FRC Monthly Support Newletter
January 1995

Gary L. Bauer, President
January 10, 1995

Dear Friend:

I hope you don't mind reading over my shoulder this month. I want to share with you my recent letter to the new Congress. There is a special reason for this, since you are uniquely responsible for the major pro-family victories we've seen in the composition of this Congress. Even the press, which once derided critics of Joycelyn Elders as "gnats," now says that the formidable pro- family movement is composed of "lions and tigers." Of course, we are neither. But it was always a mistake for Washington insiders to underestimate the power of the people. And nothing energizes Americans like a threat to their children's future.

The Family Research Council will not only _watch and record_ the formation of policy on Capitol Hill, but will also actively participate in discussions and debates. We have an historic opportunity to help shape the most "family friendly" Congress in history. Keep your copy of this letter. It will serve as a yardstick to measure the accomplishment of the 104th Congress.

An Open Letter to the 104th Congress:

You have been elected to serve at an historic time. No one can deny the power of the mandate issued by the electorate on Nov. 8. You will serve in a Congress in which a majority of members have been elected since 1990. Change is inevitable, but change demands leadership. Your leadership is desperately needed to make the tough decisions that will restore confidence. We have elected you to clear away the roadblocks that bar the way to the American dream. Never before have we been so rich, and yet poverty is at an all-time high. While we are free from major foreign enemies, our streets are unsafe. Though we spend lavishly on education, our schools are beset by academic and social failure. And well respected polls clearly show most Americans believe our nation is "on the wrong track."

Leadership is a double-edged sword. It is never easy, because where much is given, much is expected.
The majority that elected this Congress was emphatic: no more "Beltway solutions." The American people want positive change, change they can feel.

I've prepared a list of urgent concerns that must be addressed if we are to restore families to their rightful place in national life. It isn't a list of political "goodies," nor does it ask for a blank check drawn on the public purse. It doesn't "wire" the legislative process to benefit a select few. Some items on this list will be particularly hard for some to accept, because they substitute personal responsibility for government provision. Other items will be hard for you to adopt, because they require Congress to push away political power. And some items will be hard because they ask you to do just the opposite: to assume power and take responsibility for decisions that should be made by duly elected officials, not by unelected judges and federal bureaucrats.

Some commentators, like ABC's Peter Jennings, have disparaged the voters' judgments. He called Nov. 8 a "temper tantrum" of two-year olds. Others have turned up their noses at this new Congress They have said that the '94 election was a serving of humble pie for politicians. But I believe that this Congress can be a great one if it stops micro-management of the nations' affairs, rids itself of internal corruption, and ends the rule of petty fiefdoms and back-door deals. We need to trust the people, and they, in turn, will trust you.

Let's start at the beginning.

1. TAX FAIRNESS FOR THE FAMILY. Make strengthening the family the cornerstone of public policy. The federal government cannot make families, but it can break them. Historically, laws governing marriage and parental rights have been state and local responsibilities, but previous over-reaching Congresses have weakened the family unit. First, they have taxed the family unfairly. A typical family of four paid only two percent of its income in federal taxes in 1948. Today, that same family pays nearly a quarter of its income into the federal coffers.

Families have children because they believe in the future. Let's let them invest in that future! It's time Congress granted dramatic pro-family tax relief by allowing families to keep more of their own, hard earned dollars.

Second, past Congresses have funded and given moral support to groups that invade the family unit. These groups subvert the family's autonomy and damage its integrity. George Will said it best: "The same government that has trouble delivering the mail to our homes believes that it is competent to deliver sex lessons to our children." Parents have been thrust aside as federal bureaucrats and their cohorts at Planned Parenthood subject our children to value free sex education and "politically correct" lessons on homosexuality. It's time for Congress to say "hands off," once and for all.

You can start by cutting off public funds to any agency that does not uphold the principle that love, sex and marriage go hand in hand. You can go further. You can take an idea from the Virginia-based group, Of the People. It proposed a state constitutional amendment that says: "The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children shall not be infringed." You can apply this same principle to every piece of federal legislation you adopt, with special emphasis on health and education.

Some individuals become synonymous with policy disasters. Neville Chamberlain did so for diplomacy. Jimmy Carter did so for national defense. And the recently ousted Joycelyn Elders did so for public health. Her shameless promotion of condom distribution in the schools, her attacks on religious parents, her advocacy of unhealthy and immoral lifestyles and her flirtation with drug legalization clearly made her ineligible to hold that honorable office. But it does no good to fire Elders if we keep Elders' programs. The new U.S. Surgeon General must respect the family and support parental rights.

2. END JUDICIAL TYRANNY. Americans don't respect Congress when it lets unelected judges run roughshod over peoples' freedom. Who makes the laws? Citizens everywhere see signs of decay-- decay in ethical standards, in young people's perceptions of right and wrong, in the safety of our streets and schools. For over 30 years, courts have usurped the right of the people to express their faith. They have hindered Americans' right to raise their children as they see fit. They have desecrated the sanctity of human life, while unleashing dangerous criminals to prey on innocent victims. The courts have refused to defend decency while coddling anti-social behavior.

Last year, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in order to correct the Supreme Court's flawed interpretation of the First Amendment. It is time for Congress to show the same boldness in correcting the Supreme Court's erroneous rulings in other areas. Laws enacted by the states and Congress that have a rational basis and which do not discriminate should routinely pass constitutional muster. It goes without saying that no nominee for a federal judgeship who believes in making, instead of interpreting, the law should be confirmed by the Senate.

3. DEFUND THE NONSENSE. For years, so-called cultural elites have treated federal arts agencies as their personal piggy banks to fund gross and obscene garbage. While Congress fulminates over the impact of violence on television, it has done nothing effectively to limit the violent and offensive "art" it funds directly through the national endowments and public television.

You can help improve the condition of our nation's homes by putting the government's house in order. While it is true that the National Endowment for the Arts and other cultural agencies have funded many worthy projects over the years, in most cases, private donations would have supported the arts that communities actually want. No community would have paid to display the severed head taken from the corpse of a homeless man! Yet, here in our nation's capital last year, tax dollars were spent for this revolting display of "abject art." It's time to stop funding those who want to destroy culture rather than enhance it. Congress should abolish the NEA. The same goes for the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio and the rest.

4. REFORM THE WELFARE MESS. Franklin Roosevelt acknowledged that "welfare is a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit." Today, all subtlety about the destruction it brings is gone. From the perspective of social conservatives, Congress must enact genuine welfare reform. We don't want an expansion of the failed job training programs that masqueraded as welfare reform in 1988. Rather, we need to end the government's subsidy of illegitimacy. And temporary public assistance must no longer be allowed to degenerate into permanent dependency. Federal funds should never be used to encourage the creation of new households headed by single, teenage mothers.

The goal of public policy must be the creation and maintenance of intact and extended families. No assistance should be available to single mothers who leave the family home, drop out of school, and refuse to work. In its 1986 drive to simplify the tax code, Congress eliminated the deductibility of adoption expenses. This further biased the tax code against children and marriage. The American Family Restoration Act would reverse this serious mistake for a $5,000 tax credit for adoption expenses. By passing these measures, Congress would stop subsidizing illegitimacy and, instead, encourage pro- family alternatives.

5. TEACH AMERICAN VALUES WITHOUT APOLOGY. America's education establishment has marched headlong into a swamp of "political correctness." It breathes contempt for the values of common men and women. Congress should defund any federal program or project that trashes our American heritage. The expansion of federal power over public education has gone hand-in-hand with the collapse of high academic standards and achievement by our youngsters. We need to take the power from unelected bureaucrats, national education boards and teachers union bosses and return it to parents and accountable local school boards.

But don't stop there. The Clinton Education Department has armed you with a major study that "proves" what most people already know: parents are the key to their children's educational achievement. Redouble your efforts to promote parental choice in education. Empower those who can really make a difference. Competition will make all of our schools-- public and private-- better and more effective centers for learning.

6. "GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE" MEANS GOVERNMENT CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE. You were sent to Washington, in large part, because Americans no longer want a government that is out of touch, where judges hundreds of miles away order the removal of The Ten Commandments from a classroom wall, and where the feds ban the listing of religious names of nursing homes in the yellow pages. The offenses Americans have suffered in recent years make a tax on tea seem trivial. Government removed from the people is inherently despotic. Congress should end unfunded mandates. It should give taxing authority back to state and local governments and permit private citizens and the voluntary associations they support to retain more of their own resources.

What we advocate for public policy, we support for your family as well. Serving in Washington has taken a terrible toll on the marriages and families of many able public servants. Keeping "family hours" should be your personal priority unless Congress is in emergency session. But we believe this Congress is committed to something more. You don't seek to be a career politician. Key leaders of this Congress support term limits and other reforms to restore the representative nature of the Congress. A majority of you are not lawyers, but members of other professions. You have more variety of experience than many of your predecessors in office.

You have pledged to share power, not cling to it. You will not impose laws on the people, while hypocritically exempting yourself. Refreshingly, you are committed to conduct yourself as a citizen who will soon return to "civilian life." It is to the power of this promise that you must hold fast, remaining constantly aware of the consequences of the awesome daily decisions you must make in the next two years.

I challenge you to make this Congress the greatest in our history. Go forward with the heartfelt best wishes and the high hopes of your fellow citizens. May God grant you wisdom and discernment and may He bless you and your family as you serve the land we love.


Sincerely,

Gary L. Bauer
President

Family Research Council - 700 13th Street, N.W. - Suite 500 -
Washington, DC 20005 (202) 393-2100

FRC Monthly Support Newsletter provided by courtesy of Mark Conty.

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