Gingrich pushes for reform

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called on Republican leaders to be more aggressive in reform in a speech Thursday in Salt Lake, while rejecting notions that American troops should pull out of Iraq.

Gingrich, who spoke at the Sutherland Institute's 10th anniversary, said there has been too much of a gap between "good words and no action" in the nation's capital, stalling reform on health care, balanced budgets and education.

"Senate Republicans are much less aggressive than they should be. We were elected to be the party of change in Washington, not the party of pork," said Gingrich, who led the U.S. House as speaker in 1995 and has since authored nine political books. His latest, "Winning the Future," was the focus of his speech to the Sutherland Institute, a conservative Utah think tank.

To secure a better future, Gingrich outlined five "large waves" he said are threatening America in the coming years. Nuclear weapons, an assault on culture, competition with other world markets, Social Security and new technology are all issues that have to be addressed before they become problems, he said.

In the next 25 years, Gingrich said the United States will likely face at least four times as much technological advancement as it did in the previous 25 years.

"The scale of change we're about to have is so breathtaking that unless we think about it, we can't get there," he said. "We're either going to be serious about our future, or we're going to keep decaying."

Gingrich, who shrugged off questions about whether he will run for president, denounced the notion that the United States should abandon the Iraqi conflict. Democrats, he said, have become the "party of surrender in the Middle East."

But Gingrich also noted the Bush administration should not just categorically defend the war.

"I don't think most Americans are happy with the war. I'm not happy with the war," he said. "This is not a happy war, but it is a necessary and a correct thing to do. The idea that we should be weaker in the Middle East strikes me as a catastrophically bad decision."

The quality and affordability of health care is also a top consideration for politicos, said Gingrich, who added that fixing the financial woes of health care is the only way to get back to a balanced budget.

Gingrich spent Thursday in Salt Lake meeting with medical experts and policymakers from around the state, talking about issues ranging from insurance to patient privacy. Gingrich also met with patients at the Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake, talking with parents and children who receive free medical care through the charity hospital.

Gingrich held one young girl's hands through her crib as her mother told Gingrich how her daughter's infantile scoliosis had landed them at Shriners after exhausting other options and facing medical bills without insurance.

"She was literally faced with the death of her daughter. She did not know what to do," Gingrich said. "You have right here in Salt Lake City a world-class institution like this that is providing care and doing so without charging a penny."

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