ROCKVILLE REPUBLICAN WOMEN'S CLUB 813

we revered principle, we now cultivate permissiveness. We are a
people bereft of inspiration and adrift without policy. The confidence
of the American people that once could conquer a continent has
been shaken to the core. We cower before the challenges we must
face, we cringe where once we would tower.

The country is in crisis. We face a foreign crisis, a domestic crisis
and a moral crisis. That's what the 1968 election will be all about.
And that's why the Republican Party confronts great obligations as
well as great opportunities.

The Republican Party offers the American people a choice — the
choice of strong, honest leadership. And when I speak of "strong"
leadership, I do not mean strong in the popularity polls but strong
on principle. When I speak of "honest" leadership, I speak of a leader
who has the courage to tell the public the truth. Now, as never before,
there is a great need for America's leaders to talk forthrightly and
frankly, to emphasize realism and not rhetoric.

This is not an easy thing to do, especially for the elected official
whose political survival depends upon public popularity. But these
are not easy times and there are no easy answers. Yet, to pretend that
situations are less grave or that instant solutions are on hand simply
compounds the problem. We are where we are today because our
nation's leaders have attempted to oversimplify, to sugarcoat, to ap-
pease the formidable false god called apparent public opinion. How-
ever, this god is insatiable and capitulation is not only unreasonable,
it is irresponsible.

Our leaders today must face the challenge. And I believe the Ameri-
can public, long victimized by the credibility gap, is far more ready
to hear the truth than our leaders are ready to tell it.

The Republican Party offers the American people a return to gov-
ernment by principle. Government-by-expedience, the instant answer
and the easy way out, has failed.

The American people are not so naive as to believe the instant
answer or the oversimplified solution. We live in a time too complex
to require anything less than complicated solutions. We know that
more police patrolmen alone will not totally eliminate crime. We
know that complete withdrawal from Vietnam will not secure lasting
peace in Southeast Asia. We know that a negative income tax or a
guaranteed annual wage is not the way to combat dependence but to
perpetuate it.