Posted by Tina
Republican Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, gave a terrific response to President Obama’s address to the Congress tonight. I particularly liked the following portions and wanted to share them with you in case you missed it. Links to both speeces are at the bottom of this post.
Bobby Jindal:
** As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country – and they instilled in me an immigrants wonder at the greatness of America. As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad. Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty. And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: Bobby, Americans can do anything. I still believe that to this day. Americans can do anything. When we pull together, there is no challenge we cannot overcome. *** Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. *** Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts. *** Let me tell you a story. **
** During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office Id never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: Well, Im the Sheriff and if you dont like it you can come and arrest me! I asked him: Sheriff, whats got you so mad? He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go – when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldnt go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, Sheriff, thats ridiculous. And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too! Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people. *** There is a lesson in this experience: The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens. We are grateful for the support we have received from across the nation for the ongoing recovery efforts. This spirit got Louisiana through the hurricanes – and this spirit will get our nation through the storms we face today. *** To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you – the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything. *** That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families cutting taxes for small businesses strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs. *** But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history – with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called volcano monitoring. Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC. *** Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt. Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. Its irresponsible. And its no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children. **
President Obamas Address to Congress