Campaign Finance Reform 

                  Thank you. 

                  We are blessed to be Americans, not just in times of prosperity, but at all times. We are a part of
                  something noble; a great experiment to prove to the world that democracy is not only the most
                  effective form of government, but the only moral government. And, at least in years past, we felt more
                  than lucky to be Americans. We felt proud. 

                  But, today, we confront a very serious challenge to our political system, as dangerous in its way as
                  war and depression have been in the past. And it will take the best efforts of every public-spirited
                  American to defeat it. 

                  The threat that concerns me is the pervasive public cynicism that is hurting our democracy. I'm a
                  conservative, and I believe it is a very healthy thing for Americans to be skeptical about the purposes
                  and practices of public officials and refrain from expecting too much from their government.
                  Self-reliance is the ethic that made America great. 

                  But healthy skepticism has become widespread cynicism bordering on alienation, and that worries me
                  greatly. Government is intended to support our constitutional purposes to "establish justice, insure
                  domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the
                  blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." When the people come to believe that government
                  is so corrupt that it no longer serves these ends our culture could fragment beyond recognition as
                  people seek substitutes for the unifying values of patriotism. 

                  We are a prosperous country, but many Americans, particularly the young, can't see beyond the veil of
                  their cynicism and indifference. They can't imagine themselves as part of a cause greater than their
                  self-interest. And with every new Dow Jones record something gnaws at my conscience, telling me
                  not to be lulled into a false contentment, that something is going wrong with the American way of life. 

                  This country has survived many difficult challenges: a civil war, world war, depression, the civil
                  rights struggle, a cold war. All were just causes. They were good fights. They were patriotic
                  challenges. 

                  Now, we have a new patriotic challenge for a new century: declaring war on the cynicism that
                  threatens our public institutions, our culture, and, ultimately, our private happiness. It is a great and
                  just cause, worthy of our best service. 

                  But those of us privileged to hold public office have ourselves to blame for the sickness in American
                  public life today. It is we who have squandered the public trust. We who have, time and again, placed
                  our personal and partisan interests before the national interest, earning the public's contempt for our
                  poll-driven policies, our phony posturing, the lies we call spin and the damage control we substitute
                  for progress. And we are the defenders of a campaign finance system that is nothing less than an
                  elaborate influence peddling scheme in which both parties conspire to stay in office by selling the
                  country to the highest bidder. 

                  I want to take our politics and our government back from the special interests. I want to take them
                  back from people like Roger Tamraz, who gave $300,000 to the Democratic Party and when he didn't
                  get what he wanted, promised to spend "$600,000 next time." 

                  The opponents of campaign finance reform will tell you the voters, particularly Republican voters,
                  don't care about this issue. They are wrong. Most Americans care very much that it is now legal for a
                  subsidiary of a corporation owned by the Chinese Army to give unlimited amounts of money to
                  American political campaigns. Most Americans care very much that the Lincoln bedroom has become
                  a Motel 6 where the President of the United States serves as the bellhop. Most Americans care very
                  much when monks and nuns abandon their vows of poverty and pay tens of thousands of dollars to
                  have spiritual communion with the Vice President. 

                  I think most Republicans are outraged when our party abandons the fight to reform government, to
                  make it smaller and less removed in style and substance from the people it serves. Most Republicans
                  are outraged when their leaders give up the fight that Ronald Reagan led in order to preserve a
                  financial advantage over the Democrats. I think most Republicans understand that soft money - the
                  enormous sums of money given to both parties by just about every special interest in the country --
                  corrupts our political ideals whether it comes from big business or from labor bosses and trial
                  lawyers. 

                  I am a conservative and I'm running for President to restore national pride and broaden our freedom
                  by reforming the practices of government and politics. I want to reform our tax code. I want to reduce
                  government by waging a relentless war against wasteful spending. I want to reform and protect Social
                  Security and Medicare. I want to reform our failing education system. I want to restructure our
                  military to defend us against the security threats of the next century. I want to reform our liability
                  laws. I want to genuinely deregulate the telecommunications industry that is the engine of our current
                  prosperity. All these reforms and more are vitally important to America's future. 

                  But we won't reform anything until we first reform the way we finance our political campaigns. As
                  long as special interests dominate campaigns, they will dominate legislation as well. Until we abolish
                  soft money, Americans will never have a government that works as hard for them as it does for the
                  special interests. 

                  During hearings for the 1996 Telecommunications Act, every company affected by the legislation had
                  purchased a seat at the table with soft money. Consequently, the bill attempted to protect them all, a
                  goal that is obviously incompatible with competition. Consumers, who only give us their votes, had
                  no seat at the table, and the lower prices that competition produces never materialized. Cable rates
                  went up. Phone rates went up. And huge broadcasting giants received for free billions of dollars in
                  digital spectrum, property that belonged to the American people. 

                  In the last several years, while Republicans controlled Congress, special interest earmarks in
                  appropriations bills have dramatically increased. The rise in pork barrel spending is directly related
                  to the rise of soft money, as Republicans and Democrats scramble to reward major donors to our
                  campaigns. The American people want their money spent on their priorities, and their priorities aren't
                  ethanol subsidies and free advertising for giant corporations. 

                  Imagine the promises we could keep and the good we could do if politicians stopped treating the
                  federal treasury as a duty free shop for soft money donors. For instance, if we stopped giving away
                  ethanol and oil and gas subsidies we could use the money saved to support a three-year school
                  voucher test in almost all of the largest school districts in America. 

                  Our failure to cut taxes as much as we should or begin the systemic reform of the tax code is not
                  attributable solely to the opposition of the other party. For the sake of soft money we have put tax
                  loopholes for special interests ahead of tax relief for working families, and we have made the tax
                  code a bewildering 44,000 page catalogue of favors for a privileged few and a chamber of horrors
                  for the rest of America. 

                  Republicans should be proud that we have finally forced the Clinton Administration to stop making
                  dangerous cuts in defense spending. But we should be ashamed when we waste billions of dollars on
                  weapons systems that have no use in the post Cold War era while 12,000 enlisted personnel, proud
                  young men and women, live on food stamps. We should be ashamed when campaign donations cause
                  us to look the other way while sensitive security technology is transferred to countries that very well
                  may use that technology to threaten Americans interests and values. That's the kind of defense that soft
                  money buys us, and this country deserves better service from us than that. 

                  In truth, we are all shortchanged by soft money, liberal and conservative alike. All of our ideals are
                  sacrificed. We are all corrupted. I know that is a harsh judgment. But it is, I am sorry to say, a fair
                  one. And even if our own consciences were to allow us to hide from it, the people we are privileged
                  to serve will not. 

                  Most Americans believe we conspire to hold on to every political advantage we have, lest we
                  jeopardize our incumbency by a single lost vote. Most Americans believe we would pay any price,
                  bear any burden to ensure the success of our personal ambitions - no matter how injurious the effect
                  might be to the national interest. And who can blame them when the wealthiest Americans and richest
                  organized interests can make six figure donations to political parties and gain the special access to
                  power such generosity confers on the donor. 

                  I've been told that there is no room for this issue in Republican primaries. Well, I intend to make room
                  for it. I will call for the reform of our political system everywhere I go in this campaign. I will ask my
                  supporters to make campaign reform their top priority, and I'll challenge my opponents to declare
                  their independence from the political welfare state. Because I'm not running for President to be
                  someone. I'm running to do something. This is your country, my friends. And I'm running for President
                  to give it back to you. 

                  In the next few weeks, Senator Russ Feingold and I are going to attempt once again to force the United
                  States Senate to abolish soft money. We're going to fight as hard as we can. But we need your help.
                  The defenders of the status quo prevailed last time because they convinced the Senate that Americans
                  don't care about this issue. 

                  I ask every American who cares about our country's future to let Congress know that you want us to
                  put the national interest before the special interests. I ask every Republican voter to let my colleagues
                  know that you still believe in the cause Ronald Reagan fought for, the cause you elected a Republican
                  Congress to serve, the cause of less government and more freedom. That cause should not be
                  sacrificed for one more hour to preserve a campaign system that values money above principles and
                  integrity. 

                  Even if it were true that Americans don't care about campaign finance reform- and I do not for one
                  moment believe that it is - I would not give up this fight. I would rather not be President than win that
                  high office on false pretenses. How could I ask Americans to enlist in the fight against national
                  cynicism while I support the underlying cause of the public's disgust with politics? We will never
                  make any real progress in restoring the public's faith in our government and politics until those of us
                  privileged to hold office prove that we will act in the people's best interests even if we must risk our
                  own careers to do so. 

                  My friends, I am for campaign finance reform, and I want anyone who might vote for me to know that
                  if I am elected we will have campaign finance reform. Anyone who is satisfied with the status quo
                  should vote for someone else. But anyone who believes that America is greater than the sum of its
                  special interests should stand with me. I stand my ground for this cause for my country's sake, and also
                  for the sake of my self-respect. 

                  When I was a young man, and all glory was self-glory, I responded aggressively and often
                  irresponsibly to anyone who questioned my honor. I still remember how zealously a boy attended the
                  needs of his self-respect. But as I grew older, and the challenges to my self-respect became more
                  varied and difficult, I was surprised to discover that while my sense of honor had matured, its defense
                  mattered even more to me than it did when I believed that honor was such a frail thing that any empty
                  challenge threatened it. 

                  I believe public service is an honorable profession. I believed that when I entered the Naval
                  Academy at seventeen and I believe it still. I have grown old in my country's service, and I should be
                  content with a life that has been more blessed than I deserve. But the people whom I serve believe
                  that the means by which I came to office corrupt me. And that shames me. That shames me. Their
                  contempt is a stain upon my honor, and I cannot live with it. 

                  So for your sake, for the sake of your children, for the sake of an America that remains the greatest
                  force for good on earth, and, admittedly, for the reputation of an American who has been privileged to
                  hold a public trust for over forty years, please join me in this fight for freedom and reform. It's your
                  country. Let's go take it back.

