Jack Kemp, July 13, 1935 - May 2, 2009
Posted by Scott "The Piper" St. Clair - May 03, 2009
Yesterday our movement lost one of its best friends when former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former US Representative, and former All-Everything professional football player Jack Kemp died.
That he was also Bob Dole's 1996 running mate won't bar his entry into heaven. It did, however, occasion his visit to Seattle during the '96 presidential campaign where he appeared at the King County GOP picnic held in those days at Tom Stewart's Vashon Island ranch (since sold - taxes drove Stewart to Arizona). I stood in the longest of lines - I HATE lines - to get his autograph on a Dole/Kemp '96 campaign sign.
Time to take it to the frame shop...
When I said, "Thanks, Jack," he looked at me. Sweet.
I remember clearly watching him on TV when I was a teenager. He was announcing his candidacy for a US House seat in Buffalo, NY. I thought it crazy then that a jock would have the qualifications for such high office. Was I ever wrong.
Most people have no clue how important Jack Kemp was. His influence with Ronald Reagan was instrumental in the creation of the Reagan tax cuts (remember, they were called the Kemp-Roth Tax Cuts). He was an architect of the "enterprise zone" idea whereby blighted urban areas could become capitalist enclaves thus allowing markets to work to create prosperity for those who would otherwise be eternally dependent upon the government dole. And he was a champion of equal rights for all Americans, a value he learned and practiced during his years as a professional football player.
He was also someone who wasn't afraid to go against the grain when his values dictated it. He supportged immigrant rights, and he opposed what he regarded as Draconian retribution toward illegal immigrants believing, instead, that overall immigrants were a blessing, not a curse.
He was also both a union president and a union organizer. Instrumental in the creation of the American Football League Players Association, he believed in solidarity through collective action. And he regarded it as consistent with a free-market economic point of view.
His was a philosophy that sought to bring people in, not keep them out. He wanted to empower them because he believed in them. Sadly, today too many so-called leaders neither trust nor believe in the intelligence of the American people, hence their pall mall rush to rip off our freedom and liberty.
His death yesterday from cancer takes from us a great American, a great conservative, and a great man.
Jack Kemp was one of us - and we will sorely miss him.
The Piper
Add Comment -
Scotta said on May 04 2009 at 7:51am
Kemp was a great man who leaves behind an equally great family. His concern for the poor was genuine and honorable. Enterprise zones, however, did not accomplish what he desired, as many economists warned. When a marketplace is artifically manipulated, the very people we seek to help will be unnecessarily hobbled all the more.
Skeptical said on May 04 2009 at 11:08am
Since when is EFF a supporter of government-manipulated "enterprise zones"? Many neighborhoods were declared "blighted" by the government so big box businesses could move in and kick everyone else out of their homes/apartments. They were unseemly areas, but poor or not, those people were there first. That property didn't belong to the government. What right did the government have to go in and take over, or sweeten the deal with taxpayer dollars? Does EFF believe that is a role of government?
