    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [August 23, 2002]
    [Pages 1454-1461]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community in Stockton, California
    August 23, 2002

        The President. Thank you all. I'm glad I came, and thank you all for
    coming. I'm honored to be here in the great city of Stockton,
    California. I appreciate you coming to give me a chance to share with
    you some of my thoughts and concerns and hopes about our great Nation. I
    appreciate you being here.
        I want to thank the mayor. My only
    regret is the mayor didn't take me down to Billy Hebert Field to see the
    team play. [Laughter] I'm a baseball guy. [Laughter]
        I want to thank so very much the members of the congressional
    delegation who met me at Air Force One. I appreciate the hard work of
    Richard Pombo, who represents this
    district. I was so pleased that he found a tie for this occasion.
    [Laughter] Doug Ose from the next congressional
    district is here with us. Doug, thank you for coming. These are two fine
    Members of the United States Congress with whom I have good working
    relations, people with whom I can work to do what's right for the
    American people.
        I picked--I picked a fine Cabinet. You need to judge a President
    based upon the people who he listens to. I listen to some mighty fine
    people; I really do. I've got great advice, not only in the national
    security side but also on the domestic side of my job. And I picked my
    neighbor, somebody from Compton, to serve in an incredibly important
    position, particularly for the folks in this part of the world, and that
    is to serve as our Secretary of Agriculture. Ann Veneman is doing a fabulous job.
        Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for
    helping put on this occasion. I particularly want to thank the Greater
    Stockton Chamber of Commerce for their hard work in getting this all
    ready and inviting people to come.
        There's one friend I've got here that I've got to say something
    about. He's a great citizen from Stockton. He's been a longtime friend
    of mine and my family's, and that's, of course, Alex Spanos. I like to be around optimistic people. It's important
    to stay in touch with those folks who are optimistic. Once again he has
    told me that the San Diego Chargers are going to win the Super Bowl.
    [Laughter]
        Audience member. ----Super Bowl one last time----

    [[Page 1455]]

        The President. That's right. [Laughter] And once again, he believes
    it. [Laughter]
        Today, at Air Force One, I met Malikah Rashied. Where is Malikah? Where is she? Oh, there she is.
    Thank you, Malikah. She is a Freedom Corps volunteer. She volunteers for
    the country. In this case, she works for the California Conservation
    Corps, assisting in fire prevention cleanup projects, in cleanup
    projects. We need, by the way, to have a forest policy that--[applause].
        I mention her because I want people to
    understand that I understand the true strength of America. It is not in
    the halls of our governments but in the hearts of our people. And there
    are people like her all across the country who are willing to try to
    make the communities in which they live a better place for all of us. I
    appreciate your service.
        I also appreciate you working on fire prevention. And that's
    something the Federal Government needs to work on. Listen, we cannot
    allow our forests to become places where kindling piles up. It doesn't
    make any sense to me to fly over these huge fires that are consuming
    much of the West and realize our forest policy encourages--doesn't
    prevent, doesn't work to make the forest healthier and safer. The
    forest--the hands-off forest policy proposed by well-meaning people has
    failed, and now we need to do something about it.
        We've got a lot to do in this country. We really do. We've got some
    big hurdles, big challenges ahead of us. One of the things I've found in
    Washington is if we can get rid of all the politics and get people
    thinking about what's important for the Nation, we can get some things
    done. We really can.
        Oh, I know we'll never get rid of all the politics. But at least we
    can get people thinking and setting the right priorities on behalf of
    the American people. That's the most--one of my most important jobs, and
    we're making some progress. If you look at the record, when people
    decide to come together, we're doing some things right for the American
    people, starting with making sure the funding priorities of the
    Government is to win the war on terror.
        A new priority has been to help secure the homeland by working with
    our brave first-responders, the police, the fire, the EMS teams all
    around the country, those who work hard here in Stockton and all around
    America. It's been a priority of ours, and both Republicans and
    Democrats have come together to fund that priority for the good of the
    country.
        I proposed some tough new standards on--for corporate reform. Like
    you all, I took a look out there and saw a problem. And the problem was,
    we had some folks who were trying to fudge the numbers. We had some
    people who decided they weren't going to tell the truth when it came to
    their assets and liabilities, to the detriment of not only shareholder
    and employee but to the country itself.
        You see, a few--a few began to shatter the confidence of the
    American people. And so we decided to do something about it. Republicans
    and Democrats came together. I was honored and proud to sign the most
    comprehensive corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt was the
    President. This wasn't a Republican idea. It wasn't a Democrat idea.
    It's an American idea to hold people responsible who betray the public's
    trust, and that is what we're going to do.
        I remember giving a speech in New York about how I thought the
    corporate accountability bill ought to go. And at one point in the
    speech, I talked about the fact that our business schools don't teach
    right from wrong. They're unwilling to say to future business leaders,
    ``There's a right way to deal with things, and there's a wrong way.''
    And I was lamenting that fact, and I called upon our business schools to
    show leadership and to teach future leaders right from wrong.
        And I was working a ropeline afterwards, and a fellow walked up
    who's a professor

    [[Page 1456]]

    at a business school. And he said, ``Thanks for saying that, Mr.
    President. We needed to hear that.'' And a large guy--I assumed he was
    one of the construction folks that was there, construction union leaders
    that was supportive of this initiative--he said, ``If you want to teach
    them right from wrong, Mr. President, the best lesson you can send is
    put them in handcuffs.''
        And that's what's happening. And that's what's happening. We cannot
    let a few--and I emphasize ``a few''--set the tone for the many who are
    decent, honorable citizens of this country who take care of their
    shareholders, who are good to their employees, who tell the truth. So
    we're working together.
        The other day, I had the honor of signing a bill that both
    Republicans and Democrats supported that gives me the capacity to open
    up markets for U.S. goods. Here's my attitude about trade: If you're
    good at something, you ought to promote it. If you're good about--if
    you're good at growing crops, you ought to figure out how to sell more
    of the crops. And we're the best in the world at farming and ranching.
        I'm thrilled to be here in the breadbasket of America, because it
    gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an
    advantage here in America: We can feed ourselves. And we've always got
    to be able to do that. It puts us in a--it gives us a strategic
    advantage, a strategic edge. Imagine if we were going around the world
    asking for food. It would put the President in a pretty tough position.
    [Laughter] They may want to bargain a little high. [Laughter]
        But fortunately, we can feed ourselves, and not only that, we
    produce more food than we need, because we're good at what we do. And
    therefore, it makes sense on behalf of the producers to open up markets.
    We ought to be feeding--feeding the world. Where people are hungry, they
    ought to be eating American food. We ought to be knocking down those
    tariffs and those barriers. We ought to be leveling the playing field,
    and that's precisely what I'm going to do with my new authority.
        I told Ann--and she would testify to this--
    and I told Zoellick, who's our trade man,
    I said, ``I don't want our agriculture producers to be shunted aside
    when it comes to opening up markets.'' As a matter of fact, when you're
    good at something, it ought to be the cornerstone of your policy. So I
    want agriculture to be the cornerstone of good international trade
    policy, and it will be. And we made some progress.
        I don't know if you've been following this, but we had a little
    problem with the Russians for a while. They agreed to take our chickens.
    They were going to buy U.S. chickens, and then all of a sudden they
    decided not to buy the chickens, and that created a problem. It creates
    a problem for the chicken growers. It affects prices of other
    commodities, truly does.
        And it was interesting, at one of my press conferences with Vladimir
    Putin, who I like--he's a good man--he said,
    ``You know, the good thing about our new relationship, as opposed to
    talking about war, we're talking about chickens.'' [Laughter] But I want
    the agricultural folks here to understand, we talked about chickens up
    until yesterday when Secretary Veneman announced
    an agreement with the Russians that they're going to take U.S. chickens.
    They're going to honor their obligations.
        I bring these examples up because it shows what is possible in
    Washington when people decide to work together. And they're getting
    ready to come back in August. And when they come back in August----

    [At this point, there was a disruption in the audience.]

        The President. ----and when they come back in August----

    [The disruption continued.]

        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. And when the Congress comes back after their August
    break, I

    [[Page 1457]]

    hope they keep in mind the fact that we need to continue to work
    together on behalf of the American people. We need to work----
        Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
        The President. And as we work together to make--to make America more
    secure, we must do so on three fronts. We must work together to make
    sure that there's economic security. We must work together to make sure
    there's homeland security. And we must work together to make sure that
    we win the war on terror to defend our freedoms.
        I hosted some folks down to Waco, Texas, the middle of Texas in the
    middle of August. They obviously had something on their mind. And it was
    a really interesting forum to hear from people from all walks of life
    talk about the difficulties they face, the hurdles they face, to create
    jobs. That's what I'm interested in.
        When I hear somebody who wants to work can't find a job, I view that
    as a problem. It concerns me. I want people to be able to find work.
    That ought to be the cornerstone of any good economic policy.
        And so part of what Congress needs to do is to get together and work
    on ways to make sure that there's economic security for the American
    people. The platform for growth is good. It just is.
        We've had problems, no question. When we came in, there was a
    recession. History shows that for the first three quarters of my
    Presidency, we were in negative growth. The next three quarters have
    been positive growth, which is good news for the American people. Wages
    were rising. The productivity of the American worker is the strongest in
    the world. We're good at--our workers are really good. Our entrepreneurs
    are innovative. We've got a good tax base, good monetary policy.
    Interest rates are low. And so we've got the foundation for growth.
        But I'm not content with our progress, and here's some things I'd
    like to see done. First, I can't tell you how strongly I feel and
    passionately I feel about the need to make the tax cuts that we passed
    permanent.
        See, here's the chapter of the economics book I read--and I admit,
    some of them in Washington didn't read this chapter. [Laughter] I
    believe that when times are slow--and remember, the first three quarters
    of our administration was negative growth--when times are slow, you let
    people keep their own money. And when they keep their own money, they
    demand a good or a service. And when they demand a good or a service,
    somebody produces the good or the service. And when somebody produces
    that good or service, someone is likely, more likely to find work.
    That's how it works.
        And therefore, the tax relief happened at the right time. Not only
    did we provide lower tax rates--which, by the way, is a spur to small-
    business growth. Most small-business owners are sole proprietors. Most
    small-business owners pay tax rates at the individual rate because
    they're limited partnerships. Most small businesses--small businesses
    create most new jobs in America. And therefore, we ought to have policy
    that encourages the growth of small businesses. By cutting individual
    rates, we understand the importance of small business.
        And not only that, we put the death tax on the road to extinction.
    The death tax is a bad tax. And not only that, we began to change the
    marriage penalty, because we want the Tax Code to encourage marriage,
    not discourage marriage.
        But here's why I bring up the issue. Because of a quirk in the
    Senate law, all the work that we did reverts back to normal in 10
    years--``normal'' being what it was prior to the tax relief. In other
    words--it's kind of hard to explain--[laughter]--but you get tax relief,
    and you don't get tax relief, see. It stays in place for 10 years, and
    then it goes away.

    [[Page 1458]]

        And so Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have got to
    understand, for the good of the economy, we need some permanency. People
    need to be able to plan. They need to be able to know that what is real
    today will be real tomorrow. Therefore, the tax cuts need to be made
    permanent.
        We've got a problem when it comes to construction here in America,
    because many folks cannot get insurance to cover losses from potential
    terrorist attack. There's about $8 billion worth of projects that have
    been put aside because people can't get terrorism insurance. That means
    we've got some hard-hats here in America who aren't working who should
    be working. That means there's some good, hard-working folks who aren't
    as active as they should be in the job market.
        And therefore, I have asked Congress--the House responded, and the
    Senate came up with a version; they need to get together--to provide
    terrorism insurance legislation to help these big construction programs
    go forward. This bill would put people back to work, so long as the
    House and the Senate understand that the priority is not trial lawyers
    but hardhat workers in America.
        Congress, when they get back, needs to give me an energy bill. In
    order for the economy to be strong, we've got to have an energy plan.
    We've got to have a bill that promotes renewable sources of energy, that
    encourages conservation. But we need more energy explored here at home
    in an environmentally friendly way. It is in our economic security that
    we find more energy at home. It is in our national security that we
    become less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil.
        Congress needs to get to work on a reauthorization of the welfare
    bill. See, the welfare bill is coming up again. And, by the way, it
    worked when we said to people we will help them find work. It made
    people less dependent upon Government. It has been a successful,
    successful public policy in America, and we need to continue that. There
    are some in the Senate who want to say work isn't important, and so
    they've got all kinds of loopholes. I think work is incredibly
    important. Work leads to dignity. And therefore, they need to give me a
    welfare bill like the House bill that says, we're going to help people
    help themselves by finding work. That's what we're going to do. We're
    going to train people for jobs, but we're going to insist that they work
    in return for help.
        And there's one other vital piece of legislation that they need to
    get to me before they all go back to their districts and campaign, and
    it's this. I want to unleash the great compassion of America by
    recognizing the power of faith-based institutions in our society. I ask
    the question, ``Does it work?'' That's what I ask. Does it work if
    somebody's heart is changed and therefore they get off alcohol and
    drugs? Does that work? And if it does, our Government ought not to fear
    programs based upon the capacity to change somebody's heart. As a matter
    of fact, we ought to welcome those programs. We ought to say, ``If
    you've got an idea and you've got a cross on the wall or the star of
    David or if you're a mosque, we welcome those ideas to help change
    society, one person at a time.''
        We'll never fund religion. Of course we're not going to fund
    religion. That's not the purpose. But we want to help people, and we
    should not discriminate against programs which have the capacity to help
    save lives. When we save a life in America, we make America a better
    place for all of us.
        Congress has got work to do on the homeland security front as well.
    My most important job is to protect you all, our fellow Americans, from
    another attack. That's my most important job. And make no mistake about
    it, there are coldblooded killers out there, and we're doing everything
    we can to find them. Some people might not think they're out there.
    They're out there; they just are.

    [[Page 1459]]

        People say, ``Why? Why would someone want to attack America?'' And
    the answer is because we love freedom, that's why. They hate us because
    we value each life. Each life is important here in America; everybody
    counts. Ours is a country that recognizes in our great diversity that
    every single person has worth, and they can't stand that. They can't
    stand the thought of a nation which recognizes that people can worship
    an almighty God in different ways, that we welcome that type of
    diversity in America, that we love that freedom. They don't like free
    speech. They don't like a free press. They really don't like anything
    about us, it turns out. [Laughter] But they're killers. That's the only
    way I can tell you how I think about them. They're coldblooded killers,
    and therefore my most important job is to protect the homeland.
        And so when I looked at ways to protect the homeland, I realized
    when I looked at our homeland security there in Washington, we've got
    over 100 agencies that have something to do with protecting the
    homeland, and they're scattered everywhere. In order to set the number
    one priority of these agencies to be the homeland defense, I decided to
    create a Department of Homeland Security with a new Cabinet Secretary. I
    did that not to create the size of Government but to make the Government
    work better. I did it to be able to start changing cultures within
    agencies. I did it to make sure that agencies had that number one
    priority, so that I could report back to the American people that we're
    doing everything we possibly can do.
        And the House of Representatives passed a good piece of legislation,
    for which I'm grateful. The Senate is now wrestling with it, and I've
    got some problems with how they're wrestling with it. You see, I need to
    be--my Secretary needs to be able to move people to different agencies,
    if need be, to protect America. We need to put people in the right place
    at the right time.
        I'll give you an example. We've got to know who's coming in the
    country, what they're bringing in the country, and whether or not
    they're leaving the country. And yet, when you go down to the border,
    you'll realize they've got the INS, the Customs, the Border Patrol.
    We've got to be able to have the same strategy, the same culture. We
    don't need three competing agencies. We need to figure out how to bring
    people together to accomplish the objective, and that means we need some
    flexibility.
        Yet, when you look at the Senate bill, it sounds like they're more
    interested in special interests that have got lobbies in Washington, not
    the people. They're more interested in having--micromanaging the
    Department. They're more interested in protecting their turf than giving
    us the flexibility to do what it takes to protect the American people.
        But the best way to secure the homeland is to hunt the killers down
    one by one and bring them to justice. And so the first order of business
    for both Republicans and Democrats when they get back to Washington is
    to get the defense appropriations bill on my desk as soon as possible.
    They ought not to play politics with defense appropriations at this time
    in American history.
        I've asked for the largest increase in spending since Ronald Reagan
    was the President--defense spending--since Ronald Reagan was the
    President. I did that for two reasons: One, anytime we commit our
    military into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the best pay,
    the best possible equipment. And for those of you who have loved ones in
    the military, you thank them on behalf of a grateful nation and a
    Commander in Chief. And I thank you for the sacrifice of your family.
        And secondly, the defense increase sends a clear signal to friend
    and foe alike that when it comes to defending our freedom, we're in this
    for the long haul. You see, there's not a calendar on my desk in
    Washington that says, now time to quit. That's

    [[Page 1460]]

    not the way I think. I believe history has called us into action.
    History has put the spotlight right here on America. History will
    determine whether or not we understand the value of freedom, the
    necessity to keep a vast coalition together to make the world more
    peaceful. See, that's my goal. My goal is for there to be a peaceful
    world.
        There's going to be some steep hills to climb, because this is a
    different kind of war. It's not the kind of war that many of our
    veterans fought in. It's not the kind of war we can measure infantry
    brigades marching across plains, or squadrons of aircraft. We can't
    count the enemy's aircraft. We don't know how many foot soldiers they
    have. That's not the kind of war. Remember, these are the commanders who
    hide in caves and send their youngsters to their death. That's the kind
    of enemy we fight.
        So we've got to think differently, which means we've got to use all
    intelligence at our disposal. We've got to make sure that we continue to
    talk with our friends and allies, that when they know something, we need
    to know it, and when we have learned something, we will share it with
    them. It means we need diplomatic pressure. It means we've got to be
    bold enough to enforce the doctrines. When I say, ``If you harbor a
    terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists,'' I mean it. When I
    say, ``You're either with us, or you're with the others,'' I mean that
    too. And we're enforcing that doctrine. And the Taliban found out
    exactly what we mean.
        I want the youngsters here to understand the nature of your
    Government. We don't seek--we do not seek revenge here in America. We
    seek justice. We don't want to conquer anybody. That's not the way we
    think. We want to liberate people. See, we believe every life matters.
    It doesn't matter whether it's an American life; every life counts.
        And so when we liberated Afghanistan from the clutches of the
    barbaric regime called the Taliban, young girls--many young girls went
    to school for the first time. No, this great country, this great
    country--this great country has a vision of peace and justice and
    compassion for our fellow human beings.
        But we also understand that in order to achieve those goals we're
    going to have to do what it takes to make the world more secure. We're
    going to have to do everything we can to rid the world of terror. And
    we're making some progress; we're making some progress. We've--our
    coalition has arrested, hauled them in, however you want to call it, a
    couple of thousand of them. About that many weren't quite as lucky so
    far.
        We've got more work to do, though. We just do. Where they bunch up,
    we'll get them. We're making it clear that--to other nations, once we
    get them on the run, don't let them light in your part of the world. And
    so we spent time destroying training camps and disrupting infrastructure
    and disrupting communication capacities. We're getting them on the run.
    And you watch: Slowly but surely--slowly but surely--we will achieve the
    objective and bring them to justice.
        And as we do so, we can achieve some larger objectives. And by the
    way, there is another objective that we've just got to keep in mind for
    the sake of our children and their children. We cannot allow the world's
    worst leaders to harbor and develop the world's worst weapons, to hold
    those of us who love freedom hostage. We must not do that.
        No, the enemy hit us September 11th, nearly a year ago. And I just
    can't imagine what was going through their mind. They said, ``Well, this
    Nation is not going to do anything. They're so materialistic, so self-
    absorbed, and so selfish that they might file a lawsuit or two--
    [laughter]--but that's all they'll think about doing. They'll kind of
    crumble under their own greed and their own self-centered attitude about
    life.'' They didn't know who they were hitting, though, did they?

    [[Page 1461]]

        Out of the evil done to America is going to come some good, because
    we're a great nation. We can achieve peace--we can achieve peace--by
    being strong and diligent, reminding people of the great, God-given
    values that are important to all humanity. We can achieve peace, and
    will. We can achieve peace--you got to know how I think--I believe we
    can achieve peace in the Middle East by being strong and determined and
    to focus on what's best for people. We can achieve peace in South Asia.
    I know this seems like high hurdles, but we have a chance. Out of the
    evil done to America can come some incredible good around the world.
        And some incredible good can come here at home too. See, it's
    important to remember, in this land of plenty there are pockets of
    despair and hopelessness. There are people who hurt. There are
    youngsters who wonder or not--whether America is meant for them, whether
    or not the American Dream applies to them. And of course, it does.
        See, I believe when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. When one of us
    is diminished, all of us are affected. And therefore, we need to do
    something about it here in America. I believe the enemy has wakened a
    spirit in this country that understands, in order to fight evil, in
    order to fight evil--that in order to fight evil, you can do so by
    loving your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. And
    that's happening.
        It's important for our fellow citizens to recognize that if you were
    to mentor a child, you're a part of defining the true compassion of
    America. If you go into a shut-in's home and say, ``I love you. What can
    I do to help you,'' you're making a difference here in America. If you
    help feed somebody who's hungry, you're making a huge difference in
    showing the world the true character of this country.
        No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some good,
    because Americans understand that being a patriot is more--is more than
    just saying the Pledge Allegiance; being a patriot is serving something
    greater than yourself.
        We learned that lesson most profoundly on September the 11th, when
    citizens were flying across the country, or thought they were, on Flight
    93. They realized their airplane was going to be used as a weapon to
    take life, perhaps in the Nation's Capital. They were on the phones, and
    they told their loved ones they loved them. They used the word ``love.''
    They said a prayer--they said a prayer. One guy said, ``Let's roll.''
    They drove the plane in the ground to serve something greater than
    themselves in life.
        It is that spirit of serving something--it is that spirit that
    recognizes while one of us can't do everything, each of us can do
    something, one thing to help change America, one heart and one soul and
    one conscience at a time. No, out of the evil done to America is going
    to come great good, because this is the greatest nation on the face of
    the Earth, full of fantastic, compassionate, decent fellow citizens.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. in the Stockton Memorial Civic
    Auditorium. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Gary A. Podesto of
    Stockton; Alex G. Spanos, chairman of the board, San Diego Chargers; and
    President Vladimir Putin of Russia.