Sunday, May 03, 2009

Jack Kemp, 1935-2009

The passing of Jack Kemp--quarterback, congressman, cabinet secretary, and vice-presidential candidate--prompts this self-styled "Jack Kemp Republican" to explain what that term means.

Kemp was among the first Republican officeholders to articulate consistently that conservative principles were not just good for the well off but for everyone. Kemp understood that what stood between the underprivileged and prosperity, between the oppressed and equality, is genuine liberty.

Kemp advocated domestic supply-side economics--lower taxes for greater economic growth--because he realized that economic growth benefits the poor to a greater degree than does redistribution built on higher taxes. He advocated a vigorous foreign policy that promoted democracy and the rule of law globally because he understood that the world's worst off were made that way not because the industrialized democracies exploited them but because their own rulers abused them.

Those of us who like the label "Jack Kemp Republican" insist that conservatism is best because it is compassionate as well as just. People do better in a society that's free. Those who are most vulnerable do especially better.

Edwin J. Feulner, former Kemp campaign manager and now president of the esteemed Heritage Foundation, epitomized the Kemp legacy: "The idea that all conservatives really should regroup around and identify with is that this is not an exclusive club. Freedom is for everybody. That's what Jack Kemp stood for."

Indeed. Here's to liberty, and to Jack Kemp, its champion.

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