Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think that is the good message. We talked about the incurable optimist President Ronald Reagan was. If you talk about…”

“I think that is the good message. We talked about the incurable optimist President Ronald Reagan was. If you talk about the freshman class, you will see incurable optimists. While we have stubbed our toes and made a few mistakes and have not accomplished all we wanted to accomplish, the bottom line, the truth of the matter is the entire fulcrum of this debate has moved, and even the President now is acknowledging the era of Big Government is over and big Washington solutions to all of our problems are not the answers. And now we may not win on every point now, but it is not really a matter of whether we win or the President wins, the Republicans versus Democrats. The real issue is whether the American people win. This is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. It is a battle between those who believe that the Government is the answer to most of our problems and those who believe that government is a big part of a lot of our problems; those who believe that Big Government solutions are the way to solve problems and those who believe we ought to decentralize and let individuals have more responsibility and authority in their lives, and we start with that basic premise, we the people. The three most important words are 'We the people.' What has happened over the last several months has obviously given us a better education about how this place works, but it has not changed our optimism. It has not changed our view. We may have to change our tactics somewhat.…”