Congressional candidate Bert Copple served as one of six guest speakers at the 4th Annual Reagan Dinner held at the San Marino Club in Troy, Michigan on Tuesday, June 10, 2008.
The keynote speaker was South Carolina Govenor Mark Sanford. Other speakers included Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, State Senator Michael Bishop, Congressman Joe Knollenberg, and State Representative Jack Hoogendyk.
Copple’s comments came late in the evening, and though it was late, his speech drew two standing ovations and several periods of applause.
“It was a good night for the campaign,” said Copple after the evening. “I was able to get our message out to a lot of people who really matter within the Republican machine. Hopefully this will help launch our campaign to new heights and generate more interest with activists.”
Copple’s speech lasted roughly eight minutes. The scripted version of the speech can be read below.
Good evening, and thank you so much for the opportunity to stand before you this evening as the Republican candidate for Michigan’s 12th Congressional District.
I hope that none of my fellow conservatives had any problem this evening getting their Bibles and guns past security. After all, these are very bitter times we live in. Especially the 12th district. Since the year 2000, under the leadership of Sandy Levin, the 12th’s unemployment rate has doubled to nearly 10.4%. Since 2000, more than 30,000 people have moved out of our district. In the same time period, we’ve lost 16,000 manufacturing jobs, and 26,000 total net jobs. The number of citizens in my district living in poverty has risen 2.5%, and the number of families living in poverty has increased by 2.3%.
I guess you could say we’re a little bitter. But I wouldn’t say that is the reason why we’re clinging to our guns and Bibles. If you’re like me, you cling to your freedom. And if you’re like me, you cling to your faith. Not because they define who we are, but because freedom and faith are a part of the very fabric of our being. For most of us in this room tonight, it’s a way of living – not some sort of extreme radicalism.
As a Republican candidate, I want to comment on two topics this evening that are of great importance to both myself, those within my district, and within the Republican party. First – can someone please take away Uncle Sam’s credit card? We need to be frank and honest here – when the piggy bank is empty, you stop spending money. I guess my greatest fear today is that if Barack Obama is elected President, and if House and Senate make more Liberal gains, we’re going to continue to see the greatest tax increases in our country’s history. We’re going to see spending on social programs go through the roof as the federal government will try to fix local problems, and as usual, fail miserably.
Ronald Reagan said it best. “Nothing lasts longer than a short term government program.”
Again, we need to be honest with each other – the federal government is really good at doing two things – delivering mail, and fighting wars. But as the federal government grows without bounds, and responsibility is taken away from state and local governments, we foster a society that is lazy and almost entirely dependent upon elected officials in Washington to make all of our ills go away. John F. Kennedy encouraged us to ask what we could do for our country, not what our country could do for us. His words have fallen on the deaf ears of our current generations.
Let me give you just one example, if I may, of wasteful federal government spending. The Federal Communications Commission and the television industry came to terms a while back concerning the mandatory switch over to digital broadcasting that because we were making them do the switch, the federal government would help subsidize the costs of consumers having to purchase converter boxes. On the surface, this sounds like a nice social idea, helping people like my grandmother who religiously watches Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, continue her affair with Pat Sajack and Alex Trabec. However, can anyone else out there find a better way for $1.5 billion to be spent, especially in our struggling economy?
· If the money was returned to the American citizens, every tax payer would receive a $12.82 refund. Those needing converter boxes would have some extra cash towards their $50 purchase, and those not needing converter boxes could spend the money on some movie rentals or a few gallons of gasoline.
· If the money was returned to the states according to population, Michigan (4.8% of American taxpayers) would receive a lump sum of $70.5 million. How could this help? It would pay off roughly 7.6% of Michigan’s $920 million budget deficit.
· In terms of education, that same $70.5 million could provide each of Michigan’s 838 public schools with $84,129, enough to fund two additional teachers or the opportunity to purchase new technology for students.
· Finally, think of the 446,000+ children in Michigan living in poverty. Could this money help them, feed them, insure them? By doing so, could this money help reduce the tax payer burden at the same time?
My point here is simple. There are more important things to fund than digital television converters. The very fact that people need converters would stimulate spending at Christmas, and perhaps some of the converters could have even be made right here in Michigan, helping to increase the number of jobs we need right now.
What was most perplexing to me, however, was this: Why is this even a federal government issues? Besides, when the music industry yanked vinyl albums from the shelves to make way for CDs, did any of the music labels or record companies help you purchase a CD player? Of course not. People had to make that purchase on their own, without the government’s help. As your congressman, I won’t vote in favor of wasteful federal spending like this idea. We have an obligation to return taxpayer dollars to the public whenever possible.
The final issue I’ll touch on tonight is personal. Faith is a controversial subject today because of the new world rhetoric about across-the-board tolerance. While knocking on doors last week, I was confronted by a woman who told me she could never vote for me because I am a pastor. She told me that religious people don’t belong in public office because decisions should not be based on the Bible, but on the needs of culture. Whatever that means.
That may sound harsh, but as a pastor, I stand by my beliefs. The federal government was never given a mandate to care for the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. But as I recall from my Sunday School classes as a child, the church was given that mandate. As a seminarian, I know the church has forgotten that going into the world and preaching the Gospel message should create a Christian culture of helping those in need, feeding the poor, providing shelter for the homeless and standing up for justice.
The church culture in America is suffering because the full power of the Gospel message has been watered down. The power of salvation comes from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The fruit of the transformation should be evident in the lives of every Christian and every church, working as one body, not hundreds of denominations honoring doctrines, but together accomplishing the works of the Gospel, shining a light into a dark world.
Our motto at my church this year is to Participate in 2008, to stop being pew potatoes that do nothing more than self-medicate themselves on Sundays, struggling to get by during the week. To actually take one’s faith and make it real in their lives and the lives of others.
It doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish, Catholic or Baptist, Pentecostal or Methodist, Presbyterian or Non-Denominational. America needs our churches and places of worship to work together to fulfill the mandates of their calling. Feed the poor! Clothe and shelter the homeless! Care for the widowed! Adopt and support the orphaned! Stop talking about your faith and start doing something with it!
Nearly 80% of Americans claim to be Christians, but I dare say that the majority of these folks don’t practice their faith. Where is the fruit?
If the church were to start doing what it is supposed to do, taxes would be lowered, federal and state programs would become healthier, church attendance would grow, and giving/tithing for these non-profits would increase.
We must provide our churches with resources and a platform for dialouge to start doing this work, returning credibility to the pulpit and the pew, and accomplishing more to tackle key issues on the social agenda that the federal government cannot fix or control.
On a personal note, I believe that religion is personal, but the practice of one’s faith is not. Whether you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or any of the other religions, or non-religions, of the world, one’s faith becomes a part of who you are. To somehow perceive that faith is something you can turn on or off like a light switch is a mistake. Religion is something a person does to help grow or maintain a level faith in something. Faith is what makes us better people, calls us to hope and love, and determines our reaction to situations both within and out of our control. Faith is part of who we are, and true faith will be shown in our everyday actions.
I’m a Christian. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I can’t stop that relationship because I’m running for office. In fact, my relationship with Christ is one reason why I’m running for office in the first place. Because I have a mandate; we have a mandate. We have a job to do - to love one another. To care for the widowed and the sick. To help the needy and the poor. To set the captives free.
When you elect a person to office, you are voting for their values and their depth and quality of faith as well. The two cannot be separated as many on the left, and even on the emerging right have suggested. I am a Christian. I pray. I fast. I worship. To think that being an elected official - that I would be asked to leave Jesus in the car, or stop operating within the parameters of pray and faith, is absurd. Because they are part of who I am.
Faith is important, because morals matter. Faith is important, because character counts.
My name is Bert Copple. I am a decorated United States Army Veteran. My pledge to our vetsis that I will not leave any of you behind. I am a father, a husband, a middleclass worker, a pastor, your neighbor, your friend. I stand before you today, asking for your vote, and your support. Together we can leave a legacy of hope, a foundation of faith. Together we’ll work towards change in 2008! Thank you.
