Gilbert Gutknecht: “I am not nearly as pessimistic as the gentleman from California, because if we look at history, and it was sort of…”

“I am not nearly as pessimistic as the gentleman from California, because if we look at history, and it was sort of underscored when we talked about what happened with the Polish Pope who warned the Soviets, or when Ronald Reagan went to Berlin and he said that if the Soviets, if Mikhail Gorbachev meant what he said, then he should tear down this wall. I happen to believe that words have meaning, that ideas matter, and that actions have consequences. If you study history, every great movement, every great change in national attitudes has started with one person or a handful of people who had the courage to speak the truth. There is a book coming out that was written by all of us freshmen. One of the chapters is written by one of my colleagues from Indiana, John Hostettler. He wrote a chapter about a gentleman by the name of Maplethorpe who was a member of the British House of Commons in the late 18th and early 19th century in Great Britain. One of the things that Mr. Maplethorpe tried to do was to end the slave trade in Europe. Basically he said, 'This is morally wrong and it must stop.' At first he was laughed out of the House of Commons. Particularly the elites of that particular point in history said that he was ridiculous, they demeaned him in every way they could, but Maplethorpe did not give up. Mr. Speaker, the one thing that we know is that facts are stubborn things and truth is an incredibly powerful weapon.”