[TUX]

January 22, 1996



Honorable Newt Gingrich
2428 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1006

Dear Mr. Speaker,

Your book, To Renew America, has stirred feelings dormant since I read Conscience of A Conservative. I want you to know how wonderful it is for this old "Goldwaterite" to see a true, articulate, conservative bring into full flower the movement we started. We few, we happy few, took Madison County, Alabama for Goldwater. The first Republican presidential candidate to carry the county since reconstruction and one of few bright spots for a conservative Republican in that election year.

Then almost twenty years of frustration until Reagan. We knew it would eventually happen but never dreamed the party could be sidetracked down so many dead end streets for so long.

Mr. Speaker be assured the liberals will unleash the Gates of Hell (their well greased propaganda machine) against you and thrash about to create another Rockefeller type (military hero, rich scion from New York, or perhaps another governor) to wreck your program.

You have made me understand what John Marshall prayed, "LORD help us to have a long view of our work and our world. Teach us that it is better to fail in a program that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a program that will ultimately fail."

Bully Mr. Speaker cut off their money stream it is the only thing liberals understand. Be bold and keep your powder dry.

No response is necessary but please know how much this conservative is deeply grateful for your leadership. May GOD bless your efforts in the coming months.

[higgmeister]

...took Madison County, Alabama for Goldwater.

I was at Davis Hills Elementary and still remember how depressed we all were that he lost. That was the first time I was aware of politics and began understanding that I was probably a Republican.