Jack Kemp has passed away. Kemp was a longtime Republican Congressman, HUD Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, a two time presidential candidate, and the Republican nominee for vice president in 1996. In the 1960s, he was a star quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Others can better assess Kemp's career and legacy than I can. However, I wish to say a few words because Kemp was one of my superiors when I was an intern at Empower America during the summer of 1993. a I was a college sophomore at the time. EA was a public policy organization that Kemp co-founded with William Bennett and Jeane Kirkpatrick. My work was principally focused on school choice, which was also a major interest of Kemp's.
There are three things I will always remember about Kemp. First, unlike most politicians I have met or heard of, Kemp had a genuine interest in ideas. His office was filled with books about politics, history, and economics, most of which had the look of actually having been read and carefully studied. He was always interested in having discussions about policy issues - sometimes even with lowly interns like me. Kemp was much more knowledgeable about policy than most public officials with far more elite educational credentials.
Second, Kemp was one of those rare individuals who is genuinely at ease with people from all walks of life. Most politicians can affect an air of friendliness when necessary. But Kemp seemed to genuinely enjoy talking about a wide range of matters with all sorts of people. He was equally at home with policy wonks, athletes, and just ordinary voters.
Third, he had a serious and longstanding commitment to school choice, enterprise zones (a longtime focus of his efforts), and other policies by which market mechanisms can be used to advance the interests of the poor and disadvantaged. This came through both in his well-known public actions and in the passion he showed for these issues behind closed doors. Many Republican political leaders have endorsed similar policies at various times, but few showed anything like the same degree of genuine commitment to them.
I did not always agree with Kemp. For example, I did not fully share his faith in supply-side economics, and I thought that he was insufficiently attentive to the dangers of excessive government spending. Kemp was also more socially conservative than I am. However, I did greatly respect him, and there are precious few other politicians about whom I can say the same thing.
In closing, I would like to extend my condolences to Secretary Kemp's family, friends, and colleagues.
30 years ago, the Kemp-Roth tax cuts were the political genesis of the supply-side policy that seemingly all accept today. For better or worse, Clinton basically accepted it, and Obama seems to be doing so, or at least they were/are being forced to do so by the Congress.
Kemp was a thinker, and he definitely got around. The prosecutor who took down Kwame Kilpatrick here in Detroit, Kim Worthy, was one of Kemp's proteges from way back, flying against the political grain.
R.I.P, my brother.
Just like most of today's politicians he talked out of both sides of his mouth. Talked down to the hardworking American. Why can't these sorry types of politicians die while in office before they plunder the taxpayer ?
And people wonder why the Republican party is in such desparate shape.
I am a Republican and proudly so. To say that Jack Kemp is a RINO is an insult to both the man and his memory. Frankly, I want no part of a political party that would not welcome either Jack Kemp or his ideas.
May he rest in peace. He went too young.
To this Democrat, Kemp always seemed like an honorable, principled person. RIP.
Maybe the commenter who called Kemp a RINO is the sort of Republican they had in mind.
Well said.
Zarkov,
You still haven't told us when your parents immigrated to the US.
I think that this doesn't get stressed enough. I didn't agree with a whole lot of Jack Kemp's policies, but I always thought that his motives were well placed when dealing with minorities. I actually caught a speech he gave at Howard U in the 90's, where he showed a great measure of wit, intelligence and compassion for those who didn't share his experiences. To those who believe bs like the "Democratic Plantation" crap, I promise that a Republican party filled with even a quarter of Jack Kemp's would be competitive in the Black community.
Your question is both impertinent and irrelevant, but I will answer it anyway.
My parents did not immigrate to the US, they were born here.
Today we have about 1 million legal immigrants arriving per year, and another 1 million illegal immigrants. These levels greatly exceed the even the peak levels anytime in the past as you can see here. They are excessive and unnecessary and lower wages. The welfare given to the new waves also place a strain on state and local budgets. Just because the US once had immigration, does not imply the we should forever have high levels regardless of our needs.
Is it your opinion that there is no optimum population for the US?
unlike most politicians I have met or heard of, Kemp had a genuine interest in ideas.
Unfortunately, the history of the 20th century demonstrates that politicians with new ideas are largely to be feared. The problem of governing men hasn't changed in 40,000 years (at least), and the best approach hasn't changed, either. We know how it's done, and history teaches it plainly.
It isn't "ideas" that are the magic. Almost everyone who's had a new idea about how to run the world has brought tragedy, the bigger the tragedy the more plausible the idea.
What we need are the same old things: honesty, integrity, humility, moral character, courage. These are what our best leaders have demonstrated. Not an interest in ideas.
If the GOP had a lot more Kemps, it would be good for the GOP and good for the country.
Malicious Disorder: it's obvious you never heard him speak. Jack Kemp was everything that was RIGHT about the GOP in the Reagan years. Bright, articulate and very much concerned about the effect of economic policy on the ordinary American.
I read Kemp's report on the blocks to affordable housing in this country. It was the first time government was identified as being the biggest stumbler, via extensive permit processes, excessive requirements for environmental studies, and high permit fees, in the development of affordable housing in this country. He was right on.
I'm sorry for his suffering and that of his family, and I hope he is at peace.
Note that Gulko qualified to play in the 2004 World Chess Championship held in Libya. But the head of the organizing committee said, “We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemies to this championship.”
Poor Gulko. He went from being a "rootless cosmopolitan" to a "Zionist."
My rejection of the Laffer-Kemp voodoo economics does not mean I agree with the Keynes or the Neoclassical Synthesis. That's wrong too. The guy who got it right was Hyman Minsky.
As for Republicans like Kemp pulling in the Black vote: I Wish. I have seen no indication that Black voters are that open minded. Blacks, as a group are socially conservative, yet they consistently vote for the hardest-left liberals. In addition, no group would benefit more from free choice in education. Yet Blacks consistently vote for Democrats who have no intention of doing other than preserving the status quo in education.
You can thank LBJ for that. Until we get a black middle-class large enough to take the leap of faith required to get serious about limiting government, so will things continue. The Hispanics, with little cultural experience with limited government, of course don't help either presently. I suspect the two will have to (re)invent the concept on their own - just hope there will be enough believers in the old-time American civil religion of the Founders to join them when they do.
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