“We stand for freedom”
Speech by Joel B. Pollak
Republican Candidate for Congress
9th District of Illinois
Cook County GOP Convention
Rosemont, IL
September 25, 2009
On this day in 1789, Congress passed the Bill of Rights. The original Constitution did not include many of the liberties we cherish.
It was those ten Amendments, those changes, that allowed our Constitution to be ratified. And so from the beginning, change has been part of America.
But those first changes limited government and expanded freedom. Today’s changes are limiting freedom and expanding government.
We are gathered today from across the great city of Chicago and its suburbs because we believe in that Bill of Rights. We are here to redeem the promise of the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
We are here to fulfill that duty. To stand up for the power of the people.
I was born in South Africa, a country that did not know freedom, where people were denied their rights because of color. We immigrated when I was eight weeks old. I became a citizen when I was ten.
I grew up in Skokie, with every opportunity. I went to Solomon Schechter Day School, which nurtured me in my faith. I went to Niles North, one of the best public schools in America. I went on to Harvard.
In college, I thought of myself as a Democrat. I believed that only government could help the poor and the needy. It was only when I traveled back to South Africa as a Rotary scholar, that I witnessed how much damage big government can do.
I saw people die of AIDS because the government denied them medicine. I taught black teenagers whose schools were made worse, not better, by national control. I met people who had struggled their whole lives for democracy, and who had lost faith in that democracy because of corruption.
I learned how fragile freedom is, and how important America is as a champion of that freedom. When I came home and enrolled at Harvard Law School, I began to realize that many of my fellow Democrats did not want to defend that freedom.
And so I became a Republican.
When Congressman Barney Frank came to Harvard, I asked him a question that I had not heard anyone in Washington ask. I asked: “How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?” He lost his temper. But I stood my ground.
The next day I began receiving hundreds of emails and letters—even from Democrats. I realized then that most Americans are tired of being bullied by the politicians we elect.
This summer, I traveled all over the United States on my book tour. Everywhere I went, I met Republicans and Democrats who are sick of being demonized simply for speaking their minds. We deserve better!
The challenges America faces today are severe, and urgent. But Congress is making them worse, not better. The radical left is in charge. And its answer to every problem is the same: more control, higher taxes, and less freedom.
The Democrats in Congress have created the largest budget deficit in American history. This year alone, they will add $5,200 of debt for every man, woman and child. That’s a bill my generation will have to pay.
The House passed a cap-and-trade bill that will cost each family in America $1,761 per year. I have a degree in environmental science, and I can tell you that bill will hurt our planet by driving American industry to high pollution countries.
Now they want to force a health care takeover that will raise insurance premiums by $1,200 annually. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that if we protest, peacefully, we are “un-American.”
There are some people who vote Democrat because they think Democrats stand for the less fortunate. Would a party that cares about the poor take away 1,700 scholarships from black children in Washington, DC? Would a party that cares about seniors cut benefits to the more than 10 million people who use Medicare Advantage? Would a party that cares about the needy deny money to charities by suggesting we slash the charitable tax deduction?
The big government policies of the far left are hurting the people of my community. You can drive through this district, where we are today, through Park Ridge and Niles and Morton Grove and Skokie and see the empty storefronts—block after block. And on the side of the road, a little “stimulus” sign. And as you pass by that sign, you will see how our tax money is being wasted while people lose their jobs and their homes.
We have already spent $53 million on ACORN. Its employees have been convicted of voter registration fraud 70 times in 12 states. Today we learned that ACORN spends more than half of its public money and donations illegally on lobbying and for-profit activities. Last week, 172 Democrats joined 173 Republicans in the House of Representatives in voting to cut off federal funding for ACORN. But my representative, Jan Schakowsky, voted to keep giving ACORN money.
That’s not money we could afford to waste. Money spent on ACORN is money taken away from projects that really do help the poor.
The only area in which we are cutting spending is where we need it the most. We are getting rid of missile defense in Europe, and replacing it with a system that will not stop long-range missiles. Meanwhile, the Democrat leaders who promised to win in Afghanistan are raising the white flag. And President Obama attacks Israel in the UN while he appeases Iran and the dictators who hate Israel and America both.
The Democrat leaders say we are the party of “no.” Perhaps they mean K-N-O-W. Because we know what the American people are going through. And we know that sometimes it is important to say “N-O” no.
We must say no when the far left tries to pass Card Check, which will take away workers’ rights and kill jobs. We must say no when Congress starts a trade war with Mexico. We must say no when Congress passes 9,000 new earmarks in just one bill at a cost of $5 billion. We must say no to ACORN corruption. We must say no to our exploding national debt.
Republicans say yes to freedom.
Freeing our automobile industry from the czars in the White House. Freeing American business from some of the highest taxes in the industrial world. Freeing consumers from sales taxes that are driving jobs away from Cook County and out of Illinois.
Government has a role to play in the economy. Its job is to guarantee the freedom of our markets, not to replace them.
If we give Americans the freedom to buy health insurance across state lines, we will see costs go down and coverage go up. If we give parents in poor communities the freedom to choose a different school for their children, we will see young people turn their lives around. If we open the doors to hard-working, legal immigrants, while securing our borders, we will give new Americans the chance to build our country.
They say Republicans have a “demographic problem.” I have had the privilege of working with black Republicans, Hispanic Republicans, Muslim Republicans—and, yes, Jewish Republicans. Our county chairman, Lee Roupas, went out of his way to make sure that I could deliver this speech in time for the Jewish Sabbath. We are a party that respects differences without turning difference into an obsession.
At Harvard, I had the great opportunity to teach undergraduates. I made a point of keeping my personal opinions out of the classroom. I let my students speak their minds. And I learned that many young people who voted Democrat do not share Democrat ideas. Most oppose using taxes simply to punish the rich. Many are critical of racial preferences. Most support our troops and our volunteer military.
The majority of Americans share the Republican belief in freedom. Freedom is the idea that brought my family here. Freedom is the idea that won the Cold War. Freedom is what Americans want us to fight for. Our task is to do it!
We must go to every community, every street in this great city. First to listen, and to understand—and then to lead, to reassure our friends and neighbors that freedom is better than government control.
Young Republicans are leading the way. Look at Congressman Aaron Schock, the youngest on Capitol Hill, who won in a Democrat-leaning district. Look at Adam Robinson, working the streets of Andersonville in the city as he runs for state senate. Look at Reverend Isaac Hayes, taking the message of freedom to where it is needed most. I am humbled to stand among the young men and women who are the future of our party.
I am running for Congress because a group of people from my community saw me stand up to Barney Frank. They asked me to stand up for them. I considered it carefully. I knew that we can win, but I also knew how hard it would be.
And then I went to a town hall meeting in my community, where I saw how well-funded outside groups were silencing the people of our district. I knew then what I had to do.
We are going to surprise America. We are going to present the voters of this district with a real choice. We are going to take on the most radical member of Congress. We are going to hold her accountable for the way her policies are hurting workers and families in this district. And we are going to stand up for the voices she drowns out.
No seat belongs to the politician who sits in it. It belongs to the people. And the people will take it back.
My father and mother raised us to believe that integrity counts most. My dad fought corruption at the University of Illinois hospital in Chicago. His bosses told him he had to learn to practice medicine “the Chicago way.”
Right now, America is being governed the Chicago way. We punish the whistleblowers instead of the guilty. We attack those who ask questions instead of questioning the answers.
But there are two Chicago ways. There’s the Chicago way of Al Capone, the Chicago way of Rod Blagojevich. And then there’s the Chicago way of Eliot Ness. There’s the Chicago way of Patrick Fitzgerald.
This city has its villains, but it has its heroes, too. The greatest heroes are the people who live in it. Chicago was destroyed—and we rebuilt it. We will rebuild America—starting right here, and right now.
On this day, in 1789, Congress did the unthinkable. It voted to limit its own power so that Americans could enjoy the freedom that has lasted until today.
Republicans have always stood for expanding that freedom. We fought against slavery. We stood up for civil rights. Our country is calling us once again to defend freedom at home and abroad.
This is the time. This is the place. This is our opportunity.
Let’s roll!
No comments:
Post a Comment