Jack Kemp: Rest in Peace

This past weekend, former Congressman and '96 GOP nominee for Vice President Jack Kemp passed on into eternity. My first recollection of Kemp was watching Jack Kemp as Quarterback for the San Diego Chargers. In fact, Jack Kemp's first pass as an NFL quarterback was in an exhibition game at Legion Field in Birmingham.
Upon retirement from the National Football League, Jack Kemp moved to Buffalo, NY and won a traditionally-Democratic seat in the US House of Representatives. In his bids for re-election, Kemp won large chunks of the rank-and-file Union members, normally part of the Democratic base.
As a Member of Congress, Kemp became an advocate for tax cuts, based on the philosophy of supply-side economics. Kemp became the best-known advocate of the Laffer Curve, designed by Economist Arthur Laffer. This curve explains that higher taxes may not increase revenue, but may inhibit revenue, due to a decrease in production. As a result of influence by Economists Laffer and Jude Wanniski, Jack Kemp began to campaign for large cuts in personal income taxes.
Kemp's crusade caught fire when he caught the attention of Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan. Reagan signed on to support of the Kemp tax plans and, as a result, earned the endorsement of Jack Kemp and Arthur Laffer.
Riding on the popularity of a campaign for tax cuts, Ronald Reagan was elected President and immediately called for a thirty percent tax cut, sponsored in Congress by Jack Kemp. The Kemp-Roth tax package (also named for the Senate sponsor Sen. Bill Roth of Delaware) passed a Democratic-controlled House and was signed into law by President Reagan. These tax cuts came in a time of recession, but the infusion of private initiative sparked the longest period of economic growth in American history.
In 1988, Jack Kemp ran for President and I was privileged to serve on the Alabama Steering Committee for the Kemp Presidential campaign. While he lost, Kemp's platform of tax cuts influenced the eventual nominee, George Bush (the father) who defeated Michael Dukakis by campaigning on Kemp's themes. In typical Republican form, George Bush did not govern according to Kemp's principles and lost his re-election bid after promoting a tax cut.
Kemp came back as Bob Dole's VP candidate in 1996, but even an energetic Jack Kemp could not sell the dullest candidate nominated by a major party in years.
In 2006, Jack Kemp returned to Alabama for a campaign visit and I shook his hand, reminding him of the 1988 campaign. Kemp asked for prayers due to his prostate cancer. .
Jack Kemp believed in the American dream. Before the critics trash Kemp, I know that he lost respect from many of his conservative cohorts when he pushed for some civil rights legislation and promoted weaker immigration enforcement. While I would not always agree with Kemp, I do know that he was determined that the free enterprise system leave out no one. While I might differ on his agenda, I think Jack's heart was in the right place. Jack was a believer in Christ, a Presbyterian layman, and man of principle on issues such as the right to life and religious liberty
I look back on 1980 and am thankful that Jack Kemp caught the eye of Ronald Reagan. I look back at 1988 and wish he had won the nomination. I consider 1996 and think that Kemp, on top of the ticket, would have defeated Clinton. We lost a great patriot this weekend in Jack Kemp. May his wife and family find solace in the faith of this Christian believer and the accomplishments of this American patriot.