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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47245)	11/4/2004 1:28:47 PM
From: Thomas A Watson	Respond to of 50167

I'm trying remember where I first read about the idea of whenever a person speaks or writes, the are giving a window into their mind. It may have quote from something you posted long ago. I don't remember, But I know from reading several, several dozens I liked what I saw or read. In the public sphere today a few people seem always to write and tell un-varnished common sense and reason and truth. One person I find always speaking with honesty is Newt Gingrich. This is a realistic appraisal. 'Real change' is best medicine By Newt Gingrich Having lived through a fair number of negative campaigns, I feel comfortable in characterizing this past year as one of the most bitter campaigns in my lifetime. There will be, I believe, a sincere desire by many Americans to get beyond the election results and to have our country reunified. However, a significant number of voters who cast their ballots for the losing candidate will have difficulty coming to terms with the America that voted against their values. America is in the middle of a deep struggle over the nature of being American and the key elements of how we create and shape the future. To get beyond the division, Americans will have to decide which direction they will unite behind. If the next president truly wants to unify the country, he will have to play a leading role in settling that argument. This task cannot be accomplished from inside Washington. The lobbyist-bureaucrat-career politician conglomerate that dominates the city resists substantive change, instead choosing to fight over the margins of the current system that benefits them, even at the expense of a better future for the majority of Americans. The prospect for major change is further weakened by a news media capable of spending hundreds of hours on the Scott Peterson trial but virtually no time on transforming the health system (the largest single sector of our economy). Go beyond Washington These realities compel a president who wants to make real change to reach beyond Washington. He must engage in a continuous, focused effort to educate, inspire and organize the American people so that they will apply pressure on Congress. When the president reaches out to the American people on a big reform, he will inevitably create deep, bitter, determined and entrenched opposition. That opposition will understand why its future is being undermined and how much the president's proposal will damage its pocketbook, its ideology or its power base. Seeking to reform the litigation system driving doctors out of practice and forcing businesses to move jobs overseas will require a fight with the trial-lawyer lobby. Trying to create personal Social Security accounts so that every young person can have the power of compound interest will require taking on the liberals and the union leaders who oppose change. Wanting to appoint conservative judges who favor keeping "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance (a position 91% of Americans agree with) will require a fight with every liberal who will support an all-out filibuster to prevent the courts from moving to the right. An aggressive war on terror Continuing the fight against terrorism and emphasizing the dangers of weapons of mass destruction, even if it means tension with Iran, North Korea and Syria, will provoke the left wing of the Democratic Party, which is bitterly opposed to an aggressive American role in the world. Moving toward a balanced budget will cause ferocious fights with members of the House and Senate who have grown comfortable doling out pork and finding excuses for more and more spending. Strengthening our control of our borders (as serious Homeland Security requires) while at the same time creating a guest-worker program to make legal the economic realities of our time will spark a two-front battle. The Hispanic community and much of the left will oppose serious border controls while many on the right will oppose any guest-worker program. Insisting that public schools actually teach American history and American values will provoke a bitter fight with the left, no matter how popular those values are with the American people. Creating a public education system that produces students who can compete successfully with India and China in the 21st century will require taking on bureaucrats and the powerful teachers union. Efforts to shift to effectiveness and away from bureaucracy will be bitterly fought by those who fear change and reject accountability. A president who wants real change is going to face real fights. These conflicts are inevitable and reflective of the crossroads we have reached in our history and the decisions we must make. If the next president desires unity, he must commit himself to doing the hard work to win these fights. Unity will come only after the country decides which future it wants. Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House from 1995 to 1998 and is the author of the soon-to-be-released book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America. usatoday.com