John Kasich Quotes
We can't turn our back on people who need help.
Normally, this would not be a particularly noteworthy quotation. However, at the time the Republican Party had shifted far to the right–more so than at any other time since its inception. The primary election he was in brought out the most right wing members of the party, which was for gutting the social safety net, did not see health care as a right, and even wanted to terminate Obamacare and Social Security as it existed. Yet when asked in a nationwide TV interview, what the government should do for the poor and destitute who could not afford health care or other necessities. His courageous answer and position doomed his bid for the presidential nomination.
John R. Kasich, U.S. Congressman (Republican, OH), Governor of Ohio (Republican), Candidate for the Republican Presidential Nomination, Interview with Gwen Ifil, PBS News Hour, August 19, 2015
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was a swipe at the Conservatives at the time who were opposed to a Federal Government that would actively provide assistance directly to individuals. There was a belief amongst some politicians that by assisting people in need, their character would be weakened and the people and the society would be hurt in the long run.
This kind of ethical and moral commitment to others who are need distinguished Kasich from most Republicans of his time.
Quoted by Jack Kemp in Senate Hearing, June 3, 1992
This quotation is one of the earliest social safety nets. It is also one of the strictures of Jesus, to which most Christian communities have not strongly adhered. It is the religious foundation for welfare.
John Richard Kasich Jr. is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th Governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasich unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination in 2000 and 2016.
