The speech Eric Cantor never delivered

By Leonard Boasberg

In a speech he was recently scheduled to deliver at the University of Pennsylvania - but canceled for fear that members of the general public might be present - House Republican leader Eric Cantor would have said: "There are politicians and others who want to demonize people that have earned success in certain sectors of our society."

Hold it right there. Who is demonizing whom?

According to Cantor, if you protest against corporate corruption and greed, against the inequity of a federal tax system that allows the rich to pay taxes at a lower rate than the working class, or against the inordinate influence of money in politics, you are "pitting Americans against one another." And if you ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, you are engaging in class warfare.

If, on the other hand, you are protesting against the Obama administration, "big government," federal spending, health-care reform, or regulation of business, you are "fighting on the fighting lines of what we know is a battle for our democracy," as Cantor has described the tea-party movement; you are "the tip of the spear." I don't recall the Virginia congressman ever denouncing the tea party for "pitting Americans against one another."

The speech Cantor didn't deliver - which was carried in Penn's student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian - is a goulash of clichés, cant, hypocrisy, nonsense, and Republican talking points. Referring to the preamble to the Constitution, it asserts, "Pursuing both happiness and independence derive from the ingenuity and grit of the American people, not the American government." That's that old "government is the problem" argument, and it's only half-true.

The other half is that the government established land-grant colleges and the transcontinental railroad. The government played a key role in the creation of the Internet. The government funds scientific and medical research. And the government keeps our air and water clean and the food we eat safe.

According to Cantor's undelivered speech, "we must ensure fairness at every level. We must ensure that those who abuse the rules are punished." Is that why he and other Republicans in Washington oppose tough regulation of banks and corporations that abused the rules?

Cantor also wants people to understand that he understands the plight of the disadvantaged: "The fact is," his speech says, "many in America are coping with broken families, dealing with hunger and homelessness, confronted daily by violent crime, or burdened by rampant drug use. Recently I was asked, 'What does your party say to that 9-year-old inner-city kid, scared to death, growing up in a life of poverty? What can you do for that little girl?' Well, we know there are no easy answers."

Does he have any answers at all? Yes, he has one. His speech says he wants to encourage "the most successful among us" to "extend their creativity and generosity to helping build the community infrastructure that provides a hand up and a fair shot to those less fortunate, like that little 9-year-old girl in the inner city."

That's it?

Later, Cantor would have added, "From how we help those who are unemployed, to ways to encourage entrepreneurs and start-ups, to encouraging the best and brightest to stay here in America, there are many solutions that will help people succeed and grow the economy."

What any of those solutions might be, however, Cantor would not have said.