[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 6, 1992]
[Pages 1489-1492]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1489]]


Remarks to the Polish-American Community in Chicago, Illinois
September 6, 1992

    The President. Thank you, Mitch. Thank you all for that great 
welcome.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Thank you so much for the wonderful introduction. And 
may I pay my respects to the Governor, Jim Edgar, doing a superb job for 
the people of this great State. Jim, we're grateful to you. Let me also 
single out Rich Williamson. We need him in the United States Senate. 
We've got to change the Congress. We've got to clean the House. We've 
got to elect Rich Williamson to the Senate. Another old friend, Wally 
Dudycz, glad to see him and Jack O'Malley and Lou Kasper. The Polish 
consul general came to greet me, Mr. Jankowski. Ed Moskal, of course, 
our old, dear friend. And again, I'd like to salute Secretary Ed 
Derwinski, known so well to everybody here, an outstanding American that 
has served his country with such distinction.
    This past Independence Day, some of you were with us, I traveled to 
the heartland of Poland to bury a treasure. In the crypt of an ancient 
cathedral, I stood with President Lech Walesa as the remains of the 
great patriot Ignacy Paderewski was finally laid to rest in the rich and 
free Polish soil that conceived and sustained him. And it struck me, 
this was the fulfillment of Poland's dreams.
    Think of what we have seen together in the last few years. We 
watched a Gdansk electrician, a humble man, stand up for freedom, 
electrify the world with the charge that all people should be free and 
be heard. We watched the nation of Poland reform, brimming with a new 
and different fluid of life, inspired by the passion for freedom. And we 
watched a Pope named John Paul II, a proud Pole. And as we gather today 
at this festival, a good time to count our blessings, I can say 
something no President ever could say before: The cold war is over, and 
freedom finished first. And Poland is free.
    You know, my opponents say----
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. We've got a lot of work to do for 4 more, I'll tell 
you.
    These critics, the Clinton-Gore ticket, say that I spend too much 
time on foreign policy. Well, let me tell you this: American 
schoolchildren used to hide under their desks in drills to prepare for 
nuclear war. We saw the chance to cut down the threat of nuclear war, 
and we did it. And does that matter? You bet it matters to the young 
people that are here right here today. You know, over the past--and 
everybody in this crowd understands this, Democrat, Republican, liberal, 
it doesn't matter, you understand this point: Over the past 4 years, 
more people have breathed the fresh air of freedom than in all of human 
history. We saw a chance to help, and I did it. And do you say, does 
that matter? Of course, it does. You bet it does.
    Now our challenges are straightforward. This Labor Day weekend we 
must dedicate ourselves to the challenge: economic security for the 
working men and working women of America. That is the big challenge, 
jobs for the American people. You know, in this 21st century America 
must not only be a military superpower, we've got to be an export 
superpower, and we've got to be an economic superpower.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. My vision is to look forward, to open new markets, to 
prepare our people to compete, to save and to invest, to strengthen the 
American family so that we can win.
    You know, I've spent half my life in public service, half in the 
private sector. I built a business, and I met a payroll. And I believe 
that is a good qualification for being President of the United States, 
to know what it is to hold a job in the private sector. And Governor 
Clinton has spent all but a handful of years of his adult life in 
government. Now he says he respects the small businessman, he loves the 
private sector. Well, maybe it's a good chance now to give

[[Page 1490]]

him a chance to experience what it's like to be in the private sector. 
Because he isn't going to be President of the United States.
    I agree with you, Government has got to help people. But Government 
is too big, and it taxes too much, and it spends too much of your money. 
And we've got to get it under control. And so I put a freeze on domestic 
discretionary spending, plus a plan to control mandatory Federal 
spending except Social Security. I said at the beginning, don't mess 
with Social Security. And we are not going to let them touch Social 
Security. My plan, and it is up before the Congress now, would save 
nearly $300 billion in over 5 years. And I want to say Do widzenia  to 
more than 4,000 wasteful Federal projects, like a national research 
program, and get into this one, the mating habits of the mink. We do not 
need to spend your taxpayers' money on that kind of program.
    So the gridlocked Congress has balked at my ideas. So now I have a 
new idea: Give you all a say on it. I want to give you, the taxpayer, 
the option of taking 10 percent of your income tax and using it for one 
purpose alone, to reduce the national deficit. Get the mortgage off the 
back of these young people. Check off 10 percent to get the deficit 
down. If Congress won't cut spending, let you, the people, do it. And 
I'll be at your side.
    But while we cut Federal spending, we can still set priorities to 
help people in need to get back on their feet. So this week I took money 
that had already been appropriated and used it to help farmers whose 
crops were destroyed. And I said I'd help the private sector rebuild 
devastated Florida and Louisiana. And let me thank the people of 
Illinois who reached out to help their fellow man down in the south. You 
have been magnificent. But anyway, when I did all this to try to help 
these people, Governor Clinton, of all people, accused me of pandering. 
This from the man that Paul Tsongas, you remember the little bear, this 
from the man that Paul Tsongas called the ``Pander Bear,'' the same Paul 
Tsongas who said on April 7th, the American people are just hearing how 
cynical and unprincipled Bill Clinton is. That's not from a Republican, 
that was from a Democrat, Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts. And he's right. 
He is right.
    But here are the facts. Governor Clinton proposes at least $220 
billion in new spending, just to start. Newsweek magazine called the 
Clinton approach, and I quote, ``economic fantasy.'' And Newsweek went 
on to say that the real cost of the Clinton program is ``arguably at 
least 3 times higher'' than he's admitted. And he has mentioned program 
after program after program that he wants to increase spending for. So 
while we're eating a little kielbasa, he's offering pie in the sky. Who 
does he think he's kidding? Not the American people.
    You know, I've been one of these guys who is accused of thinking 
every day is the Fourth of July. Well, I like the way a cartoon summed 
it up. My opponent thinks that every day is April 15th. You know what 
happens then. They have this cartoon; it featured a guy at the kitchen 
table. He said to his wife, ``Honey, I figure we can afford all those 
taxes Clinton and Gore want to raise if I can get two of those jobs they 
say they'll create.'' Well, raising taxes doesn't create jobs, it 
destroys them. You know that. So with the savings that I have proposed, 
we can cut taxes and get this economy moving again. The difference is 
tax and spend versus less taxes and less spending.
    Now, one other thing. More than 2 percent of our gross domestic 
product is spent not in the factory, not in the classroom, not in the 
laboratory but in and around the courtroom. I've never heard of a nation 
that sued its way to greatness. So I have a plan for the gridlocked 
Congress to cut down on all these crazy lawsuits that are choking our 
economy. Too many lawsuits. And as a nation we ought to sue each other 
less and care for each other just a little bit more. That's my 
philosophy. That's the way Barbara looks at it.
    Another thing, you look around and see these great kids, and you 
think we've got to do better in education. Three years 
ago this month, we started a revolution 
in American education, one called 
America 2000. Today for the first time, every eligible 4-year-old whose 
parents choose to participate can get

[[Page 1491]]

a Head Start on kindergarten. That is progress. That is the way to help 
the young people in this country. Today for the first time, half our 
students in college have a Federal loan or grant. Grants and loans are 
at an all-time high under our administration for these college kids. And 
we have a new ``GI bill'' for kids. We want to give every one of you the 
freedom to pick where your children will learn, any program, any school. 
I favor school choice. Let the parents decide whether it's public, 
private, or religious schools.
    We've got to do better in education. We've got to do better in law 
enforcement, backing up the law enforcement people. It's cheaper to send 
a kid to Yale than to send a kid to jail. Penn State is cheaper than the 
State pen. But for those who refuse to pitch in and help build up 
America and instead tear us down, we need to show them what law and 
order is all about. It's about supporting our police forces and judicial 
system. God bless the police that stand up against these outrageous 
criminals.
    And it's time we take back the streets of America and support the 
American family. It is time we let those family values come to the fore. 
And that means let's reform our welfare system so that families stay 
together and these fathers that owe the money will stick around and pay 
what they owe to these mothers that are trying to bring up these kids.
    And while we're at it, I've got a plan for health care, and that 
plan says this: We don't need the Government taking over health care. It 
doesn't work. We've got the best quality health care. What we need is to 
pool insurance. What we need are designed--not respect for Government 
policies but respect for the American family. We've made progress, great 
progress, and now I ask for your help for a health care reform that will 
bring insurance to every single family that wants it. That's our 
proposal. His is to turn it over to the Government.
    Now this is the last point. This is the last point, except I want to 
say a word to this guy over here who feels very strongly about 
something. He's talking about AIDS. Under my administration the spending 
for this deadly disease is up from $4.3 billion to a request for $4.9 
billion. We care. We are working. And disruptions don't help. What helps 
is what you feel in your heart. And we will keep on this research until 
we whip that deadly disease.
    So we made a lot of progress. But in others we've got a ways to go. 
And you ask me why, and I would say three words: the gridlocked 
Congress. And I know you get tired of people blaming each other, but let 
me explain something. There are certain numbers that mean something: 
number 40, Gale Sayers; number 8, Carl Yastrzemski; number 23, a certain 
basketball player in baggy shorts. Here's one you may not know, number 
38. That's how long the same party, the same crowd has been running the 
United States House of Representatives, 38 years. Ask Millie, our dog, 
and she'll tell you that's 266 years in a dog life. Change the Congress. 
Change the Congress. Clean the House. Elect Rich Williamson to the 
Senate. And while we're at it, elect Elias Zenkich to the House. And 
while we're at it, let's limit the terms of Congressmen. Let's get some 
limits out there so things will change.
    Let me tell you this. If you detect a little optimism about our 
country, you're absolutely right. The other side is saying that we're 
somewhere between Germany and Sri Lanka. They ought to go abroad. Let 
them go to Poland. Let them look into the eyes of the Polish people who 
thank America every single day for their freedom. Let Governor Clinton 
take a look. Let him see what this world is like with freedom and 
democracy on the march.
    We have done it. And we can do it right here at home with your help. 
God bless our country. Don't let them tear it down. God bless the United 
States of America. And thank you for this wonderful turnout. Thank you 
all.

                    Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. at the 
                        Copernicus Center during the Taste of Polonia 
                        Festival. In his remarks, he referred to 
                        Mitchell P. Kobelinski, president, Copernicus 
                        Foundation; Walter Dudycz, Illinois State 
                        senator; Jack O'Malley, Cook County State's 
                        attorney; Lou Kasper, City of 
                        Chicago Republican Party chairman; and

[[Page 1492]]

                        Edward J. Moskal, president, Polish National 
                        Alliance. A tape was not available for 
                        verification of the content of these remarks.