Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Newt Gingrich is the conservative movement’s best policy entrepreneur / political consultant / motivational speaker. At today’s House Republican retreat, the former speaker laid down the gauntlet for restoring America’s greatness.
His speech before the new House majority framed the multiple crises facing the country in positive terms; calling for every full and sub-committee to designate 1/3 of their hearings to the theme of “Hope and Opportunity.” The idea is to focus on solutions to America’s problems, such as inviting job creators to speak before committees on what they need government to do – or not do – to get America working again.
Most interesting to this writer is Gingrich’s call to redirect the 99 weeks of unemployment payments into a human capital program. It would require recipients to enroll and complete job training programs, effectively turning welfare into workfare. Moreover, the explosion of online education makes finding the right program easy to find and flexible to complete. In today’s tech-heavy, certification-obsessed economy, tying the $133 billion spent on unemployment payments to job training is a great way to get out-of-work Americans on and off the welfare rolls as quickly as possible.
As a former radio spot writer for Gingrich Communications, I’ll admit I’m partial to Newt’s way of thinking. The former speaker’s speech to the House GOP shows why. With conservatives unlikely to move any major legislation due to Democratic control of the White House and Senate, Gingrich is proposing – I believe – the next best thing: changing the discussion from “the party of no” to “the party that restores American Exceptionalism.”
Let’s get to it.
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