MR.
KASICH: First of all, I'm Johnny-come-lately to this. I have been kind
of an admirer of Dan Coats from the time I arrived in the House in 1983.
I wish everybody could get to know him the way I know him. I don't think
there is a guy with greater integrity and greater decency in the entire
Congress, in the entire city. If the American people knew about Dan Coats
their view of government and their view of public servants would go up
immeasurably.
This is his idea along with Bob Woodson and a lot of the people who first
started dreaming about this. I just kind of lucked into this. I'm not
an equal partner with Dan Coats in this, and I'm just glad to be attached
to it, where we got a chance to really do something that we think will
really matter for people.
He is the leader and he is such a wonderful human being, please, give
him a round of applause to thank him for his work.
[Applause.]
MR. KASICH: John Fund, I was almost in shock as I sat and listened to
the debate about how we keep liberals from being empowered by serving
poor people. It almost condemned us to those that say, it begged the question
of those who say conservatives don't care about the poor. Did you listen
to Woodson? Woodson can't sit in his seat because he is a conservative
who spends his every minute of his day when he's working, living and breathing
trying to help people who need help. And the last time I listened to him
he was a right-winger.
[Laughter.]
MR. KASICH: The fact is that I think those folks who are engaged in trying
to serve the poor, the culture of that and the makeup of those groups
has significantly changed and I'm thrilled about it because conservatives
have now realized that helping your fellow man and woman to have opportunity
and to save their lives is real conservatism. And, so, the nature, the
makeup of those who deliver care to the poor is embraced by liberals and
conservatives alike.
I happen to be a Christian. None of the great religions in history ever
said that you got to have a certain political philosophy to get involved.
In fact, every one of the great religions of the world say: all of you
are not practicing religion if you don't help those who have less than
what you have. It is not a monopoly of liberalism and, so, I reject the
notion that conservatives, that extreme conservatives don't love their
fellow man and don't want to get right in there, right in the trenches
to try to help people.
Follow Arianna for a day. Go and see where she goes. Visit the shelters
she visits. I don't think you've ever been called a liberal, Arianna.
Well, maybe by that cohort of yours who is on Politically Incorrect
every once in a while, Al Franken, just for fun. But the fact is this
is an industry that is robust with conservatives. And, frankly, I think
we like to work right in the trenches with anybody that wants to help.
Secondly, this notion that somehow people in this country don't get to
the right conclusion at the end of the day is a condemnation of our system
of government, our Judeo-Christian ethic, and the whole fundamental way
in which America works. I mean to not believe that people in America when
empowered and matched with values will not come to the right conclusion
is such a fundamental condemnation of the spirit and character of America
I reject it entirely.
Dan Coats also said something interesting. The mechanical calculation
of who's on welfare and who is not is not the measure of success. I used
to have a 100 people but now when I add up the numbers, I have 90. The
question is what happened to the 10? It's not successful if the 10 aren't
going to end up productive.
I mean how many people are on the rolls is an indication of how successful
our welfare reform is. But what I want to know is: Are they nurturing
families? Are they supporting themselves? Are they helping others around
them? You heard Avis this morning, this lady is talking about giving back,
that's success.
It's only partially success she's not on welfare but Lou's definition
of success for Avis is not whether she's on the rolls or not, it's what's
happening in her life. And we get back to the great American ethic. You
know what it is? It is a sin not to help people who need help.
It is equally a sin to help people who need to learn how to help themselves.
And I would suggest to you that Americans do not begrudge, in fact, they
are the first ones to step up to the window and help those who can't help
themselves without question.
What has eroded welfare in this country is the notion and the proper notion
that people have gamed the system. That the lady is at the Starbucks Coffee
counter at the airport parking her car out in a lot where it's closer
to Mars to the airport than it is from that lot, she gets up at 5 o'clock
in the morning, takes her kids to day care, doesn't have a husband because
he ran out on her and she's pouring coffee in there making barely above
minimum wage and what we're going to say to her is we're going to take
from you to give to somebody who doesn't want to work? That's immoral.
And that's what Americans are against, not the notion of helping those
who really need help.
And my sense is there is a sense of decay in our country. And there is
a sense of hopelessness. Why vote? Why get involved? What difference does
it make? I can't affect it anyway. A sense almost of a loss of control
in our country, there's nothing I can do about it. So, what do we do?
We resort to security systems, gated communities, let me try to build
a wall up between them and us. Can't build a wall high enough.
And I think what Americans are doing, what Bob Woodson and many of the
people, Lou and his organization and they are countless, countless organizations,
they are pioneers trying to reclaim America. And they're trying to say
that if I just reclaim this block, what a success.
If I just reclaim one person, what a success. C.S. Lewis wrote that you
can never, no, it wasn't C.S. Lewis. It was that shoe salesman from Boston,
D.L. Moody, who wrote, you can never understand the current that you release
when you save one soul. Think about the current that you release when
you save one life?
And frankly, folks, that's what the charitable tax credit is about. It
is about saying, first of all, to the public we want your money, we want
you, but it's like Marvin Olasky said, are you in the trenches?
It's not enough to give your money, you've got to get in the trenches.
I mean our hope under the charitable tax credit is not just to get people
to give their money, it's to also have them go down and visit these organizations
and say, what can I do to help, when they believe that going there will
make a difference.
When you're at the end of the bench and you don't think you're going to
get in the game, you don't practice as hard as when you know you might
be called in, in the next minute. And what the charitable tax credit does
is to send a signal to Americans that you matter, you count, you can make
a difference. You can give back. You can improve.
That's what it's all about. And, so, first of all, we're trying to say
to the public no, it does matter what you think, it does matter what you
do. You, in fact, can make a difference and we're asking you to do it
and I will tell you these local community organizations that serve the
poor will devise the most creative, unbelievable ways to communicate with
people who's money they want, they will devise the most unbelievable aggressive,
creative, imaginative, it'll be terrific. And if we can actually have
some liberals in those shelters, that'll even be better, because sometimes
they are a little more creative than we are. I like working with them
from time to time. They're creative.
It also does one other thing. Have you ever been in these shelters? These
people who work in these shelters, who work delivering services to the
poor, did you ever think about them working in a homeless shelter? Lou,
is this you holding this little girl here?
MR. NANNI: Yes.
MR. KASICH: This is hard work. This is the stuff of which saints are made.
Modern day saints. These people are out there struggling every day and
they're beating their head against a wall trying to serve their fellow
man. They don't know if they're successful or not. It's tough, it's frustrating,
it's difficult. And what this charitable tax credit says to the people
who are doing this is, it's like giving them a shot of adrenalin. It's
like putting a bucket of water on a flower that's been out in the desert,
it'll bloom, it'll give people a reason to have hope and be energized
and think that the rest of the society is saying, thank you.
You can never underestimate that and does it help the client? Well, the
bottom line, Dan said it right, they all said it, faith and love and one-on-one.
You got the Huckleberry House in Columbus, Ohio, where they love the kids
that come in the door. Without love you can't get there. And they don't
close down at 5 o'clock. They don't close at 5 o'clock and they all go
home and you can't get something done at a quarter to 5. And I'm not going
to condemn the welfare efforts of people all across this country in government,
but they're as frustrated as we are about the fact that they've not been
set free. They'd like to be deregulated more than anybody else. It helps
the client.
But you know what else it does? It helps us to reclaim our country. It
helps us to reclaim our community and it says to us, you don't have to
build a gate, you don't have to have all the security systems, it helps
us to reach out and knit our communities together. The strength of America
is a knitted, strong community. That's what it is and that's what the
charitable tax credit does.
It says we can control what happens where we live and we can make it better.
Change.
I'm just going to tell you it's very hard to pass this bill. Because people's
lives withering away, while it's a crisis for those who are there, it's
not always a crisis for those who are not there. And it is very difficult
to get big change when you lack a crisis. Very difficult.
To those who were the intellectual elites, you better examine where you
are and what your motives are. Give people a chance. Don't think you got
all the answers. Let people have a chance. You know it's not working.
You know the sense of decay is there. Give Americans a chance.
And, secondly, John, we're not throwing the baby out with the bathwater,
this is an experimental program. It's experimental. People don't give,
then it doesn't work.
A friend of mine, a minister at home, I said, can you do welfare for the
poor? He said, can't do it, too hard. I said, well, what about over time?
Maybe over time, John. This is a chance to try something, to try a new
approach.
And I think we're going to get there, Dan. I don't know if we'll be here
when it finally gets done. We're going to make a good run at this. I believe
Newt Gingrich is interested in this kind of an effort working. And I'm
going to work day and night. I think it is important. I know everybody
thinks the only thing I live and breathe is balancing the budget. I want
to balance the budget to save families and this is a way of reclaiming
our communities, breathing life and confidence into Americans and proving
to these intellectuals that, in fact, people can get it right. So, we
got to go for this.
We go for it and see if it works. We go for it, for well, I guess, 1,000
different reasons. If you don't participate in the selling of this at
the grassroots community level, you folks out there listening to this
program, if you are a grassroots community activist go nuts for a while
to get this done. Visit the member of Congress that represents you bug
them, drive them crazy because it will mean you will do your job better.
You will be more effective and you will have better results and Coats
and I are committed to it.
Dan Coats is, you could not have a better guy. I'm just glad to be, in
any way shape or form, associated with him. So, at the end of the day,
folks, let's leave this room committed to a better America but more important
than this concept of a better America, it's a better community where we
live. Because better communities where we live is what makes a great America.
Thank you.
[Applause.]
