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“We stand for freedom”

Speech by Joel B. PollakRepublican Candidate for Congress9

District of IllinoisCook County GOP ConventionRosemont, ILSeptember 25, 2009On this day in 1789, Congress passed the Bill of Rights. Theoriginal Constitution did not include many of the liberties wecherish.It was those ten Amendments, those changes, that allowed ourConstitution to be ratified. And so from the beginning, change hasbeen part of America.But those first changes limited government and expandedfreedom. Today’s changes are limiting freedom and expandinggovernment.We are gathered today from across the great city of Chicagoand its suburbs because we believe in that Bill of Rights. We arehere to redeem the promise of the Tenth Amendment: “Thepowers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the Statesrespectively,

or to the people

.”We are here to fulfill that duty. To stand up for the power of thepeople.I was born in South Africa, a country that did not knowfreedom, where people were denied their rights because of color.We immigrated when I was eight weeks old. I became a citizenwhen I was ten.

I grew up in Skokie, with every opportunity. I went to SolomonSchechter Day School, which nurtured me in my faith. I went toNiles North, one of the best public schools in America. I went on toHarvard.In college, I thought of myself as a Democrat. I believed thatonly government could help the poor and the needy. It was onlywhen I traveled back to South Africa as a Rotary scholar, that Iwitnessed how much damage big government can do.I saw people die of AIDS because the government denied themmedicine. I taught black teenagers whose schools were madeworse, not better, by national control. I met people who hadstruggled their whole lives for democracy, and who had lost faithin that democracy because of corruption.I learned how fragile freedom is, and how important America isas a champion of that freedom. When I came home and enrolledat Harvard Law School, I began to realize that many of my fellowDemocrats did not want to defend that freedom.And so I became a Republican.When Congressman Barney Frank came to Harvard, I askedhim a question that I had not heard anyone in Washington ask. Iasked: “How much responsibility, if any, do you have for thefinancial crisis?” He lost his temper. But I stood my ground. The next day I began receiving hundreds of emails and letters—even from Democrats. I realized then that most Americans aretired of being bullied by the politicians we elect. This summer, I traveled all over the United States on my booktour. Everywhere I went, I met Republicans and Democrats whoare sick of being demonized simply for speaking their minds. Wedeserve better!

The challenges America faces today are severe, and urgent.But Congress is making them worse, not better. The radical left isin charge. And its answer to every problem is the same: morecontrol, higher taxes, and less freedom. The Democrats in Congress have created the largest budgetdeficit in American history. This year alone, they will add $5,200of debt for every man, woman and child. That’s a bill mygeneration will have to pay. The House passed a cap-and-trade bill that will cost each familyin America $1,761 per year. I have a degree in environmentalscience, and I can tell you that bill will hurt our planet by drivingAmerican industry to high pollution countries.Now they want to force a health care takeover that will raiseinsurance premiums by $1,200 annually. And Speaker NancyPelosi says that if we protest, peacefully, we are “un-American.” The representative of my district, Jan Schakowsky, called the TeaParty demonstrators “despicable.” There are some people who vote Democrat because they thinkDemocrats stand for the less fortunate. Would a party that caresabout the poor take away 1,700 scholarships from black childrenin Washington, DC? Would a party that cares about seniors cutbenefits to the more than 10 million people who use MedicareAdvantage? Would a party that cares about the needy denymoney to charities by suggesting we slash the charitable taxdeduction? The big government policies of the far left are hurting thepeople of my community. You can drive through this district,where we are today, through Park Ridge and Niles and MortonGrove and Skokie and see the empty storefronts—block afterblock. And on the side of the road, a little “stimulus” sign. And asyou pass by that sign, you will see how our tax money is beingwasted while people lose their jobs and their homes.