Newt Gingrich in Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour

On Education: Constitutional amendment to protect right to school prayer

While the state or school must not dictate or prescribe any prayer, the right to voluntary prayer in schools should be protected, whether through a constitutional amendment or through legislation, or a combination of both. Indeed, Congressman Gingrich, in a speech just prior to becoming Speaker, endorsed both approaches: constitutional change and legislative trimming of the Court's jurisdiction over voluntary prayer in schools.

The idea that most religious people are "radical," as they are all too often portrayed in the media, is wrong. The overwhelming majority are mainstream, not extreme. They should not be treated as second-class citizens who may practice their faith in private but never in the public square. People of faith--of all faiths--have played important roles in the progress of the country and the development of our culture. Indeed, our culture is based on traditional American values, derived from our Judeo-Christian heritage, handed down to us, generation after generation.

Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.159-160 Apr 25, 1996

On Environment: 1995: Entrepreneurial scientific approach to environment

Our policy must protect both the environment and the citizen. We must recognize that economic growth is key to improving the environment. A speech at a 1995 National Policy Forum conference given by Speaker Newt Gingrich offers guidance. The Speaker called for "bold, new, entrepreneurial, scientifically based approaches to giving our children the best planet, the best country, the finest environment in the world in a way that makes sense and is economically affordable." Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p. 78 Apr 25, 1996

On Families & Children: No society can survive with 12-year-olds having babies

Think of the major cultural indicators: rising crime, teen pregnancy, millions of abortions, and low levels of achievement in schools across the nation. Many of these problems are 5 times worse than they were just a generation ago. Taken in total, those statistics threaten us all. As Speaker Gingrich noted in a 1994 speech on Capitol Hill:

"No society can survive, no civilization can survive with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS, & with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read."

More have noted that the decline of morality in our society has occurred since 1960, during the most aggressively antireligion activity by "reformers." It is troubling enough that all these indicators are so much worse than they were 35 years ago. What is even more troubling for those who love America is that society now is not different just in degree but almost in kind from the America of 1960.

Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.157-158 Apr 25, 1996

On Principles & Values: Leaders of the American Revolution were committed to God

As Speaker Newt Gingrich put it in his 1984 book, "Window of Opportunity: A Blueprint for the Future," our nation was founded on different principles:

"Despite attempts by today's anti-deists to abolish God and religion in public life, it is impossible to study the leaders of the American Revolution without being profoundly impressed by their commitment to God and to divining His will. Even our most radical founding father, Thomas Jefferson, wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Thus the very document by which we proclaimed our freedom from British hegemony asserted that this freedom was granted to us by God and not man."

The compact of which Gingrich wrote clearly assumed that the state would never tell us not to believe.

Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.156 Apr 25, 1996

The above quotations are from The Agenda for America A Republican Direction for the Future by Gov. Haley Barbour (R, MS). Click here for other excerpts from The Agenda for America A Republican Direction for the Future by Gov. Haley Barbour (R, MS). Click here for other excerpts by Newt Gingrich. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org! Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018