John Kasich for President 2000 Campaign Brochure

‘John Kasich understands the importance of getting involved.’

As the only Republican challenger elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, John Kasich faced long odds and a skeptical political establishment. Of course, Kasich went on to win that race in an historic upset and was re-elected as Congressman from Ohio's 12th district in 1998 with 67% of the vote.

When the nay-sayers scoffed at Kasich's attempts to balance the federal budget, John Kasich went to work. As Chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, Kasich was the chief architect of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act and delivered the first balanced federal budget since man walked an the moon.

John Kasich believes in the power of people, not government.

Throughout John Kasich's life and career, one central principle has remained a common thread: The best decisions are those made closest to home.

Kasich still holds firm to the belief that power and influence should belong to real people in local communities,            not a handful of elites in Washington, DC. And John Kasich hasn't forgotten that government's role is to serve people, not the other way around. He has fought to make government smaller and people more important. His record bears this out.

So moved by the American spirit and the will of free people, John Kasich wrote a book in 1998 that chronicled the lives of 20 ordinary people that had accomplished extraordinary feats. The book, entitled Courage Is Contagious is a profile in the limitless potential of individuals, to improve the condition of mankind when set free to do so.

John Kasich knows common values do matter.

Whether it, fighting to abolish the "marriage penalty" tax on the floor of the United States House of Representatives or writing a book that champions the inherent good in each of us, John Kasich has been talking values long before it became the politically fashionable thing to do.

The son of a mailman from the steel town of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, John Kasich knows that values flow from faith and family, not government. He understands that values are not government mandates, but rather the sacred bonds that bind us as a nation.

John Kasich on the Issues

John Kasich is a common sense conservative with some definite ideas on the way America should be run. John Kasich believes that the country needs to be run from the bottom up, not from the top down. On issues ranging from taxes to education to retirement savings, John Kasich believes that American families know more than the elites in Washington, about how to improve their lives.

TAXES

John Kasich understands the importance of empowering people by cutting taxes. Just this year, Kasich introduced legislation to cut income taxes by 10% across-the-board.

Additionally, Kasich believes the tax code itself needs major reform. He has called for terminating the current tax code by the year 2002 and replacing it with one that is simple, and fairer.

"Tax cuts are not just about economic theory, they're about empowering people to do what needs to be done in their community."

EDUCATION

Education is another top priority for John Kasich. His principles on education stem from his belief in empowering parents, teachers, administrators, and students in local communities -- not education bureaucrats in Washington. Kasich believes that parents should be free to decide where and how, their children are educated.

Kasich has supported key education reform. These initiatives include a law to guarantee 95 cents of every federal education dollar going directly to the classroom for activities and services (the current amount is 65 cents) and legislation that would return control of some 35 federal education programs to states and local officials.

"The reason why we have to give people choice in education is not because of you and me. We've got to give choice to the American people in education because we've got to save our children and make sure they have the tools to compete and win in this world."

SOCIAL SECURITY

In an effort to give hard-working Americans a greater say in how their dollars are invested for the future, Kasich has proposed establishing Personal Retirement Savings Accounts. These accounts would provide individuals with several options for investing their personal Retirement Savings money and would not be a substitute for Social Security, but rather an enhancement to the program that would use a portion of the surplus to fund each new account. Under the Kasich plan, Americans would direct 2% of their payroll taxes into the private sector, much the same way the Federal employees direct their retirement savings into a wide range of funds.

"We as Americans need to break the monopoly on retirement. We have to take care of Mom and Dad's social security needs and we also have to give baby boomers more control over their payroll taxes so they can invest it. We care more about our retirement than some bureaucrats in Washington does. Let us invest our own money."

FOREIGN POLICY

John Kasich believes that America's fighting men and women should serve abroad only when under the command of the United States military and never placed in harm's way of America's national security is not directly at risk.

"The United States can and should remain strongly engaged internationally, because regional instability will not solve itself. But we must choose our tools very carefully, for the stakes do not allow failure. Power is a finite quantity; if we expend it all over the world, for every thinkable cause, we diminish ourselves."