Iowa State Community, hello! My name is Garrett Toay, and I am a fourth-year student here at Iowa State.

I am also proud to be the chairman of the ISU Students for George W. Bush. Let me open up to you today and explain why I support Gov. Bush.

First, Gov. Bush has an impressive record of accomplishments as the governor of Texas. Texas is the second-largest state in America, and has a very diverse population.

If Texas were its own country, it would have the 11th largest economy in the world. Gov. Bush pushed through the two largest tax cuts in Texas history — more than $3 billion. Gov. Bush rewrote state education laws to restore local control and teach every child to read by the third grade through phonics.

He demanded results — not rhetoric.

As the March 8 edition of Business Week stated, “Is Bush’s record on education that good? In short, yes.”

Gov. Bush also reformed welfare dependency. Gov. Bush rewrote the juvenile justice laws, insisting on punishment and tough love. Because of his tough-love strategy, violent juvenile crime rates dropped by 30 percent.

Second, Gov. Bush has a compelling vision of where he wants to lead us in the next millennium — our millennium!

As he has done in Texas, he wants to improve our schools. He will give more control and flexibility to the state and local governments, not the federal government. Parents and teachers know what is best for their students.

Texas is different from Iowa. Different problems call for different solutions. He will also demand results.

Gov. Bush will also cut taxes in America, as he has done in Texas, to continue our prosperity. It is immoral for the government — federal, state and local — to take 40 percent of our paychecks.

Gov. Bush also wants to strengthen our national defenses. He wants an anti-ballistic missile defense system to protect our citizens and allies from accidental or intentional nuclear, biological and chemical missile attacks. He also wants to beef up our intelligence capabilities. He will provide more certainty in an uncertain world.

Finally, he wants to usher in the responsibility era. Since about the 1960s, our citizens have become too dependent on the government. Personal responsibility has become old-fashioned. Gov. Bush wants an America again where friends help friends, neighbors help neighbors, and most importantly, where people help themselves.

Third, Gov. Bush is a uniter, not a divider. Gov. Bush’s message of compassionate conservatism resonates with a diverse group of people without selling out conservative values.

In his 1998 landslide reelection in Texas, he won a whopping 69 percent of the vote. More importantly, he successfully reached out to non-traditional GOP voters.

He flip-flopped the GOP gender gap, earning 65 percent of the female vote. He made enormous inroads into the African-American community, earning 27 percent of their support. His message of compassionate conservatism resonated very well with the Hispanic community, as he earned 49 percent of the Hispanic vote.

As for political parties, Gov. Bush earned 98 percent of the Republican vote, 73 percent of the Independent vote and even 31 percent of the Democrat vote.

Finally, Gov. Bush can win! It is time to restore dignity to the White House after seven years of malaise. The 2000 election is huge for our generation. He will appoint three to five justices to the Supreme Court.

The party that wins will probably control the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. The winning party will also control the census. It will get to redraw the congressional lines, thereby influencing the outcome of the House elections for the next decade.

Today, our youth get a bad wrap for being too politically apathetic. We need to change this. Gov. Bush has the best vision for this country and our generation.

Please e-mail me at [email protected] or call me at 515-292-1954 ext. 2093 to join Students for George W. Bush today! We are open to students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni.

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Garrett Toay

Senior

Agricultural business

Chairman

ISU Students for George W. Bush