"Great Necessities, Great Virtues"
Excerpt from Senator John Ashcroft's
Speech to Conservative Political Action Committee January 30, 1998"I wish to speak with you this morning about the great necessities of our times that call out the great virtues in our national character.
The first great necessity of our times is leadership. Leadership that inspires us as a nation. Leadership that redefines the possible. Leadership that calls America to her highest and best. Today that leadership is AWOL in American politics. And though it saddens me to say it, it is not just Bill Clinton that is failing to lead.
Three years ago, I was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Senate. I remember that day and I remember what it meant. It was supposed to mark a new day in Washington and a new morning in America. It was about returning America's capital to the people and imposing our values on Washington, D.C. It was about a new generation of leadership that placed principles above politics.
I will never forget that day. And I have not forgotten those ideals. For they continue to light my vision for an America that is greater and grander in the 21st Century.
But sadly, too many members of our party and in our Congress have forgotten why they were elected and who pays the bills. We were elected on more than a Contract to legislate, we were elected on a promise to lead.
We have allowed a President who, weeks after the 1994 election, was forced to defend his "relevance" to undermine our political strength and pervert our ideas. On moral issue after moral issue, we have cut and run, when we needed to stand and fight.
Which brings us directly to the White House and to the tragedy that is unfolding there. For I believe that the second of our great necessities is for moral conviction. There has been a lot of talk of late about whether a leader's personal conduct and public life are related. Some argue they are not. I say they must be. Leaders who suggest they can separate their private lives and their public actions are wrong. Morality is not divisible. It is not divisible by any man, any woman - or any President.
I have been criticized for speaking out on the presidential matter. When it comes to politics, my critics are probably right. But I would remind them that "to sin by silence makes cowards out of men." It is time for our leaders to worry less about politics and more about the country; less about what is right for the party and more about teaching our kids what's right and what's wrong.
And it is time for us to say that which we know to be right. To say, "Mr. President, if these allegations are true, you have disgraced yourself and the Office of the Presidency, and you should resign now." "Mr. President, you cannot plead the Fifth Amendment to the American people." "Mr. President America needs a leader, not a lawyer."
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