Remarks at a Fundraiser
for Representative Robert J. Lagomarsino in
The President. Robert, I thank you
very much, Councilwoman, Norma, Gallegly's, and my roommate. [Laughter] Well, I
thank you all today. I realize, looking around at the neckties,
that I'm out of uniform. [Laughter] If you haven't been informed, we
have just come from another fundraiser down in the San Fernando Valley -- there
raising money just generally for the party, which is always useful to all of us
concerned -- and there the uniform was prescribed. So, I brought a coat along
so that I could put a coat on afterward. And since in
Well,
we're here today because we support an outstanding Congressman, our Congressman
-- and that includes me because I'm in the district, too -- Bob Lagomarsino. The job that Bob has done these past 14 years,
believe me, has earned my vote this year. Sure, he has a tough race, his
toughest ever, but I'm confident he'll win. We Santa Barbarans
know that Bob didn't go to
Now,
it's no secret that when I'm strolling down the street in
The
freedom-loving people of
Bob's
also a dedicated supporter of
Some
people say it's time for a change. Well, I agree. For 52 of the last 56 years,
the House of Representatives has been in the hands of the other party.
Forty-six of those 56 years, the other party has controlled both Houses of the
Congress. Now, I've heard a lot in this campaign from the other side about the
evils of deficit spending and I'm responsible. Well, Congress is the only one
in government that can spend a dime. The President can't spend any. Congress
makes the budget. You bet it's time for change.
We
can solve our spending problems -- and let me tell you something else about
that more than half a century in which -- every 10 years they have been in
charge when it came to reapportionment of the districts throughout the country.
And in 48 of those 56 years, there were deficits each one of those 48 years.
Four of the 8 years that there weren't deficits were in the term of Dwight
Eisenhower, who for 2 years had a Republican Congress in both
Houses. The only time that a Republican President has had that -- well,
I was fortunate, I had 6 years of my term with a Senate.
And
I have to tell you, I don't think we could have gotten what we did and the
reforms that we did had that not been true. But now we're back in that with
both Houses on the other side. We can solve budget problems. When it comes to
Congress, the American people know that if you're not part of the solution,
you're part of the problem. And the solution is to reelect Bob Lagomarsino and elect 434 others like him to the House of
Representatives.
Now,
that's a tall order, but I have a good feeling about this year's election,
particularly after seeing a speech last week that I found moving and, yes,
inspiring. I don't remember when I've ever been as impressed with an orator,
and I know he's going to be an even more impressive President, George Bush.
George spoke about completing a mission, the mission that he and I began, side
by side, 8 years ago.
And
look how far we've come since then: 17\1/2\ million new jobs, hundreds of
thousands of new businesses, a greater proportion of Americans at work than
ever before. I had to go to
Then
there's the restoration of our national defenses, the recovery of our national
pride, an INF treaty that abolishes an entire class, as Bob has told you, of
I
want to ask you a question: Is this a record we can show proudly to our fellow
citizens in
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Well, we've done a lot,
but as George said the other night, the mission is not complete. There's more
to do: appointing more judges who know the difference between criminals and
victims; shutting down the drug trade -- I have a special assistant in that,
but -- [laughter] -- more work for the cause of freedom around the world,
including in Central America; and, of course, developing and deploying a
technology that will protect humanity from the specter of nuclear war -- the
Strategic Defense Initiative. And how about a furlough for
the Pledge of Allegiance? [Laughter]
And
yet we must not forget that all we've done and all we are on the very threshold
of doing can quickly be lost. We Californians saw it happen in the years of the
last liberal administration in our State. Things got so bad that we had to rise
up and say, ``no more,'' to the soaring taxes that were strangling economic
growth and crushing the budgets of ordinary families. So, Proposition 13 was
passed. We don't want to have to go through that again nationally. And there's
one way to make sure we won't: George Bush is going to
You
know, I have to say one thing, and it's one thing here
that must be said. If you remember back there when we were getting on our feet,
after the -- well, the father who preceded the son as Governor -- [laughter] --
and we began to accumulate surpluses. And some of you will remember every time
we accumulated a surplus, we gave it back to the people. And the last one we
gave back was $850 million. And if we need a difference between the two
parties, I will always remember a very reputable leader on the Democratic side
of our senate who stormed into my office after my announcement about giving
that money back. And he said, ``Giving that money back to the people is an
unnecessary expenditure of public funds.'' [Laughter]
Well,
make no mistake, our economy and our national defenses are strong, but they're
also under threat. They're threatened by those who want to use the law to
engineer the changes in our nation that the American people do not need and do
not want and that would hurt. Our liberal friends seem to love to fiddle around
making big government even bigger. But they never seem to achieve their goals.
And so, they fiddle around some more, but they still don't get anywhere. And
then, before you know it, they've fiddled around so much that they've sent the
ship of state into drydock. I know; George Bush
knows. And after all, we were called in to get the ship of state seaworthy
again. And the way to keep it seaworthy is to have a crew of Republicans in the
Congress and George Bush at the helm. Now, Bob will be critical in that effort,
and so will a great Senator who will continue to be a great Senator after the
dust has settled on November 9th, Pete Wilson.
And
let me add one other thing: Our statewide election this year is also critical.
In 2 years, it will be time for the 1990 census. The results of that census
will determine the composition of
Every
once in a while I feel we should all be reminded that one of the great secrets
of the success of this country is that we are a federation of sovereign States.
And our opponents, over those long 50 odd years when they were in control, have
tried to usurp and take away from the States more and more power to reduce the
States to administrative districts of the Federal Government. Well, we've been
having a program for almost 8 years now called federalism in which we have been
restoring, as much as we can, the power and authority that properly belongs to
the States and never should have been taken from them.
In
doing all these things, I'm going to do my part, and I know you will, too. Yes,
there are still promises to keep. There's the promise to keep
I
don't want to be even those last few weeks there without Bob Lagomarsino in the Congress. [Laughter] But thank you all
for all you've done, and God bless you all. Thank you.
[At
this point, Representative Lagomarsino gave the
President a campaign T-shirt.]
The President. ``Congressman Bob Lagomarsino: I'm backing Bob.'' Since I'm out of uniform at
this affair, do you suppose maybe I could be out of uniform and wear this at
the first leadership meeting when we get back?
Representative
Lagomarsino. Sure. I hope you do. [Laughter]
The President. Thank you.
Note: The President
spoke at