Newt!, by Dick Williams: on Education


Newt Gingrich: Voucherize inner-city programs from schools to groceries

In a speech in March, 1995, to business leaders in suburban Atlanta, Gingrich noted that the public school system in the District of Columbia spends $9,600 a year per pupil, nearly double the national average. He suggested that for such a high level of spending, each could have private tutors and personal transportation to school--plus lunch. He advocates vouchers to parents so they can choose the schools, public or private, their children will attend.

"I think we ought to voucherize every program in the inner city with cash payments to parents allowing them to decide where and what to purchase, be it an elementary school, health care, or groceries." Some in his audience thought he was exaggerating to make a point. In a later interview, he was willing to go even further. "Suppose you need to get children away from failed teachers. What if we called on the home-schoolers in Maryland and Virginia to come to D.C. for a massive home schooling program, teaching parents how to teach their children."

Source: Newt!, by Dick Williams, p. 51-52 Jun 1, 1995

Newt Gingrich: 1984: All-night Congressional vigil on school prayer vote

To support Reagan in his efforts to pass legislation permitting school prayer, Gingrich held an all-night vigil session on the subject. It got publicity for their cause, but Democrats still refused to allow votes on school prayer. Gingrich had seen Reagan's six initiatives for the 1984 Congress bottled up by Democrats. One of them was the equal access bill, a measure allowing religious and other groups from outside school systems to use high-school facilities. It was a fallback from school prayer.
Source: Newt!, by Dick Williams, p.105 Jun 1, 1995

Newt Gingrich: Voluntary school prayer creates bond between you and Creator

There's a reason why voluntary school prayer mattered, and the reason goes far from the concept of being endowed by our Creator and getting authority from a Supreme Being.

I had a very bright student in the class who said, "Do you really think voluntary school prayer matters that much? Why does it matter? You really think 30 seconds matter?" And I suddenly realized the reason it matters is it establishes at the beginning of the day the concept of a hierarchy. That the teacher is an intermediary between the Creator who is endowing is with our unalienable rights and us.

If there is a Creator and your rights are endowed by the Creator, then there is a direct bond between you and the Creator. Now this is not a violation of church and state. They're not teaching you to be a Catholic or to be Jewish or Muslim or Baptist. They're teaching you basic principles of morality and basic principles of relating to personal strength as an act of faith in a Creator.

Source: Newt!, by Dick Williams, p.172-173 Jun 1, 1995

Newt Gingrich: 1963 Supreme Court school prayer ban was just wrong

In Oct. 1994, Gingrich laid out the case for a [school prayer] constitutional amendment. He outlined a specific two-track strategy. The first: a bill to withdraw the issue of school prayer from court jurisdiction, a routine tactic in Congress. The second: a constitutional amendment to permit voluntary prayer.

In 1963, the Supreme Court banned organized school prayer. "Why was the 1963 decision wrong? It was wrong as law because it misread the Constitution. I'm not a lawyer, but I am a historian. As an historian, I will just tell you flatly the meaning of the Constitution was simple. It was not to drive religion out of public life. It was to ensure that there would be no organized religion subsidized directly by the state and imposed on others. They're just wrong & they ought to say that."

The Oct. 1994 lecture on school prayer is one of Gingrich's most powerful speeches. I suspect most listeners heard it as a cry of faith, in God, and in a Republic built on the idea of God

Source: Newt!, by Dick Williams, p.180-181 Jun 1, 1995

  • The above quotations are from Newt! Leader of the Second American Revolution, by Dick Williams.
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