Newt Gingrich in To Renew America

On Principles & Values: Six challenges for a prosperous, free, & safe America

We must reassert and renew American civilization. Until we re-establish a legitimate moral-cultural standard, our civilization is at risk.
We must accelerate America’s entry into the Third Wave Information Age. Second only to renewing our civilization is making the intellectual investment necessary to understand these changes and harness them to our lasting advantage.
We must rethink our competition in the world market. We want our labor to add the highest value so that we can be the most effective competitor on earth.
We must replace the welfare state with an opportunity society.
We must replace our centralized, micro-managed, Washington-based bureaucracy with a dramatically decentralized system more appropriate to a continent-wide country.
We musty be honest about the cost of government programs and balance the federal budget.

Source: To Renew America, p. 6-9 Jul 2, 1995

On Principles & Values: Culture of irresponsibility began in 1965

We must reassert and renew American civilization. From the arrival of English-speaking colonists in 1607 until 1965, there was one continuous civilization built around a set of commonly accepted legal and cultural principles. From the Jamestown colony and the Pilgrims, through de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, up to Norman Rockwell’s paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, there was a clear sense of what it meant to be an American. Our civilization is based on a spiritual and moral dimension. It emphasizes personal responsibility as much as individual rights. Since 1965, however, there has been a calculated effort by cultural elites to discredit this civilization and replace it with a culture of irresponsibility that is incompatible with American freedoms as we have known them. Our first task is to return to teaching Americans about America and teaching immigrants how to become Americans. Until we re-establish a legitimate moral-cultural standard, our civilization is at risk. Source: To Renew America, p. 7 Jul 2, 1995

On Principles & Values: Our civilization is a shared opportunity to pursue happiness

The common understanding we share about who we are and how we came to be
The ethic of individual responsibility
The spirit of entrepreneurial free enterprise
The spirit of invention and discovery
Pragmatism and the concern for craft and excellence.

We stand on the shoulders of Western European civilization, but we are far more futuristic, more populist, and more inclusive. American civilization is not merely a subset of Western Europe’s. We have drawn people and cultures from across the planet and integrated them into an extraordinary shared opportunity to pursue happiness. Source: To Renew America, p. 33-34 Jul 2, 1995

On Government Reform: Class mobility is key part of America’s genius

Part of the American genius has been that, at every level of society, people can improve their own lot. We have no caste system, no class requirements, no regulated professions, no barriers to entry. Despite the best efforts of modern elites to discount upward mobility and to argue that America is no different than Europe of other class-dominated cultures, the fact remains that we are an extraordinarily fluid society. In France, for example, almost all important government positions are held by graduates of the Ecole National d’Administration, an elite college that produces only a few graduates each year. In this country, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government might aspire to a similar status. But our society is so fluid and democratic that seven of our last ten Presidents did not attend elite colleges. Even a professor from a small college in Georgia can aspire to the highest levels of government. Source: To Renew America, p. 41 Jul 2, 1995

On Budget & Economy: Focus on customers; use employee knowledge

[One of the] basic principles that I believe form the heart of our civilization [is] pragmatism and the concern for craft & excellence, as expressed most recently in the teachings of Edward Deming.

The customer should be the focus of any business.
Systems, rather than individuals, should be the focus of improving production.
There has to be a theory or hypothesis before each change or action. Prediction is the key to management.
Every employee can be a key player in improving a process or product. Employees should be treated as knowledgeable contributors to their activities.

Source: To Renew America, p. 44-49 Jul 2, 1995

On Foreign Policy: Lead the world into Third Wave Information Age

In Alvin & Heidi Toffler’s first bestseller, Future Shock, [they expressed the] view-with which I agree-the transformation we are experiencing is so large and historic that it can be compared with only two other great eras of human history-the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.

The Agricultural Revolution-the “First Wave”-occurred when hunting-and-gathering tribes first invented agriculture. Then, a second wave of change occurred in the 18th century with the development of power-driven industry.

Now we are entering a third great era of change, the transformation to the Information Age. There will be enormous advantages for Americans if we lead the world in the transition to the Third Wave Information Age. Just as Britain profited enormously by leading the world into the industrial era, so the US can profit enormously by being the leader in the development of the new goods, services, systems, and standards associated with a technological revolution of this scale.

Source: To Renew America, p. 52-58 Jul 2, 1995

On Welfare & Poverty: Eight steps to improve opportunity for poor

Shifting from caretaking to caring: Caretaking’s most important concern is to make the provider feel good, while caring’s first concern is the outcome for the person being helped.
Volunteerism and spiritual renewal: more volunteers could get to know individuals and their families, [and ] emphasize spiritual salvation.
Reasserting the values of American civilization
Emphasizing family and work.
Creating tax incentives for work, investment, and entrepreneurship.
Re-establishing savings and property ownership.
Learning as the focus of education.
Protection against violence and drugs.

Source: To Renew America, p. 73ff Jul 2, 1995

On Civil Rights: Shocked by legal segregation in 1960s Georgia

Besides being overwhelmingly Democratic and corrupt, the Georgia I entered in the 1960s was bitterly segregationist. It always amuses me when reporters and columnists assume I must be a traditional southern conservative with, they hint, racist and redneck roots. As an army brat, my first experience of legal segregation was shocking. In Columbus, schools, bathrooms, and water fountains were all segregated. In 1962 I found myself in my first political argument about race, listening to a yellow-dog Democrat from Cairo (deep in south Georgia) patiently explain how blacks were not fully human and that any effort to integrate was biologically doomed to failed.

Segregation had been erected by the southern Democratic Party to give power to white elites by splitting poor people of both races. Segregation was bitterly defended by southern white Democrats while being challenged by a coalition of northern Democrats and Republicans.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 21-22 Jul 2, 1996

On Principles & Values: We must choose between a future of freedom or decline

These are the best of times and the worst of times, as Charles Dickens wrote. On the one hand, America is the leading country on the planet, with the largest economy and providing the opportunity to pursue happiness. On the other hand, our civilization is decaying, with an underclass of poverty and violence growing in our midst and an economy hard pressed to compete.

It is impossible to know which of these tendencies--our great strengths or our great weaknesses--will prevail.

The choice between these two futures is stark and decisive. Either we will pull ourselves together for the effort or we will continue to decay. There is virtually no middle ground. An America that arouses itself to replace the culture of poverty and violence and insists that its children learn the core values of American civilization is an America that will find each challenge more invigorating than the last. But an America that remains passive and apathetic, divided and confused will be on the road to decline.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 3-5 Jul 2, 1996

On Corporations: Learn from multinationals about global competitiveness

We are going to have to rethink our entire approach to being competitive in the world market. If we are serious about American success, we must begin by learning from our major multinational corporations under what circumstances they would create their next thousand high-value-added jobs in the US. How do we need to change taxes, litigation, and regulations to make America a more desirable place to build the next factory, open the next laboratory, create the next design center? What changes in the education system are needed so young Americans can be more productive than their competitors and our companies can afford to provide sophisticated jobs here? Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 65 Jul 2, 1996

On Free Trade: Ask major exporters what they need to compete globally

We need to approach our major exporters and ask what help they need to compete in the world market. To what extent does the American tax code undermine American sales overseas? To what extent does our government need to be tougher in compelling our trading partners to live up to their agreements?

We also need to rethink America as a job and foreign exchange producer. Historically when we have thought of travel and tourism we have thought of Americans going overseas. Yet the US is a terrific travel destination. We want to increase dramatically the number of visitors coming to the US to spend their currency.

Travel and tourism is the second largest industry in the world yet we still undervalue its potential as a job creator here in the US.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 65 Jul 2, 1996

On Technology: Develop US lead in all information-age industries

We must aggressively explore the potential for massive job creation through Third Wave Information Age technologies. The American motion picture industry, with its use of new technologies and entrepreneurial creativity, is unsurpassed as a world competitor. In some countries 80% of all motion picture dollars go to American products. In computer software we have a similarly huge lead over our competitors. In computer chips we have regained the lead from Japan and seem to be pulling ahead. If we develop the same relative lead in biotechnology and health care we will see a massive influx of foreign exchange earnings. Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 66 Jul 2, 1996

On Welfare & Poverty: Replace "welfare state" with "opportunity society"

The greatest moral imperative we face is replacing the welfare state with an opportunity society. For every day that we allow the current conditions to continue, we are condemning the poor--and particularly poor children--to being deprived of their basic rights as Americans. The welfare state reduces the poor from citizens to clients. It breaks up families, minimizes work incentives, blocks people from saving and acquiring property, and overshadows dreams of a promised future with a present despair born of poverty, violence, and hopelessness.

The defenders of the status quo should be ashamed of themselves. The current system has trapped and ruined a whole generation while claiming to be compassionate. The burden of proof is not on the people who want to change welfare. It is on those who would defend a system that has clearly failed at incalculable human cost.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 71-72 Jul 2, 1996

On Families & Children: Re-establish shame to enforce family values and behavior

In March 1995 I asserted that the time had come to reestablish shame as a means of enforcing proper behavior. It is shameful to be a public drunk at 3 in the afternoon and we ought to say so. It is shameful for males to have children they refuse to support and we ought to say so.

It is shameful for radio stations to play songs that advocate mutilating and raping women. Government can't and shouldn't censor it, but decent advertisers could announce they will boycott any radio station that plays that kind of music. Within weeks these brutal, barbaric songs would be off the air.

Cultural signals are a powerful and legitimate means of enforcing proper behavior. Our culture should be sending over and over the message that young people should abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage, that work is a part of life, and that any male who does not take care of his children is a bum and deserves no respect.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 77-78 Jul 2, 1996

On Welfare & Poverty: Enterprise zones let poor create their own jobs

Almost every public housing project in the US has an underground economy of people working for barter without securing government licenses or paying taxes. Jack Kemp has been the leading advocate of "enterprise zones" that would encourage job creation within the legal system. Kemp has long proposed massive tax and regulatory breaks for anyone who would invest in poor neighborhoods. Since these neighborhoods pay almost no taxes anyway and since they drain the pubic treasury through welfare payments, the cost of giving them tax breaks would be relatively small. If new investment helped poor people make the long-term transition from welfare to productive work, these enterprise zones would more than pay for themselves.

With Kemp's leadership, we are now working to apply this model in Washington, DC. We hope to have a full-blown experiment by 1996.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 79-80 Jul 2, 1996

On Education: Adopt vouchers to break unionized monopoly of inner city

The greatest single misallocation of taxpayers' money has been the unionized monopolies of inner-city education. It is astonishing how much is spent per child on these cumbersome, red-tape-ridden bureaucracies--and how little ever gets to the individual child.

The Wisconsin legislature adopted a voucher system that allows inner-city children to attend private schools at state expense. The Wisconsin teachers' union and the traditional liberals fought bitterly, but Republicans led a broad bipartisan coalition that seeks to break the public-school monopoly and find new ways to educate poor children.

From home schooling to vouchers, from a drastic overhaul of the present system to allowing private companies to take over whole school distracts-- we simply have to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that poor children can participate in the Information Age. There is no other strategy that will give them a full opportunity to pursue happiness.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 82-83 Jul 2, 1996

On Budget & Economy: Balancing budget is morally AND financially right

There are three essential reasons to balance the federal budget. First, it is morally the right thing to do. Second, it is financially the right thing to do. Third, each of us has a personal stake in it. In fact, your personal stake is probably a lot bigger than you realize.

Let me start with the morality of balancing the budget. Historically, it has always been self-evident in America that each generation had the obligation to live within its means. A major war was a legitimate excuse for massive borrowing. But in peacetime, there has been a general rule that each generation would live within its means. As a result, our children would not be stuck with the task of paying off someone else's debt.

The principle was that we would pay off the mortgage and leave the farm to our children. Only in the last generation has this bias toward the future been reversed. Now we are borrowing against the farm to pay today's living expenses and leaving our children to pay off that debt.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 87-88 Jul 2, 1996

On Government Reform: Big Government is a 20th century idea; let it die

We may well be nearing the end of the century of big government. It is hard for those who grew up with today's bureaucratic, centralized systems to realize that only a century ago our current scale of government would have been rejected as unimaginable by both Britain and America.

World War II was the ultimate creator of the large state in America. The success of our temporary effort to mobilize an entire free people intoxicated a number of liberal intellectuals. Many young people who were at the center of the war effort could never distinguish between the temporary subordination of a free people to a great national cause and the inevitable decay and dishonesty that would come if wartime controls were transmuted into a permanent peacetime system.

The Cold War gave big government a good excuse to hang on for yet another generation. But the case against the centralized state began to make headway.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.101-102 Jul 2, 1996

On Government Reform: Devolve power first to states, then to cities & families

The last 60 years has seen so much centralization in Washington that at this point the best we can do is to start by shifting power back to the state capitals. Power in 50 different cities is better than power centralized in one city.

Yet our ultimate goal is to move power even beyond the state capitals. However, much as I sympathize with both state and local governments, what we really want to do is to devolve power all the way out of government and back to working American families. We want to leave choices and resources in the hands of individuals and let them decide if they prefer government, the profit-making sector, the nonprofit sector, or even no solution at all to their problems.

Republicans envision a decentralized America in which responsibility is returned to the individual. We believe in volunteerism and local leadership. We believe that a country with 10 million local volunteer leaders is stronger than one with a thousand brilliant national leaders.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.104-106 Jul 2, 1996

On Families & Children: Child tax credit favors family budget over federal budget

Ironically, the most controversial part of the tax bill became the $500 per child tax credit. For parents with 3 children and an income of $40,000 a year, it would mean a $1500 tax break.

I always thought the issue was very simple. We believe that if you have children and earn money, you ought to have first claim on your money to care for your own children. Our liberal friends believe the bureaucrats deserve the money more than the parents.

The great surprise was that the income level at which the child tax credit would be cut off became a big issue. Originally, we had no limit. However, a number of members felt uncomfortable about giving the credit to the very wealthy, and we compromised at $200,000 in joint income. Frankly, setting any limit was probably an error. There is a class warfare mentality that infects the Washington press corps and sets the tone of much of the debate in Washington.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.134-135 Jul 2, 1996

On Civil Rights: Individual rights trump group rights

One of the great debates of the near future will be individual versus group rights. It is a debate that must end decisively in favor of the individual.

If our rights are inalienable, they clearly belong to us as individuals. They cannot be taken away by the government because our Creator outranks the government. Similarly, neither can they be taken away by a group.

The very concept of group rights contradicts the nature of America. America is about the future, about "the pursuit of happiness," while group rights are about the past. America asks who you want to be. Group rights ask who your grandparents were.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.153 Jul 2, 1996

On Health Care: Decentralizing power will reduce health costs

We stand on the edge of three revolutions in health care. Their combined effect will lower costs, increase quality, and extend opportunities to virtually all Americans. These three revolutions are:

A restricting of the insurance system to increase flexibility and create new incentives for lower cost care.
A shift in responsibility and information away from professional guilds and public bureaucracies and toward the individual consumer-citizen.
An entrepreneurial and scientific revolution that will lower health costs for more and more patients.

Today's insurance industry and health care delivery system are large centers of power that charge high costs to individuals without leaving them much alternative. Our job should be to allow innovation and the free market to bring costs down while increasing choice and quality. Just as we tell Yeltsin and the Russians to dismantle their centralized command bureaucracies, so we should tell ourselves the same thing. Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.167-168 Jul 2, 1996

On Drugs: No sympathy for addicts; no legalization

A considerable number of sophisticated people argue for the legalization of drugs. They are exhausted by the seemingly futile struggle to deal with drug dealers and their violence.

I take the opposite view. I do not believe that a drug addict passively waiting for the next fix is capable of being a free citizen. I do not believe an American that accepts widespread drug use is going to retain the spirit of optimistic individualism that has been our hallmark. Massive drug use may be acceptable in a more passive society, but it is antithetical to a free nation of self-reliant individuals.

The epidemic of poverty, dysfunction, and violence brought on by the drug trade is so much a threat to our children and our society that I believe we should design a thorough effort to destroy it.

We should have no sympathy for addicts and every sympathy for recovering addicts. We should work with every recovery program to develop low-cost detoxification programs.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.178-179 Jul 2, 1996

On Homeland Security: Downsize the Pentagon to a triangle; decentralize decisions

I am a hawk but a cheap hawk. I don't think we ought to salute waste just because it is in uniform. I also don't think the Pentagon should be any more exempt from reengineering, downsizing, and rethinking than any other part of the federal government.

Conservatives have a particular responsibility in thinking about reorganizing the Pentagon. We complained for a generation about McNamara's bureaucracy and its unnecessary layers of civilian micromanagement. Now is the time to flatter the organizational chart and decentralize minor decision making. Our goal should be to downsize the Pentagon until it seems to be at most a triangle.

It is important to remember that the ultimate purpose of reforming the Pentagon is not merely to save money. The real purpose is to force a process of systematic reform that will enable us to defend America and our allies better and with lower risks.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.184-185 Jul 2, 1996

On Homeland Security: Peace through strength, to lead the world

The simple fact is that with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet empire, the need for American leadership has become greater. With the decentralization of power away from Moscow and the dramatic explosion of communications, markets and weapons inherent in the Third Wave Information Age, the burden on America has grown greater. Our generation must rise to the challenge as our children will live in a violent and war-torn world.

The Romans had a simple rule: if you want peace, prepare for war. George Washington echoed the same theme as the result of his lifetime struggle for the cause of freedom. Peace through strength will work. Peach thorough weakness is impossible. Frugal yes, foolish no--those should be our watchwords.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.187 Jul 2, 1996

On Environment: Minimize human impact; establish more parks

The conservation movement was begun by Republicans. Gifford Pinchot, who personified the fight for national forests, was the progressive ally of Theodore Roosevelt. After 25 years of experience, we are now at a point where we can look back at our effort, review what worked and what failed.

For me, any such effort begins with the premise that man dominates the planet and that we have an absolute obligation to minimize damage to the natural world. I am not a preservationist. It is impossible for us to be a dynamic species and still act as if we don't exist. We can't help having an impact on the environment.

We have three basic motivations: aesthetics, public health, and new knowledge. Aesthetically, our lives are much richer if we cultivate and maintain the Earth's diversity. Our quality of life will be much better if we maintain wilderness areas, national parks, nature preserves, migratory bird paths, and similar facilities.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.194-196 Jul 2, 1996

On Gun Control: Gun rights to opposing oppression; not for hunting

The 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with deer or duck hunting. It has nothing to do with target practice or owning collector's weapons. The 2nd Amendment is a political right written for the purpose of protecting individual citizens from their own government. The lesson of the English Civil War and the American Revolution was that political freedom is ultimately based on the courage and preparedness of those who remain free.

The history of the last quarter-century has been a brutal reminder of the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. Poland and Hungary were disarmed, and when their citizens tried to rebel, they had no weapons with which to defend their country or their freedom. Afghanistan was an intensely armed country, on the other hand, and the Soviets found it impossible to break their spirit of freedom.

Those who believe in the right to bear arms felt more than vindicated by the remarkably different results in the struggle for freedom between armed and unarmed populations.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.202 Jul 2, 1996

On Crime: Prisoners should work and study; not have gyms

We should establish that prisoners should work 48 hours a week and study 12 hours a week. Numerous people in poor neighborhoods say that the young men in their areas refer to prison as "vacation time." They eat better, bulk up.

Prison in its current form is more an inconvenience than a deterrent. We should eliminate all weight and muscle-building rooms and break down the cult of macho behavior in prison. Prisoners should be learning job skills and doing penance. We must reclaim the prisons just as we must reclaim the streets.

They key is to focus our attention on violent people and not be drawn off into emotionally satisfying detours that harass the honest citizen but have no impact on crime.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.205 Jul 2, 1996

On Tax Reform: Taxes are too complicated and IRS is too intimidating

I began asking similar questions week after week. The common thread seems to be resentment at the ever-growing complexity of the tax code and its record keeping requirements combined with a sense of rage at the IRS's attitude. The tax code frightens people because they are never truly sure if they have done what they are supposed to do. It now requires a sophisticated level of knowledge just to do the paperwork in order to have your accountant do your taxes. Only the very wealthy can afford bookkeepers to turn records over to the accountant--and of course the wealthy are now so put off by the liberal Democrats' class-warfare attitudes that they are angry about what they pay even if they are less bothered by the paperwork.

Middle-class folks who resent the paperwork & the uncertainty find themselves enraged by the attitude of the IRS. My wife does our taxes. She says the IRS makes unreasonable demands, takes an unreasonable attitude, and has unreasonable power over individual citizens.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.214-215 Jul 2, 1996

On Education: End college tenure; focus on students over teachers

Higher education in this country is out of control. First, campuses are run for the benefit of the faculty, not the students. Second, tenured faculty have become increasingly out of touch with the rest of America, rejecting the culture of the people who pay their salaries. Third, there is an acceptance of higher costs without effective management.

Most tenured positions in higher education are now held by passionate advocates of the anti-Vietnam War movement. These former radicals have now become the comfortable, all-purpose "deconstructionists" of American culture.

If the average taxpayer had a list of the 10 weirdest courses their tax money was funding at their state university, they would ask for a refund. It's not just that their money is being wasted. It is being used to subsidize bizarre and destructive versions of reality.

College faculties are not Supreme Court justices. They are simply employees, and they should be subject to the same economic pressures as everyone else.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.219-221 Jul 2, 1996

On Government Reform: Monthly "Corrections Day" to remove destructive rules

Corrections Day is a brand-new concept that is going to have a dramatic effect on the way government does business in Washington. Corrections Day will be held one day a month. On that day, the House will see that particularly destructive or absurdly expensive bureaucratic rules and regulations are over-turned by narrowly drafted actions.

For my entire life, I've been listening to politicians explain to audiences that, although they can understand people's frustrations, they really have very little control over the bureaucracy. Again and again people go to their elected representative and bring some particularly harmful, arrogant, or wasteful behavior to their attention only to get sympathy--but no action.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.223-226 Jul 2, 1996

On Government Reform: 12-year term limits ok; 6-year limits empower bureaucrats

The next step for the US is to pass 12-year term limits for both the House and the Senate. I am very comfortable with 12-year limits because I believe it would allow for a wider range of experienced people in the Congress. If you knew that you would no longer have to wait in line for years until you moved up the ladder by seniority, I believe a number of people who have already had successful careers in other areas would be attracted to Washington to spend a few years legislating.

Six-year term limits for the House of Representatives is popular, but frankly I do not believe that gives members enough time to learn the legislative leadership process. After all, a 6-year term limit would require leaders to emerge with only one or at most terms 2 terms (and they would then serve for only one more.) I believe the 6-year term limit would guarantee an ignorant legislative branch and an enormous transfer of power to professional staffs, bureaucracies, and lobbyists.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.239-240 Jul 2, 1996

The above quotations are from To Renew America, by Newt Gingrich. Click here for other excerpts from To Renew America, by Newt Gingrich. Click here for other excerpts by Newt Gingrich. Click here for a profile of Newt Gingrich.
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