Political Quotes

“Well, let me first address it on the economic side. The deficit is clearly too big. The Government taxes too much and spends too much. That is a fundamental difference with the other side. The President has no control over about two-thirds of the budget--it doesn't come to me--and that is known as the entitlement programs. What we must do to get the deficit down is to control the growth of the entitlement programs. We've got to control it by--let it grow in terms of population, let it grow in terms of inflation, and that's it. Then set Social Security aside. Don't touch it. I am the President that was with Ronald Reagan when it was fixed, and I think we ought to leave Social Security totally alone. Don't mess with it. But on these others, put a cap on the growth. But in terms of your question, which was only partly economic, it is important that we understand that it is private initiative, that it is savings, that it is investment, and that it's not Government that creates opportunity. It is the private sector of the economy. Another point that I would emphasize in relation to this question is, we have tried--Barbara's tried, I have tried, support from many Americans--to reiterate the importance of what we call the Points of Light approach, voluntarism. Government can do some things--this is to your question--Government can do a lot of things. Government can show compassion. Government has a responsibility for the national security. But much of helping each other is done in what we call this Points of Light, one American reaching out to another and helping. You look at the hurricane down in South Florida and over in Louisiana. Government helped. We moved in with troops, and we moved in with Government aid for this and that and the Small Business Administration and FHA and all of that. But when the chapter is written on that, the people that deserve the credit are those caring Americans who reached out from 49 other States to help the people in south Florida. And that, I think, is what you're talking about. And this idea that everything should be done by Government is not the American way, and yet that's what you're hearing in this campaign out of the Clinton-Gore ticket. Agricultural Trade”