jack kemp -- a lion of our age
(posted 5/5/09)
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of former quarterback, Congressman, Housing Secretary, and Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp. Mr. Kemp died after a lengthy battle with cancer at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 73.
Jack Kemp's storied career as a football stand-out will be covered by the likes of ESPN and other sports news outlets. The exploits of Kemp off the field as a New York Congressman and Cabinet Secretary are how many Americans will remember Kemp for years to come. His passing is one more reminder of the distance in time that is growing between the promising days of the Reagan Revolution -- and the perilous here and now.
Kemp was the front man for a return to fiscal responsibility in Congress. From spearheading congressional work
in the formation of inner city
'Enterprise Zones' -- the concept
of slashing corporate tax rates
for entrepreneurs who would risk
capital in urban businesses, to
his co-authoring the landmark
Kemp-Roth tax cuts, Jack Kemp
established himself as one of the
most visible and effective leaders
for fiscal conservatism. Kemp
subscribed to the Chicago school
of economic theory that espoused
supply-side policies and minimal
government intervention. While
his critics tried to tie him to the
increases in the federal budget
deficits in the Reagan years, they
failed to disclose that the historic
tax cuts he advocated led to
dramatic economic growth, an
unprecedented period of economic
expansion, and a huge increase in
federal tax revenues. The deficit
spending that did occur was the
direct result of a Democrat-majority
Congress spending far and above
the level of revenues received.
Tax cuts, as envisioned by Kemp and championed by Reagan, actually increased
federal receipts instead of reducing them. Kemp instinctively and empirically knew that lowered taxes would lead to economic expansion and a larger tax base.
Jack Kemp also knew the fundamental dangers that Soviet-era communist expansion posed for the Free World. Kemp stood solidly behind President Reagan in advocating increased help for Contra rebels fighting Daniel Ortega's Marxist-flavored government in Nicaragua. Kemp also favored Reagan's bold Strategic Defense Initiative (S.D.I.) -- a defense program whose mere existence is given a substantial portion of credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union. He pushed hard for increased military spending and confronting communist expansion around the world, including the covert war against Russia in Afghanistan.
After Kemp's tenure as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for then President George H. W. Bush, and a failed vice-presidential bid under Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign, the last several years saw him active in important advocacy groups, such as Empower America. Co-founded with William Bennett and Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Empower America (now Freedom Works) is a non-governmental group that promotes free-market solutions to economic challenges. Kemp also served on several boards of directors, including charitable organizations such as Pop Warner, American Youth Football, Boys and Girls Clubs Of America, and the National Recreation and Park Association. Kemp's life and career exemplified service to his community, his country, and to liberty itself. His presence on the American political scene will be missed for years to come.
Arlen Specter's response to the passing of Jack Kemp
"Frankly, I was disappointed that the Republican Party didn't want me as their candidate. But as a matter of principle, I'm becoming much more comfortable with the Democrats' approach," Specter said. "And one of the items that I'm working on... is funding for medical research. I've been the spear carrier to increase medical research."
Specter added: "If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine." (report courtesy FOXNews.com)
Editor's Note: Perhaps a page of tribute to the life and service of Jack Kemp is an inappropriate place to insert a report this disturbing, but it should be known just how callously disingenuous the Democratic Party, and its individuals, can really be. We at Raptor Republic had no idea just how accomplished a medical authority Mr. Specter had become, and that he could see into the past and future of what could be. Perhaps the increase from a Clinton-era $3 billion to President Bush's $4.7 billion was paltry in Mr. Specter's opinion. Some $80 billion in taxpayer money has been devoted solely to cancer research since President Nixon's announcement of a "War on Cancer" in 1971. Arlen, how much is enough? Where does the Democrat appetite for spending American taxpayers' money end? For the record, Arlen, these questions do not mean we are against cancer research... just so you'll know.
