HOUSE Speaker Newt Gingrich speaking recently to the National Governors Association:
"And it seems to me it's true not because of a political ideology or a political movement but because of five large realities that you face at the governor's level, we face in the Congress, the president faces in the White House, the cities and counties face at their level. . .
"The Alvin and Heidi Toffler model of a third wave of change. I mean, go back and look at government just prior to the rise of agriculture, then look at government during the agricultural era, what they called the first wave.
"Then look at the enormous impact of change in the industrial age, and how government had to change. And then assume, for example, that we're going to have to go through at least as big a change in our era as did the folks who survived the transition to the industrial era. And it's going to be enormous, and it's going to happen at every level.
"Second is the inexorable reality of the world market. Every one of you -- and frankly, governors are often more aware than presidents or members of Congress of the competitive nature of capital investment, of going around the world and saying to people, 'Look at our products. Look at us as a place to put your factory. Create jobs in my state.'
"And yet every decision we make at every level is a world market decision, because you create local jobs through world sales. And so, every one of us is impacted every day.
"I was in Sioux City, Iowa. The largest job center in the Sioux City area now is actually just across the state line, and it's Gateway Computing, which surpassed the Iowa Beef Company as the largest employer in the area.
"Now, that kind of change is happening everywhere in this country, and it relates to world sales, the world market, world competition, and so we're all affected by it. And that means we have to rethink litigation, regulation, taxation and education just to be competitive.
"Third, the welfare state has failed, and every one of you know that in your own state. You know it by what's happening to the poor; you know it by what's happening to educational outcome; you know it by what's happening to violence. And so, we have an enormous challenge of replacing the welfare state with an opportunity society, and that's true everywhere in America. . .
"Fourth, you are seeing a reassertion and a renewal of American civilization. The Enola Gay fight was a fight, in effect, over the reassertion by most Americans that they're sick and tired of being told by some cultural elite that they ought to be ashamed of their country, they ought to lack pride in what we've done and we ought to be defensive about our behaviors. And every one of you faces this in your own state.
"And fifth -- and in some ways most radical -- these solutions we're going to develop together will not work unless we reassert and re-establish civic responsibility and a sense of community."