public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. colorado christian university's centennial institute hosted its annual western conservative summit at the colorado convention center in denver. the state's republican u.s. senator and a candidate for the state's attorney general spoke to the gathering. >> hello. good morning. i'm here to introduce senator cory gardner. i'm here because elizabeth warren was unavailable. she spent all day yesterday with cory and she said she never had

so much fun in her life. did you see that double date they had? maybe not a lot of msnbc watchers out here. i got the link off the drudge report. i have a radio show, the craig silverman show, every saturday morning from 9:00 until noon. i've had that show for four years, and the first guest on my first show was a guy named congressman cory gardner. i like the man. i like his family. i like his colorado roots. i like his law school background. he doesn't brag about that, but he's a lawyer. i like the way he treats people. i like the way he loves the greatest state in the greatest country in the world. i like the way he supports the jewish state of israel. [cheers] >> cory is respected by his fellow legislators, by his

political party, by our president donald j. trump. this man may well some day become the first person from the great state of colorado to be president of the united states. it is my honor to introduce colorado's own senator cory gardner. >> please welcome colorado's own u.s. senator cory gardner. >> good morning western conservative summit, how is everything doing? the one thing i didn't hear him talk about was my student loan. i don't like that much. but thank you very much to all of you for the opportunity to be here today. there is no better place to be than colorado in a great rocky mountain summer! but maybe a great rocky mountain

winter or spring or heck this is such a great state. we're glad you are here. thanks to all of you for being here. as we were driving here this morning, i was reminded of my grandmother, a woman named ann gardner, all of her 4 foot glory, she knew that as we were growing up, she grew up in denver, just a few miles away from here, graduated from denver east high school. she knew that my dad would probably never bring us kids to denver to learn to drive in the big city because you all know that i live in that little tiny town. she began to worry about us. she said, you know, i don't think your dad is ever going to teach you how to drive in the city. so when we were 15, she brought us to denver. she stopped on the interstate. she got out of the car, and she said you are driving. now back then the ages of driving legally were a little

bit different than they are today. but it reminded me of the tenacity that she had for life, because it wasn't long after that she made sure she took my sister and i to downtown denver to go see the plays. to go out to restaurants to learn which fork to use. because back home we had one fork, and apparently in the city they had more than one. and i started thinking about how she raised her two sons on the windy eastern plains, coming from the big city out to that little farm community on the eastern plains and what it meant when she met my grand father and moved out there. and i became just filled with emotions i think we all share today, about our families, about our faith, about who we are, and that's this notion of gratitude. a notion of gratitude that i don't think we spend enough time in america talking about today. gratitude for our country,

gratitude for our god-given rights, for those people in our lives whether it's our family members, in this case my grandmother or others around us who have invested so much of their time to make sure we learned because it's gratitude for our country and others around us that are truly going to hold us together as a nation. i believe that conservativism, true conservativism, is built on gratitude. gratitude for those blessings that i've talked about. gratitude for this extraordinary nation and the incredibly brave men and women all around us who stand up for our nation time and time again. gratitude that we have the ability to pursue happiness, the happiness we find in families, faith, our work. gratitude for the men and women like my grandmother who made sacrifices large and small for her family, so that we could chart our own paths.

we're all grateful in this room for the extraordinary nation that we have, and that gratitude is the core of what motivates us, how we continue to keep the faith, to keep the fight, to preserve what makes this nation extraordinary and to continue to perfect this union. it's not a novel idea this notion of gratitude, it goes all the way back to our founding. one of our -- george washington's first acts our first president first acts was to establish a national day of thanksgiving. in his thanksgiving proclamation he called on all citizens of this brand new nation to give their thanks to god, and he wrote, let us render unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection, for the manifold mercies of his providence, for the great degree of tranquility, union and plenty which we have enjoyed for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed. arguably the other greatest

president of the united states abraham lincoln had the same idea. his thanksgiving proclamation however came in the middle of a very terrible civil war. even amid the bloodshed, though, lincoln thought it was necessary to pause and to give thanks, and he wrote, the most high god, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. it has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole american people. both of these great american men made gratitude a matter of utmost national significance. but both of them knew all along that gratitude is not complacency. washington presided over the war that founded america. lincoln presided over the war that kept her from coming apart. gratitude is freedom's

preservative. but sometimes preserving freedom requires a fight. those of us in this room know that all too well. that's why we're here. we're here because we would -- we know there are those who would undermine our freedoms, those who detest the nature of freedom, in favor of statism. and that they will never rest. bureaucrats in washington unilaterally usurp our 10th amendment rights of a state to reflect the people's will. ::

as our federalist papers so clearly stated working together the senate and our president have confirmed a record number of judges for federal benches from coast to coast. you have to go back over 100 years to see more circuit judges nominated by a first term, first year president.

these judges -- these judges are young, these judges are principaled jurists who believe in the principle that madison talked about who talked about the importance of that guardianship of our constitution. and when americans went to the voting booth in this last election, they made one thing clear, those judges matter. americans were tired of judges litigating from the bench in order to advance their own ideological pursuits and agendas. americans made it plain that they wanted principled jurists again and we heard you. we're filling a pipeline with judges who want to be a judge, not a resolution of a cause for them, but the cause of our constitution. these judges will shape our country for generations to come. and we should be proud of the work that's being done, but that's why our next fight, our next fight is so important because there's only one body that confirms judges, and that's the united states senate. we have the potential to confirm

scores more of these constitutional judges, but we have to keep the senate. the media knows this. the media's afraid of this. and that's why they want us to fail. they are already writing their stories. you can see it in the news. they don't want just to think that we're going to lose the house and the senate, but sometimes i get the feeling they are cheering it on. this past election was a rebuke of their narrative that our movement is on the outs and it was a rebuke of the notion that conservative vism is expiring -- conservativism is expiring because it is not. we are stronger than ever. election after election has proven it. and while we celebrated victories in 2016, there was a dark side to that election. a dark side that we in this room each of us every one in the conservative movement must recognize. even as hilary clinton lost. we must address it. the most dangerous thing to happen in america in the 2016 presidential election was bernie

sanders normalization of socialism. he normalized socialism for a broad sect of electorate, mainly young voters a generation of young voters who have never lived through in an era where the evils of socialism played out in eastern europe night after night after night on the evening news. they didn't see the socialist boot on the neck of hardworking people. in once prosperous nations. they didn't see people clamoring to be free from the grip of the iron curtain. :: >> it is socialism at work. as americans we used to be able to point to socialism as an

element of the left and treated as something that would never be accepted by the country, this country founded on liberty and freedom. we took it is something to mock and to say we have gone too far. but bernie sanders change that. it was a litmus test for democratic candidates. it's politically advantageous to the right. >> we know that mentality is lazy, we must take that threat seriously. it burns the cantilever freedom

if we explore it. chances are on election night some of these socialists will win. they'll be elected to state, local, or even federal office. once this happens the normalization of bernie sanders brand of socialism will be complete. socialism will have gone mainstream. candidates will be held to this new standard on the left. then it will be our system versus their system and some of the policies will prevail. as conservatives we believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. leaving thomas jefferson and our founding fathers fought for. we believe in hard work for a man or woman to pull themselves up and achieve their own american dream.

but socialism, is teaching of redistribution and government mandates, they don't coincide with that american dream. in fact, it actively destroys them. i know this and i know you do too, we all know the threats and risk of socialism. our parents and grandparents talk to us about it and taught us the dangers. they told us stories about once great nation's falling into desperation and despair because of socialism. it is incumbent upon us now here today to make sure we are teaching the next generation of americans just as our parents taught us. it is upon us to be the standard bearers of liberty and never let that socialism take root never. when we do this, and when we do this, i know that our movements in the best days lie ahead.

we are people who have always written our own story. we came together when the nation was coming apart. an unlikely alliance. today we gather with the belief that it is the individual men and women in our work, and our families and houses of worship that build up this nation and make a great. it is the fruits of our hard work of individuals that driver economy forward. it is building up the next generation of citizens. it is our religious institution that bring people together. democrats want people to believe that all of this is the governments job. conservatives believe the government's job is to stand down, step back and ensure that we the people have the right to continue to raise our children and live our lives and freedom. the government's most important

job is to protect each and every american with a lace at stake and a claim to a piece of the american dream. it is worth remembering that it was the republicans who passed the homestead act. democrats were against it then. republicans have always believed that prosperity is not a zero-sum game. we succeeded in the eyes of the nation and our eyes turned to the west, to colorado. the homestead act open a new chapter in american history. one where dreamers set off to claim a piece of the earth for them self. for the children and grandchildren they hope to have. parts of the unsettled west, places where we stand now were built up by the visionaries who wanted to create something. they felt emboldened to do so because they thought government would protect what was theirs. men and women like my great great grandparents moved west not long after. they staked out their own piece of land and with it, hopes and

dreams for life and that new lands. for the dreams to come. when you are on your way home, i want you to think about the car that you are in, the streetlight that you see, the airplane that you notice overhead. now that these great technological revolutions of our time, the phone in your pocket, the e-mail you sent, the face time you're speaking with your relatives too. those innovations came from a great nations dedicated to empowering our people. it wasn't just any nation, it was the united states of america that gave these technologies and innovations and opportunities to the world. and through our efforts the hard work of the american people, we have made this world a better and greater place. i know that those dreams that come, when we stand up and fight

for what we believe in, that liberty and freedom that made the nation great, we can continue those blessings of liberty, those things that make lives better and empower people. they will continue and be spread around the globe thanks to the dreams of the people in this great country. i am here today because of these dreams. and for that, i have eternal gratitude. that gratitude is what i take with me next week when i had back to washington. i will not rest in fighting for each of you, everyone of you in the rightful claim to your share, to our share of that american dream. and in america, that will always be on the rise. god bless the western conservative summit. thank you for the opportunity to be here. let's remember, we have a great nation because we believe this

nation is always worth it. god bless you all. >> please welcome josh, colorado christian university student. >> the museum of the bible is a rich interactive new treasure in the heart of d.c. visiting the museum several weeks ago i was taken aback by the amount of detail and care given to the exhibits. in a similar way, michael is the director of community initiatives and shows his care and love for the church and bible in his everyday work. there is efforts with the museum of the bible, michael shows the world the amazing works of god and his humility in trust for

the lord is outstanding. and michael's own word, god is good and he does good even when it's not the good we desire. please help me welcome michael. >> these welcome michael mcafee, director of community initiatives at the museum of the bible. >> good morning. >> thank you so much for allowing me to be here. i'm excited to be with you this morning. i want to experimen extend a spk you. i bring it greetings from the museum of the bible and hobby lobby in the green family which i am a third generation member.

>> our family has been the founding family, the museum itself is supported by tens of thousands of people all over the world. many whom i am sure in the room. a new museum that opened up last year in washington, d.c. it's three blocks from the nation's capital. there are 97 museums in our nation's capital. museum of the bible is the third-largest museum. it's also the most technologically advanced. i hope you get a chance to see it. what makes it distinct is it is privately funded. no government funding. it is on par, i hope you'll come see you soon. it was founded on this conviction, that the world is a better place when people read the bible. regardless of your background regardless of your political preference are your religious affiliation, we see time and again that when people engage with this book, it helps society for all people. even last night we had a lecture that showed some recent scientific research that shows that when the bible is introduced into prisons, the culture improves. that morale began to increase, the behavior improves. that is not just true in our prisons, but in life as well.

with the bible you cannot imagine our world outside of this book's impact on every area of our society. we have hospitals today in our nation because people who love the bible wanted to care for the sick. we have compassionate ministries in many justice system that we have is founded on biblical principle. even government itself was founded on many biblical principles. as a matter of fact there are several flags during the american revolution before we settled on the stars & stripes. one was a flag that was used by george washington and his army. you can imagine a white flag with a large pine tree. it had this phrase on that plague. an appeal to heaven. that was taken from john, who coined this famous same 100

years before, during the american revolution we remember phrases like give me liberty or give me death, no taxation without representation. this phrase was important. this is what he said. his point was that a person is when a person is denied there, given right they can appeal not to the human authority but to heavenly authority. that is an appeal to heaven. i like for us to begin this conference and this important weekend together by considering what does the bible have to say about the government's role. this will benefit you even if you don't identify as a christian, jew or religious person whatsoever. this is this is how we are to

view government in the bible so this is an engine e-mail to the church of rome. let me catch you up to what has happened in romans 13. paul is writing this letter to christians who are living in rome. they are living in the global super power of the day. what is going on currently as recently, the roman empire has just named the new caesar, new emperor. a man by the name of nero. the 17-year-old boy will go on to have one of the most infamous rains of any emperor. he will like this garden at night to walk through by setting the bodies of christians on fire. so, paul writing this letter begins by impacting the gospel for these romans. in romans chapter one verse 16 he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel. anyone who believes, romans 323 can identify our common problem

that we all have sinned and fallen short of god's glory. roman 56 would say that at the right time christ came and died for the ungodly. romans 623 said the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord. there is no combination of those in christ jesus. in romans ten-nine you'll know that he had been say. in romans 12 he says in light of all of this good news, this gospel, here's how you are to live. in romans 13 in particular he turned his attention to government and he said this. but every person be subject to the governing authorities. there is no authority except from god. those that exist have been instituted by god.

therefore, whoever the authorities resist what god has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment. would you have no fear of the one who is in authority, then do what is good. you will receive his approval. for he is god's servant for your good. if you do wrong, be afraid. for he does not pu bear the swod in vain. for he is the servant of god. an avenger who carries out god's wrath on the wrongdoer. you must be in subjection not only to god's wrath but also for the sake of conscious. for things that i want to say. first, god has absolute authority over all governments. what paul said is god is the one who truly has authority. but every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from god. those who have been instituted have been placed there by god

himself. this would have been a very difficult teaching in the state. can you imagine, enact 18; two the bible says in bible two : 21, he removes kings and he sets up kings. this means that god has raised up every government that exist today or has ever existed. there is no authority except from god, and those that exist have been instituted by god. because god has absolute authority there's a couple things that we can do. number one, we don't place or hope in any one nation. we love american fight for is good, but we have the opportunity to have a greater hope. number two, because god has absolute authority, we don't even place our hope and politics. while politics is important and we engage in politics, that is

not ultimately where our hope lies. the world that we live in today's hyper political. we politicize everything that we do. we live in a pluralistic society under a secular government, many of whom have a rich tradition of religious leaders that have been involved in politics. much of our government has been founded on principles found in the bible. as we become more diverse, the question is a society is, how are we going to navigate these waters and sort the divide that exist between us. i want to suggest that those are not going to be sorted out for politics. while politics is important and politics is power, ultimately it is like fire. you need fire to live. it brings heat and light. especially in ancient society. you do not want the whole village to be made up of fire. you don't want everything on fire. you do not come to a fire that is out of control with more

fire. while politics is important there is a greater hope we have in the bible that is ultimately the answer for what we see today. jesus himself rose above politics. he was known not by the political posture he held but rather the principle that he lived by. i would say,'s we should be primarily identified not by our political persuasion but by the principles we hold that work themselves out. politics is the means not the end. first, god has absolute authority over all governments. second, god delegates authority to all governments. i married into the green family. whenever we began going through the hobby lobby case journey, is one of those family members with most speaking experience, i was

commissioned to help share why we were in the case we are in. i had zero authority. i was not in a position of leadership in the company or of the bible at the time. but, i came as an advocate and as an ambassador for people who gave me authority. from my in-laws. in a similar way, god says this is how government works. god has all authority and he delegates a portion of his authority to government to rule in a way that brings the flourishing of people. the same way he gives parents authority over their children and authority over employees. and authority over their church members. obeying government is obeying god. when we serve the government we serve god. he gave us this to promote good. the last two things i want to say is that we want to honor the government for god. as a way of honoring him. pay the parking meter, pay your taxes and rejoice, that you are

honoring god in that moment. when your police officers pulling you over as you spea spg here you can thank him as a servant of god for carrying out his god-given duty. we can honor our governments officials and people we have in our communities that work for those reasons. when we honor the government for god, we honor god before our government. so, nazi, germany could have let every person be subject to adolf hitler. he has been instituted by god. therefore, they cannot question or challenge hitler. so, clearly what this passage is saying is there is a greater authority. we recognize god has all authority, we want to honor him in all we do. we recognize the united states people have been delegated authority from god to govern ourselves wisely. third, we honor the government as an act of worship to god and

fourth, when the government asks us to violate god's command, we must honor god is primary. we must make our own appeal to heaven. so, this is what we celebrate that happen with jack phillips this week. this was our story in the hobby lobby company. we were asked to do something by the government that we felt violated god law. so to force hobby lobby to pay for abortions to pay life violated our conscious and thankfully the u.s. supreme court agreed. thankfully, they agreed with jack phillips as well. we must contend for the religious sake of all people, one thing that makes america unique is our government does not give us our rights. it recognizes that we already had god-given rights. we hold these truths to be

self-evident. all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. what is this look like and how are we to live out this teaching of these commands? what does it look like to love our cities in the nation in a unique and specific way? how can we make a difference to make politics a part of the problem. i think we suggest that we look no further than the cross. in jesus himself, jesus, and the last week of his life was approach with a political question that was a trap. should we pay the tax to caesar. you see he has a side that's coming to him that wants him to say, no, you should not pay the tax. if he says do not pay the tax he is revolutionary. but if he says you should pay

the tax, then the jewish people who are excited see he is no revolutionary at all. he is no different than your other teachers. so jesus asked for a coin. he looks at it says, whose faces on this claim? it was caesar's. then he render to see insert that which is caesar's and give to god that which is god. caesar may have had his face on the claim but got on caesar himself. god owns the throne that caesar is sitting on at this very point in time. so, when he stands later that week before pontius pilate, roman government official the pilot said to him, do not know that i have the authority to see you killed like these people want or to set you free, jesus responses, you have no authority except what has been delegated to you by my father. so, jesus went to the cross, not

because pontius pilate went to the cross but because god ultimately sent him to the cross. christ's appeal to heaven and the garden and when he cried out my god, my god by not calling down angels to take him off the cross, jesus subjected himself to governing authorities. it shows that even in suffering we are to live. then the wrath of god was put out on jesus so that the grace of god can be poured out on us. now, jesus is our perfect appeal that we can make to heaven. we pray for you and us that we will be a people that live this way. thank you. [applause] >> it please welcome the u.s. talkshow host, peter bills. >> good morning everybody. i did the morning show.

all of our guys are working on their and 710 has been involved in the western conservative sentence concept. we all get involved and i drew the short straw so i got george, he is my friend, i met him ten years ago. this is a true story. we ran a contest of who was to be her talk show host of new zealand freshfaced guy one and then years later i'm saying i think that is that guy who won that contest. he has been a tremendous friends as you know answers in the military today. he has been a tough prosecutor, some of the toughest cases. he has always just been a man. he is my friend socially, he is my friend politically, i think he hung the moon.

it's my pleasure to introduce to you, i hope he is the next attorney general. if you look at the numbers, think it is like seven sitting governors used to be a gees. a number of former ag's are not the u.s. senate. ladies and gentlemen, george broccoli. >> welcome, the candidate for colorado attorney general. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i hope they do not expect me to sing along. with the lights right there in my eyes, it looks like a packed room, don't dissuade me from thinking that, it looks packed. 153 mornings from right now, we are going to wake up in places across this country, for the tens of you that still read the physical newspaper and the rest of us who do it on our phones

and ipads, we are going to look and see what we have just accomplished on november the sixth. we will look and see what the future of the state and what our country has become. i'm here to tell you, that if what we're looking to do is fortified freedom, there is one seed in particular up for election in 30 different states across this country. and that's more powerful than what you can possibly imagine. no, it is not governor, those pretty men and women that give driven around by the state patrol. it's not that one. it is not u.s. senators with their perfect hair, i mean cory gardner, on. that hair may be his best political asset. i don't know. it is not either of those things. it is the attorney general, this

is not your grandfather or grandmother's attorney general's office anymore. this date's that will b states will be deciding who will be there next ag, their next defender of their populace, their protector of their laws and constitution, there are 30 of them, states as small and insignificant as texas, florida, california, new york, and even where we sit right now. 70% of the attorneys general in this country will face an election. these positions have become weapon iced over the past couple of years. we have seen a significant change in these when it comes to things like the rule of law. you will remember that before

president trump, we had eight years of a different president. during those eight years, there were 46 multistate lawsuits, almost all bipartisan to prevent the federal government's firm overreaching into our states and telling us how to live our lives. forty-six. that is less than six per year. last year alone, the democrat attorneys general across this country filed 47 different multistate actions, i'm sorry, 35 different multistate actions against the president to stop, not federal overreach, but to prevent federal under reach. here is the examples. under president obama, to you

remember there was some legislation, some ideas for governors that were so radical that they could not pass congress. one of them, waters of the united states sought to regulate every accumulation of water bigger than apollo, and co-op it and make it regulated. you remember that? a bipartisan group of attorneys general push back and said, no. that is not the role of the federal government, that is not what the constitution ensures. the tenth amendment stance says something different and we will not stand for this. did you ever hear of the clean power plan? to remember this one? the key clean power plan was so radical that it to cannot pass congress. but through an agency's rule, administrative action the federal government sought to dictate every state and territory the level of emissions they must have, the cleanliness

of their air. that epa under president obama said the clean air act of 1990, the one that had been enforced for quarter of a century was somehow now ambiguous. so, by rule they hijacked the state's ability to govern itself and they did an end run around congress. congress, through the cra push back and said we disagree. president obama vetoed that rejection of that overreaching role. so who came to save the day? attorneys general across the country. in a bipartisan fashion they sued to prevent the federal government from taking over more state responsibility. to know who agreed with them? the supreme court of the united states. in an unprecedented fashion they delayed the implementation of that rule. today, it's different.

today, we see a president who is willing to get back to states the ability to make decisions for themselves. [applause] today, we have a president who says, these are matters so big that cannot be determined by a e agency. congress must act. who is standing in the way of this new liberty? of this new discretion? the democrat ages across the united states. what they had done was take this position which for decades was a protector of the laws and constitution turn them into little more than political ambulance chasers. you can almost see the ads right now. some academic sitting on the edge of the desk, books behind

them. a person who has probably never been in a courtroom other than their own traffic ticket. looking into the camera and saying, liberty got you down? ptsd from the last presidential election? does your kurt from being backed over by a truckload of freedom? will call me. i'm the crazy progressive ag. i can help you accomplish in a courtroom what you could not accomplish through the democratic process. call me. we will legislate through litigation. that is what is at stake at november 6 across this country. there are a great number of ideas out there that need to be debated in congress. maybe net neutrality is one of them. maybe anything to do with

immigration. can i say right now, if you're out there and a member of congress where you know someone, can we please get them to do something on the immigration issue? can we please get them to do something we have created a situation and we will talk about the rule of law, we have allowed the president to say i disagree with this law, i am just going to stop enforcing it. that is outrageous. we cannot tolerate that. the only people that seem to have the ability to stop the are either a gees or congress. we need them to act. look, this debate that we have on these issues, the things that will take place in congress, regardless of the outcome, as conservatives we are people that believe the democratic process achieves the right results.

the other side believes that the end justifies the means. we cannot let government to that. we must insist our government remain republic, remain democratic, and protect our freedoms the law. as an army colonel, as a district attorney of a million people, as a father of four public school attending kids, when the issue states confront are as varied as the opiate crisis, as human trafficking, as the increase in violent crime rate, and also the things that govern how states regulate themselves, i plead with you to leave this room and take a renewed interest in the spots that you may have only given a little thought to. those attorneys general of the new third-year us senators across the country.

it is important that whoever we put in those positions, independent of party and personality is someone committed to our laws and committed to our constitution. i leave you with these three things, i want more democracy and less bureaucracy. i want more legislation and less litigation. and for those of you that are here from this great state, 528s probably what's making you feel funny, it's not the legalize marijuana. it's the air. i want more colorado and less washington d.c. my name is george buckler, it's been an honor to speak. thank you. >> please welcome courtney, the

courtney colorado christian university student. >> thomas jefferson once said that the true price of freedom is eternal vigilance. he understood the importance of conserving american values, ethics and privation principles regardless of threatening changes. the same way our next speaker protects and preserves the characteristics that define our society. her work specifically addresses how moral values relate to the ideas of limited government. and conservative form policy. her hard work and dedication's of understanding foundational truths has come to serve as an example of other leaders.

she exhibits nothing but excellence. ladies and gentlemen, please tell me welcome, jennifer marshall. >> please welcome jennifer marshall, vice president -- >> good morning. thank you courtney. isn't the work of ccu and students like courtney so impressive? [laughter] >> it gives me a lot of hope. i hope it does for you for the future of our current country. i do want to congratulate ccc you and the students and jeff on for the opportunity to be here today. i want to talk about the issue of poverty. and how we can respond with effective compassion to it. i think this is an issue that cries out for conservative

leadership. i want to talk about that today. i want to begin by telling you about a gathering that took place here in denver seven years ago. it brought together ex- gang leaders, former convicts, recovering addicts, they were getting together to talk about what it takes to overcome poverty and social breakdown. they should know, they are experts. they have seen the issue from both sides. now, instead of pushing drugs, they are helping attic's overcome their addiction. instead of being members of gangs there helping young people find belonging in healthy relationships. those of us were in the room to learn from those frontline experts. it was educating and insightful. most gatherings that are talking about poverty urban problems have masters of social work in the room, they have counselors, licenses of all kind,

credentials are the conventional approach to fighting poverty. not this room in denver seven years ago, it was a much different profile. almost none of the leaders in the room at that time fit that credentialed profile i just mentioned. these were brought together, the people were brought together by in the who leads the woodson center in washington, d.c., what bob has done for decades is to go into communities across the country and identify people who are succeeding at transforming lives, transforming communities and helping them overcome addiction, gangs, come out of prison and reenter society and be gainfully employed. and what he found was that the leaders who are having the most success at this are those who strength has come through weakness.

they themselves have hit rock bottom, maybe through addiction, maybe through committing crimes, maybe through losing loved ones. but, these leaders did not just transcend tough circumstances, they came right back to put themselves in the middle of those situations and find those in need just like they had been in the past and testify to the power transformation in their life. when others are tempted to give up almost causes, these are leaders who believe enough in the dignity of those they serve to expect more and see a brighter future for them. those expectations can translate into strict standards. one person who is legendary in this regard was a guy named bob. bob passed away a few years ago, he has left a legacy in the city for his work on helping men

overcome addiction. the way he got to the work was that bob was an alcoholic on the streets of the city. until faith transformed his life and he sought to give that gift to others. he started a project, residential center for men trying to overcome addiction. he was a drill sergeant for the older willingness and tidiness of the center. he was very tough. he believed in the dignity of those men and he wanted them to believe in their own dignity. because of it, he ran an incredibly successful center, compared with other work in the area as overcoming addiction. i'm sorry to say, public policy too often undermines work like this. government handouts without expectations undermined the tough love approaches of people like bob and, policy must change

in order for these good works to expand their transformation efforts. we as a nation has focused a lot on the material needs. but we have not done very well in our concern for the overall dignity and well-being of those in tough circumstances. if we're going to address need, we have to understand that need goes deeper than material circumstances. if we want to be a service to our neighbors, we must begin by accurately diagnosing the reasons for poverty around us in the united states. poverty in america is much different than the kind of poverty we see in the developing world abroad. that extreme poverty is marked by a lack of basic food,

housing, basic goods that are needed for everyday life. in america, that extreme poverty is all but eradicated. people do experience hardship, sometimes severe hardship but it is not the typical situation in the united states. the living standards of the poor have improved dramatically over the past 75 years. for example, the typical family considered poor that has children in the home has at least one car, more living space than the average household in france, a microwave, many other material goods. antipoverty efforts have focused on material hardship and have made progress in lifting up the material living conditions of the poor. for that, we can rejoice. but, we cannot be satisfied with it. today's antipoverty program began in the 60s under president lyndon johnson.

since then, government has spent $25 trillion on antipoverty programs. each year, the government spends $1 trillion on assistance for low income americans. cash, food, housing, medical assistance and other social service programs. those statistics tell us that if we were going to win the war on poverty through spending, we would have done it a long time ago. [applause] the war on poverty, government handouts has not succeeded in lifting up more americans to self-sufficiency. but, they have succeeded on making far more americans dependent on governments this

status quo has not done justice for the poor we have yet more federal spending for the anti- poverty program. poverty in america goes far deeper than material needs. it has to do with relational needs. the kind of relational needs that the x gain leaders were talking about here in denver. in particular, poverty is link linked. in the mid- 60s 8% of children were born to unmarried mothers. today, you probably know that statistic is 40% of all children among blacks, seven out of ten it's particularly when you consider the strongest factor is

the absence of marriage. a child born outside of marriage is five times more likely to experience poverty than those born -- seven out of ten poor families with children are headed by single parent. we cannot ignore the correlation between the collapse of marriage and child poverty. tackling this kind of poverty is far more complicated than calling for more federal tax dollars. if we want to fight poverty and welfare independence it is urgent that we get to work on restoring marriage, family, and community. [applause]

strong marriage is a powerful antidote against poverty. one of my favorite stories about creative outreach to restore the culture of marriage begins with a likely furniture. it begins with a man in dallas named rodrick. he was a drug dealer in dallas. he lived with his girlfriend and four children in public housing. in a church from across town was doing outreach in that neighborhood. some guys would come to play pickup basketball and through their ministry robert became a christian. soon after coming to the states he felt the need to marry the mother of his children. the very first wedding that rodrick ever went to was his own. he did not have an example of healthy strong marriage to model after in his own life. so, one of the ministry leaders at the church if roderick is

going to have a strong start we need to find so modeling. so the ministry leader reached out to a couple named ron and cheryl, empty-nesters in totally different backgrounds. the sin they were befriending this young couple and having sunday dinners and holidays together. shopping trips and home organizations. a beautiful friendship emerge. that is the kind of creative, life-giving outreach we need to restore our marriage and family in america. beyond the private responses, when policy is important that government assistance work with the way that humans are designed for flourishing. too often the opposite is happening.

when government provides a that discourages work for those that are able. that is practically what all of the welfare programs do today. when he programs that are going to work with human nature to encourage work because of human dignity and the way we are designed for putting in our hands on a text that is meaningful. as for marriage, government program should not undermine it. right now, marriage penalties for welfare programs make it more advantageous for us will to stay single than to marry a man with a job. this needs to change. furthermore, government must not to get in the way of those for working so hard, and with great success to rebuild family and

community. they face foster care and adoption agencies are doing that. when they place children with a loving mother and father. yet, we have just seen the city of philadelphia official told the catholic social service system that they will no longer be able to partner in serving foster children placing for adoption. why? because catholic social services is committed to placing children with a mom and a dad. the same thing has happened in boston, in washington d.c., and illinois into religious groups that have long history of successful service in these areas. government officials have driven faith-based agencies out of the work of serving children in need because they do not happen to agree with government definition of marriage. the neediest children are hurt the most by such punitive policy. what makes the situation in philadelphia more outrageous is that the city had just issued a

call for 300 more families to volunteer for foster care because of the root role becoming so large in the wake of the opiate crisis. this does not make sense. when it comes to meeting needs like days of fighting poverty, the first rule of policy must be to do no harm. in order to accomplish that, policymakers must reform welfare and protect religious liberty. the welfare reform of 86 is well-known for that because it required work as a condition of receiving aid. it is a good thing to hear about. cheer about. that reform only reshaped one of several dozen federal programs. what that means is policy is failing to do justice to the

poor. it is still undermining the good work of people like bob whitson. that's why we are working to promote robust work requirements of programs like food stamps which is under consideration in congress. as for religious liberty we had an important victory on behalf of jack philip, much to cheer about. there are religious liberty cases right behind it. the aclu has already gone to court attacking the religious freedom of faith-based adoption agency. we will see these challenges come. that's why congress and state legislators need to defend the religious liberty of the child welfare with bills that are called the child welfare inclusion act. they will protect the religious liberty is good samaritans in their community. friends, we have a great deal of

work to do. i know many are involved in relational outreach. some are foster and adoptive parents, do not grow weary in your work. together, let's work to achieve the policies that will protect the good works in the love of our neighbors. [applause] . .

>> presented by the special counsel's office that charges 12 russian military officers by name conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. eleven defendants are charged with conspiring to hack into computers, steel documents and release those documents with the intent to interfere in the election.