Virgil

Another passing. This time of Jack Kemp. Perhaps many don’t know who Jack Kemp was. He lived an incredible life, a football player, a congressman, a leader of the anti tax revolt of the late 1970s that led to the Reagan revolution, a Presidential candidate, and finally the Republican vice presidential candidate for Bob Dole in 1996.

Jack Kemp was a personal hero of mine. He was a free market capitalist who believed that economic growth was the answer to helping the poor. A rising tide lifts all boats, he used to say. By growing the economy the economic pie would get bigger for everyone to have a bigger slice, and economic growth required tax cuts. He was an Adam Smith proponent, a believer that freedom was contingent on lower taxes. A shrinking economy meant that people would be fighting over the scraps. He was among the original people who supported supply side economics, the belief that lower taxes on business enabled job creation, investment, and economic dynamism. He was right. The economic boom that started with in the 1983 and essentially lasted until last year with this economic crises was the best twenty-five years of economic prosperity in the history of the US, and while Ronald Reagan has always gotten the lion share of the credit, it was Kemp in Congress that had pushed those policies even before Reagan had become president. He created an organization in the 1990’s called Empower America, whose goal was to get poor people to become economically engaged. I remember joining it. The problem Jack saw with the inner city was that they lacked the abilities to engage in the economic system, and so dropped out. The key was getting inner city people into the economic system, not the welfare system.

Which brings me to Jack’s second most passionate issue, civil rights and the improvement of the African-American community. He was forever proud of having supported and marched with Martin Luther King in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. His personal political hero was Abraham Lincoln, the founder of the Republican Party and the great emancipator. I do believe he was a Republican mostly for his love of Lincoln, for the freedom Lincoln represented, and for opportunity for all theme that Lincoln always espoused. It’s often overlooked how free market capitalist Lincoln was, but Jack would always remind you. Jack often showed up at events with the African-Americans he played football with, having built close relationships with them that lasted throughout his life. He was always defending inner city people. He knew they could do better; just the right policies had to be put in place for them to flourish. He supported the welfare reform legislation of 1995 that essentially took people off welfare and forced them into jobs. This was his ideas of economic engagement put into practice. And it has been remarkably successful. While the inner city still remains a problem in places, it has certainly changed for the better in the last ten years and I do think it will continue to improve. No one talks about overturning the welfare reform act.

He was also a bit naïve, if you ask me. He believed that economic policy could change over any nation. When the Soviet Union collapsed he bragged that if he could have free reign of their economic policy he could transform them into a prosperous nation in a few years. Haha, well free market economics requires an established cultural foundation conducive for it. Otherwise it turns into gangsterism, and Russia has. He had Adam Smith on his mind, but he had forgotten that other great 18th century conservative, Edmund Burke. Jack called himself a big government conservative, actually out of step with most conservatives. He was as bleeding heart as any Liberal. He believed in the ultimate power of government to improve lives, you just had to be prosperous enough to pay for it. While he supported tax cuts, he didn’t exactly support cutting government programs. Oh sure, he would argue against pork, but that’s easy to argue against. He never argued against the big programs. And so he may have been responsible for the deficits that occurred in the 1980s.

The thing about Jack was he had a big heart. He truly did. In all the political fighting that goes on, I have never heard Jack Kemp say a hard word against anyone, even the opposition. He always had a smile. When Reagan’s term was finished, he was looked at as a natural successor. And he did run in the primary. The problem with Jack was that he had a hard time hitting back in a political fight, and his constant philosophic speeches went over the heads of people. While he talked about Adam Smith, his opponent in the Republican primary, George Herbert Walker Bush (the father and first of the Bush presidents) talked about holding taxes and balancing the budget and down to earth things. Kemp lost in a bitter fight, and GHWB when on to become the President. But even after, whatever hard feelings occurred Kemp forgot them. He took on an assignment in Bush’s cabinet to help the poor with Housing Development. And then he fell out of favor. The Republicans were focused on balancing the budget, something Kemp wasn’t passionate about, and the leader of the party in the 90s, Bob Dole, was almost singularly concerned on paying for the deficit. But then with a stroke of brilliance, Dole chose Kemp in the 1996 presidential race as his vice-presidential running mate, uniting the two wings of the party together. Though it would never truly challenge the Clinton machine, Kemp did provide a burst of inspiration to the party.

I will always remember Jack Kemp for his decency. He never said a bad word about his opponents and was always the most gracious of men. There are times when I debate and debate graciously (not all that often I embarrassedly admit) I feel Jack Kemp flashing before me as a role model. A Christian who I could tell felt the peace of God in his life, he was truly a role model. I wish I could be more like him.

Here he is speaking with that characteristic gravelly voice about allowing Washington DC (which most fellow Republicans disagreed with) to become a separate voting district (complicated history for those that don’t understand). You can hear how he alludes to the great civil rights leaders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-BNeYokR6Q.

And here’s a Kemp quote taken from an obit from his great friend and fellow free market advocate Larry Kudlow:

“You see, democratic capitalism is not just the hope of wealth, but it’s the hope of justice. When we look into the face of poverty, we see the pain, the despair, and need of human beings. But above all, in every face of every child, we must see the image of God.” He [Kemp] then added, “I believe the ultimate imperative for growth and opportunity is to advance human dignity.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/arti...about_gro.html. That was Kemp at his essence. Rest in peace, Jack Kemp, though not long enough; you lived a full life.