Monday, January 14, 2008

Ronald Reagan, the GOP, and "Real Change"    [Newt Gingrich]

On ABC’s This Week yesterday to discuss my new book Real Change, I said “the era of Ronald Reagan is over.” I want to explain my statement because it seems to have caused some confusion.

The fact is that if Governor Reagan was faced with the world of 2008, he would be trying to develop new solutions and be an advocate of real change. He wouldn’t be suggesting that we could go back 28 years and adopt a program that was totally appropriate for a world that had the Soviet Union, hyperinflation, Jimmy Carter’s policies of weakness and the challenges of 1980. He would say we need to face the challenges of 2008.

That means America has to find solutions that will work in a world in which China is much bigger, the world market is much more competitive, our dangerous reliance on foreign oil owned by dictators is much greater, and the challenges to America whether from immigration, from the secular Left seeking to drive God out of public life, or from those who would undermine English as the language of America is a different set of dangers than the those of 1980. Today’s challenges require new solutions and new approaches.

The whole purpose of writing Real Change was to begin to outline the scale of “real change” it is going to require for Americans to succeed in the next quarter century. We have to be in the business of inventing 21st century, intelligent, effective, limited government in a post-bureaucratic, information-age world. We have to be committed to developing policies that let us compete with China and India and win so that our children and grandchildren live in the most prosperous country in the world. We have to be committed to reasserting English as the official language of government and American history as a topic worth mastering by every immigrant and every American child.

The fact is these are new challenges with new opponents and new competitors — they require new solutions.

I believe that in order to succeed, we must learn the lessons of Ronald Reagan just as we have to learn the lessons of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. But those lessons have to be applied in our lifetime. This is the only way we can create a generation of prosperity, freedom, and safety for our children and grandchildren and for our country.

Also, there has been some speculation that I have endorsed a Republican candidate or that I am supporting a particular candidate “behind the scenes.” Nothing can be further from the truth. The fact is that I have offered my advice to any candidate that wants it and have had personal conversations with several candidates on a number of issues. My goal is to help every candidate be the best they can be. I want the strongest possible field because ultimately that will lead to a stronger America.

01/14 05:47 PMShare