better. That's wrong, and it's got to change. While our health care is 
still the finest quality in the world, too many people can't qualify for 
health insurance or simply cannot afford it. Some say the answer is what 
they call nationalized health care. Ask the Canadian waiting months for 
critical surgery; ask him what he thinks of that idea. Our health care 
proposal is comprehensive. It opens access. It lowers cost. But it does 
not and will not lower the quality of American hospital care. National 
health care is a prescription for national disaster. We cannot let that 
happen, but we will fight to pass the new program that I favor.
    In these and so many areas that demand reform, our Government can 
play a positive

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role. I figured this out the other day, as we get into the campaign: One 
half of my adult life has been spent in the private sector, working for 
a living, and one half in the government. I think I'm working for a 
living, but it's different, believe me. One half in the private sector, 
one half in government, and I've seen this country change, sometimes for 
the better, and yes, sometimes for the worse. You need to know what 
needs to be changed. Change, as I said, for change's sake, that's 
meaningless. It takes more than happy talk, more than lip service to 
reform and then full service to special interests.
    The Democratic Party, I am convinced, will always revert to form, 
attacking problems by creating programs. They don't understand that 
people want a return to some old-fashioned values like responsibility, 
accountability. When it comes to Government, the American people know as 
Government tries to do more and more, it ends up, regrettably, 
delivering less and less. And next year the Federal Government will 
spend $1.5 trillion. There's just no question about it: The Federal 
Government is too big, and it spends too much. We must get control of 
the deficit, and that is going to take some tough medicine for the 
American people and for everybody. But it is essential for the children 
of this country.
    In conclusion let me say this: Major reforms are in order. So the 
fourth reform of this reform agenda is about Government. First, it's 
time--I really believe this one, and I served in the United States 
Congress--for the Congress to govern itself by the same laws that it 
imposes on others. They must abide by the same laws that you and I do. 
And yes, it is time for sweeping campaign reform. But real reform is not 
saddling the taxpayer with the cost of congressional campaigns. It's 
time for real spending reform, time for the President to have what 43 
Governors have. Give me that line-item veto, and see if we can't save a 
little money for the hard-working American taxpayer.
    And the President's term is limited, and I think it's time to limit 
the terms for Members of the United States Congress. It will keep them 
closer to home. So I favor six 2-year terms for the Congress and two 6-
year terms for the Senate. And I really believe it would keep Government 
more active, more vital, and closer to the people.
    Thomas Jefferson knew, and here was the quote, ``The people are the 
only sure reliance of our liberty.'' The people are the only sure 
reliance of our liberty. That's why you're here today. You're not among 
the cynics because, you know, I think you still feel you can make a 
difference. Think of a littered park; you clean it up one piece at a 
time. Then think of our Government; we can reform it, one vote at a 
time. And it makes a difference. I've been trying for 3 years to effect 
fundamental change in these fields, whether it's tort reform or 
education reform or whatever. And I'm going to keep on trying.
    You might ask, ``But why should we care?'' It's the age of cynicism. 
Because this Government, just like a public park, isn't just something 
we inherited from our parents. It's something we borrow from our 
children.
    And I know this country, as you do. America's got a heart of gold. 
We've got a will of steel. It's honest, and it's generous, and it's 
good. With your help, it's about to become even better.
    Thank you all very much. And on this troubled night, may God bless 
the United States of America. Thank you very, very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 8:10 p.m. in the 
                        Lausche Building at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. 
                        In his remarks, he referred to Rabbi Gary Huber 
                        of Bath Tikvah Temple and Dewey Stokes, 
                        president of the National Fraternal Order of 
                        Police.