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Remarks of the Vice President at the Michigan State Young Republicans Reception [Speeches by Others]
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Remarks of the Vice President at the Michigan State Young Republicans Reception [Speeches by Others]
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Digitized from Box 33 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 1976
Office of the Vice President
(Detroit, Michigan)
REMARKS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT THE
MICHIGAN STATE YOUNG REPUBLICANS RECEPTION
ROOM 2001-B, COBO HALL
1 WASHINGTON BLOCK
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
AT 7:10 P.M. EDT
Thank you very much. It is great to be here with
all you young people.
You know, under Gerald R. Ford you have got some
wonderful candidates -- I was going to say wandering around,
but that doesn't sound right -- going around with your
senatorial and congressional candidates.
A reporter said, "What can you do for these
candidates?" I said, "That's a good question. I can
provide a platform on which you can get to know them and see
them and transmit it to other people. And when they know
it, they are going to elect them. That's it."
You have got wonderful candidates. The basis of
democracy is the two-party system, and we have got to get
restored a two-party system in Congress. We have got a
one-party system.
If you could listen to Phil Burton talk sometimes,
who is chairman of the Democratic caucus -- when I first got
down here and he had his dialectician along with him -- it
seemed a rather unusual title for one of his co-leaders --
they were saying, "Don't fool with the committee chairmen.
The decisions are made in the Democratic caucus, and then
we tell the committee what to do."
This is very unusual talk for what we think is
the greatest democracy in the world. This is why President
Ford hasn't got a lot of his programs through, because you
have got a Congress that is playing politics with the
American people's interests. He says we won't win this
election. He was just as frank in saying it as we are
here. He said, "We are going to keep these issues and
we are going to win the election." Therefore, the
President is not going to get his legislation.
The result has been that the Democrats turn
around and say we haven't got a
, we need somebody
dynamic who can lead this country. He has been sending
up legislation on crime. Carter was here yesterday or the
day before -- I have trouble keeping track of it -- talking
about crime. The President sent up one of the best, most
intelligent, receptive measures a year ago to the Congress
for mandatory sentences, because the Federal Government
isn't a direct operator in this field. And they just didn't
even have hearings on the bill, so it never came out; they
never had a chance to vote on it.
MORE
Page 2
On the energy problem the President set up a
total program a year and a half ago to make this country
self-sufficient in energy. We are spending $36 billion a
year importing oil from abroad. We could be spending that
$36 billion here in America reducing the energy problem here
by new means -- gasification of coal, liquifaction of coal,
taking oil out of shale. We have got even more oil from
shale than all the Arab countries have in known reserves in
the Middle East.
But the risks are too great in private enterprise.
We don't know what the cost would be. The President
wanted a Federal energy authority that would be able to
invest in these risks so we can get the things done.
I just want to point out to you that we have a
leader and we have got a man with courage, and we have got
a man who has got the ability to analyze problems and then
do what is in the best long-term interests of the American
people, regardless of the short-term political adverse
effects, because a lot of these bills are popular.
You have no idea of the lobbyists down there.
Everybody has an idea of what they want, and they all cost
money. And we have got a deficit now of $3 billion in New
York. Congress has got them in spades, $60 billion or $70
billion, I want to tell you, ladies and gentlemen. And the
only difference is they can print money. So when they just
print the money, you pay for it in inflation.
Now, these are the hard realities, see. And we
have been promising -- and I say "we," because I have been
in this business a long time -- we have been overpromising,
underdelivering. The public is tired of it. They don't
believe government.
Therefore, I think what Mr. Carter is trying to
do is promise, like all his predecessors. He has all these
bills -- the Humphrey-Hawkins bill, which is the old New
Deal concept of how to deal with problems.
Then he has got the audacity to say he is going to
cut taxes 35 percent. It is just meaningless. I mean, any-
body who has had any experience in government knows you
just can't do that. Therefore, the only thing you can do,
if he is going to do it, would be to print the money, and
that means we get back to inflation. Then you have got a
tax which is the most insidious tax of all.
So I just think that this is a turning point.
And it is your future. Some of us have been around a long
time -- that's me.
(Laughter)
Those of us who are in government are the
trustees of that future, and this is a crucial moment as
to which course we are going to take. Are we going to stick
with the fundamental democracy, individual initiative,
creativity, growth? Or are we going to go heavens knows
where into some concepts which have no relation to the
reason wny we have achieved the success we have?
MORE
Page 3
I think the fact that you are all here, that you
care enough to come to be a part of this is the most
encouraging thing. I hope you not only come, but that you
take part in the party's activities and then run for office,
because that is where the action is -- these people who
believe in the system and have the courage to stand up and
be counted.
Now, if anyone would like to ask any questions,
I am interested in all of these problems.
QUESTION: What are you going to do after January?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I am going to be back with
Happy and the two little boys, nine and twelve, and spend
some time with them, catch up with them and catch up with
my own affairs.
But I have to tell you, I love the country. There
are many ways you can serve the people. I love people. I
love politics. I love government. Politics is a means to
an end, not an end in itself. The end is good government.
Anyone who forgets that gets into trouble.
I am interested in solving problems, so all you do
is read the papers, talk to somebody. If you have a problem,
then you take the time to solve it, get an answer.
That is how I got into trouble in the beginning.
I wrote President Roosevelt a memo in 1940, 1939. I wrote
him and said I thought our relations with the Western
Hemisphere were in bad shape, that if Hitler came across
from South Africa, that these countries might turn against
us because of Nazi penetration, and I thought he ought to
set up an agency, really work with them.
Well, he ended up and said, "I like the idea. Will
you head it up?" Well, I don't know how old you are. I was
32. So the next thing, I am heading up an independent
agency. I said, "What do you have in mind to spend on this?" "
He said, "What do I have in mind? It wasn't my idea. It was
yours. You make up the budget." So that is how I got into
government.
So don't hesitate. The Bible says, "Knock and it
shall be opened unto you." I am a Baptist, see.
(Laughter)
I just want you to know not all Baptists are on
one side in this operation. So just don't be reticient. Move
out. Have ideas. Express them.
QUESTION: Is the President going to carry New York?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Is James Buckley?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He has got a tough job. I
really don't know. He could and he might not. I hope he
does. He is our candidate. We have got a very well-disciplined
MORE
Page 4
party in New York. We believe in sticking together. We have
our arguments inside, not outside. There is a Congressman
who wanted to run against him and we said no. Jim Buckley
is our Senator. We don't want to fight, SO we supported Jim
Buckley. He was our unanimous choice, and we are backing
him.
Of course, I have got to say to you, frankly, that
I have been talking to Jim quite a while, and he came up
to me and asked would I support him. He asked when would I
announce. I said, "I am going to do this jointly. When you
announce for Ford." And so he went along and went along. I
was at the convention, and he didn't do it until after the
convention. So I waited until after our primary.
I was in Buffalo campaigning and he was there. We
got to hold up hands. I said, "Believe it or not, here we
are, finally together, supporting our candidates." And we
are going to support him. I think he has got a chance, but
I think it is tough. But you can't tell. It is a very
mixed up period. He is doing very well in Buffalo, I tell
you that.
QUESTION: (Inaudible)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I just think because
young people are smart. And they said a lot of this stuff
wasn't working. You know, you are not identifying with it.
You come along with open minds and take a look at the
situation and you say these things aren't working. This
is the great thing about this country.
And I must say I am very, very encouraged about
what is happening among young people in America. They care
about the country. Now, I'm not sure that they get a real
clear understanding of how the political system works and how
the American enterprise system works. And what worries me
a little is in the elementary schools, the high schools and
the colleges there isn't more taught on how the system works
and what are the advantages.
But that is what fascinates me, that despite that,
the intuitive reaction is just exactly what you are saying,
and this is happening all over the country. So I am very
encouraged. And you are a very attractive group.
QUESTION: (Inaudible)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it went back to my
taking the poster, you see. Because this guy had been holding
up a Reagan poster in front of us. We were all for Ford.
So I was sent out to various delegations to get votes. We
were on 16 (c) at that point. You know, we would call up and
say we want to talk to somebody, and I would go snooping
around the floor. So I was moving around.
When I came back, there he was, holding the sign
up. And I have to tell you the honest truth. I couldn't
even see the speaker on the podium, so I took it. I saw
the movie today. I was on TV today and caught it.
So then he was pretty upset. He was celebrating
a little early and he was upset. But the most amusing thing
MORE
Page 5
was the fellow from the Utah delegation across the aisle is
the one that came over and ripped out the phone. And I
thought he was a little high, which I stated, but then it
turned out he was a Mormon, and that got into the papers
that I got him into terrible trouble back home. So I
said, no, it was enthusiasm, obviously, under the circum-
stances.
(Laughter)
But my real problem was keeping our delegation
from going in and beating up on these North Carolinians.
We have got a tough delegation, I tell you. They are not
fooling. But I thought it was, you know, a little life and
excitement.
(Laughter)
QUESTION: Do you personally support the Communist
Party's growth in Western Europe?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, ma'am, I do not. I think
it is disastrous.
QUESTION: Why didn't President Ford fire Earl
Butz right away?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I tell you, if you are
President, you have got a lot of advisors. This starts out
by being difficult. You are bound to get conflicting
advice.
I know Earl Butz. Earl Butz is a great guy. He
has been a great public servant for many years. He has got
one weakness, and that is telling off-color stories. But
worse than off-color, they are at somebody else's expense.
That is something that in America today just doesn't go.
It was very unfair to a very important segment of our
country.
But here is a man who has served his country. I
think the President, who is a very loyal man, was torn and
didn't realize the magnitude or the impact of the insult.
When he did, he acted.
QUESTION: Do you think the next debate will
help Ford?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I hope. This is a tough
business. They are not debates. They are really press
conferences. It is a double press conference.
I used to do it. The League of Women Voters,
who I admire and are a great force for good, used to do this
in New York. We had the Liberals, Conservatives, Republicans
and Democrats. I was taking it from the left and right and
all over.
They are very difficult to handle, and therefore,
it is hard to know how he is going to do. You know, he knows
the stuff. I thought Bob Dole, myself, was great. Some
people thought he was too rough. But I thought he was great,
MORE
Page 6
and I thought that Mondale wandered all over, didn't say
anything, just looked like a weak Humphrey.
(Applause)
That is true. I am a great admirer of Hubert
Humphrey. He asked me to run for Vice President on the
Democratic ticket. You won't believe it, but he did. This
is an interesting world. You know, you don't know what is
next.
I hope President Ford is just going to be himself.
He is a wonderful man. He is a great human being. He knows
all this. If he is just himself, it is going to sweep them
because that is the way he is. Anybody that could just sit
down and talk to him just couldn't help having confidence
in him. If he is that on television -- forget some of the
facts --
(Laughter)
Thank you.
(Applause)
END
(AT 7:25 P.M. EDT)