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Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen. I invite you please to be seated so we can begin tonight's wonderful celebration. My name is Ed Fuller. I'm the president of the Heritage Foundation on behalf of all my colleagues, both on the board of trustees and on the staff

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of the foundation. It's my pleasure to welcome you here tonight as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of welfare reform. I particularly want to thank at this time, my colleagues Jen Marshall and Jen's entire team for organizing this event. And for all of the special guests who

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are both here tonight and who participated in that wonderful conference this afternoon at Heritage. If you missed the conference, it was on C-SPAN 2 this afternoon. I am told it will be replayed in future days, so look for it on the C-SPAN schedule. It will, it

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is well worth watching. I stayed for part of it, and part of it I caught upstairs, uh, as it was happening. Tonight is both a celebration, and I think it's good that we celebrate our policy successes and it's also a call to action, because in fact

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there is much more to be done. As Ronald Reagan rightfully noted, welfare's purpose should be to eliminate as far as possible the need for its own existence. We all know that welfare has not been eliminated, but tonight we celebrate what we have accomplished. It is not

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surprising to conservatives that the 1996 welfare reform legislation was one of the most successful social policy reforms. In America's national history. Conservatives have consistently advocated and believed that having a personal stake in one's destiny and that healthy and in healthy families are essential elements to eliminating

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an individual's dependence. On what's become known as the nanny state. Frankly, we were the ones who pointed out that the prior welfare system rewarded idleness. And encouraged dependency we pointed out that the system caused record levels of unwed pregnancy and a host of related and consequent

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social problems. We were also the ones who fundamentally shifted the welfare reform debate a decade ago and helped to design a new system. As a result, as all of you know, Child poverty was reduced, employment levels increased. Individuals and families moved from dependency towards self-sufficiency, and

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state welfare case loads plummeted. Today, 1.5 million fewer children live in poverty than a decade ago. In the once exploding growth rate of unwed childbearing has dramatically slowed. But there is still work to be done. We must still finish the task of ending welfare as we

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know it. So there is work to do, and tonight as we both celebrate and we look forward, it's our very great pleasure. As we always do at heritage events. To begin By reaffirming our commitment to the beliefs that bring us together as Americans. I want to

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introduce Shawna Latham, who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Shawna works daily to improve the quality of life for underserved youth and their families. She is the executive director of Free Advice Incorporated. China acts directly with at-risk youth to promote sexual abstinence, literacy, and

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life skills. She is coming with her boss, and I know what it's like to have a boss, Shawna. Her chairman of the board, Diane Kevler Smith. And Diane is also an interpreter of American Sign Language. Please welcome Shawna and Diane as they lead us in the

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Pledge of Allegiance. Well, first I'd like to thank everyone for promptly standing so that we can say the pledge together. You're ready? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible

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with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you ladies. Thank you very much, ladies. Now, Kathy Smith and her very able staff who Do such wonderful jobs for us at Heritage in terms of organizing events will have me on the carpet tomorrow morning because I

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didn't make the announcement and I heard somebody's cell phone go off. Cell phones, BlackBerries, PDAs turn them off. I Please do turn them off as we take another moment to reflect because again, It is important to us at Heritage to as we come together, remember. That

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we are here. Fundamentally, to do the work of someone who's above us all. Every day, Curtis Watkins confronts the challenges of poverty in the District of Columbia. He's the founder and the president of the East Capital Center for Change. He promotes faith, marriage, youth abstinence, family

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stability, and the successful re-entry of former felons. Into society, his successful efforts have demonstrated the important role community and faith-based initiatives play in addressing local needs. It's my very great pleasure indeed to ask Curtis Watkins to please come up and invoke a divine blessing. Thank you.

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Gonna have everyone to bow their heads at this time. Thank you. Father, I thank you for assembling such a diverse group of people from different backgrounds and religious beliefs. Father, we come here today with the spirit of thanksgiving. Father, I ask you to make this day

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a day of clarity as we're thankful for the organizers of this event. Today we pray for the strength to put aside our titles, status, and class issues. Father, we're here to understand your vision for each of us to be servants. Please bless the food we're about

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to eat that it may feed our spirit and nourishment for our souls. Father, we thank you for what you have done, what you have yet to do. You are truly the master planner. Line us up today to march to one drummer. Together we can move people

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from poverty to self-sufficiency based on your plan, Father. Father, we thank you, we thank you. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much, Curtis. As I said, tonight's about taking a moment to reflect and to celebrate. Tonight we remember and honor those who believe something could be done

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and did something about it. We're delighted that many of the original architects of welfare reform have joined us here this evening. And now in the spirit of remembrance and celebration. Yes, We have a video. I'm pleased to present to you a brief video commemorating these past

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10 years of success. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy the show. An America where we in welfare as we know it. Republicans, I think we had the the opinion polls were behind us all on, and Clinton, to his credit, figured that out. If you're digging

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a hole and you keep getting deeper, the first thing you do is stop digging. One of the great accomplishments of talent. Fairth was to tell the Republicans just ignore the Congressional Budget Office. Persistence thy name is Robert Rector. If we were going to see structural reforms

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of these programs, it would have to have a broad coalition. Welfare reform has been one of the biggest success stories in government in a generation. Once we gave people the incentive to do those things, they started getting out of poverty. It's been 10 years since one

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of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation's history became law. and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, what simply became known as welfare reform, was signed into law in August 1996. 10 years later, child poverty has fallen. Welfare case loads have been cut in half. Fewer

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families are on welfare than at any time since 1969, and the explosive growth of out of wedlock childbearing has come to a near standstill. It's rare that one piece of legislation makes that kind of difference. That's why we believe the 10th anniversary of welfare reform is

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such an important milestone to mark in the history of how it happened is important to remember. People have been talking about welfare reform really from the 70s onwards, I mean, when it was clear that the war on poverty did not destroy poverty. You got the one

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view of reform, which is really, you've just got to do more, you've got to be more intensive, we're just not doing enough. And then you got the other view, which was, you know, there's something wrong with these programs. When we started thinking about it in the

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mid to late 1980s, there was just mounting dissatisfaction with the system across the board, and there was a growing scholarly and intellectual consensus about uh the problem. And so almost no one could be found who would defend the status quo, but everybody feared the remedies. And

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so the question was how to overcome the distrust of the traditional guardians of the welfare programs. Ronald Reagan had a long history of wanting to require welfare recipients to work in exchange for benefits. He tried to do that. California when he was governor and virtually every

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year of the eight years that he was in the White House, they sent up a mandatory federal work requirement bill which the democratically controlled Congress proceeded to immediately bury and ignore. The discussions, I think during the 80s about welfare reform during the Reagan administration. did two

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things. It created sort of an appetite for welfare reform. It put a lot of these programs under the kind of scrutiny that I don't think they'd had. I think Charles Murray was a very important piece of the, of the whole equation. He produced a book on

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the subject that was really promoted in a way that caught people's attention and forced a debate. People had to respond to that. They couldn't ignore it. Like everybody else, we were looking at the results of programs and saying they aren't good enough. Our welfare system was

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clearly broken. Public housing was a mess, criminal justice system in need of systemic reforms. So there was a bit of an intellectual convergence, a left-right convergence which Stuart Butler and I tried to capture in a In the famous left right conference with Heritage Foundation and PPI

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back in the early 90s. Responsibility starts at the top. That's what the new covenant is all about. An America where we end welfare as we know it. We will say to those on welfare, when you can, you must work because welfare should be a second chance,

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not a way of life. I think Bill Clinton was critical in this. Nobody really could dispute. His commitment to the objectives of the welfare system and the Great Society, that was a helpful admission in 1992 that welfare had to be fixed. It wound up meaning fewer

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and fewer Democrats were willing to defend the status quo. When he said that, uh, he gave a bipartisan imprimatur, at least to the idea that the old system had to go, and once that happened, then you know, the liberals were not talking about how to change

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it because they really were still committed to the old system and that left the field open to conservatives to shape the direction we were going to go in. Bill Clinton had the support of the new Democrats. We felt strongly that in fact he should have pressed

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for welfare reform in the first year, 93, going into 94, the decision was made to put health care at the center at that time, and I think that was probably a decision that many in the in the Clinton world regret now. Congressman Tallon worked very diligently

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through the whole summer of 1994 to put his serious reform provisions into this obscure document called the Contract with America which the Republicans were drafting, and I told him that that was a total waste of time because who would possibly care about this document and that

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he shouldn't do that, but he ignored me. I think the contract with America is really important here. And I say that because Republicans in the House had been writing this bill, and the contract with America was really the 3rd version of our bill, and we worked

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out all of our fights behind the scenes. Essentially they didn't ran that in front of the Republican Party and derailed the liberal reform that was largely cosmetic. And very importantly, that prevented the Republicans from signing a bill with Clinton during the summer of '94, which if

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they had done that and given that issue to Clinton, I think they would never have taken control of the House of Representatives when The terms of debate had shifted. An appetite had been created. It was harder and harder for liberals to defend these programs. And who

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comes to Capitol Hill? Some extremely bright, committed young conservative members. Again, a really happy circumstance. I think the work of Marvin Ulaski, the work of Bob Woodson and the neighborhood groups and so on, what we had was, was, um, a vision of how neighborhoods worked and

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how civil society functioned. I commend to all of you Marvin Olasky's The Tragedy of American Compassion. Olasky goes back for 300 years and looks at what has worked in America, how we have helped people rise beyond poverty, how we have reached out to save people. I

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was sitting in my living room just watching his, his first speech as speaker, and then suddenly he's talking about my book. It's very, very strange, but, but. exciting. What Newt Gingrich and the leadership did was turn to the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and say to us,

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would you give us input from the grassroots community because we don't want to make these decisions on our own as scholars or as politicians? And so we reached into our vast network of grassroots leaders and asked them what policies should be, uh, offered to address welfare

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reform. And it was called the grassroots alternative to Public Policies or GAP task force, and one of the first recommendations was 2 years and you're off. This came from former welfare recipients to say that welfare destroys your dignity. So we brought what the government was doing

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much more into line with the traditions and the values of American cultural life. And that's why it started to work. We had great leadership in the Senate with Senator Faircloth, the only senator who didn't have a college degree, and he had more wisdom than the other

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99 of them put together. who really believe that you should require welfare recipients to work and that we had to do something about the fact that 1 out of 3 children were born out of wedlock. There would have been a significant battle had President Clinton tried

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to get a Democratic Congress to embrace an idea as radical, certainly as the change that he signed into law in 1996. So, um, I, I, I suppose the convergence that, uh, happened here of a Republican Congress and Democratic president bent on dramatic reform. probably the political

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formula that had to be in place in order to get this bill passed. When that bill was on the floor on July 31st, Clinton had not yet said what he was going to do, and Leon Panetta, who was his chief of staff and a former very

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popular member of the House and the House Democrats were calling him right and left, you know, Len, get him to make a decision. We need to know because Democrats did not want to, there were a lot of Democrats, they did not want to vote no if

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Clinton was going to support the bill, so they. They went into these delaying tactics on the floor. It was really a riot. They delayed the vote on the floor for over 3 hours, and meanwhile, Clinton is camped out in the cabinet room with half his cabinet

00:18:03.180 - 00:18:18.109

and senior advisers and the vice president, and in that room I think only 2 people out of maybe 15 or 16 supported the bill, and some of them were very, very, very strongly opposed. There's no question that a lot of people were chagrined in the liberal

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base of the party. They felt that. This discussion of ending welfare was in some way pandering to conservative critiques of the welfare system, and finally he asked the vice president what he should do, and the vice president equivocated, but the president said, no, I got two

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choices yes or no, what am I going to do? And the vice president recommended he sign the bill and a few minutes later he said, I'm going to sign the bill, and he did. There was a tremendous amount of interest on the part of not only

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federal elected officials, but state level officials. And learning from the grassroots leaders, what is their experience, their perspective, their views on policies. A recommendation is that grassroots providers should be the institution of first choice. And so what we are trying to do is to bring these

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kind of practical solutions to your attention so that we can sit together and determine. How we can make policies that not only rewards positive things and remove barriers but to spread this success and make common sense commonplace again. We also recognized that it was important to

00:19:36.780 - 00:19:51.939

To help people ordinary people understand this too, so we did an enormous amount of work in public relations, in dealing with the press, in talking to journalists, getting the information from places like Wisconsin into the hands of journalists who would use it. I think the critical

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thing about Wisconsin and about some of the other experiments actually before that was that not only did you get data that showed some remarkable results in terms of how people respond. But you could actually go there and you could actually see things and you could see

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how it worked. I was never involved in anything else or any outside person. Was as influential as Robert and Heritage were uh in the welfare reform bill. Conservatives in the past have been locked into talking about the cost of welfare programs, um, talking about welfare cheats.

00:20:29.050 - 00:20:51.199

Uh, these programs are too expensive. Robert began making the argument based on evidence and his own enormous commitment to this point of view that welfare programs as currently run harm the very people we're trying to help. It was a big shift in the debate, a whole

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new rationale for fixing these programs. Robert Rector wound up being a far more effective advocate for poor children. Than all of the celebrated liberals, I had my eye on two ideas. You should really seriously require work. You really should begin to encourage marriage, and I never

00:21:12.079 - 00:21:32.525

deviated from those two very simple ideas, so it was a very simple brain operating. Robert Rector was so indispensable. reform. I think my contribution to the overall effort was helping to save Robert's job. When he bruised congressional egos or stepped on congressional toes and Ed Fulner

00:21:32.525 - 00:21:48.890

was receiving calls from Capitol Hill demanding Robert Rector never again be permitted out of the building. Um, on a fairly routine basis, I would go to bat for Robert, and Fulner, of course, would always appreciate, you know, that Robert was making an enormous difference and, uh,

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and as a result, you're bound to be getting complaints. The predictions back in '95 and 96 were, were just outrageous that, you know, families were going to fall apart. uh Loberg said on the floor of the Senate that 10 year old girls would be engaging in

00:22:04.869 - 00:22:19.069

prostitution. They'd be so desperate. Moynihan said that babies would freeze in the streets and they'd send carts around in the morning to pick up their frozen little bodies. I mean this is a level of rhetoric. I think a lot of doubters have been persuaded that their

00:22:19.069 - 00:22:35.290

fears were exaggerated. It was a sea change in the way that the country thought about this issue and responded to it. I think it's at that level. It's a sign of how good it was. That everybody claims credit for it now. I, I always say if,

00:22:35.369 - 00:22:50.819

if you've done something in Washington that that after you do it, everybody says they were for it and that they were always for it, you know you've really won because you haven't just changed the law, so you've changed hearts. Success is never final victory is never

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permanent. As monumental as the '96 reforms were, there is still much to be done. From strengthening work requirements to promoting the benefits of marriage. We will continue to foster ideas to educate lawmakers and to shape the public debate. We believe those actions greatly contributed to the

00:23:10.390 - 00:23:29.729

welfare reform victory of 1996 and that they'll be key in the policy battles ahead. At the Heritage Foundation, we know that public policy has personal impact. Welfare reform was not primarily a victory for the lawmakers and policy players involved. Rather, it was a victory for the

00:23:29.729 - 00:23:48.680

principle of individual freedom. And it's that victory that matters most to citizens like the one you're about to meet. Her story is what it was all about. During high school, I was pregnant, 10th, 11th, 12th grade year. When I turned 18, went to um open my

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own case. The social worker showed me a file and it was like this big and he said, do not let your file get this big because you, I should not see you after a certain amount of years. So I did remember that yeah because the files

00:24:01.800 - 00:24:17.160

get so thick and then it's generation after generation. I have noticed that too. I broke the cycle so my kids work every summer since they turned 14. And I try to teach how to budget their money. I said nothing is free and I just remind them

00:24:17.160 - 00:24:29.160

that all the time. I even tell them a loaf of bread costs $2.59 now if it's not on sale. You know, they don't really know anything about welfare and I don't even remember that I was on it. I had to remind them I don't get food

00:24:29.160 - 00:24:45.079

stamps. I'm proud to be off TAF and I'm trying to contribute back to society. By this time next year, I plan to be in my own home hopefully I pay some bills off, yeah. You can't, you can't own your home, own home, Tanner. That's not an

00:24:45.079 - 00:25:17.099

income. It's supposed to just be a stepping stone. It's not supposed to be a life plan. Work is important. Work is important. OK Thank you all for your attention and thanks particularly to everybody who participated in that video and especially the inspiring story of Edna Gavin

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at the end. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy your dinner. We'll be back up shortly. Ladies and gentlemen. For the main event here in the center ring. Oh. We have Robert Woodson on one side and Robert Rector on the oh no, oh no, that's, that's not it. Everybody's

00:25:46.140 - 00:26:11.219

on the same side here. Ladies and gentlemen, Please finish your dessert, but, uh, please. Move your spoons and forks carefully and quietly. Before I introduce a good friend, introduce our featured speaker, our, our main event, if you will, I just want to say a word, special

00:26:11.219 - 00:26:29.829

word of thanks, uh, to two teams who are here. The first team I mentioned before, and that's Kathy Smith and her team from our special events staff, and Kathy, thank you and Emily and everybody who's here who did such a great job in terms of pulling

00:26:29.829 - 00:26:53.869

this together and the event this afternoon as well. Thank you very, very much. Uh, we are grateful. And I mentioned Jen Marshall before, Jen. You are just doing wonderful work. We're so proud of everything you do with our new family facts database and everything. Where are

00:26:53.869 - 00:27:22.430

you? Stand up and. Thank you very, very much. And finally, our table was Really kind of blown away and I was too because. This video that Genevieve Wood and Steve Wyrick and their team put together, I think really, really tells a very, very important story and

00:27:22.430 - 00:27:37.189

thank you all for pulling it together for both getting all of us to sit down at the right time and uh doing that part, but also finding some of that uh uh stock footage from the files and making it all into such an interesting story. We

00:27:37.189 - 00:27:51.300

very, very much appreciate it because you did in a very short. Time segment up here tell a very, very important story, not only for the people in this room, but for others around the country, and we hope we're gonna be able to use that video elsewhere

00:27:51.300 - 00:28:09.849

as well. So thanks very much Genevieve, Steve and everybody who did that. Now it's my very great pleasure to introduce Bill Shambrough, a longtime leader of the conservative movement, the director of the Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, former director of programs at

00:28:09.849 - 00:28:28.680

the Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee for many years, a senior advisor and chief speechwriter for several leaders in the Reagan administration. Including our heritage colleague Ed Meese when he was attorney General. Bill has written extensively on the Constitution. He is widely published. It is my very great

00:28:28.680 - 00:28:51.750

pleasure to welcome him here tonight and to ask him to please come up and introduce our featured speaker, Bill. Thank you, Ed, and, and I want to thank the Heritage Foundation for putting together such a splendid conference, uh, celebrating the 10th anniversary of welfare reform and

00:28:51.750 - 00:29:07.739

of course for all the things that you did to bring about that reform in the first place, uh, it hardly seems possible, uh, it's been that long since I drafted a memo on this subject for the board of directors of the line and Harry Bradley Foundation.

00:29:08.079 - 00:29:24.459

Uh in Milwaukee, where I worked at the time, uh the purpose of the memo was to describe for our board the programs that we've been funding in our own urban backyard beginning in the early 90s, uh preparing for the moment when the notoriously generous Wisconsin system

00:29:24.459 - 00:29:41.709

of payments. Uh, was going to be replaced by the work first approach, uh, designed by many of the people from whom we've heard today. It's difficult, uh, after 10 years to recall just how bold and controversial, uh, that measure was, but I tried to convey some

00:29:41.709 - 00:30:02.719

of that, uh, to the Bradley board with this quote from the summer 1996 issue of Nation magazine. It said, and I quote, the welfare bill will destroy America's sense of grace. In its place will come massive and deadly poverty, sickness and all manner of violence. People

00:30:02.719 - 00:30:28.060

will die, businesses will close, infant mortality will soar. Everyone who can will move, working. Where I don't know. Working in middle class communities all over America will become scary, violent wastelands created by a government that decided it has no obligations to its neediest citizens in such

00:30:28.060 - 00:30:49.800

a landscape, each of us becomes either predator or prey. Well, things didn't turn out quite that way, uh, as we heard today, and I'd like to think that one of the reasons was precisely the exemplary work done by some of the nonprofit groups and churches in

00:30:49.800 - 00:31:10.910

Milwaukee funded by the Bradley Foundation. Uh, I would like to think these were the real experts on welfare reform. They had been preaching the message of hard work, personal responsibility, and self-reliance for many years, battling not only urban pathologies, but also government programs that seemed only

00:31:10.910 - 00:31:30.339

to provide incentives for those pathologies. For them, the new welfare law meant merely that government was finally working with them rather than against them. Uh, their names aren't familiar to you but deserve to be heard tonight. Lesy Handy, whose professional receptionist institute trained over 200 women

00:31:30.339 - 00:31:49.020

to run the front desks in downtown Milwaukee businesses. The late Bill Locke, founder of a business incubator funded by Community Baptist Church, who provided hundreds of men and hundreds of jobs for men and women by not providing just skills but also instruction in the personal habits,

00:31:49.030 - 00:32:08.599

uh, needed in the workplace. And Cordelia Taylor, whose community-based senior care facility hires former welfare mothers to care for the indigent elderly while she teaches them how to discipline their children and prepare meals on limited budgets. When the new reform law hit Milwaukee, these neighborhood leaders

00:32:08.599 - 00:32:28.540

were prepared to help it succeed by providing at any hour of the day or night. Whatever it took to transform lives, not just material support but personal counseling, morale boosting, and sustained spiritual sustenance, make no mistake, the new work incentives by themselves were all it took

00:32:28.540 - 00:32:48.140

for some to leave the roles, but for many whose lives had been locked for years in dependency or addiction or despair. Only the intensely and spiritually transformative work of these grassroots champions could have made a difference, and the only reason we know uh that we knew

00:32:48.140 - 00:33:04.510

about the handy and the locks and the tailors uh was because of the work of the man from whom we're going to hear this evening. Uh, Bradley had long heeded and supported Bob Woodson's central message, uh, that even within, uh, that even within America's toughest low

00:33:04.510 - 00:33:26.430

income neighborhoods, there are grassroots groups quietly and successfully attacking our largest social problems. But they're invisible to the rest of America, he says, because only professional experts seemingly, uh, know how to deal with social problems. Woodson's message is that the best vaccine against disease comes from

00:33:26.430 - 00:33:45.569

the blood of those who have survived it, from those who have personally struggled with the problems they now seek to help others overcome. And his message is that no degree from a university can replace the energy and authority of those who are responding to a decree

00:33:45.569 - 00:34:04.000

from God. Now all the PhDs in Wisconsin had insisted for years that Milwaukee was a social wasteland. Uh, only massive outside government programs are gonna turn things around, so we asked Bob Woodson to come to Milwaukee. And show us some of these grassroots champions that he

00:34:04.000 - 00:34:21.709

insisted could be found everywhere and so he did, uh, within months his Center for Neighborhood Enterprise had led us to to Handy to Locke, to Taylor and do dozens of other grassroots groups that have been laboring for years just a few miles from foundation headquarters without

00:34:21.709 - 00:34:38.868

our ever being aware of it. The center prepared them to be our grantees not just by training them in the technicalities of of grant application and project management, but just as important by acquainting them with the larger idea of civic renewal uh that they exemplified so

00:34:38.868 - 00:34:55.040

well uh without knowing it. Bob's many accomplishments and his honors and his publications are, are of course spelled out in the biography provided at your table, so I'm not going to repeat them. But we need to understand this about Bob Woodson. He uniquely, it's a much

00:34:55.040 - 00:35:14.979

overused word, but in this case it it applies. He uniquely combines the understanding of the role that Tocqueville's voluntary associations have played in American life with the ability to apply that wisdom by locating and nurturing the local grassroots groups uh that reflected when Bob brought these

00:35:14.979 - 00:35:33.810

gifts to Milwaukee. He introduced us to Ley Handy, Bill Locke, and Cordelia Taylor, uh, who became not only critical recipients, grant recipients of ours and essential elements of the success of welfare reform, he also introduced us, however, to some enduring friends and some of America's genuine

00:35:33.810 - 00:36:03.510

heroes. It's my honor now, uh, to present you Bob Woodson. I want to uh First of all, thank Bill and Heritage for bestowing this great honor on me to come here, uh, to address such an August group. You got some of the smartest folks in the

00:36:03.510 - 00:36:27.030

country are on welfare reform in general. I, uh, also like to thank my wife and, uh, Ellen and Tanya for coming out. Tanya just got off daddy welfare by graduating from Hampton this year. And I'm gonna embarrass her by telling you, uh, I, I said to

00:36:27.030 - 00:36:48.979

Tonya, now that you're working, what are you gonna do with your paycheck and what do you think you ought to be spending your money for? She said, for emergencies. So she's not quite off welfare yet. But we're working on it. Um, there is a, uh, prayer

00:36:48.979 - 00:37:07.419

that I utter each day, and I commend to you. God, give me the strength to tell and pursue the truth, especially when it's inconvenient to me. And that I, uh, obviously you've heard a lot from some very smart people about welfare policy, and I'm not going

00:37:07.419 - 00:37:29.159

to try to in any way elaborate on what they have already told you. One of the advantages that I have of being a C student is that I'm not confounded by complexity. I just move on by it. And try to pursue answers as best I can.

00:37:30.250 - 00:37:46.000

In one sense, my perspective that I'm gonna share with you the evening is like a 12 year old boy here in Washington, uh, a tractor trailer truck, an 18 wheeler was stuck under a bridge, and they brought riggers out and engineers and they were standing discussing

00:37:46.409 - 00:38:05.010

uh how to uh stuck this truck, how you get it taken out. So the little 12 year old boy said dad why don't they just let the air out the tires. So I'm going to uh to start my remarks from the perspective of a 12 year

00:38:05.010 - 00:38:19.239

old that says, why don't we just let the air out the tires? How do we restore common sense to make it commonplace again, as I tried to say. And so it's with that in mind that I'd like to, to share with you when I first came

00:38:19.239 - 00:38:39.399

to um a liberal democratic civil rights activist. Who was mugged by reality when we stood outside of a pharmaceutical plant picketing and when they desegregated after 4 months, they hired 9 black PhD chemists who informed us when we asked them to join the movement that we

00:38:39.399 - 00:38:59.330

got these jobs because we were qualified. After this happened a few times, I realized that I was in the wrong struggle, and I began to direct my energies towards helping low income people of all races. But still I thought that the best way to do it

00:38:59.330 - 00:39:18.010

was government liberal approaches and I worked for the Unitarian Service Committee in Boston heading their first national program and when I looked at the budget, I realized that 80% of all the money that we raised went not to the poor, it went to fund raising and

00:39:18.010 - 00:39:38.340

administration, and only 20% went to the programs, yet it was not. The director of development on the cover of the brochures. They were starving children in, in, in, in Africa and inner city poor kids, but they were spending the bulk, and I was content with that.

00:39:38.419 - 00:39:53.929

I said, well, maybe this is how the world works. Until they had a budget cut and wanted to cut my budget 40%. And increased the administrative budget. And so I had a little, uh organize the staff and I said, why don't we all cut our budgets,

00:39:54.139 - 00:40:18.669

our personal income, 10%, and then we can take, anyway, I got fired. Yeah. The long and short, you know, I didn't have a ko burn. And when word got spread around that I had gotten fired for standing up a principle, people came from all over and

00:40:18.669 - 00:40:35.959

I was restored, but I know once you kill the king, you gotta leave. So I left and I said, well, the problem is white liberals, so I went to work for the National Urban League. When Nixon gave them $60 million to address poverty, people don't know

00:40:35.959 - 00:40:57.199

that. $60 million and people stayed up all night writing proposals. Again, 80% of the money did not go to the poor. It went to consulting firms and friends and relatives, a lot of townhouses in DC were purchased. And I had to conspire to excellence in that

00:40:57.199 - 00:41:13.360

environment. And so I realized that the problem was neither white nor black. And that's when I met my first conservative. A man who was on the board of the Unitarian Service Committee by the name of Eric Cudders. He was a Czechoslovakian who invented the bazooka. One

00:41:13.360 - 00:41:27.699

thing that I found out about Eric was interesting. Eric would always be straight with me. He would argue and fight with me, but once he went behind closed doors, he would vote the way he said. One thing the white liberals never do, they never argued with

00:41:27.699 - 00:41:42.850

black folks in the 60s. No matter how stupid your ideas may have been. They just tell you, oh sure, and they go behind closed doors and vote against you and tell you, I had to abstain, Bob. I don't know why the board didn't vote you a

00:41:42.850 - 00:42:02.719

program. And so then I realized that the issue in America is not black or white. It is how do we treat the least of God's children. That's the the standard against we should. And then I moved to, uh, I met uh uh Peter Berger when he

00:42:02.719 - 00:42:20.209

was going to empower people and through Peter I met the folks at Heritage Foundation and others. One thing that I was impressed with the conservative movements, they would argue with you and argue among themselves, and they really believed in the competition of ideas. When American Enterprise

00:42:20.209 - 00:42:39.689

Institute, uh, uh, Irving Kristol wrote a paper, a column in support of Israel. Mr. Barrodi Senior, the president of A, wrote one just the opposite supporting the Palestinian cause, and I said I have never seen people in policy debate. And so I was really moved and

00:42:39.689 - 00:42:56.429

struck and then I met when I started the Center for neighborhood Enterprise after 5 years American Enterprise Institute, I met Stuart Butler, who was working for Heritage and Heritage, uh, really gave us our start. And Stuart came to work for me and Stuart was introduced to

00:42:56.429 - 00:43:16.120

the underside of Washington, uh, because he was working in my office one day and uh someone came in and stole his wallet and I, and I told Stuart he has to watch out for these folks because he didn't profile properly. You, you see, the person who

00:43:16.120 - 00:43:36.590

came in was a gorgeous tall blonde who came in and asked him, I told you you can't trust those folks. So next time when you see one of them coming through the office, you know, grab your wallet. And so it is, um, it, it was with

00:43:36.590 - 00:43:50.989

that in mind and that, that in er on a serious note, it was heritage really when uh I met with, I was with the American Enterprise Institute and Dick Larry Scaife. Gave Heritage a grant and Heritage lend their lawyer to me and I was able to

00:43:50.989 - 00:44:14.139

establish the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and they have been a faithful friend of not only the Center for Neighbhood Enterprise but this movement of ours and I want to say thanks Ed, for all you guys do. Um I really think that the discussion that we had

00:44:14.139 - 00:44:37.439

this afternoon on welfare reform is important, but it is incomplete. Because if you are our goal should not just be removing people from welfare, but it should be restoring people who are poor. And the restoration of people, it can't be consigned to just financial incentives. I

00:44:37.439 - 00:44:56.899

think James Q Wilson said it best in one of his very important articles, he said at the macro level there are obvious difference between economic consequences and cultural consequences to oversimplify. If we predict that behavior is driven by economic incentives and if we alter those incentives

00:44:57.090 - 00:45:17.719

and behavior does not change or changes contrary to our predictions, we have to say that something else is working here that something else is a combination of class, values, beliefs, perceptions, mindset, in short, culture. And there is evidence that it is, it is not just the

00:45:17.719 - 00:45:36.169

economic incentive incentives that changes or or motivates people. And the black experience is very important to make that point. Even though in the black community is often used as a moral barometer for the health of America, yet prior to the 1960s when black Americans were faced

00:45:36.169 - 00:45:55.139

with rampant discrimination in the South, we're being lynched every day. We had no representation in government. We're more fearful of the police than we were the Klan, even in the presence of all of those disincentives and injustices. Between 1930 and 1940 to the Great Depression when

00:45:55.139 - 00:46:12.729

the unemployment rate was 25%, it was 40% in the black community. Well, if we were strictly or limited to a uh uh a uh influenced by those economic incentives, then we should have gone to hell in a handbasket. And yet, the, the data shows that the

00:46:12.729 - 00:46:35.800

marriage rate in black America in 1930 and 1940 was higher than the marriage formation rate of whites. In face of all of this economic chaos and social injustice, 82% of all black families had a man and a woman raising children up until 1962. And John McWhorters

00:46:35.800 - 00:46:56.679

points out in Chicago in 1920, the headline said it was scandalous. The out of wedlock birth in the black community was 15%. And that was considered a scandal. Therefore, if, if, if we believe that incentives alone is what drives a given people, then why didn't we

00:46:56.679 - 00:47:16.179

go to hell in a hand basket? Why? Because the moral glue that kept black America together whether it's faith in its God, it's faith in its in itself. We have families coming together that served as a protection against the storm of injustice and racism, and that

00:47:16.179 - 00:47:36.629

lasted up until 1962. And, and that's when we had the poverty programs. We then spent about $13 trillion on programs to aid the poor. And we said that the problems that these communities face is a lack of racial uh uh uh uh uh fairness, justice, a

00:47:36.629 - 00:47:56.419

lack of political participation and money. So we threw $13 trillion at the problem where 80% of the money went not to the poor, but those who served poor people. And those providers asked not which problems are solvable but which ones are fundable this year and Chuck

00:47:56.419 - 00:48:14.830

Hobbs, God rest his soul, pointed this out and up from uh dependency in his monumental study that pointed out in graphic detail where all of the money went in the poverty industry. It created an industry with the perverse incentives for us to maintain people in poverty.

00:48:15.389 - 00:48:35.830

And even the churches in that time became addicted to government in the whole area of foster care and adoption prior to the government's involvement, the churches were the primary vehicles that took care of children that were abandoned and neglected. And because it was expensive to maintain

00:48:35.830 - 00:48:55.840

children in foster care or outside of their homes, the church had an economic incentives to return those children to their parents or to relatives and get them adopted. But then the government stepped up and said we will intervene and we have purchase of service so the

00:48:55.840 - 00:49:15.510

government purchased service from all these church groups and the government said we are only going to pay for children who are in foster care. And so the economic incentives of these institutions altered to the point where you had a proliferation over long periods of time of

00:49:15.510 - 00:49:35.294

children in foster care so that there are economic disincentives for placing children in stable homes. In my own office, I have a young man and his wife, middle class. Two children stable good income, went through all of the rigors of getting certified to adopt children. Want

00:49:35.294 - 00:49:51.300

an older child that they said are hard to place. They sit now for 3 and 4 months without hearing from the social welfare agency who says they have all these children that they can't find people to to place them. And so part of what our challenge

00:49:51.300 - 00:50:09.969

has to be is to understand. That the institutions that that that oppress people are part of the problems, but the solution has to do with the moral and spirit is character that keeps people alive and and and so therefore we must look to a different paradigm

00:50:10.139 - 00:50:25.520

than we find contained in the debate between the left and the right. Bill Bennett said it right when he says when liberals look at poor people they see a sea of victims. And when conservatives look at poor people, they see a sea of aliens. And so

00:50:25.520 - 00:50:43.510

there's an old African proverb that when bull elephants fight, the grass always loses. And so the grass, uh, low income people are the net losers of this environment. And so if we are therefore recognize that it is character, it is morality, it is is is a

00:50:43.510 - 00:51:00.149

cultural crisis, then we have got to begin to look for other sources for solutions. And, and I think there are two sources of looking. First of all, the 9/11 report pointed out that there's a small chapter that said the reason we were attacked is because there

00:51:00.149 - 00:51:19.110

is a crisis and innovation in America. We were unwilling or unable to think outside of the box. And we need to apply that same uh uh willingness to think outside of the box. George Bernard Shaw asked a very profound question. He said, must a cry Christ

00:51:19.110 - 00:51:37.459

die in torment in every age to save those that lack imagination. And Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. And what we must do in social policy and in in our in our lives is begin to recognize that with all of the good work that

00:51:37.459 - 00:51:52.820

we're doing it is inadequate, it is not enough that we've got to look to the right sources if we're looking for the right solutions and the right sources will not be found by continuing to compile studies on looking at what are the what are the ways

00:51:52.820 - 00:52:07.189

that we can tweak the welfare system. It's important to do, but it is inadequate. We've got to deal not just with people on welfare, but we've got to go to the polluted stream that is feeding the welfare system. And that polluted dream, it is a crisis

00:52:07.189 - 00:52:27.189

in character in America. There is a decline in morality. It's not popular anymore to talk about integrity, about honesty, about fidelity, about virtue. Samuel Adams, I think, said it best when he said he wrote a letter to James Warren, a general dissolution of principles and manners

00:52:27.189 - 00:52:44.389

will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued. But when they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. If virtue

00:52:44.389 - 00:53:06.689

and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. And that is exactly our challenge is how do we look beyond our existing paradigms and begin to reach into those communities for new sources of personal and renewal of people. The restoration of individuals begins

00:53:06.689 - 00:53:22.909

and that we've got to begin that process. The first thing the the barrier that we must overcome, I think Bill Bill Chamber also stated it that parallels what uh Samuel Adams said and Wilson. And Bill said one of the deepest problems in modern social policy is

00:53:22.909 - 00:53:42.370

the tension between theocratic materialistic, expert driven approaches on the one hand, on the other self-governing citizens articulating their own problems as they see them through the lens of social custom, tradition, even faith and coming up with their own answers. It means that if that in every

00:53:42.370 - 00:54:02.169

other aspect of our life when we're looking for new innovative approaches, we're able to look to untutored sources. That's why in 80% of all the new jobs in our economy are created by entrepreneurs even though they represent only 3% of the population. Entrepreneurs tend to be

00:54:02.169 - 00:54:30.560

C students. A students come back to universities and teach C students come back and endow. A students ask, what is the 401k plan? C students won't know what the deal is. There are some venture capitalists that will not invest in an entrepreneur that has not failed

00:54:30.560 - 00:54:47.439

at least once or twice because overcoming failure means that the person is a strong character. And so the first thing we need to do is to be able to, to be open, to look for innovation where it exists, even if it comes for untutored sources. Nobody

00:54:47.439 - 00:55:06.030

wants cares whether Bill Gates has a, a college degree. Oh we because in our market economy we are impressed with outcomes. It's the same in our medical life. About 70 to 80% of all of the the pharmaceutical inventions come from the rainforests of Brazil or Tibet,

00:55:06.100 - 00:55:23.459

other places where our great scientists go there and study the effect of certain herbs, bring them back to our research labs, refine them, and then we are introduced. No one says, well, the native who brought us the innovation didn't have a degree in pharmacy or didn't

00:55:23.459 - 00:55:41.770

have a PhD. And so it is important for us to try to apply market principles. We must be able to look for uh um uncertified sources of new ways of approaching problems. But we can do it in every every sphere of life except in our social

00:55:41.770 - 00:56:03.270

economy. In our social economy, we don't care what you produce as long as you're certified. Certification, we assume is associated with qualification and therefore we tend to dismiss people like grassroots leaders who are indigenous to these communities. Because, and they are addressing some of the problems

00:56:03.270 - 00:56:22.280

that Wilson refers to. Drug and alcohol addiction is just one example. It is irrational and therefore it cannot be addressed the way the National Institute of Health is addressing, and $35 million to put ads on television developed by uh by research scientists to say no to

00:56:22.280 - 00:56:37.310

children after 5 years and and billions of dollars, their own study reveals that children that watch these ads tend to take more drugs than children who don't watch the ads. And I happened to sit on the night aboard at the time and I was the skunk

00:56:37.310 - 00:56:56.540

at the garden party because I said, well, who designed these uh ads? They said our behavioral scientist. I said, well, who is going to fix the problem? Our behavioral scientists. And so, um, and so therefore we are, we are unwilling to recognize for instance that drug

00:56:56.540 - 00:57:17.939

and alcohol addiction that feeds the welfare roles that also fills our jails and contributes to the pollution of our society, drug and alcohol addiction is irrational. Because if it wasn't, therefore it takes an irrational cure to address an irrational uh uh uh uh sin and disease.

00:57:18.310 - 00:57:36.939

Why is it irrational if it wasn't? Why do you have people with PhDs who are drug addicts? Why do you have people with MD degrees drug addicts? They know it isn't because they lack knowledge, it's because it is irrational and therefore if the if the disease

00:57:36.939 - 00:57:55.149

is irrational, then the cure ought to be irrational and belief in God is irrational. I don't know why it works, but it works. And grassroots people know instinctively they can't tell you uh uh they don't know the theology of why God works, but they can show

00:57:55.149 - 00:58:12.060

a point you to as evidence that God works. And that's why they are so important. In my book The Triumph of Joseph, I try to use a different prism to understand what the relationship should be between the rich and the poor. When I read in Genesis

00:58:12.060 - 00:58:27.489

the story of Joseph, and you all know that story of how Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, and then he served in the house of Potipi and and was the best steward, but he was faithful to God even when in his imprisonment

00:58:27.689 - 00:58:44.879

and his state of slavery. And everywhere he went, everything he touched, every field that he that he administered was the best. The flocks were the best because he was faithful. And then he went to jail because Potiphi wife lusted for him. But you see, Joseph resisted

00:58:44.879 - 00:59:00.709

her because he had horizontal integrity and vertical integrity. He said it would be a sin against my master, but a sin against my God as well. And so what he did is he went to jail for years, but he was faithful and became the best inmate.

00:59:02.189 - 00:59:26.810

And one day when Pharaoh was looking for answers because they had 7 years, Pharaoh said, I have these dreams and none of his PhDs or his MDs uh. They had fullness of this world. Even Ed Fulner didn't know. And so, but one of his servants remembered

00:59:26.810 - 00:59:39.689

this Hebrew in the prisons and at 31 years old, he was brought up before Pharaoh and he said, bow down to the god Pharaoh. He said, I can't bow down to anyone but my God in heaven, even at the risk of my own life. So Pharaoh

00:59:39.689 - 01:00:01.000

knew that he had integrity. And he told Pharaoh that there'd be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, save up 20%. That's the first flat tax. Check it out. It's in the Bible. And together, They form and he was placed in the position

01:00:01.000 - 01:00:28.500

of authority second only to Pharaoh. But Joseph remained a Hebrew and Pharaoh remained. An Egyptian Now, what are the lessons for us about that story? First of all, Pharaoh and Joseph did not have a religious relationship. Joseph was not a faith-based program. Pharaoh was impressed with

01:00:28.500 - 01:00:50.310

the secular consequences of Joseph's faith in his God. And that is what he, he allied himself with. Some of you who may believe that you are too sophisticated to need God in your life, but you ought to embrace these faith-based organizations and healers because they are

01:00:50.310 - 01:01:08.090

able to save people from maladies that none of the psychiatrists and all is because our grassroots Joseph, what I did was go in those communities and I found two types of Josephs. There are those who never rode on a stolen bike, Curtis. There are people in

01:01:08.090 - 01:01:29.090

low income neighborhoods and crime, drug infested neighborhoods who never had raising children that are not dropping out of school or in jail on drugs. There's another type, those that were falling were uh uh predators, but God changed their life and they became healers of others. The

01:01:29.090 - 01:01:46.629

grassroots organizations that are represented here and around this country that Bill Chamra talked about. They are one of the best kept secrets in America. They are our true patriots. They can't be bought because God already bought them. And they serve not because there is a there

01:01:46.639 - 01:02:05.459

there's a program obligation. They serve out of a sense of obligation of of godly responsibility, not out of compassion. And I believe if we are to really bring about true reform of this nation we've got to have not just welfare reform but poverty reform we've got

01:02:05.459 - 01:02:23.070

to take people who are struggling and give them an opportunity to be self fulfilling. But they will give to you that they can find remedies to problems that have perplexed this society for years if we would just open our minds and humble our hearts to recognize

01:02:23.070 - 01:02:40.219

that sometimes a lot of people who they say ain't ain't eating and a lot of people who break verbs, dangle participles and split infinitives have a lot to contribute to us who do not. Because one of the biggest barriers that conservatives and liberals have of joining

01:02:40.219 - 01:03:02.179

in relationships with the Josephs of this world is fundamental in intellectual imperialism. That with our education comes a good dose of intellectual imperialism. We are conditioned to believe that someone is untutored, therefore is unwise, and therefore we don't have to listen to them. After all, if

01:03:02.179 - 01:03:27.050

they were wise, why ain't they rich? But we also know the presence of wealth and privilege is no safety net either. In my book, I outline all of the rich celebrities. The last one is Mel Gibson, Gloria Vanderbilt. Mary Tyler Moore, Carol O'Connor, John Bellucci. Jose

01:03:27.050 - 01:03:46.800

DiMaggio's son, George McGovern's daughter, died a hopeless drunk in Alaska, frozen to death outside of a bar. So that I have met a lot of successful people who committed suicide, but not a single happy one to do so. And our grassroots leaders that are represented here

01:03:46.800 - 01:04:06.300

tonight. They are not advocates for the poor, they are witnesses for the poor. They are living examples that when we uh uh uh support grassroots leaders who are in the trenches that they can overcome all of the problems and many of the problems that we associate

01:04:06.300 - 01:04:24.489

with the inner city poor are now finding expression in the gilded ghettos of our suburban communities and just as we export some of this nasty gangster music we can export positive moral role models. To make the point, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to uh indulge you

01:04:24.489 - 01:04:43.899

for a minute to ask a young lady to come up and take 3 minutes to tell you her testimony. Michelle Stanton, would you come up? Because she is an example of what it is possible to accomplish all over this nation and grassroots leaders. Like Rachel Morrison,

01:04:44.060 - 01:05:03.070

come on up here too, Rachel. God used Rachel to touch the heart of this woman to remove and transform her. It wasn't an economic incentive that Tracy, but it was an experience for God and would you just share, share with our audience who you were before

01:05:03.070 - 01:05:23.570

and who you are now? Good evening. Who I was before was a drug, a drug addict, a mother with children that was in the system, and a person that everybody told me I would never amount to anything. Um, I met Rachel Morrison through, um, a friend.

01:05:23.929 - 01:05:37.969

We were in the street getting high and, um, he said, Well, why don't you come and go to this program with me, um, and maybe this lady can help you. So I'm thinking how much money does she have? I just need some money so I can

01:05:37.969 - 01:05:56.409

continue on what I'm doing and our money is not always the answer. Um, you really need people to take time out with you. Um, this lady, Rachel Morrison, she runs a program called Efforts, and that stands for Employment for former Offenders receiving Treatment Services. I am

01:05:56.409 - 01:06:13.820

also an ex-offender. Um, through her program, she went to court with me every day when I had to go. She stayed on me. She really cared. I never had anyone to really take the time out with me. Um, she encouraged me to not see so many

01:06:13.820 - 01:06:31.739

men, not to dress so provocative, and the best thing that she could ever do for me was to take me to church. I went to uh Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church with her, um, which was her church home, and um it seemed like the pastor was preaching

01:06:31.739 - 01:06:46.770

only to me that day. I couldn't keep still and um I got up and I joined the church. I also stayed with Rachel. I did volunteer work at her program when I got out of jail for 2 years with no pay and that's hard for somebody

01:06:46.770 - 01:07:03.770

to live in poverty. How you gonna work for 2 years and don't get any money? Um, but she explained to me the morals and principles about life is not always about money. Um, 6 years later, I got my children back out of the system. They are

01:07:03.770 - 01:07:21.459

home with me. I got off of welfare. I have a job. I have my own security company. I run my own business. My children work. We're not on welfare, we don't depend on food stamps and Medicaid and everything, and I'm married. I have a husband now.

01:07:23.209 - 01:08:01.270

Yeah, yeah. And the same faith-based program that I came to came through. I'm now on the board of directors to help someone that was just like me and you couldn't ask for a better remedy. Thank you. And Rachel represents just one of our grassroots leaders. Well,

01:08:01.280 - 01:08:28.060

the rest of my guests and our hands across network, please stand so I can let people know that Rachel isn't the, is the only one. Everyone here. Thank you. I can take an entire evening to tell you the same story, testimonies that you heard here. Of

01:08:28.060 - 01:08:44.979

people who have been delivered from self-destruction. And people who have delivered them through the grace of God. And it seems to me that what we've got to do our challenge and heritage and scholars and people involved in the welfare reform movement, we've got to go beyond

01:08:44.979 - 01:09:04.398

welfare reform. And be like the good Pharaoh and join with the good Josephs. And then we should define what government's role is, but I would suggest that you scholars, when you're writing your journals, don't just talk about the statistics, interview some of these people, you know,

01:09:05.208 - 01:09:32.369

experience always prevails against an argument. And conservatives are not very good. At drama They are. I mean, people are influenced they behave not by studies. Detectives in America started dressing better not because of a Harvard study said they can police better, it's because of Kojak. Within

01:09:32.369 - 01:09:51.619

one year of Hollywood releasing that show some years ago, um, what is it, uh, um, where they have the guns, you know, the, um, police SWAT within 1 year 122 police departments had SWAT units, even in Riverside, California, where a cop on the beat for 3

01:09:51.619 - 01:10:09.189

years never used his gun. And so it seems to me that we have got to understand that people are motivated and moved to change not just by hearing dry statistics but they've got to see living witnesses and examples and that should be reflected in your journals

01:10:09.720 - 01:10:32.620

when you have conferences have people in to testify as to the soundness of whatever policy you're advocating. I'd like to end with a quote. From My friend Who's no longer with us, Michael Joyce. There was no one in this country that I love and respected more

01:10:32.620 - 01:10:50.700

who did more for the neighborhood movement than Michael Joyce. He will ever live in my heart. And I think his words are very profound. In fact, he delivered this at the heritage board meeting when he says. The impoverished mother who struggles against the public school bureaucracy

01:10:50.700 - 01:11:06.830

to put her child in a private school. Where discipline and values prevail, the street vendors who battle licensing and zoning boards to make the honest living, the middle class family who braves the ridicule of social service professionals in order to challenge the distribution of condoms in

01:11:06.830 - 01:11:29.149

school, the Freddie Garcia. The Rachel Morrisons, the Shirley Holloways, the Curtis Watkins. Who is involved not only in marriage issues, but he is a violence free zone person. And he and his crew of young men are in schools, high schools, dramatically reducing violence within 3 weeks

01:11:29.149 - 01:11:47.640

of putting 6. Former The, uh, problem fellas in the schools. Violence is dramatically off and now we just signed an agreement with the Prince George's County school system in in September to the largest, most troubled high school we'll have youth advisors in those halls, and our

01:11:47.640 - 01:12:02.939

youth advisors will be riding the buses to demonstrate to America that we don't need more police or crime emergencies. All we need is go to the grassroots folks that the kids turn to and they they respect them. And that's why they changed and they are transformed

01:12:03.310 - 01:12:27.189

so when we meet people like Curtis. And Michael Joyce says they are transforming people. We should make these agents of transformation. Their stories should be our stories. And when the conservative movement understands that. Don't be afraid to say, God, nothing will happen to you. I promise

01:12:27.189 - 01:12:42.660

you. And don't be afraid to talk about it. But also, I would hope you like the good Pharaoh would join with the Josephs. America must be saved from this moral and spiritual freefall we're in. If we don't do it, it won't be done. God bless you.

01:12:50.970 - 01:13:33.720

That's Thank you. Wow. Bob, your message of of hope and message for the future. And your reminder. That it's not about money and studies, it's about real people. Thank you, thank you so much for being with us tonight.

01:13:34.589 - 01:14:54.180

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for being here. We look forward to fighting battles together with you in the months and years ahead. We're adjourned. I had a lot of rookie I was but uh. right. No, you always say it absence.

01:15:18.020 - 01:16:36.529

I. Oh. OK. and we're doubling over the US corporate. Thank you very much. That was really. to see.