♪ were so gallantly streaming ♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free

♪ and the home of the brave? [applause] [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the founder and chairman of the faith and freedom coalition, ralph reed. [applause] ♪ >> good morning faith and freedom coalition. >> good morning. >> let's try that again. good morning, faith and freedom coalition. >> good morning. >> there you go. are you awake?

well, we're getting ready to test that proposition. i am so thrilled to have you all here, and i am so honored to be here with you this weekend. there is no place that i would rather be than in this ballroom, in the city, at this moment, in the history of the greatest nation in the history of the human race. this is a great moment in time. [applause] >> we've got a great lineup for you this weekend. michele bachmann, congressman allen west is going to be out here in just a minute. [applause] john boehner, eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, paul ryan, donald trump, tim pawlenty, mitt romney, herman cain, rick santorum, ron paul, glenn beck. [applause] >> other than that we really don't have much of a lineup for

you. [laughter] but they are here, not just to preach to the choir. although there will be some of that. they are here because what we are doing in this organization and what you are doing in the grassroots is absolutely critical, not just to the outcome of the 2012 elections, but to the very future of our country. and that's why we are not just going to be hearing speeches. but we're going to be going into breakout sessions where you are going to be learning about energizing and building bridges to young voters, to hispanic voters, to nontraditional conservative voters and african-american and asian-american community, the indian american community, over performing among women voters which was a serious problem in 2008, less so in 2010. we are going to be teaching you

how to engage in policy battles for the protection of the sanctity of innocent human life, for the importance of lowering taxes and rain and out of control spending, for the importance of making sure that the labor unions and especially the public sector unions are no longer driving the train of public policy in the united states of america. [applause] >> how to start a faith and freedom coalition either online or in your county or city, how to organize people by using the internet and social networking technology, how to engage in voter registration, voter identification and get out the vote. now, the nfl may be any lockout, but we are not in a lockout. so i want you to think of this weekend as an nfl minicamp. where we are going to teach you some basic fundamentals of how to block, of how to tackle, of how to run patterns, and of how

to know the place so that they are so ingrained in your brain that you can execute them without even thinking. and we are going to do that through sleep deprivation. [laughter] through food deprivation, so that this is so ingrained in you that when you go back to your state and your community, you're not only going to be able to execute these plays, you're not only going to be able to run this system, but you are going to win the biggest victory that we've ever seen in american political history. [applause] >> and it's terribly critical, because in 2008, and this is a frightening statistic to consider, there were 17 million evangelical christian voters who either were not registered to vote, or were registered but didn't go to the polls.

about 8 million were not registered, about 9 million were registered and didn't go to the poll. 17 million. and of those who did go to the poll, and this is pretty scary to one out of every five self identified conservative voters, voted for barack obama for president. one out of every five. so i rolled out of bed the morning after that election, and after this catastrophe, in which barack obama was the most out of the mainstream, most far too left candidate he would ever be nominated for president by either party, not only one, but one in a landslide with over 360 electoral boats and carried states like indiana and virginia that hadn't gone democrat in 44 years. and i vowed that as long as i have breath in me that that was

never going to happen again as long as i live. [applause] >> and so with the help of a lot of people in this room, and many others who are not with us yet, but will be here throughout the weekend including a lot of our speakers, we founded the faith and freedom coalition in the summer of 2009. and with your help in 2010, we identified about 15 million solid fiscal and social conservative voters, many of whom only voted in presidential elections but not in off year elections. and we mailed them and we founded them, and we e-mailed them come and we sent him text messages, and we knocked on their doors. and if they still hadn't voted we pulled up in a car and we put them in the car and we drove into the voting location. we made 58.9 million voter

contacts to those 15 million voters. [applause] >> and let me tell you what happened. self identified conservative christians comprise 32% of the vote, the largest ever recorded in off year election. they voted 82% republican and only 16% democrat. [applause] >> and then the tea party vote, which was a subset of the group that we are working on turning out although we got the sense they were already fairly enthusiastic, they comprised 27% of the vote, and they voted 92% republican and only 6% democrat. [applause] >> and since modern exit polling began, this is not our poll, this is a cnn poll so, you know, it's probably higher.

41% of all the voters said they were conservative. that was about 10% higher than as a share or proportion of the electorate that we have ever seen. you see, when we went out there and did what the other side did in '08, which is that blocking and tackling, not a media campaign, not a money campaign but a people campaign, person-to-person, neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend. you know, we may live in the age of satellite television and iphones and ipads and broadband and internet, but let me tell you, you still win today and 2011, the same way you won in 1920 and the way he won in 1840. you go out there and talk to people, you knock on their doors, you get in touch with them. you identified what their values are, what issues they care about, what candidates they care about and you get them out to the polls.

and ladies and gentlemen, when we did that we didn't just win, we didn't just in the obama presidency in terms of his ability to move a legislative agenda, we also replaced nancy pelosi with speaker john boehner who is going to be here in about an hour. [applause] >> we replaced steny hoyer as majority leader with eric cantor who will be here in about 90 minutes. [applause] >> women executed this program and initially in '09 just into states where only a few months old. we raised about $2 million. we identified the program and the tea party conservative vote. we contacted it. we turned it out, and in new jersey we replaced liberal big spending jon corzine with conservative champion chris christie. [applause]

>> and in virginia bob mcdonnell one that virginia governor's race by 18. [applause] >> in ohio, we replaced ted strickland with our friend john kasich was one of the finest governors in america. [applause] >> and in the fourth largest state in america, we replaced charlie crist with taxcutting rick guy. [applause] >> and i think that's a pretty good trade. and then after chris ted betrayed his party and his professed runcible, we beat him with marco rubio was not in the united states senate. [applause] >> but we are not done yet. we are just beginning, and

that's what this weekend is about. because in 2012 we are going to add to the majority in the house, we are going to see a conservative majority in the u.s. senate, and we're going to replace barack obama with a president that we can be proud of. [applause] >> you know, ronald reagan once said that the closest thing to eternal life on this earth was a federal program. [laughter] >> once enacted it's kind of hard to get rid of. but we are going to change that, because after that new congress is sworn in on january 5, 2013, after we have already defunded it, after we've already suited in the courtroom after we've already restricted it and constrained it, we're going to

pass a bill repealing obamacare and it's going to be signed into law by a new president. [applause] >> now, we've got a great lineup of speakers, and you came here to hear them, not me. so i want to close this morning and turn the program over in just a minute to one of the greatest conservative champions in the country today, congressman alan westin of florida. [applause] >> great american. but before do i want to tell you, i seen this movie before. i was privileged to be the executive director of the christian coalition wing we gained 53 house seats and eight senate seats and then had to switch is innocent for a total of 10 senate seats. it was the biggest off your landslide in the 20th century. we took the house, to the senate, and all the polls showed bill clinton was going to lose, and lose big in 1996.

and we thought that we had entered the promised land. and what we discovered is what you are about to discover, if you haven't already figured it out. and that is the presidency is the most powerful and consequential office not only in the history of this country, but in history of this planet. and don't underestimate the other side. there is nothing they will not do. the irs is now targeting donors to conservative organizations. they are now telling anybody that does business with the federal government that they have to disclose any donation they give to anybody, even though that is protected by the first amendment. my mother was born in chicago, and i don't know that much about chicago politics, but i do note it ain't being back. annecy environment that barack obama and david axelrod and his political team comes out of. barack obama is going to have a billion dollars.

is going to of air force one, and he's going to have the power of the federal government and every special interest in america in his back pocket. so, i'm telling you we are going to have to work harder than we've ever worked. we're going to have to rearrange our lives. if you're going to be able to triumph over that kind of political machine. and more importantly we're going to have to break. we're going to have to do this prayerfully so it is not by might nor by strength, but by his power that this country will be turned back to him. [applause] >> that's what we need to do. now, now, why do we do that? i will tell you why we do it. joanne and i were privileged to be in normandy, in france, about a month ago. and so this memorial day that we just had this week impacted me

more deeply than any memorial day i had ever experienced. because i stood up there on the cliff where those nazi machine gun stations were firing down on those young men. the average age of the men who hit that beach that morning was about 20 years and six months. and i stood up there and i overlooked the beach that we named omaha where 9800 brave soldiers lost their lives. and we walked among the crosses and stars of david. and not just there but on every continent on this globe, there are places of rest like that where people who bore the ultimate burden and paid the ultimate price gave all that it is possible to give, that you and i might be here this

morning, might experience freedom, and might be able to be free americans. and now they surround us as the apostle paul said, like a great cloud of witnesses, like a celestial audience, and they are looking down on us and they are saying we gave you freedom, we preserve america. now, finish the job that we began. make sure this country remains free, that it remains strong, and that it never perishes from the fate of the earth. thank you all very much. god bless you and have a great weekend. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a proud member of the republican freshman class in 2010, congressman allen west of florida.

[applause] ♪ >> thank you so much. and to ralph, i want to thank you for the special honor of being here this morning to kick off the faith and freedom coalition conference. i cannot begin to express how critical it is for us to come together and recognize this place we find ourselves in where we me take an incredible part in the history of our great constitutional republic. one of the size of the declarations of independence stated it clearly. sad will be the day when the american people forget their traditions and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nurse in the rugged arms a fearless men.

that was roger sherman. we stand here this morning, and all across america facing one of the greatest challenges to the future of our country. it is an ideological challenge brought forth from an incredible chasm, developing because we have just done as sherman warned. the resistance today must be one waged in the arena of ideals and principles, domestically and with strength and resolve on the battlefields where our enemies reasoned themselves. i want to talk to you about our american cause. i want to take these few minutes to remind you of the cause which our forefathers fought, and that for which we must now take up the mantle and to defend and secure our american for future generations. if you really want to understand the american cause, you must go back and understand why america was established. america was established if you look at the declaration of independence because ever

grievances against the british empire, and for the first time there was some people that believed it was an opportunity to establish a country, establish a nation where people come individuals could have rights and freedoms. something called liberty was so very important. so whether we find ourselves today? our american cause is threatened, and once again must be defended. as we face these incredible economic times, if we will return to our basic principles of free market, free enterprise, we would truly begin a recovery. however, the ideological chasm we currently face has us believing that a bigger government, growing public sector, larger debt, because of government spending, are all the solutions. we have forgotten is the american individual, their investment, their ingenuity, their innovation which will set as towards a brighter day.

we must set the conditions for them to grow our economy, and abandon a believe that nationalizing our production is the answer. we must set the conditions, small businesses, corporations and businesses, our private sector growth, and that means reforming our tax policies and economic policies to us by her long-term sustainable economic growth. see, the american cause is grounded in unleashing the american entrepreneurial spirit. and it is the liberal progressive mantra which collects, while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in strength and servitude. the american cause was and is rooted in americans as victims, not as victims. the american dream is not about people coming to our shores or

policies of equal achievement. shared sacrifice, which is now the new mean for redistribution of well. and equal things and equal homes. the american dream was and is about equal opportunity. it was abraham lincoln who concisely stated you cannot make a poor man rich by making a rich man poor. and this insidious class warfare rhetoric is not in keeping with our american cause or our traditions. our american cause is about defending our beliefs, and we must never retract from those enemies, who openly declare that they seek our demise. our forefathers fought against adversaries who wore uniforms and represented nations. that is not the case for today. this nonstate, nonuniform belligerent that we contend with seeks to use her own constitutional rights and benevolence is against us. they have no respect of orders,

boundaries, nor the respect of life. we must identify them and put aside political correctness which will result in our own destruction. our american cause -- [applause] >> thank you. out american cause has and always has been on the side of liberty and freedom. we don't need to compromise. we don't need to appease it. and we don't need to apologize for it. [applause] >> we must develop a visionary perspective for the security of our republic, and not focus on shortsighted soundbites as a strategy, less we perish. it was president dwight d. eisenhower who said it, we must be ready to bare all for our country, our history does not long entrust the care of freedom

to the week and timid. americans have never been weak and timid. and shall never be weak and timid. for it was alexander the great to stated, i do not fear an army of lions if they were to be led by a lamb. but i would fear an army of sheep if they were to be led by a lion. we need a lion to lead us. [applause] >> our american cause was and is grounded in a faith heritage. judeo-christian faith heritage and never forget the words of thomas jefferson when he said can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of god, that they are not to be violated, but with his

wrath. indeed, i tremble for my country when i reflect that god is just and that his justice cannot sleep forever. george washington said no people can be bound to acknowledge and endure the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the united states. we out to be no less persuaded than the perpetua smiles of heaven. and never be expected on a nation which disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself ordained. john adams said we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion, because our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. it is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. the attack on our

judeo-christian faith heritage is an attack on our american cause. their aim is not just about separation of church and state, then aim is to separate faith from the individual. and that is why the title of this gathering is so important. because where there is no faith, there certainly will not be freedom. our founding fathers knew that, and this move to develop a secular state in america is the antithesis to the traditions and foundations of our america, of our cause. in psalm 11, three, it asked a simple question. if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? you are here seeking the answer to that question. first you must educate yourselves on our american cause. understand its principles, then secondly, you must recognize the ideological struggle which says

in 10 of our america, and must see clearly and be able to articulate a viable solutions which will sustain our america for future generations. lastly, you must become a lion and let your roar be heard and be willing to fight for a cause as so many before us have done. you must never be ashamed of your faith, and sing the songs in your heart daily, songs such as faith of our fathers. they met the challenges of their time. it was a time characterized by the immortal words of thomas paine when he said these are the times which try men's souls. a soldier, we'll in this crisis go from the service of their country. but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of man and women. that was the beginning of where we are in america today. in america, a country where we believe in the rule of law,

where we believe in economic recovery, that does not come from excessive government spending. where we believe in securing our borders, where we believe in the sanctity of life and the traditional marriage as a fundamental institution of this country, where we believe in individual rights of freedoms. and where we must stand and fight for our cause and our constitutional beliefs. the american cause is not about imposing a will. it is about an idea. and it is about the extension of that idea and these times we have to engage in these that threaten this great land and the ideal for who we are. in closing, president ronald wilson reagan said it so bravely, and he took it from the new testament, matthew, chapter five we talked about america being a shining city that sits upon a hill. back in florida congressional district 22 which i the honor to represent, there are a couple places lighthouse point in jupiter hill where we still have

a light houses. and think about how lighthouses have always stood to guide the ship in troubling times so that they do not crash upon rocks. that is our american cause, and what it has meant for the rest of the world is that we are a lighthouse which stands to bring those distressed ships of state into safe harbor. and if that light that is the united states of america where to go outcome if the light that is the american cause of freedom, of liberty, the pursuit of happiness, the respect of the individual were to go out, in this world will in turn go into a new dark age. ..

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a fellow member of the republican freshman class of 2010, congressman mick mulvaney from south carolina. [applause] >> thank you y'all very much. i'm going to do something unsouthern and speak as quickly as i possibly can today. [laughter] they gave me ten minutes to do this. i have the unenviable task of going between allen and paul ryan. [laughter]

and even more so, i have the unenviable task of talking to you about our fiscal situation and our debt. i can tell you, i do not expect to get nearly the applause lines that allen got. [laughter] i have about a 45-minute town hall meeting that i give on this topic. i can give it in about 30 seconds which is that it's much, much worse than you expected. [laughter] it's much, much worse than i expected. i have tried very hard, i'm on the budget committee with paul, i also serve on the joint economic committee, we spent a great deal of time the first four months going over the numbers, and i didn't understand the numbers. i don't know what a trillion dollars is. in fact, i used to talk to folks on the campaign trail and say if you stood up, if you stacked up $100 bills in the amount, about $3.8 trillion worth, that we spend every single year, that stack of money would be over 3,000 miles high. the numbers are simply too large for ordinary folks to

understand. so one of the first things we did is change the numbers and try and put things in a per perspective that at least i could understand. so imagine you're sitting around the table, it's january, you want to sit down to do the family budget, and you're making $46,000 a year, that's what you bring home after taxes, you have $46,000 a year to spend. and you haven't done the budget for a couple years, maybe you don't know exactly where you are, you sit down, you add up the rent, the mortgage, the insurance, the gas, the groceries, and you're spending $78,000 a year. you're making 46, and you're spending 78. imagine what that would feel like at your dinner table not having looked at your budget and realizing you're $32,000 short this year. and then i want you to imagine is the visa bill, and the visa bill is $281,000. and those numbers are where we are. that's exactly where we are as a

nation. those numbers correlate precisely to where we will be this year in terms of what we take in, what we spend and what our national debt is. so if you can imagine the sinking feeling you would have sitting around your family dinner table, you can imagine what it's like to be in congress for the first couple of months. i ask people to remember one thing when i give my presentation out on the road. if there's one number they can remember, the number i ask them to remember is the year 2055. at the end of all of our analysis, i asked my staff one thing: tell me what the interest carry is. that's all i want to know. and we ran the number -- nonpartisan numbers, by the way, they were congressional budget office numbers -- the year 2055 was the year that, or is the year that if we do nothing different in this country every single penny that we bring in as a nation will go to one thing and one thing only, and that is interest on the debt. that's it. no defense, no medicare, no

medicaid, no social security, no faa, no fbi, none of the acronyms that we've all become so familiar with. there simply isn't any money for anything other than interest payments on the debt, and that's if we do nothing at all. and i've been here about four or five months, and one of the lessons i've learned is washington is much were better t doing nothing than something. there are going to be tough decisions, no question. i gave a similar speech at c pack, and we did a little -- cpac, and and older woman said, please, mr. mull mulvaney, please do whatever you can to fix it, but don't cut spending on pro-life programs. and she got a nice ovation. and i didn't know what to say to her other than the truth which was, madam, you're not going to find anybody more pro-life than i am. i wrote the ultrasound bill in south carolina. we're going to cut that program. we are. because we have to cut

everything. we're well beyond the point of making the easy decisions. we're well beyond the point -- [applause] well beyond the point of just cutting the things that we don't like. that's how serious the problem is. um, and we, it is a moral question. i mean, put it in terms that a family can understand. we cannot afford the things that we are buying. that's all that we are as a nation, we cannot afford the thicks that we are -- things that we are buying, and instead of making the tough decisions about not buying those things, we've decided to make our kids pay for it. and that's where we are as a nation. we have smead some tough -- made some tough decisions, mr. ryan is going to speak about some of the tough decisions we have made as a party on entitlement spending, and let me make one thing perfectly clear, if you want to balance the budget, you must change entitlements. [applause] don't care how you do it, that's not a -- that's not politics speaking, that's simple math. if you are interested in balancing the budget, then you must do something different

about medicare, medicaid and social security. i'll leave it to other folks to talk today about how to fix that, but that is a truth. if you want to balance the budget, you have to do that. so we have made some tough decisions. not enough, and we'll continue to have to do them. we will continue to borrow money this year, borrow almost over $900 billion this year. there's a lot more difficult decisions to make. um, i'll leave you with this. it was a story -- and i wish i could take credit for this. it happened just the other day. we were at the white house, we were called in to meet the president. and we had a little question and answer with the president, we were there in the east room, he finished speaking, and a colleague of mine from wisconsin, a tremendous freshman, got up and asked a question and swears to me that that was extemporaneous. if it is, it's perhaps the most inspired two-minute speech i've ever heard in my entire life. he got up and he said, you know, mr. president, i can't thank you enough for inviting us here, i am really just in awe to be in this room and to see that

picture of george washington on the wall. and to realize what he did for this nation, and he put this nation into debt. he put this nation into debt so that we could be free. and 100 years later we put ourselves into debt again so that we could remain free as one nation. and he said in world war i and world war ii we put ourselves in debt yet again so that we could preserve the cause of freedom all over the entire world. and you've asked us, mr. president, to come in today and give you more money to put us further into debt so that we can buy ourselves more things. and if that doesn't put into sharp contrast what we are doing as a nation and the moral decisions that we face as a nation, i don't know what does. um, sooner or later, folks, we just have to say no. sooner or later you just have to make the decision -- [applause] have to make the decision to

simply stop spending the money. i appreciate everything that y'all did in my race. i know there's some folks from south carolina here, thank you. there we go. for everything that you've done, please, there is no more election, there is no election more important than the 2012 elections. i would give up my seat gladly if i thought it would make a difference in the race for the white house. i would give up my seat gladly if i thought it would make a difference in getting control of the senate. if we don't win in 2012, i don't know if we solve the problems. so, please, thank you for all that you've done in the past but, please, do stay engaged, and thank you very much for having me this morning. [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the chairman of the wisconsin faith and freedom coalition, chairman tony nasvik. [applause] ♪

>> good morning. >> good morning. >> what a phenomenal day, what a phenomenal weekend. i am so honored to have this opportunity to introduce our next speaker, congressman paul ryan from wisconsin. [applause] >> whoo! ♪ >> there are few stars that shine as bright in the united states congress as congressman paul ryan. he is chairman of the house budget committee, and under his leadership the house has introduced a bold conservative vision to restore america's fiscal sanity, a little thing that has drawn a little bit of attention recently called a path to prosperity. have you heard that? well, so have a few others. and despite unrelenting attacks from the liberal media establishment and left-wing opponents, paul has been consistent in telling the

american people the hard truths of our nation's fiscal crisis. in short, congressman ryan is perhaps the most important voice in a new era of conservative leadership. i am personally honored to have this opportunity, and i would love to have you help me welcome congressman paul ryan. [applause] ♪ it's a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day. [cheers and applause] >> hey, everybody, good morning! [applause] how you doing? good. good to be with you today. listen, i want to share with you a story. it's an unpleasant story. for those of us who have served in congress for a while, we were there in 2008 when we had a

financial crash. and then we watched a recession start. we saw millions of people, friends, families, constituents lose their jobs. we saw trillions of dollars of wealth just vanish because we had a great recession. con subsequently, usually the bigger the recession you have in this country, the bigger the recovery. where's the recovery? but i want to tell you something, when that 2008 financial crisis happened, it caught us all by surprise. we didn't see it coming. and so ugly crisis legislation emerged from that. i want to ask you a question. what if your congressman, your senator, your president saw that financial crash coming, knew it was going to happen, knew basically when it was going to happen, why it was going to happen, but more importantly, what if your representative in congress, your president knew

what needed to be done to prevent it from happening and had the time to do so but decided not to because it just wasn't good politics? what would you think of him? >> wouldn't like it. >> you wouldn't like him. [laughter] that's where we are right now. we have the most predictable, most preventable economic crisis in our history, and what are we doing? we're playing politics. we have a leadership deficit in washington right now. [applause] we have a debt crisis coming. we know that government cannot keep spending must be we don't have. money we don't have. and yet we see what we are doing to our children and our grandchildren. we know without a shred of doubt we're giving them a lower standard of living, less prosperity, less opportunities.

we're living at their expense right now. and we know doing it this way is hurting our economy today. it's costing us jobs now. it's telling entrepreneurs and businesses don't invest, don't take risks because gosh only knows what government's going to do to you next. and so we don't have a leadership deficit in the house, and i'll tell you why, because the house of representatives is taking this moment seriously. and it's really because america sent people like mr. mulvaney, like mr. ribble, sent up 87 freshman to come to congress who came not for career, but a cause, and the cause of liberty in america and getting freedom back. [applause] i gotta tell you, having people like mick mulvaney and reed rib on the budget committee is a breath of fresh air. so in the house we put out a budget to get this situation under control. we do four things.

number one, we cut spending. $6.2 trillion of spending. [applause] we just think it's this novel idea that we ought to get government to live within its means and that we should give our children a debt-free nation, and we literally put into place a plan that literally pays off our national debt. [applause] number two, like in the mid 1990s we had great success with welfare reform, but we only reformed one of the several welfare programs in the federal government. we need to finish reforming our welfare system. [applause] but we want to have a welfare system that is geared not toward keeping people on welfare, but getting them back on their feet in the lives of self-sufficiency. that's what this country's about. [applause] if we go down this path or this tipping point of having more takers than makers in america, then we will become a european

cradle to grey social well -- grave social welfare state. that is not the american ideal. third thing we do, medicare is going broke, it's going bankrupt. it has to be saved. and so we have this novel idea that if you've already retired or if you're about to retire, you're above 55 years old, you've already organized your life around this promise government made to you, and we think government should keep that promise. so we make sure that this system stays intact for those people, but in order to do that, you've got to change it and fix it for my generation, those of us 54 and below. and the way in which we prose too that -- propose to do that is a system that says you get to choose among these benefits medicare offers you, and medicare subsidizes it. more of your poor, more of your sick, not as much if you're wealthy. doing this, saving it from if bankruptcy for the next generation, preserves the program for the current generation. [applause]

there is an alternative. the alternative is bankruptcy. the alternative is the program collapses. the alternative is obamacare. you have to remember dirty little secret, president's new health care law takes a half a trillion from medicare to spend on obamacare. how many times have you ever told your congressman at a town hall meeting or talked around the coffee table or at the greasy spoon restaurant and said i wish they would stop raiding social security. well, guess what? they just started that with medicare now. and what's worse, they put a new board of 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of price controlling and rationing medicare to current seniors. so they raid it, they ration it, and then they don't even try to save it. we save the program, we end the raid, and we stop the rationing. we think that's the better way to go to save the system. [applause]

fourth thing we do is grow the economy. now, here's the difference. washington doesn't create jobs. the private sector creates jobs, entrepreneurs create jobs, people create jobs. and when you have so much government, so much government activism, so much government regulating and so much government spending, you don't know what's going to happen next. there is so much government-inspired uncertainty in our economy that it's putting a chilling effect on job creation. so pay off the debt, keep our tax rates low and stable and predictable, stop picking winners and losers in washington for the regulatory system and get the system under control so people can flourish. here's what it all comes down to. the way in which we address this debt crisis, how we handle this going in will determine what

kind of country we are coming out of it. and so let's just know that we are in this moment in america, it's a very precarious moment in america. i see it as a great opportunity in america. and it's a moment where we can decide, do we believe in those founding principles that made us so great, or are we going to put those aside and go with a different plan, a social democracy/european kind of a system? what's so unique about america is america's not just a country, it's not just a land mass, it's not maine to california, wisconsin to florida, it's an idea. and the idea of america is that our rights come from god and nature. they come before government. [applause] it's the only country founded as such. and so our rights are not given to us from government, our rights are ours naturally given to us by god. and so knowing this, applying

these principles -- liberty, freedom, self-determination, government by consent of the governed -- applying those principles to the problems of today renews america, keeps us exceptional. at the end of the day, the way in which we address these fundamental problems in the america will determine, a, are we going to keep ourselves as that opportunity society with a safety net, that society that is characterized by more prosperity, by upward mobility, by equal opportunity, or are we going to abandon that? are we going to go down this other path, the one we're on right now where more and more people become dependent on the government for their livelihoods, where they are drained of their incentive and their will to make the most of their lives, and we become a government, a society where the government sees its job as equalizing the results of our lives, as pursuing equal outcomes versus equal

opportunity? the difference is stark. the difference is we go into managed decline, into managed stagnation. we go into a society where the government has such a profoundly bigger role in our everyday lives, many managing our economy. in managing our economy. look, it's not a fixed pie. the world, the economy, america is not a fixed pie where the government has to simply redistribute the slices. we need to grow the pie. we need to grow opportunity. we need to have a system of prosperity where everybody has a chance of reaching their destiny and fulfilling their potential. and you know what? america gets this. the people are way ahead of the political class up here in washington. they know this. [applause] and so while we have a leadership deficit on confronting these issues in the white house, and while we have the united states senate for a

second year in a row that didn't bother to pass a budget, i want you to know that the people you sent to the house take this very seriously, and we've done this in the house. we're going to keep lead anything the house. and if we do our jobs right, we will give you that choice you deserve in 2012 so you can decide what kind of country you want to live in this country for the 21st century. thank you very much, and god bless you. have a great day. thank you. [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome one of the conservative movement's strongest leaders, the president of the family research council, tony perkins. [applause]

>> good morning. >> good morning! >> well, it's an honor for me to address the faith and freedom coalition, and i'll tell you what, it's great to be among friends that are in this fight for first principles. you know, i look forward to these opportunities to talk to like-minded folks who are not ashamed to defend the christian principles upon which this nation was founded. you know, for me political engagement came a little later in life. my first political involvement did not come until i ran for office and won. i didn't grow up kind of as a college republican or anything like that. in fact, i never thought about politics, never thought i would be involved in the politics before i joined the marine corps back at the age of 15, the lord called me to begin preaching, preaching in nursing homes. now, looking back on that, that was great preparation for the legislature. [laughter]

you know, thanks to people like ralph reed and the efforts of each and every one of you in this room, the values that you and i care about, the timeless truths that we embrace are now a part of the national political conversation. and i believe that they are here permanently because they're about the permanent things, harte and home -- herth and home, and better, who is the source of our liberties? these are not questions of interest only to bell tower churchmen or ivory tower scholars. they are central to the questions, to the well being of a free people and the very survival of a free nation. your presence here today and this weekend is part of the answer to these questions. you are informed, you are engaged, you are pursuing ideals, serving others and not

your self interest. you want to secure the blessings of liberty, and the blessings of faith and family for future generations. this, my friends s a high calling, a calling of citizen patriots. you know, over the last six months ever since november's extraordinary events at the ballot box there's been a dwag l of media -- gaggle of media voices and a handful of politicians that have trotted out the argument that economic and fiscal concerns are trumping social issues and all of these other issues have to be shove today the background. in fact, on the way over here i got a tweet, it said that social and moral issues are no longer relevant to the national political debate. congressman anthony weiner. [laughter] [applause] >> i couldn't resist. [laughter] as we meet here today, i don't

pretend to know how the critical moral issues of our time will ultimately play out. we see through a glass darkly in this life, and the way ahead is full of perils, seen and unseen. but even if we cannot predict where our nation is headed, we know as conservatives where we must stand. and today we must cut, we must cap, we must balance and bury. cut the budget, cap government spending, pass a balanced budget amendment and bury obamacare. [applause] you know, the voices of division cry out that america's fiscal and economic crisis deserve all of our attention. they argue that government spending, budget deficits and the national debate are out of control, and other matters are unrelated and must be put aside. one prominent political figure, a man who actually has compiled

an impressive record on health care, economic policy and other topics even called for a truce on the core social issues. ironically, the priority of his own family -- a priority i commend him for embracing -- has dissuaded him from seeking higher office. now, this is not a unique circumstance for one conservative leader. its spirit, family first, partakes of our nation's founding spirit. read the letters of washington, jefferson, madison, and you'll find there the abiding sense that they were not here to exalt the enterprises of government, but to preserve the liberties they most enjoyed in the meadows of mount vernon and montpelier. we aim to recover that spirit. in fact, we must insist upon it. to accomplish this goal in a time of eternal uncertainty and external threat is no small task, but we cannot accomplish it as a fragmented, feuding band

tempted and finally doomed to endless internal squabbling over priorities. we must instead embody and express a coherent and compelling vision, one that unites the three mighty cords of conservativism and draws them snugly together. we must seek a nation that is militarily strong and secure, economically prosperous and free, socially healthy and virtuous. you know, big government doesn't just happen. when a citizen is content in his home life, confident in his neighbor and in control of his own resources, his need for government -- especially remote government -- will be very small. but when family life fractures, when mothers avoid marriage and fathers flee responsibilities, when youth lack supervision and crime rises, when schools flounder and local capital

evaporates and broken windows proliferate, the government can and will relentlessly grow. when the natural family is looked down upon, we will by necessity look up to big government. as the author mark stein observed recently, why a truth on conservative issues is not popular, he said, quote, the collapse of the american family is a fiscal issue. unwed mothers are the most reliable voting group for big government. end quote. as the father of five, i can affirm this basic truth. two full-time parents, a mother and a father, are barely enough to keep up with kids. the single mother who turns to government for provision is only acting out of -- she's only acting rationally and out of necessity. as america approaches having a majority of its children born out of wedlock, as it does in your -- as a dozen european

countries already do, it does not take an advanced degree in math to know that our country does not have enough revenue enhancements -- that's washingtonese for taxes -- that we can raise or enough money that we can borrow from china to make up for the deficit left by the family. let me be more specific. the cost of the family breakdown is huge in direct dollar terms, and it compounds at an unfathomable rate. a few years ago the georgia family council, the institute for marriage and public policy and the institute of american values calculated the annual cost of the family breakdown to u.s. taxpayers. the price tag? $112 billion a year. it could not be any clearer. we cannot fix the fiscal until we fix the family. [applause] now, the good news is that this

can be accomplished largely by government taking a hippocratic oath on family policy. first, do no harm. government from the time of the great society has devised even more laws and programs that enable and encourage father absence. other decisions from roe v. wade to the lawsuits against prop 8 and the defense of marriage act have undermined responsibility and have sewn mutual distrust between men and women. remember how we were urged that the new freedoms of choice would give us happier families and have us have fewer abandoned children? well, something terrible happened on the way from the courthouse to the cradle. we forgot duty and honor. we ask less of men, and now writers like hannah rosin say we have reached the end of man. government does not need to put

billions more dollars into the changing of this course in this area. in fact, it can and should spend billions less. it needs to encourage work, embrace the complimentary nature of men and women, honor marriage and celebrate the family. now, let me be equally clear about something else. pro-family and pro-life conservatives are not now and never have been indifferent to the need for economic growth and fiscal sanity. we are passionate about those issues, and we understand their urgency. families must, above all else, be producers of civil society, not vast consumers of government. who can forgive us if we as conservatives, of all people, fail to free future generations to share the blessings that we have known? let me close with a short story. there was once a mediocre music

conductor who led an equally mediocre and undisciplined orchestra. he had been having problems with the basses, they were the least professional of all his musicians. it was the last performance of the season. it was beethoven's ninth symphony. well, early in the evening the conductor found the basses celebrating one of their birthdays by passing the bottle. well, along came the performance, and just as he was to cue the basses, the nervous conductor knocked over the music stand, the sheet music scattered to the floor, and as he stood there in front of the orchestra, his worst fear was realized. it was bottom of the ninth, there was no score, and the basses were loaded. [laughter] i don't know how you feel, but to me this could well be the bottom of the ninth for our beloved country. we face enormous deficits, a

faltering economy, a weak dollar, uncertain leadership abroad, alliances in peril, and a level of family disruption beyond anything our nation has ever seen. this is no time for us to lapse into an undisciplined orchestra where different parking lots are setting off -- parts are setting off against each other. instead, we need a rousing symphony. the drums of strong national defense, the horns of economic abundance and the strings that bind families must all play together and play nicely. this is not a political opportunity, my friends, it is a civic and moral duty. it is the vision that has brought our nation and our movement their best days. and i know you'll understand the reference if i say our best days are yet ahead. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america.

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the minnesota faith and freedom coalition, carol schulsted. [applause] >> [inaudible] [laughter] we'll find a little cheater and talk to you about a really favored person. in fact, if there is one word that i would use today to describe congresswoman michele bachmann, it's fearless. [applause] when nancy pelosi was in power, she was fearless in her

criticism of her extreme liberal agenda, and as a conservative leader in congress, she has been fearless to stop president obama's left-wing lies that are destroying america, and she remains fearless in her critics as her critics in the left-wing media attempt to assassinate her character. congresswoman bachmann remains one of the greatest friends and advocates for this modern day conservative movement, and we are certainly honored to have her here today. now, besides fearless, i must make a mention that as she is defending our faith and our freedom and her constituents and the cause for the conservatives of america, she is also serving her husband, her five children and her 27 foster children. excuse me, 23. [applause] and to that we must assign love and compassion and passion for life. i remember when congress woman bachman was in the statehouse of

minnesota, and one of her first issues that we were caring so greatly about was education. no surprises, all those children. and who would have ever thought that she would have carried the issue of traditional marriage to the level that she has today. and i would just really love it if you would all join me in giving her a warm faith and freedom welcome, our congresswoman, michele bachmann. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> hi, everyone! thank you for coming. [cheers and applause] good to see you, good morning. thank you for coming. [applause] i can tell this conference is off to a great start already! isn't it?

oh, what a wonderful year this is going to be, and 2012 is even going to be better! [cheers and applause] we're looking forward to winning the triple crown, aren't we? holding on to the house of representatives, getting a conservative senate for the first time in a long time and, finally, sending a change of address form to 1600 pennsylvania avenue! [cheers and applause] because if we have anything to say about it, barack obama will be a one-term president! [cheers and applause] well, it's a new day, and there's new things that are coming our way, and i'm extremely grateful for all of you who are here this morning, extremely grateful. i want to give you -- i want -- there's a lot of bad news that's going on around the world, but there's a lot of good news that's going on around the

world, too, and i want to talk to you about a few of some of those things. carol had mentioned to grow that when i was at the minnesota state senate that we had started a project -- not because we wanted to, but because we were calculate a abouting in -- acting in response to an action by the massachusetts judicial supreme court. does anyone remember the decision in 2003 that the court issued? they issued a decision that told the state legislature that the legislature had to pass a law in conformity with the will of the justices. does anyone remember what that decision was about? do you remember? it was about marriage. it had something to do about redefining marriage. i had heard that in minnesota and knew that that would come our way as well, and so i announced that i was going to introduce a constitutional amendment that would allow the people of minnesota to vote on the laws that they live under, particularly the definition of marriage. whether marriage would be

between one man and one woman. and -- [applause] that's a good concept. people were, as you can imagine, this was the height of the controversy, and i was at the tip of the spear on that effort. and the reason why i bring this up is because i say to you, persevere. persevere and never despise small beginnings. because we were a few people that i had gotten together and tried to make this happen, and this bill that i introduced we began with, we were not able to get it out of the liberal-dominated senate that i was in. we tried, we tried again, we weren't able to succeed. but we didn't give up because we knew the people of minnesota, ultimately, wanted to be able to vote on this bill. thirty different states have put this bill up, every time states have put this bill before the american people they have voted

in their states to retain the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. [applause] and, no, i am no longer in the minnesota state senate, i am privileged to be able to serve the people of the sixth district in the house of representatives. others took that torch, and they carried on. and just a week ago last saturday evening minnesota finally passed the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man, one woman. [applause] and so minnesota is the first state that has decided this issue will be on the ballot in 2012. the state of new hampshire, i understand, will be taking this issue up as well and other states. this is the time, and so i want

to encourage all of you at home, if you don't have a similar amendment, consider this in your home states. i believe this is the time to do it. so i just want to say thank you to those who have continued to carry that torch. [applause] we need to do this because how many of you know that the marriage, that marriage is under siege like no time in recent history? just recently in "usa today" and in other magazines, um, we got the census data out that said that married couples have dropped below half of all american households for the first time, according to the census bureau. it's a milestone in the our nation's history. do you know that back in 1950 78% of all households remitted a married couple, and today we're

at 48%. that has created a profound difference in america. this year my husband and i will be married 33 years. [applause] and you're clapping for the wrong person in our marriage. [laughter] it's my husband who deserves the lion's share of the credit for that. it does help, though, when you're married to a marriage and family therapist. i have to say -- [laughter] we do have an unfair advantage there. and i'm extremely grateful for this wonderful man. he's not only committed deeply to our marriage, but he's committed to our children. and we made a decision when we first got married. one of those decisions was even though we didn't have a lot of money, we decided we would always live on just one income. we wouldn't be dependent on both of our incomes. because we knew we both had broken hearts for at-risk children. i don't know what it was, but god put that on our heart. we had broken hearts for at-risk

kids. we knew somehow we wanted to reach out and be a part of a solution for them. along the way, god blessed us, we had five wonderful biological children. and then at a certain point the lord allowed us to bring 23 foster children into our home. and i'm happy to say all of our foster children successfully graduated from high school, they were launched into the world, and they're off in their various endeavors. [applause] and with each of our five children we began by home schooling our five children because we believed as parents we wanted to teach our children how to read before they run off to school. because if a child can read, they can be self-taught, and they can make it. and so we home schooled each of our five biological children and then got them off into the world as well. and now this sunday we will have graduation for our daughter from

high school, this fall we'll send two off to college, and let me tell you, after 29 years of parenting, we're going to be done after this sunday. [laughter] and we love these children, but it's sayonara! [applause] there is something to be said for an empty nest and moving on. [laughter] adolescence does end in our family, so we're excited about it. but marriage is extremely important. children are extremely important. and to be highly valued. and that's one thing that i think in our society we have done fairly well, is place a high value on children. we need to do that for the benefit of the next generation, and i think that's why the issue of wife is so profound and so dear. when my husband and i met in college, we were 19 years of aim. we had seen -- age.

we had seen a film series, it was called "how shall we then live?" dr. francis schafer said abortion was a water shed issue of our time, and my husband and i heard that, and it was a profound thought for both of us. the importance of that issue and the high value that we need to place on human rights and on human life. the founders did in the declaration of independence. they wrote in the declaration, thomas jefferson penned the words or that we are eni endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, that among those rights are life. that's the first right. and the incredible thing about this statement is that inalienable rights are ones that man cannot give. he's incapable of giving them. government is incapable of giving inalienable rights. only a creator can in the wisdom

of the founders. they recognized this natural law, this truth that was self-evident to all people, that only god could give life. and the other side of that is that not only can man not give that right, nor can government give it, the opposite side is that government is without power or authority to take that right away. [applause] that's valuable. and i think this is one of the self-evident truths that rings a chord of recognition in the hearts of all men, that there is an inalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and i think that's why this has been such a tremendous controversy since the supreme court decision that was written by harry blackman in the early 1970s regarding this issue of

life and when we will preserve life. also be encouraged, be encouraged on the marriage front, be encouraged on the life front. let me share this statistic with you because there's a poll that was done by quinnipiac university. voters opposed by 72% to 23% using any public money in the health care overhaul to pay for abortions. 72% of americans oppose the provision in obamacare to pay for taxpayer-funded abortions. 72% of the american people. [applause] that's why i am convinced that, ultimately, be of good cheer. with will win this -- we will win this fight because we will repeal obamacare! [cheers and applause] it will happen!

and i am committed, i am committed, i will not rest until we repeal obamacare! [cheers and applause] america will not rest until we repeal obamacare! [cheers and applause] take it to the bank, cash the check! it will be done! it will not stand! the american people will not stand! [cheers and applause] because know that you know that you know that you know the american people are with us on this issue. that's why the window of opportunity that we have in 2012 is so crucial. carol schulsted who was standing here introducing me before has been working tirelessly in the minnesota legislature to prevent the state legislature from the

early implementation of obamacare in our state. [applause] in all of your 50 states, i urge you faith and freedom activists to do the same. work in your states to prevent the early implementation of obamacare. this is the dirty deal that was dope with obamacare. some of you may know this, some of you may not. when obamacare was given and we were told to vote on this bill, you can do a lexus nexus search, and you won't find this fact. hidden in that bill, tucked away in this bill supposedly in plain sight was 105,464,000,000 of prefunding of obamacare to implement it in the 50 states. this is like a lot of money. $105,464,000,000. we spent, oh, about five, six weeks at the beginning of this year arguing over cutting $37 billion.

out of the budget. you think maybe this went unnoticed? at the very last -- in fact, do you think maybe that's why speaker pelosi famously said we have to pass the bill to know what's in it? maybe that's why members of congress should read these bills before they vote on them? [cheers and applause] don't worry, faith and family, it's going to be just fine. we're going to repeal this bill, we're going to get that money back. [cheers and applause] don't worry, it's going to be just fine. and recently this, this also, i think, has given rise to the steam that's behind the issue of defunding planned parenthood. [cheers and applause] in a time when president obama is calling on the congress to give him authority to increase

borrowing money that we don't have, so borrow -- raise the debt ceiling by borrowing another 2.4 trillion, and we're giving money to corrupt organizations like planned parenthood? that are committing crimes and enabling young, minor girls and covering up issues i don't even want to talk about it because it's so disgusting, but this organization has, by their own records, performed 324,008 abortions in 2008 and 2009. and that's in addition to the trafficking of underage girls that has gone on under planned parenthood's nose. do you think maybe we could start here by defunding this organization? [cheers and applause] i think so too. it couldn't come soon enough. they're a billion dollar a year organization. they need to stand on their own. and here's another issue that we've all heard about, and it's

come to our attention in the last couple of weeks. and that's israel. our president made a shocking display of betraying our greatest friend and ally, israel, when he said to israel you need to give up more land, you must give up more land, shrink to your '67 borders. as a matter of fact, cut your nation in two so you're separated from each other to indefensible borders and give that land away to the palestinians who, by the way, don't even recognize that israel exists or has a right to defend herself. america must do what all previous presidents have done since harry truman and stand with israel. i stand with israel! [cheers and applause]

>> and, faith and family, we are sending a message to the world that president obama speaks for a very tiny minority. he may be president of the united states, but he does not speak for us on the issue of israel. [cheers and applause] timothy tutu says to pray for those who are in authority, and let me tell you why. when you come into congress and when you're in government here in washington, d.c., things happen so fast it's almost like you've jumped in a blender and somebody hit purée. that's what it's like around here. so we need to ask you for prayer and to uphold us in prayer. we're at a critical time and a critical hour in our nation's history, and our time has gone by so quickly, there's so much more that i'd like to talk to

you about, but the time has elapsed. and i wonder if you might just indulge me, and in the next couple of seconds that we have together, if we would do what we talk about, and that is pray. join me in prayer on behalf of our nation. father god, i thank you that you are here in our midst at this wonderful conference. thank you for those who sacrifice so much to be here this morning. lord, we thank you for the encouragement that you give us and these issues of marriage and of life, father. we see so much encouragement, and yet we see, father, that our nation hangs precariously in the balance financially, morally and also in our relationship with the rest of the world, with our position toward israel. father, we lift all of these things up to you. we do pray for our president. we pray for the supreme court. we pray for the members of congress. we pray for those who are in authority. because this is not a political scorecard, this is about the

very life and future of our nation. so, father, we lift it up to you because we want our people to be blessed and to prosper. we want all men to come to know you all across the world. and so, father, we pray, again, for your spirit to come down, to come into this nation. again, demonstrate to each one of us this eternal love that you have for us. you say that you want for us prosperity, you want us to prosper, and you say in jeremiah that you have for us a future and a hope. lord, we ask for that future and that hope, and we confess our own sins, father. we confess them to you. we turn away from them now, father. we pray for our nation. lord, we know there are things that we have done in our nation that have not been pleasing in your sight. lord, we ask your forgiveness for that. we ask that once again you would turn your face toward us and that you would bless us and empower us to be a blessing to

the world. so we thank you, lord, we commit this conference to you in your holy son's name, amen. have a great conference! thanks for letting me come, bye-bye! [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome one of the leading conservative members of congress, the chairman of the house republican policy committee from georgia, congressman tom white? congressman -- >> great to be with you. we've been trying to get michelle out of her skin a

little bit. we wanted her to be able to deliver a stem winder, but wasn't she great? i'm telling ya. [applause] i am so pleased to be with you, thank you so much for coming out, spending your time coming to the nation's capital. you want know what a room full of patriots looks like? look around! isn't this grand? [applause] i'm so very pleased to be back with you. i was honored to be able to join you last year, and what a difference a year makes. we've made a little progress, 87 new republican members of the house of representatives. [applause] it's a good thing. you know, 37 of those 87 had never run for anything before in their life. nothing. not city council, not state legislature. they're just like you where you and i woke up one day and said what the heck is going on around here, right? we've got to do something. and for them in their district that meant running for the house of representatives. so i can't tell you, is the, indeed, a better place.

but i've got news for you, ladies and gentlemen, it's just barely a better place. we've got a lot of work to do. there are remarkable challenges that we face as a nation, there's no doubt about it. but we live in the greatest country in the history of the world, right? we're blessed to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. [applause] now, if you believe that, if you believe that, then one would think that when you face remarkable challenges, that what you do is look back to those wonderful principles, those basic, fundamental principles that got you to become the greatest country in the world, right? in fact, what we're doing right now from the executive branch is ignoring all of those principles. it's astounding. we had the privilege of going to the reagan library earlier this year on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, and i'm reminded of that because of principle. you talk about a man who knew of principle. walking through that library, there are all these wonderful quotes. i would encourage you to visit.

you walk through the library, there's quote after quote after quote, and i was struck by all of them. but one of them really stuck out to me, and it was a tape recording when reagan was running for president, and there was a forum of candidates. and the question to the candidates was, what is your solution to end the cold war? and they went down each of them, and one of them had a three-point plan, and one of them had a five-point plan, and they got to reagan, and he said as only he could do, and my imitation is terrible, but it went something like this: well, my solution for ending the cold war is very simple, we win, they lose. [laughter] [applause] so, so often times those principles are remarkably simple, right? remarkably simple. and that's where we are right now. one of the principles that michelle touched on, where do we derive our freedom? >> we're now leaving the faith and freedom coalition conference to go live to the u.s. senate,

and we'll return right after the brief session. senators meeting in a pro forma session, they're keeping the president from making recess appointments while the senate is on its memorial daybreak. senate returns monday to consider general nomination.co live coverage of the u.s. senate. june 3, 2011. to the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3 of the standing rules of the senate i appoint the honorable jim webb to perform the duties of the chair from the commonwealth of virginia signed daniel k. inouye, president is

>> we'll return now to live coverage of the faith and freedom coalition conference. more remarks from congressman tom wright. >> they said that we may not allow you, government, we may not allow you to move one of our manufacturing facilities from the state of washington to the state of south carolina because it might make it so that union activity would be compromised. can you believe that? and you talk about a federal government agency that's out of control. you can name all sorts of them but the epa, the environmental protection agency, is out of control. these are politicians picking winners and losers and making it stick and obamacare -- as a physician, i can tell you the

obamacare is the furthest reach of oppression that this society has ever seen and that's why it's wrong. [applause] >> and then you all well know that the spending -- the spending that has gone on has been immoral. not just wrong. it is immoral the amount of spending that we have done as a federal government. [applause] >> because every single dollar that the government takes away from you is a dollar less freedom that you have. it is that basic. it is that basic. so that's all the bad news. now, the good news is, is that there are wonderful solutions. positive solutions. you heard paul ryan earlier today talk about our plan, our positive plan, the path to prosperity. a proposal that if enacted would bring down the budget and pay off the debt. can you do it overnight, no. but do it we must because it's all about big citizens and small

government. that's where we need to be. [applause] >> now, i want to caution you about one of the debates that you may not have been comforting -- comforted about engaging in and that is the whole debate about medicare. we're on the defense on medicare right now because the other side loves to demagogue it. you saw -- you've seen the ad. you know where they're tossing grandma off the cliff, you know? that's unconscionable. for the kind of serious challenges that we face in this nation to treat it with that kind of demagoguery is unconscionable. but i'm here to tell you that this medicare debate that's going on right now, this mediscare the other side has put in place. it's the proxy debate that everything you and i care about. if we lose this debate on medicare, we lose on spending, we lose on the debt ceiling, we lose on energy. we lose on the size and scope and reach of government. i promise you, that what they

are trying to put in place right now is this narrative that says that these folks don't care about you. the truth of the matter is that the only side only cares about big government and they veil it on everything else and we must prevail in this debate and i urge to you engage. [applause] >> so do we have challenges? you bet. we got huge challenges. but i'm here to tell you that there's not a single challenge that we face that we can't solve based upon fundamental american principles of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, individual freedom, small government, big citizens is the principle that will allow us to solve all of the challenges that we face. so i urge you. you've been in conversations. i know. i've been in conversations over the past couple of years where you've talked to folks and they said, i don't know if we're up to this. right? i don't know if america can still do this.

well, i urge you, i challenge you to nip every one of those conversations in the bud. as you and i both know, we're blessed to live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. we need to believe in ourselves, stand shoulder to shoulder and make it happen. [applause] >> and it will happen. it'll happen if we do three things. believe in america, believe in ourselves, engage in the process in ways that we've never done before. 2012 is the most important election of our lifetimes. and what that means is believing and engaging and recruiting. we need to be knocking on doors. every time that you have an opportunity, whether it's the soccer field, with your kids or your grandkids, the ball field, whether it's the church or your synagogue, whether it's at a rally, whether it's just walking down the street, it is time to challenge people to get involved because now is the time. and the goal ought to be to increase the number of individuals that we have in the house of representatives 'cause we still don't have enough. i promise you.

i promise you. and it is to take the majority in the united states senate with responsible, conservative senators across this great land and it is to make certain that barack obama is a one-term president. [applause] >> and we can do it. we can do it and we will do it. because samuel adams said, as you well know, that it doesn't take a majority to prevail. but an irate and tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. and you remember, remember that reagan said, we win, they lose, and philippines 4:13 i may do all things through christ which strengthens me and that's the source of power. god bless you. ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, the founder and chairman of the faith coalition, mr. ralph reed. [applause] >> are you guys having fun? i'm starting to feel like a moderate up here after michele bachmann. not really. i'm so honored to introduce our next speaker. he's been a dear friend for 25 years. he's been one of the national leaders for conservatism, for the republican party and for good government. really at every level of government. haley barbour began his political career as the republican director back in the mississippi party back when you could sit the mississippi republican party in a phone booth and he was instrumental in helping to build the party throughout the south. he later served in the office of political affairs under ronald reagan rising to become head of

the white house office of political affairs. i had the great privilege of working with him when he was chairman of the republican national committee and make no mistake about it, haley bar bore was responsible of getting both house of the congress in 1994 for the first time in four years. he then went back to mississippi. he was elected governor of mississippi in 2003. he chaired the governors association. he in sharp contrast to what unfolded in louisiana -- he provided the kind of leadership that helped mississippi come together and recover after the worst natural disaster to ever strike the north american continent when katrina came ashore in august of 2005. he's one of the finest public servants in either party today. he considered running for president, ultimately decided

not to, but i assure you, we have not heard the last of haley barbour, the governor of mississippi. [applause] >> thanks. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. ralph, thank you very much. ralph is a pretty tough guy. 8 minutes, he said. [laughter] >> i said, look, ralph, with my accent, you know, i ought to get a couple of extra minutes. [laughter] >> to which he said, hey, look, i'm letting you do it without an interpreter. [laughter] >> you ought to be grateful. [laughter] >> i am -- i'm tickled to be here because i admire what you do. and it is so important to the goal that we all have. the goal of electing a

republican president to presidency next year. [applause] >> i think a couple of you are old enough to remember the ed sullivan, the ed sullivan show on sunday night. the most watched show on television. in the 1950s who watched ed sullivan and he had conrad hilton on the show. conrad hilton, the man created a new industry, the luxury hotel chain. i mean, a business icon, the bill gates of his day. hilton comes out and ed sullivan turns to him as he would do, and he said mr. hilton if you could only tell the american people one thing, what would you tell them? conrad hilton never hesitated, never flinched. he said put the shower curtain inside the tub. [laughter] >> now, there -- there's a man that knew what mattered to him.

[laughter] >> and we got to be focused starting today through november of 2012 on what matters to us. and what matters to us is making sure that our children and grandchildren inherit the same country that we inherited. [applause] >> those are stakes of this election. those are the stakes of this election. the today you're going to hear from a lot of people who are going to run for president in 2012. they are going to offer themselves to be our party's nominee. and a lot of the great people i've had to honor and serve with a lot of them -- one of them is going to win our nomination, i suppose. and i'm going to tell you something. whoever wins our nomination, i'm not going to agree with him or her on everything. that's one thing i know for

sure. you're not going to agree with them on every single thing either. okay? now, i want to talk about what that means to us as a movement and a party to achieve our goal of electing a new republican president. you know, ralph talked about the fact that i was political director of the white house of ronald reagan. that's a heady stuff for a boy from yazoo city, mississippi. and i will tell -- and i'm reminded of reagan twice in my adult lifetime republican candidates for president have received about 60% of the vote in the presidential election because if we get our act together, most americans agree with us on the issues. but i'm going to tell you what, we never had an occasion where 60% of the people agreed on everything. that 60% of the people agree

with ronald reagan on everything. in fact, one of the great things i learned from ronald reagan is, if you have the right kind of character and if you will be for what you're for, but understand and tolerate the idea that not everybody is going to agree with you on everything, that there are millions of people who will vote for you that don't agree y'all on this and don't agree y'all on that. [applause] >> that's right. reagan used to say -- remember, reagan used to say, remember a fellow who agrees with you 80% of your friend and ally. he's not some 20% traitor. now, we're going to nominate somebody for president that doesn't agree with you on everything and you're not going to agree with them on everything but i'm going to tell you what, they're going to agree with you a lot more than you agree with barack obama. [laughter] [applause]

>> yeah, i'm from mississippi. and one of our great mississippians, fred smith, fred smith is the founder and ceo of fedex. fred has a great expression. fred said the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. [laughter] >> the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. and in political campaigns, in great crusades in the effort to get our country back on the right track, we got to stay focused on the main thing. the main thing is winning the election. >> yeah. >> we can't change the country like we want it unless we win the election. okay? remember, purity in politics, purity is the enemy of victory. okay? we can't start out with the ideas, the faith and freedom

coalition that our candidates got to agree with me on every single thing. we cannot expect our candidate to be pure. winning is about unity. winning is about us sticking together to achieve the main thing. [applause] >> now, we're fixing -- in a few months we're going to be involved in the great process of picking our party's nominee. and it's going to be a scrap. and everybody is going to fight hard and people are going to -- there's going to be some you like better than others and ultimately there's going to be somebody -- some him or her that you're actually going to vote for. and knowing who you are, you'll work for them. and you'll give them money. and you'll get out there and be part of the team. odds are, whoever you choose, is not going to win a nomination.

i don't say that in a pejorative way. there's a lot of them and there's really good people there's not a 50% a chance that any of these people will actually be the one compared to all the others. you got to get in your head right now, for our country's future, for our grandchildren -- you got to get your head right now -- i'm going to fight for my person. but when it's over, i am going to support the person that's going to beat barack obama. [applause] >> i've watched 1968 when george wallace ran for president and a whole bunch of states in the south didn't vote republican because in a third-party race we split our vote. i've watched ross perot run for president and get 19% of the

vote. i watched a phony, phony tea party candidate run in new york in the last few days, got 9% of the vote. i'm going to tell you something, barack obama is worn out two sets of knee pads down on his knees praying that conservatives will split up and that we'll have some third-party candidate. and my hat is off to the tea party people who have said, no, we're going to run as republicans because we understand that's the way to get there. and we need to tell -- [applause] >> and we need them -- we need them or we need you, if you are a tea party person, to understand it's your party. and you are not only welcome in our party, we want you in our party. we want you to work, work for the candidates that you're for. and if they win a nomination, i'm going to support them. at the same time, we need to be prepared for what we know today

is a fact. and you need to start teaching this. and that is conservatives, religious people, small government people -- we are not going to have purity. we're not going to have a perfect candidate. there's only been one perfect person that ever walked on this earth. [laughter] >> and there aren't going to be another one in this election and i'm just going to tell you that right now. [applause] >> let's come back here in the next odd-numbered year 2013 having won the election. not for the sake of politics, but because the stakes are so high for our country. they have never been higher for our country. and i urge you -- you are the leaders in your communities to

be the advocates. advocate who you want. advocate your candidate. but once we have a nominee, make sure people compare our nominee, our direction, our beliefs, our principles, our faiths to barack obama, nothing will be more unifying for us if our heads are right about this. we need ya. we appreciate ya. excuse me for being the one who got to do the dutch apple talk today. [laughter] >> but i know you don't want to look and stand up in the mirror on the first wednesday in november of 2012 and said, barack obama is re-elected because of what i didn't do. i can't think of a worse experience than to have to look at that face in the mirror if that were to happen. thank you and god bless you. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a special women's panel led by marjorie dannenfelser, president susan b. anthony list, jack jackie, and the governor of the state of wisconsin, rebecca.

>> doesn't ralph reed attract the most lovely ladies. [applause] >> i know i met ralph out in college at the duke university campus. he was wearing fatigues. he was fighting against the sandinista down in nicaragua. i met him going down to the duke student center. he was standing out in front of a private table. i thought you don't stand in front of the table. we can't see the stuff on the table. he said, you came to see me. [laughter] >> which was true. i want to thank ralph for gathering these ladies. diane black is taking care of business in the house. women belong in the house there's question about it. congresswoman black is from tennessee. she fought very hard in the tennessee legislature against planned parenthood very successfully. she has continued that fight. i'm so proud to say leading

women across the country to let's say undermine planned parenthood's base at the moment and we have made great strides with your help. i have the honor of introducing these great women who actually like being women. they embrace the dignity, the true freedom of being a woman who loves her husband, who actually admires men and their unique qualities that are complementary to hers these women embrace the children who have come in their lives and do not see them as obstacles. that's the susan b. anthony list of women in politics is and i'm honored to be them. they remind me of another bit of another great woman in my life, my great grandmother. she grew up in the old south. and like a lot of women in that time, they were left to lead back homes. i don't know where these men

were or their stories if they had boys in this family but i only seemed to hear the stories of the girls. they lived in asheville with a house full of cousins and nobody had i don't have money. the grove park inn was made into a hospital where all the really handsome soldiers were so they went and visited them, took care of them. she was a very strong and feminine woman like the women here and the women there and most women in the country who actually put the feminine back in feminist. and she taught our family a lot of things. she said things like a whistling woman and a cackling hen both will come to no good end. [laughter] >> maybe a little old-fashioned, that's true. but she understood what it meant to be a lady. and there is certainly another lady who we have known in our recent history, margaret thatcher. she understood that too. she said, you know -- she knew what it meant to be a lady and a

lady in politics not a cackle hen swaying and bragging. if you have to tell people you are, you aren't. now, like my grandmother, great grandmother she understood that men and children are not obstacles but blessings and, in fact, families where mothers are running a household. understand a lot about how homes, communities, nations and, frankly, the world is built. margaret thatcher said about that, she said any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country. and she learned that from growing up in a small modest home, truly admirer her father. was never threatened but just inspired by her example and the example of her mother. i see these women and diane black and the many others like

you who the susan b. anthony list is a family with as the third wave of women in politics. the first wave were the suffragists who embraced the unique beauty of femininity and women in politics. they knew that the bond between woman and child was so vital that if you break it, dire things will happen in the nation. susan b. anthony called it child murder. elizabeth cady stanton said we consider women are treated as property. it's degrading as women on to treat our chirp as property. to be disposed of as we see fit. these women understand what alex paul understand the original author of the equal rights amendment. that abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women as it kills our children. they are standing up in the halls of congress and the governorships across the country to fight planned parenthood where they live. the largest abortion provider in this nation that we are

supporting with our tax dollars. this president and this administration will do anything to keep them in business. it will shut down the federal government. they in indiana will make sure the poor people do not get medicare. in alabama, we have jackie walorski. she ran last time -- she's a fabulous campaigner robbed of her election in my view by just a few points and we're proud to endorse her and be involved in her campaign again. she will run. there's no incumbent. it's a better district. we're so excited about her and her future. also, i've just met today and i'm so excited about the future of lieutenant governor rebecca kleefisch. she's recovering from cancer. talk about a strong, strong

faithful woman and here she is to speak to us today and she and the -- is working so hard in the eyes of the nation are on you and so many ways that encompassing the entire conservative movement from taxes to unions to defunding planned parenthood so without further adieu, i'm going to sit and we can't wait to hear from you too. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to be here today. i was here last year and i was so inspired that our congressional race came down to 1 point. are you ready to finish the job in 2012 that we didn't get done in 2010? [applause] >> and i'm also proud to tell you, i am from the great state of indiana and we did just defund planned parenthood in our

state. it can be done. [applause] >> and because we did, we are under direct attack from barack obama and from the white house who has been on the front pages of every major publication saying, indiana, i'm coming after you. and even though the majority of the people in the state of indiana do not want their tax money connected to abortion, even though the majority rules, this president and this opinion of this administration is to take all the medicaid money away now from the state of indiana and leave the most vulnerable people completely out there helpless because the government is trying to make a political point and score points in our state. and i'll tell you this, three years ago, i stood alone against planned parenthood but because of organizations like faith and family and because we believe in freedom, in just three years we went from no support of defunding planned parenthood to overwhelming majority support because hoosiers stuck together and not really just as political

parties. they stood together as individuals and said enough is enough. we want our nation back. we want our rights back. we want our families back. and there is no government big enough to shut down individual people in this country when we stand up. [applause] >> let me tell you something, folks. the charge that we have for 2012 is not only standing for life. and it's not only standing for traditional marriage. the charge we have for every one of us in this room is to literally stand side-by-side and become ambassadors when we leave here and decide that what needs saving in this nation is the very republic itself. and i for one is going to lead the charge for about the next 18 months and fighting for and saving our republic and the constitution that our entire republic is founded upon. and i would ask you to join hands and join me for the next

18 months as we get our nation back. god bless you. [applause] >> dang, girl. [applause] >> she is fired up. i think she's going to win, don't you? s [applause] >> i am honored to stand before you today representing the great state of wisconsin. have you heard of our budget? have you heard of our governor, scott walker? [applause] >> one of the things that perhaps you have not heard about in our budget is the fact that governor walker has stood up with conservatives like yourself and made very tough decisions, not just fiscally but also socially. we talk about defunding planned parenthood and right now, planned parenthood, according to wisconsin right to life, in

2009, got $12 million in federal and state matching money from medicare. that is unacceptable. [applause] >> governor walker has made politically bold decisions. not just when it comes to the budget repair bill but also when it comes to social issues like abortion. and i am proud to say that in this budget, in the biennial budget that right now our joint committee on finance is voting on, governor walker has rolled back some very important things that we need to talk about this morning. he's rolled back the mandate that both public and private insurance needs to pay for contraceptives. that's unacceptable. government mandates are unacceptable but it is also unacceptable that we the taxpayers, we the people pay for contraceptives.

in addition to that, governor walker's budget has defunded title 5. what that means to you and me is that no longer we will give $2 million a year in state and federal matching funds directly to planned parenthood. [applause] >> last, i want to tell you that governor walker's budget has also eliminated men, men, 15 through age 44 on the family planning waiver. why do men need family planning coverage? i ask you. he's eliminated that because you know what? taxpayers were paying for 15, 16, 17-year-old boys to get condoms. we need right now in the state of wisconsin for our legislature to stand in lockstep with governor walker and our budget

and ask the federal government for a waiver so that we protect our teenaged girls in the same way governor walker has protected teenaged boys. [applause] >> here this weekend i know you have worked tremendously hard on behalf of pro-life movement in this country. we need to renew our commitment to protect the unborn. we need to renew our commitment to protect our most vulnerable citizens. and so i am so glad to address you here this morning because we need to protect the person hood of the littliest and the most vulnerable among us. and i have the opportunity to address you tomorrow on the budget situation so i'll talk to you again.

thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. anybody have a quick question for jackie? i think she didn't get her full time. anybody got a question for jackie real fast? come on. all right. we're going to post these women on our website so you can look at it and pass it around. thank you so much. [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, a determine defender of our faith and values in washington, the great next governor of the great state of indiana, please give a faith freedom conference, mike pence. [applause]

>> wow! travis tritt and everything. thank you for that. [laughter] >> it's wonderful to be here. y'all having a great conference? it sure sounds like it i'm terribly honored to be here. thanking so much for your chairman, my friend ralph reed. thanks to all of you for coming to washington, d.c., where thanks to so much of your work around the country, in last year's election, we managed in the four corners of this country to end the era of nancy pelosi on capitol hill once and for all. [applause] >> but we have work to do men and women. i want to talk to you a few minutes about that work. it's not just work in our nation's capital. and it's just not just work in politics and i want to share it from my heart. i appreciate that rousing introduction and that rousing welcome. but i have to tell you, the only thing you really need to know about me, we're just getting acquainted is i'm the father of

three teenagers. [laughter] >> yeah, right there. [laughter] >> i've been married 26 years next week. [applause] >> my wonderful karen. and i like to be introduced as a christian, a conservative, and a republican in that order. [applause] >> and as we'll make official at a little farm in my hometown in just about a week from tomorrow, i'm running for governor of the great state of indiana in 2012. [applause] >> and i welcome your support and your prayers. it does kind of remind me of a story, though. a while back an indiana governor and the first lady were in the back of a limo and they were speeding down the highway and they were pulling into the gas station to get gas. the gas station attendant came out and the first lady bounded around the car and threw her arms around the gas station station attendant and there's a

kiss on the cheek, and there's laughing and there's talking about 5 or 10 minutes. lots of animated gestures and then another kiss on the cheek and another hug and the first lady gets back in the limo and they speed down the highway and the governor looks at the first lady and said, what was that all about. [laughter] >> right? first lady said oh, i'm sorry i thought -- that was dave. remember dave? my steady for four years in high school. i went to the prom with. that's my old boyfriend dave. and the governor said, oh, dave. [laughter] >> wow! first lady said, what do you mean by that? and he said well, you know, i mean, i was just thinking, you know, what if you'd married dave. [laughter] >> the first lady said without missing a beat, if i'd been married to dave, he'd be governor. [applause]

>> anyway, mrs. pence says hello. couldn't be here with me today. [laughter] >> that is her favorite joke. [laughter] >> you're here to make a difference. you're here to make a difference for your values. you're here to rally around everything that makes this country great, which is our faith in god and our freedom. and to roll our sleeves up and to recognize that we have work to do. job one. we managed to win a profamily commonsense conservative majority in the house of representatives. we will not be done until we deliver the senate and the white house. [applause] >> to the republican column in 2012. [applause] >> because of you and the house of representatives, we now have a majority that is able to vote to defend our country, defend our treasury, and defend our values. since the first of this year, we've gotten a full taste of what a true republican congress, a house and a senate could be.

republicans hit capitol hill we voted to cut spending now. we voted to end the borrowing and the bailouts of the recent past and house republicans voted to obamacare and we need a republican president to finish the job. we have to reelect this courageous new principled majority in the house of representatives. i got to tell you, men and women, just as a rank-and-file republican, it is absolutely essential that the republican party nominate a candidate who will stand for commonsense conservative values without apology. that is the best proscription for victory. [applause] >> on the national level in 2012. [applause] >> okay. that's step 1. you probably heard more than a few speeches about that today. and you got a few more coming. that will be a lot better than mine. let me tell you step 2 that you might not hear. i really believe with all of my

heart that the cure for what ails this country, the heartbreaking news about unemployment rising today around america, the fiscal crisis facing america will not be solved in washington, d.c. alone. for the republic to be revived, for the republic to survive, we must have a renewal of state-based constitutionalism in america. we must revive federalism in this country. [applause] >> you know, in his very first inaugural address on his very first page, president reagan, his first speech to the american people on this day was this. he said it's important to remember that the federal government did not create the states. the states created the federal government. and his message to the american people was the time has come to demand a proper recognition of the powers granted to the federal government and those

referred to the state. ronald reagan was right 30 years ago. he is more right today. [applause] >> in fact, he would come to the indiana general assembly one year later. in a speech that i believe is more relevant today than it was when he gave it in 1982. president reagan unveiled before our state legislature what he called the new phase of the great american experiment. and it was federalism. president reagan proposed that he would send 40 separate federal programs back to the states with all the resources and all the red tape associated with them. i have to tell you, men and women, i've been in washington, d.c. for 10 years, although it seems a lot longer. [laughter] >> i've seen the battles. i want to say to you it is vitally important that we send men and women of principle and conviction and commonsense conservative values to the house and the senate and the white house but it is of equal

importance that we win the battle on a state-by-state level for conservative victory in governors' offices and in state legislators' offices. [applause] >> reagan was right 30 years ago and he is more right today. think about it, the states are our past. they were forged from the wilderness. i believe from all of my heart, the states are our future. if the republic is to survive, it will be the states that lead us back or not at all. in partner with the national government. the great news is we see this happening. i call it the rise of the states. when reagan gave that speech 30 years ago, back in indianapolis, indiana, he pretty much received dial tone from state houses around the country. nobody was talking about federalism. after decades of expansion of the federal government into areas that were the purview of the state legislatures, the leadership wasn't there but think about the leadership we see in america today, names like

scott walker, chris christie, nikki haley and rick perry. we see states asserting themselves on energy independence, rejecting the cap-and-trade national energy tax. that fight was led by the states as much as it was led on the national level. [applause] >> battling for the enforcement of our immigration laws. states are leading the way in a vacuum of federal leadership. [applause] >> and states are leading the way on ripping obamacare out root and branch. going to the federal courts and determining their own constitutional prerogatives. states are leading the way, men and women. [applause] >> and so we cannot be neglectful. we must embrace the rise of the states, encourage it and as you leave here today, maybe it's a fresh start. maybe it's not. but you come to washington, d.c., and invariably people talk about washington, d.c. but i would submit to you our founders had a different view of

this country. they had a view that the strength of this country rose up from a sense of divided power, of limited power at the national level. that the real strength of our nation rose up out of the most essential elements of government, which are the family. community organizations, religion, local government, state government, then the national government he is ares on top of that. lastly, let me say one other thing i believe we need to do. we have a lasting victory for our values we have to recognize that our present crisis is not just economic and political. but moral in nature. [applause] >> like everyone in this room knows, at the root of these times, there should be a realization that men and women in positions of power have walked away from the timeless

principles of honesty and integrity and an honor's day's work for an honest's day's pay and a simple notion that you ought to treat the person like you want to be treated. the truth is we've got to get back to basics. we will not solve the crisis facing this country economically or politically by public policy alone. it will require public virtue. and that emanates out of the institutions that nurture the character of our people. we must again say yes to the institutions of the sanctity and preciousness of every human life, the sanctity of traditional marriage and the importance of organized religion. [applause] >> in our everyday life. [applause] >> so to recap, keep the house, win the senate, win the white house for commonsense

conservative leadership. number 2, let's roll our sleeves up and make sure that we're giving equal energy as we leave this fair city and these white pillars to go home and find the men and women who are standing at the state level for the values that we cherish. and to work every bit as hard for them and for that for which they fight. and lastly, let us also as we labor in the political world, as we give our time, our talent, and our treasure, let us not fail also to labor on our knees. let us also not to fail to prevail upon him who set this miracle of democracy on these wilderness shores, for i believe as americans who believe throughout the history of this country, if we shall succeed to prevail upon him, i believe with all of my heart the best days for my beloved indiana and the best days for america are yet to

come. so help us god. [applause] >> thank you all very much. [applause] see you at home. [applause] >> please be seated for a special theater performance. ♪ >> so this is -- i'm pleased to meet you, ma'am. >> not every day do you see species like that here. i wonder what he's doing here. >> nobody knows nothing about you, sam. it's like you never existed. >> i'm like a bartender who travels around a lot.

>> there's something more in your story than just thumbing around. >> can you tell me where the library is. i thought -- >> hey, hey, hey. [screaming] >> what about your future? >> my future is the next second, laura. you see it. there it went. ♪ >> this used to be a nice clientele tell you showed up. >> there will be a special faith and freedom preview screening of the entire film today at 5:00 pm in the mount vernon ballroom. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, one of the architects of the historic republican takeover of the house of representatives, please welcome the house majority whip,

congressman kevin mccarthy of california. [applause] >> thank you very much. i don't know if i made ralph mad but why did i have to follow mike pence. [laughter] >> he's going to make a great governor of indiana. >> yes. [applause] >> i'll tell you i'm kevin mccarthy and i come from a a little town called bakersfield, california. >> yeah. >> there's a few buck owens fans in there. if you ever watched the "grapes of wrath" where it's the shantytown. where people left oklahoma and dreamed of a better future and they took a car or bus and ended up in bakerersfield. they had the faith to move forward for a better america. now i grew up here and i grew up

in a place that my family were all democrats. but i was a republican from day one. i'm going to tell you why i was a republican. i still remember right around the time of elementary and junior high, i watched our current president, jimmy carter, put a sweater on and tell me the best days of america was behind us. i watched this other guy from california stand up and said, let's defy the bold colors and let's go to that shiny city on the hill. i knew neither man because i knew to follow him because i knew america was a better place. now, i had an interesting growing up getting into politics. it wasn't something i dreamed of. i it wasn't something i planned on. i got out of high school. i didn't have the grades or the athletic ability for a scholarship. my parents didn't have the money to send me to college so i went to the local junior cling. -- college. i would buy cars to the car auction and sell them to pay my

way through college. i was fortunate enough, california had an initiative system that i opposed the lottery and it won and i was at a store and i bought a lottery ticket on the second day and i won the lottery. one of the first winners in california. [laughter] >> i'm 19 years old and i just won $5,000 in the 1980s. i could have been one or two things. i could have taken the route of charlie sheen and thrown a party or i could have invested it in the future. i took my money and i invested in the stocks. i did pretty well. at the end of the semester, i decided i was going to take a risk on myself as an individual. i took my money out of the market. i refinanced my current car and i went out and i created a business. i didn't put a lot of thought after my name it's kevin o.'s deli before subways and i became successful but it also taught me something different. it taught me about regulations. it talked me every person i hired who i paid as much social security as they did. by the end of two years i had enough money to pay my way through college and so i sold my

business. i now go to college and i could look in the paper i could be a summer intern in washington, d.c. with my local congressman and all i could think is how fortunate he would be to have me, right? [laughter] >> and i applied and he turned me down. i went back i said you don't to have pay me or send me to d.c. i just want to cut papers and get to know. well, that got me involved. i went and got my undergrad and i went got my nba. lo and behold i watched individuals and i decided california needed a change and i ran for the state legislature. i searched there two terms and i'm just starting my third term in washington, d.c. right now. [applause] >> i came here in 2006. i tell you that because i was in the smallest republican class in the history of the republican party. there was just 13. michele bachmann, and others. each year i believe in continuing education. i think we have to learn something new. in my first year it just

reaffirmed we need more accountability in that place. my second year, we need a lot more adult supervision if you watch how they run it. [laughter] >> but this last term, the only way to describe it -- you've all heard that story about the old man that has the heart attack. have you heard that story? the older man. he's about 80 years old. he has a heart attack. has been married to his wife 60 years. he wakes up in the hospital. he says, you know, honey you have always been there for me. remember when we first got married i told you i got fired and you stayed with me and then i joined the army and you joined the in yours corps so you could be near me and when i was injured and when we had children you raised both of them and when i became that entrepreneur who ended in bankruptcy twice city stayed with me and i wake up from a heart attack, the first person i see is you.

i'm beginning to think you're bad luck. [laughter] >> but if you think of that man for one moment and you think of our government in the last two years, they thought they had to destroy the health care of 80% of america. and the future where we'd go in innovation. they thought if they raise your gasoline tax, somehow we're going to become energy independent and just dependent on foreign. the idea that government had to spend more because we were broke. the news today told them the keynesian views have failed. and i'm with you today because i'm going to ask you to join with us. you know, when our speaker john boehner asked me to be the recruitment chair for the republicans, i was coming off the 2008 two cycles of losses. i watched this president get sworn in with 2 million people out there. i said, okay, i'll be the

recruitment chair. what's my budget? he said well, we're in a deficit. how much money do you have? [laughter] >> so i said, all right, i'll go on the road. and i went on the road to find men and women who believed the same thing that ronald reagan said. the best days are in front of us. and i'll tell you when i was on the road, barack obama's approval rating was 70%. i thought no one would want to see me. so i fly in and i went into illinois early because they had some of the first primaries. went through there. i just rented a car. i forgot my little garmin so i was in wisconsin and i was supposed to be in iowa and so i made a u-turn. i went through all through iowa. i went into north carolina and then i was going to go into tennessee. 'cause there was this democratic congressman by the name of tanner. he was the head of the blue dogs. i believe he was somewhat conservative but he was not. two years prior, no republican would even challenge him to run

for election. my staff calls me and they say, you know what? you're going to meet with this guy and he kind of doesn't want to meet with you. i said why that? he's from california he thinks you're all fruits and nuts out there. [laughter] >> i said, well, there are a lot of them. he has a strong accent and he thinks in california you won't understand that. that's all right. i land and lo and behold i don't realize i meet a lot of republicans. and here comes this good looking guy and a beautiful wife lynn and he's a gospel farmer and he sits down, mr. kevin, i'm steven fincher and i'm from frog jump, tennessee. i said, well, steven i never told somebody to run. i always ask them, why do you want to run 'cause i want to know why in the heart you want to be there. and he told me the answer that almost every freshman told me.

he looked at me and said, i watched the country change before my eyes. and i don't know how i tell my children i did nothing. i said, steven, that's a great reason to run. he said, but mr. kevin, i'm not sure i could lose my farm over there and i have to be honest with you i've never been elected to anything. well, this is a good climate for somebody outside. oh, but mr. kevin, i got to be really honest with you. i've never been to washington, d.c. on vacation. i said my top recruit in the nation right now. [applause] ..

[applause] you watch the news. you watch today, the jobless report. america has a lot of challenges, but you know what? winston churchill said about america, you can always trust that the americans will do what's right after they exhausted every other option. [laughter] well, we have done that for the last four years in washington. now, we're never going to get there if you don't join with us. for that same day in that same night that i recall why i found the person that was able to talk about why i wanted to be a republican. when ronald reagan said he was going to take to the shining city on the hill, there's not a one of you in the room who believe that's not america, but there's not a one of now who believe that light's been dimmed

a little. join a journey with us, and this is not going to be an easy climb, but this country's worth taking the risk. this is not a one day hike and not something we have to go alone. i'm going to ask you to go with us to climb that hill. we'll have to tie ropes to one another and take different peaks as we go, have to stop, get acclimated, get a little protein and get the climb again. some will take a misstep, but we'll be tied together to pull one another back. when we're at the top of the mountain, we're going to shine that light brighter than ever before with our faith, freedom, and liberty of this country. join in that with us. think for one moment what we have. we live in a nation like no other. there has never been a country like us in civilization. we will shed our blood. we will risk our individuals so

others can have the freedom and democracy that we believe in. we've gone down this course for the last four years. we know it will not work, but we know what will. the first step was winning the house. the next is winning the senate and the presidency, and we will do it together and burn the brightness of that shining city on the hill one more time. thank you, and god bless. [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, the founder and chairman of the freedom coalition, mr. ralph reed. [applause] >> tired of me yet? [laughter] i'm so privileged and honored to welcome to the podium our next speaker. john boehner grew up in southwest ohio, the second of 12

brothers and sisters, the son of a tavern owner who grew up sweeps floors and waiting on tables in his father's tavern. he learned very early on the importance of hard work, of a quality education, of a strong family, and a faith in god. he has carried those values with him throughout his life and throughout his public service. he was elected to the house of representatives in 1990 as a member of the so-called gang of seven, and these were seven members of the house, freshmen, one of the smallest freshmen classes we've ever had that included, by the way, people like rick santoru, who took on the establishment of both parties, helped to close the health bank, help to take on entrenched and corrupt power, and in that sense john boehner

and that class was a precursor to what would happen in 1994. he was later elected the head of the house republican conference. he has never forgotten why he came here in 20 years. he's never forgotten who he came here to represent. he has never forgotten who he is or whose he is, and in 20 years in washington, when many have come here and treated the sewer like it was a jacuzzi, john boehner never requested an earmark for his district in 20 years in the house p representatives. [cheers and applause] in 20 years, in 20 years, he's compiled a perfect 100% pro-life voting record. [applause] during his time in the house. [cheers and applause] he has never vacillated, never

waiverred, and he's never retreated in advancing the values of limited government, stronger families, marriage, life, and lower taxes, and make no mistake about it, he was indispensable as republican leader in making sure that all republicans voted against obamacare and against the failed economic stimulus plan. [cheers and applause] today, he is leading the fight to reign in out of control spending in washington and to relimit government. please welcome to this podium, a friend of this organization and the constituency it represents, a proven conservative, and a man of deep faith, the speaker of the house of representatives, john boehner. [cheers and applause] ♪

[applause] [applause] >> good morning. [applause] good morning, everybody. [applause] well, good morning, and welcome to washington. [laughter] i want to thank ralph for that very nice introduction. you probably thought you were getting something special. [laughter] i'm fond of saying it's just me. listen, you all know i come from a big family. my dad owned a bar. the last thing in the world i ever thought i'd do was be a member of congress, much less, the speaker of the house. i got involved because i was lucky enough to get into a small business, grow that small business into a successful business, and along the way, i

got involved in my neighborhood home owner's association. [laughter] i ended up in the united states congress. [laughter] this, too, can happen to you. [laughter] i got involved because i thought government was too big, spending too much, and i department think it was being held accountable, so i came to washington, and it's hard for me to imagine i've been here for 20 years, but i came here to fight for a smaller less costly and more accountable federal government. everything we have not seen over the last couple years, but i can tell you that my colleagues and i going back two years ago made it clear we were going to listen to the american people, follow the constitution, and we were going to try to represent the will of the american people here in this institution. kevin mccarthy started a project called america speaking out to make an effort to listen to the american people about their concerns with washington. they mocked us.

they laughed at us, told us we had no chance of winning the majority. we listened to the american people, and they said spending in washington is out of control, no more bailouts, no more obama care, and on november 2, lightning struck, and we were able to win the majority for the first time in four years. won 63 seats from our colleagues across the aisle, and since january 1st of this year of what we try to do is live up to what we told the american people we would do. what did we say we would do? focus on jobs. jobs is the number one issue in our country. people want the economy moving again, and they want jobs. all of the spending spree the democrat congress and president has been on for two years has done nothing to create jobs. we've wasted $2 trillion, and what have we gotten for it? we lost 2.7 million jobs since

he's took office. we have to get spending under control to help rebuild confidence in our country. [cheers and applause] one of the first elections we look was to keep the promise to repeal obamacare, and every republican in the united states house of representatives, voted to repeal this monstrosity to ruin the best health care system in the world and will bankrupt our country. [applause] we're going to continue to do everything we can to make sure that this law never, ever gets implemented, and whether it's defunding it, whether it's crippling it, i really do believe that this is bad for america, and it has to be stopped. another thing we did early on was to reaffirm our support for the height amendment making sure no taxpayer funds were used for

elective abortion. [applause] now, we also reinstated the ban on abortions here in the district of columbia, and we reinstated the hope scholarship program for poor kids right here in dc. [cheers and applause] we've taken a lot of actions thus far to keep our commitments to the american people, but, you know, one big looming problem. we have $14.3 trillion worth of debt. we have a budget deficit of $1.5 trillion, 42 cents out of every dollar the federal government is going to spend, we're going to have to borrow, and it's our kids and grand kids who have to pay the bill. the president asked us in january to limit the debt limit. i told the president, mr.

president, there's not going to be an increase in the debt ceilings without cuts in spending and real changing on how we spend people's money. [applause] i went to new york a couple weeks ago, outlined all of my concerns in a speech before the new york economic club about the need to address our spending addiction and the need to address our long term fiscal challenges. we've got serious problems. we have spent more money than what we've taken in in 45 of the last 50 years. everybody knows we can't continue to do this, so i think this is the moment of opportunity, and i've told the president this privately, and i've told him publicly, this is the moment. this is the moment for all of us to deal with america's big

issues. i've watched the leaders over the last 20 years i've been in washington. every year this issue comes up, and every year when it comes up, what happens? i watch the leaders in the past look up at this problem like they were looking at a mountain. they looked up and saw how tall it was, how steep the mountain was, and you know what they would do? kick the can down the road another year. well, guess what? we're running out of road to kick the can down. now is the time to address america's big issues. [applause] and so there's been conversations going on, the vice president biden has conversations going on, our majority leader is doing a great job representing our interests in those talks, but the president, the other day when we were at the white house, the president said he wants this wrapped up in 30 days.

[laughter] i told the president, if we're going to get this wrapped up in 30 days, it is time to get engaged. you heard from paul ryan earlier today. we outlined our plan when we passed our budget back in april. we made it clear the kind of policies we think we need to put in place in order to preserve america's future, in order to preserve and protect medicare, so we've laid our plan out there, but where's the president's plan? there is no plan, and if the president won't lead, we will. [cheers and applause] but i'll say it one more time, this is the moment of opportunity. this is the time to quit kicking the can down the road and quit whistling past the graveyard, this is the time to stand up and do what's right for our country. you know, my parents taught me something that i taught my kids,

and it's something i talk to my colleagues about, oh, at least once a month. it's real simple. if you do the right things for the right reasons, good things will happen. [applause] and over my 60-plus years on the face of the earth, i've tried to live up to that, and we know this challenge in front of us, i just don't understand why we won't belly up to the bar and get it finished? why not look each other in the eye and realize doing the right things for the right reasons are good for our country? [applause] you know, i -- my eight brothers and i went to an all-boys catholic high school in cincinnati. they won a lot of state football championships after i was there. [laughter] we played for a guy named larry

foust. we said more prayers before practice, during practice, prayers after practice. [laughter] my goodness, the day of the game, we prayed all day long. [laughter] back in high school, and i began to think one day what i learned from coach foust. it boils down to this. proves to us there's nothing in this world you can't accomplish, nothing in this world you can't succeed at if you're willing to work hard enough and if qowr willing to make the sacrifices necessary. [applause] america's a great country. it's the land of opportunity, and all of us in this room have had that opportunity, but we all know that the bigger the government gets, the smaller the people get. we all know that the more the government takes from the american people, the less they have to invest in themselves, their family, their business or

their community. this fight that we're in to save america's future is about our kids and our grand kids. it's not about us. if we want to make sure our kids have the kind of opportunities that we've had, now is the opt time to stand up and fight for their future. god bless you, and god bless our great country. [cheers and applause] ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, -- ♪ >> please welcome back to the stage the founder of the faith and freedom coalition, ralph reed. [applause] >> isn't it great to have a speaker of the house like that? [cheers and applause] it wouldn't have happened without you and what we're going to make sure of is that in 2012, john boehner has about 50 more members of the house that are voting with him. [cheers and applause] i am so thrilled to introduce our next speaker. he's somebody who has been in public life for many years and began his public service as an

assistant to ronald reagan in the reagan white house, not a bad beginning. he then served as deputy trade secretary under george hw bush, 41, and was appointed ambassador to singapore under president george w. bush. he has lived four times in asia beginning over 30 years ago, and he speaks fluent mandarin. he is going to speak in english however this morning. [laughter] you don't need to worry about that. he was twice elected governor of utah where he balanced budgets, cut taxes, modernized and innovated state government, he strongly supported and signed some of the most sweeping pro-life legislation in the nation, and the second time he ran for reelection, he carried a record 77% of the vote and

carried every single county in his home state, quite an endorsement. the pew research under his leadership said utah was the best managed state in america. he was appointed as the u.s. ambassador people's republic of china. he's met with december dents, stood up for open markets and open minds and spoken out for religious freedom and human rights in china. now he's returned to the united states where he is actively exploring what we expect to be a candidacy for the presidency of the united states. please welcome a good conservative and a great friend, governor jon huntsman. ♪ [applause] >> thank you. [applause] thank you.

ralph, -- [speaking mandarin] [laughter] oh, did he say speaking only in english? forgot about that. thank you for forming this faith and freedom coalition because nothing long survives without advocates, and that includes values. thank you for caring enough to work for the values that are brought all of us together, so to this corchesz and faith and freedom, i want to talk for just a moment about life and liberty. let me begin by telling you about the life of our daughter, gracey may, who is here with us splice. she's 12 years old. in 1999, gracey was abandoned among the mushrooms, the carrots, and the bamboo shoots

of a vegetable market in china. in fact, i sometimes call her my little bean curd. [laughter] our path towards gracey began when we good wife, the greatest human being i've ever known, mary kay, volunteered in a of fan nag 20 years ago. when we returned to the united states, we decided to adopt, something i never thought i'd find myself doing. twelve years ago while attending a christmas tree benefit with the proceeds going to kids around the world who were to be adopted, mary kay bought a tree, and when the vender asked her what name she wanted on it, mary kay without hesitation said, gracey may huntsman. after a girl we did not know yet

and was not sure we'd ever see. mary kay told the vendor that name at 8:15 p.m.. when we returned home, there was a message received at 8:15 p.m. from the adoption agency notifying us that they had found a child for our family, you guessed it, grayy may. she loves to tell that story, and when asked who found her, she simply replies, jesus. [applause] now, why do i mention this? because although you would not know it in this town, there is something more essential than politics, and that's life, especially a child's life. i can't imagine how much poorer the world would be without gracey and her younger sister,

osha, who is adopted from india. we give thanks to those two mothers, not just on mother's day, but every day of our lives for valuing their daughter's lives enough so they could become our daughters. as governor of utah, i supported and signed every pro-life bill that came to my desk. i signed the bill that made second trimester abortions illegal and increased the penalty for doing so. i signed the bill to allow women to know about the pain that abortion causes an unborn child. i signed the bill requires parental permission for an abortion. i signed the bill that would trigger bans on abortions in utah if row vs. wade were overturned. you see, i do not believe the republican party should focus not just only on the economic

life to the neglect of our human life. that is a trade we should not make. if republicans ignore life, the deficit we will face is one that is much more destructive. it will be a deficit of the heart and soul. from life, i'll move to liberty. i stepped off the plane from china living in that country for two years. coming home after living 10,000 miles away gives you a certain perspective on how the 21st century is likely to play out. i've lived over seas four times, don't worry, i have a u.s. birth certificate. [laughter] every time i live in a foreign place, i learn something about america and how her values inspire others. let me share this with you. in an apartment that was barely a step up from homelessness, i recently met a petite

impoverished woman. i would meet with disdense. this was the most powerful thing i could do as a united states ambassador. sometimes i went to see them, sometimes they would come to the embassy. we did this quietly. it was a real peril for them and also closed official doors to me. she became an activist trying to protect her family's home from the wrecking ball. from this cause, which she lost. she went on to commit her life to justice and basic human rights. she has been repeatedly detained and tortured so much so i found her with her legs broken and her entire body demobilized trapped in a one-room apartment hardly large enough to hold her wheelchair. on that cold day a few months

ago, her water, heat, and power were all shut off. the only thing that worked every now and again was her internet connection on an old laptop, so here the battle. one physically broken woman with a passion and a belief in her cause up against a government with the most forbidble security apparatus in the world determined to keep her silent just weeks ago, she was rounded up again and charged with creating a public disturbance. no one knows where she now is, but i do know this. she drew strength from our nation's values, openness, freedom of speech, assembly of religion and press, a woman in a darkroom half a world away could see this country's light. that is the power, ladies and gentlemen, this country still

represents. dissense around the world know it and count on it. [applause] from the lack of lib tearty in china, let me turn to home. you well know what the encroachments are. the new health care law, growth of government, resulting mass of regulation and debt, the list goes on and on and on. there's a new book out called "the notes" which is ronald reagan's private collection of quotations that he gathered over the years. what he elected gives you a meaningful insight into his thinking. one the quotes that reagan wrote down in his own hand was by a 19th century french political economist and legislator who said and addressed to the french assembly, heavy government expenditures and liberty are

incompatible. woe to the people who cannot limit the sphere of action from the state, freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity all vanish. what that french political economist said 160 years ago is exactly what we are saying today. heavy government expenditures and liberty are absolutely incompatible. there is a proud intellectual and political tradition to the beliefs that you and i hold. this common theme has been brought into very sharp relief by the size of the federal government's budget deficit and debt. the federal government now borrows 42 cents of every dollar it spends. in two years we've gone from $10 trillion to $14 trillion in debt, and what are we buying for this borrowed money? we are not buying a