Jack Kemp was a Renaissance man, and we haven’t seen many of them in politics in my lifetime. Much has been written about Jack Kemp since his death, on Saturday, at the age of 73, and I’ve culled just a bit of it for this post to remember a great man.
The Wall Street Journal in an editorial called him a “Capitalist for the Common Man,” and went on to say:
Kemp, who died Saturday at age 73, was among the most important Congressmen in U.S. history. He wasn't powerful because he held a mighty post, and he never served in the House majority. He helped to transform the Republican Party though he was never its Presidential standard bearer. His influence sprang from the power of his ideas, and from the sincerity and enthusiasm with which he spread them.
Along with Senator William Roth of Delaware, Kemp proposed a 30% across-the-board tax cut. Though the Democrats who ran Congress combined with Old Guard Republicans to defeat it during the Carter Presidency, a GOP candidate by the name of Ronald Reagan liked what he saw. Reagan largely adopted Kemp-Roth as his own, campaigned on it in 1980, and the proposal eventually became the basis for the 25% income-tax cuts that finally took effect in 1983 and became the most successful domestic policy achievement of the modern era. The Kemp-Reagan policy mix of lower taxes to lift incentives, sound money to break inflation, and regulatory relief to unleash entrepreneurs became the foundation for the prosperity of the 1980s and 1990s.
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And this from David P. Goldman, associate editor of First Things:
The transmission of ideas in the Reagan Revolution was one of the stranger developments in intellectual history. Robert Mundell, the Canadian economist who in 1999 would win the Nobel Prize, had already been chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and was teaching at the University of Chicago. Arthur Laffer (whose famous “Laffer Curve” would summarize supply-side economics) was Mundell’s colleague at Chicago. Mundell is an authentic genius who sported shoulder length prematurely gray hair, with Siamese-cat blue eyes that had an unnerving way of fixing on his conversation partner. The professionals in economics shunned him because his views were so novel as to threaten all their settled opinions.
Laffer translated Mundell’s insights into terms that Jude Wanniski could understand, and Jude then explained it all to Kemp. Through this game of telephone, there emerged the 1981 Kemp-Roth Tax Cuts, one of the few really decisive turning points in American economic history. And it was accomplished entirely outside the usual channels of policy transmission. There were no Wall Street gurus, no strings pulled by investment banks, no academic consensus, only a broken-down actor, a broken-down quarterback, an outsider of an economist, and a newsman with pronounced messianic tendencies.
Jack was a leader who loved his country and put it before personal gain. When he left office he had the equity in his house and not much else. But he had four children, including two sons who played professional football, and seventeen grandchildren. By the time I got to know him he was full time on the lecture circuit, putting his family finances in order before joining the Washington thinktank Empower America.
A devout Christian, Jack made far more of a difference than an ex-quarterback with a physical education degree from Occidental College had a right to. He earned our gratitude not only for what he accomplished, but for what he proved about the character of the United States.
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There are a few things not mentioned by either the Wall Street Journal or First Things, that I think are more than noteworthy.
1. Jack Kemp played in the American Football League (AFL) for all 10 years of its existence. He played in its All Star game seven times, and played in its championship game five times. He set many of the league’s career passing records.
2. He received the AFL Most Valuable Player in 1965 after leading his Buffalo Bills to a second consecutive championship.
3. He was a Sporting News selection at Quarterback in 1960 and 1965.
4. He was the only AFL Quarterback to be listed as a starter for all 10 years of the league’s existence, and was one of only 20 players to play all 10 years.
5. His number 15 was retired by the Buffalo Bills in 1984.
6. During the early part of his football career, he served in the United States Army Reserve.
7. He co-founded the AFL Players Association, and served five times as its president.
8. He married his college sweetheart, Joanne Main, and remained devoted to her for 50 years.
Jack Kemp is survived by his wife of fifty years, his four children and 17 grandchildren. R. I. P.
Here are two of the last pieces Jack Kemp wrote for the Wall Street Journal. No one can say he didn’t warn us.
Obama and Economic Opportunity
April 17, 2008
In my opinion, people of all colors and income levels don't hate the rich. They want to get rich. They're more interested in generating wealth than they are in redistributing wealth. They want to own property, educate their children and build a nest egg that can be passed on to their heirs. Unfortunately, some aren't able to access the same ladder of opportunity that is so readily available to the majority. . . .
By giving people access to capital and allowing them to take ownership of assets, entrepreneurship will be encouraged and the cycle of poverty can begin to be broken. All persons should have the opportunity to go as high as their merit and determination can carry them. My favorite quote is from Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else."
Lincoln's definition of entrepreneurial capitalism is the best I have ever heard.
It's Time to Think Big on Tax Cuts
Oct, 8, 2008 (with Peter Ferrara)
John McCain needs to show the nation that he has the economic recovery plan to restore long-term economic growth. To do that, he needs to refocus his campaign with a new tax plan. Mr. McCain should come out for an alternative, optional flatter tax system, which he has already supported. . . .
Mr. Obama, by contrast, offers tax increases on savers, investors, small business, employers, and other job creators, a trillion dollar plus spending increase, and new regulatory burdens. That has no prospect of restoring economic growth. It will only do the opposite.
