n and again. >> looking to a competitive market, some property owners may choose to share their intellectual property freely. and some may choose to do it through some kind of license for money, and some may do it for ways where they -- it's an agreement to share intellectual property across companies. my view is, i shouldn't be picking favorites among those business models. that's something for the market to decide. the market will decide who's the winner and loser, there can be a wide variety of business models that all thrive. >> i know we need to wrap up it's clear this is a very important topic. what can people do that are concerned about this issue. >> get involved, become aware of the actual truth and facts. let your congressperson's know, especially republicans, do not weaken property rights. the foundations of our free market and innovation and economy. do not think that this is tort

reform to address litigation issues. this is the strength of property rights. get involved, write letters, sign petitions, let them know you oppose the bill that's in congress. >> and get away from the buzz words. way too many buzz words. >> thank you. appreciate your time. thank you all. ♪ hello, everyone thanks for being here, let's give another round of applause for that great speech. [ applause ] >> today we're going to be talking about exactly what

tamilla mentions, the concerns across america where the republican party is headed and how to strategically make it bigger. joining me will be tammy bruce fox news contributor. and former liberal organizer, grover norquist and heather higgins, president of independent women's voice. heather, let's hear what you have to say about this. >> >>. >> i hope there are slides for anyone at home or on c-span. there was a super bowl this year who saw it? this is one way to tell you what

happened? this is ed sabol, whose nfl films changed football from a simple tale of wins and losses to an epic tale of human struggles, successes and disappointments. so this is another way to tell the story. tell me a fact and i'll learn, tell me a truth and i'll believe. similarly, at a meeting of environmental grant makers a few years ago, there was much anxiety about the fact that the science wasn't holding up and the data was being challenged until one member got up and said, remember our stories will always trump their data. we focus on talking to the base with messages that may or may not be effective with other voters. democratic strategists on the

other hand start differently. they divide the political world into base swing and reach voters and generally they don't speak to their base, they target every message to the swing voter. so since iwv's mission is to expand their base, we do research message development, then tested in the real world and make an investment decision about whether or not to deploy it. put another way, use the right bait for the fish you wan the to catch. don't use the bait that is comfortable for you. what's the best bait? i found two books that helped create the framework and articulate what works. too often we speak to values that resonate with 30% of the country or worse talk about money which isn't a value, and

fail to speak to those values compassion and fairness which nearly 100% of the country responds to. simon cynics start with why. shows we are leading with our products not our purpose, which is no way to win and make a sale to anyone who isn't already a fan. take well fare reform as an example. for 15 years we talked about cheating, fraud, wasteful spending and got nowhere. then mira and charles changed the argument to how well fare was hurting people and trapping them in poverty. and we went from fighting against people and for money to fighting for people having better lives. and we won. on another example, you remember the legislative walkout in wisconsin in 2011. various teams made our base feel great. alienated independent women who went south on walker.

the recall in 2012, campaign messaging had shifted from union bashing to talking about what was good for the hardworking taxpayer. they hadn't talked about what was fair. we did. and the results were remarkable. we created that website. in the control group who are getting the best advertising the walker campaign and outside groups could buy, walker led by five points. those who had gotten our messaging about fairness, the gap was now 36 points for a net gain of 31 points. we did something similar with the health care law, where voters, if you dig into it can know about three pages of the law, you know, the parts about how supposedly compassionate it is. we created a website, health reform questions.com, and used that to create an education campaign for people to find out how much they knew about the effects of the law and how uncompassionate and unfair it really is. applying that message to battle

battleground states got us a 10 point improvement. among independents who were called receiving the messaging we saw a 23 point improvement. romney didn't win. why not? among voters whose key concern was voting for somebody who cares about somebody like me obama won 81% of those voters while romney with his facts and data won 19%. the difference is largely driven by the way conservatives talk about economics. so many sound like corporatists like they only care about business and business owners. even if we know that's not true. what they don't sound like is reagan, whose purpose was to improve life for all americans and who rarely talked about business, small business or even entrepreneurs. indeed, independent women is researching better economic mays. it's not yet complete. already we know that reagan was

right, for example opportunity economy trumps freedom free enterprise and capitalism. job creators trumps corporations, companies businesses. the american people is not only better than the middle class, which is what the left is using. but hardworking taxpayers. hopefully in the panel we can get to more of what we've learned, as time is short, just remember. start with purpose about how you want to help them. speak to broadly held values, particularly compassion and fairness. tell stories. remember to convince your audience not the choir. take a page from progressives, settle for a slice, and then another slice, going for the whole load, if going for the whole load will set you back and visit our discussion guides for suggestions on how the average voter should talk about different issues with their friends. after six years, we know that

this different messaging works, and works really well. and look forward to exploring new and more effective ways to be persuasive and win. thank you. >> now, grover norquist. >> thanks. we're right and they're wrong. we know that. our job is to make more of us and fewer of them. we have to figure out how to speak to undecideds and convince them to join our team rather than their team. now, in washington, d.c. this is going to be difficult over the next two years, the reason is, the republicans have the votes to pass good stuff and obama can veto it. obama has the capacity to promote icky stuff and we won't have it.

how do we communicate to our base, who already agrees to us the voters would like to agree with us while this is going on. we have to have bifocal vision, we have to see and speak to where we're going we're going to california, we're going to the promised land, all that way, we're going to pass the ryan budget plan get rid of the income tax about the direction of where we want to go needs to be clear. but we also need with bifocal vision to look at our feet so we don't trip or walk into traffic. so that we focus on today in making little gains today, the slices of the bread that heather was talking about. there will be opportunities to get little pieces of legislation that aren't terribly exciting. we got to the frank underwood thing where we turned to the audience and said, today we're taking baby steps, our goal is all the way to california. if you're trying to get to california and you find yourself in west virginia, that's not

treason. west virginia is on the way to california. if, however, you are trying to get to california and your feet are wet and everyone around you is speaking french, you're losing. you've been heading in the wrong direction. compromise meaning moving as fast and as quickly as we can toward liberty recognizing that we're going to be moving slower than we'd like compromise is good. compromise is moving in the right direction more slowly than you'd like. but at the state level, we can make tremendous change in our capacities here. and on that, we have 24 states with 150 million people. half the country lives in a republican controlled state democrats have 7 states with 50 million people in them. there we can deal -- remember the left wing writer, playwright who said communists were shooting at east german workers.

you're not supposed to have a worker's paradise, he gave the answer, what we need to do is elect new people. >> it couldn't be the government's fault. we can in the states, elect a new people. and by that, i mean the democrat picks the matter to freedom loving people are not the demographics they talked about all day. when we create more liberties, we create more advocates for liberties. home schooling illegal, in all states 30 years ago. today legal in all 57 states. ten million have been home schooled since they started going to school. that means there are a lot of families out there who know the team would take away their life given the chance. conceal carry permits. the idea you should get aone issued to take care of yourself. there are 11 million americans with conceal carry permits. 11 million.

those are people who have decided to take control of their own life, and they know the democrats have half a chance they would take that away with them. a different human being than the one that says i'm so glad i pay my taxes. if anything went wrong the government -- they drive this white chalk line all around that would be helpful. this person has decided to take control of their own. school choice. you think if the politicians try to take that away, they haven't made an enemy for life. share ownership. why did president obama shut down the 5:29 millions of families. 12 million kids are trying to go to school. he knows if you have 5,000 dollars worth of stock and a savings account. a 529 it makes you 18% more republican on average. it changes the nature of who you are. you recognize threats to economic growth. threats to you personally.

we can at the state level, change the laws to create more people who benefit from liberty who know the other team would take that away that is one mechanism through the states while we live through the next two years in d.c. we can re-create a stronger freedom loving electorate day by day. thank you. [ applause ] >> great job. and last, tammpy many. >> hey, everybody i'm tammy bruce, you can learn more about me by the way at tammybruce.com. you know what i'm going to speak to you about. i come from the left wing of things. and part of what i learned on the left because all they focus on is your mind is the issue of

the manipulation of youth specifically and personally. great stuff from both heather and grover absolutely. but what the left has spent generations doing in this battle for your mind is trying to convince you that you're wrong that you do not have the moral high ground. you can't trust yourself, america doesn't want what you're selling the reason they spent so much time and energy in moving that message to you. is because they know the truth. that the moment the light turns on america will realize. that was a pretty exciting experience wasn't it? the midterms, i want you to think about that did that surprise you? according to the left, to the democratic party and the liberals, that kind of thing wasn't supposed to happen, america is rejecting what

congress servetism is quite the opposite most of the energy is spent making you surrender, making you think it's not even worth engaging in this process. we know of course, that's a lie lie. i don't know how long jonathan gruber has been on the planet, but maybe he's been operating for several generations about lying to the american people. those days are over it takes a decision that you make as an individual. this is not going to be, and shouldn't be a hard long slog. this is the same nation that gave 49 of the 50 states to president reagan. minnesota probably was stolen. the american people have always responded to a message of freedom. so when you heard about compromise and reaching out to people who perhaps don't share your way of life. but this doesn't mean that you have to give up your values.

quite the opposite. is that there's a sense that americans who are different from conservatives, whether it's about issues of faith, whether it's about gays people of color, the fact of the matter is, the singular message about conservatism conservatism, what it brings, is personal freedom. personal freedom comes from economic freedom. no one wakes up or when they're 7 years old says, oh, gosh i wish the government could control my life. nobody does that and yet the left messages to people that, you know without government, you're lost, and of course they've made it to be that way, right? >> they created an environment where their work has made things more hopeless and then they used that hopelessness to say you need more of us don't you? it's a ridiculous framework. for us and what i wanted to encourage you to do is having come from the left. is reaffirm your correctness.

reaffirm the idea the nature of why you're a conservative, which is to improve the quality of people's lives, right? you want more of your own life? to be free? you want to be able to make choices that best suit you. you don't want some stranger some bureaucrat making decisions for you about where you can spend your money what you can eat, whether or not you're going to get a nonprofit status right or whether you can start a small business. how much of your own fruits of your labor you can keep. who wants that. nobody wants that. this is about treat open, every american wants that regardless of sexual orientation regardless of complexion regardless of a relationship with god i believe in god, i'm not a big fan of organized religion. i'm also a gay woman. that's a sliver of my identity. what i am i'm a conservative. i'm an american first who has a

lot of different elements to what makes me who i am, right? that message that fact for everyone who's also watching on television here and around the world, the fact is especially if you're a minority the only thing that sets you free is financial freedom and small government. as minorities, especially the conservative ideal, the basis of conservatism is what informs the power of our lives. the ability. whatever those choices might be conservatism relies on understanding that that also presumes as we can here in america, that we can trust ourselves and how we live our lives. a commitment to the nation as a whole. this is the last place on earth where you can be different and not be chased down and imprisoned or killed.

where it's not a crime to be different or to speak differently. so for you when it comes to action and making a difference here, this is about moving past your comfort zone. maybe you're a member of your local nra right? maybe you're a member of your local tea party. what about brokering, what about getting involved with the pta? especially you're home schooling and other good element for you. getting involved with groups and communities you wouldn't have gotten involved with, perhaps local aids outreach, getting involved in nonpolitical groups especially, and engaging your newfound friends of topics of freedom and economics. not politics economics the future of our families what we have in common you'll find that the conservative ideal is what everyone has in common.

no single parent thinks about how lovely it am be to always wait for the check for the government. no woman is always waiting and hoping to find the person who's going to save them from themselves we too have independence and power and we want to use it we're not going to use it as long as washington is up there telling us what to do. so for you it's about realizing that the conservative ideals separate from party politics is the thing that will make things better. and that for you in your own mind to not think that well you've got to convince people who don't believe in conservatism or that what you believe is something that americans don't want, quite the contrary. i'll leave you with this analogy about the power that you have as an individual when you sign. liberalism works 24/7 at keeping the light off in the room. and they spend that time, because you are the one who turns on the light their energy

is spent convincing you that everybody wants the room dark. that nobody wants to see what's in the room, that everybody's fine with the way that things are, and you're the aberration because who are you that you want to turn the light on? all it takes is a decision for you to reject that argument. everybody knows in their hearts of course, that's not true. everybody wants the light on. all it takes is turning the light off. and then it can be seen, that's what ruins the liberal agenda, is an open discussion about who they are, about their results about what the agenda does in increasing poverty and increasing hopelessness increasing the decrease of our own power as americans and as a result, as you've seen around the world. a decrease in our own dignity and power as a nation. you are the ones who will turn that around by deciding to turn

the light on to reject the premise that's presented to you to reject the liberal argument that americans want what's happening. use the 2014 midterms if you have to. but remember in 2016, it's going to become even more furious. you've seen conservative influencers in the last week or two be viciously attacked for speaking their minds. that will only increase. do not be afraid of that. they're doing it because they know if you speak up, it changes everything. in order to do so, have you to decide. that's it, thank you everybody. >> thank you all three of you. before we dive into the discussion of building your party, i want to first talk

about how there's many people within the republican party that might say broadening the brand is watering down. >> it doesn't need to what we need to find out is, the center coalition of the reagan party is made up of all people who what they want from the government is to be left alone. they're very different people, some want to focus on their business life or their faith or their family or raising their kids or their second amendment rights. there are different things that make people excited about liberty and make them fear state control. there's some list of 10 things or five things or two things that everybody has to agree on. they have to agree on the one thing that they want to be left alone at the one that i discovered most recently the e cigarettes, a lot of people switched from tobacco to e cigarettes. they spend a lot of time smoking

as others spend praying. they know that the left wants to ban it and/or tax it and then ban it, all of a sudden there's a group of uber users. how many, a number of years ago, they would say back off, leave me alone, i want uber. didn't exist before. be on the lookout for pieces of freedom that matter to other voters. may not matter to you, but it matters to other voters, and message to them on liberty. >> how does the republican party do that? >> well i think that you need to decide in your own mind whether you're more concerned with hypothetical purity or you're actually concerned with increasing freedom and the quality of life for most americans. you can demand the hypothetically pure that's possible. you can take incremental steps in the right direction and

reintroduce certain concepts to people. they have no idea how you could take care of people without a single pair system. a lot of us understand it's the single pair system that diminishes the quality of health care and increases the cost and is ultimately going to be destructive, because we see, that's one of the great things about jonathan height's book, what changed him from being a liberal democrat is understanding the psychology that prevents you as a liberal democrat from seeing the second and authored order consequences of ideas which sound good on their surface but in fact are very destructive if put in practice. the goal here for those of us who want to see the country actually move toward freedom, and not just toward being left alone, but to better life for everyone, and more freedom for everyone is to take those incremental steps to create

majorities to do things in a slow but steady way. you look at the progressive left. what they are good at is the tenacious holding on to the idea over a long period of time, and not demanding that they don't water it down, but they'll take the incremental victories and then the next incremental victory. a lot of people on our team seem to have forgotten that's a solution that works. you lock at the track record on the right, holding on to purity has not been a winning strategy. >> that's an excellent point. i think conservatives -- i'm not a republican, i'm a conservative. some day i may become one. i think conservatives feel that it's an existential issue and stick with the foundation because of what i've seen happen, the leftist argument against the ideal itself. and so you become quite passionate about holding on to your ideals, because they are

the foundation of the future. and literally the survival of the country and freeze open not just for us, but the world. that's part of the trick. that's the trick to manipulate you into a distraction that you're forgetting that the conservative ideal is built into everything that every american wants. and after six years of liberal policy, americans finally are seeing what liberalism is. it's 92 million people off the work rolls it's one out of every five american households on food stamps, it's an attempt to eliminate your financial freedom which eliminates your voice. today the fcc is voting on making the internet a utility. keep regulating that what's going to happen next. radio shows like mine are going to be deemed as problems. they want to distract you. and i think that, yes, once you

realize that your view that your conservative ideal is at the foundation of freedom you don't need to worry about it being an existential issue when it comes to how you approach things, you can deal with it within your favorite issue, you don't have to deal with it with every issue. maybe it's common core. whatever it is because there's enough of us to where all the issues will be dealt with, so getting out of the framework that this is an existential fight, know the moment you turn on that light as we saw with president reagan, the nation can change in a day. in a day it can change. and that's what you must remember. being in the news industry. 2016 is what we're all talking about right now. what is the gop brand.

what does it need to be and how are we going to get there? >> i'm sorry? open question. >> i think it's two big things. over time, it would be the party that didn't raise your taxes. it may be a number of foolish things, but it wouldn't riz your taxes. then the tea party came over with a 2x4 to the forehead and spending spending, remember spending. and the republican party very quickly, house and senate, had earmarks which had been considered a sign of vir ility. i have stolen all this stuff from other states it's for someone that leaves near you. and everyone was impressed with people that do earmarks, now it's like -- earmarks bad, overspending bad, two big pieces that stick don't spend so much. don't raise taxes many and i think there's a third wave of reform government which makes those two work which is you

reform government so it costs less, you can reduce the taxes, and reform is everything from uber to other stuff that is a different way of looking at it that i think is the brand that's -- that is a fair brand an accurate brand. >> how are you mentioning that -- the pages from the progressive agenda. what were some of the things in a when you were lessening, how did the republican party have the conservatives bring you to that lie. >> on the left it's a lie they know what to say. you can keep your health insurance if you want it. you can keep your doctor. you can keep your hospital, heather, you've got a great site. my cancellation.com? >> if anyone has their health insurance policy cancelled you take a picture of yourself with the cancellation letter and send

it to mycancellation.com. it caused a huge uproar. there are more that are about to happen, most americans don't understand the cbo has projected, i believe it's 93 million americans will not be able to keep those policies that they were told they could. >> we know that the left understands what's important and then they kill it they knew that was important. jonathan grouper said we know that americans care about medical costs coming down, that's what we said about obama care, even though they had no idea what would happen. they didn't know, because they didn't want to look, it's like the monster really is under the bed, so they weren't going to look there. here's some pages what you hear the left articulating. once again back to a common thread here, personal freedom.

living your life the way you want to live it, right? >> being able to, especially for women, as when we think about women, it being a block for the democrats, which is remarkable. considering, of course, our relationships with our doctors as an example, is lifelong more intense, more frankly important we see doctors more often we lost those relationships. women and people of color start most of the small businesses in this country. and with regulations, we can't do that either. this is really, it goes down to what heather and grover were speaking about, which is being able to speak to as reagan did, the nature of who we are as individuals, so i think in a within that there has to be some statistics, and a bit of an understanding about taxes and spending, we understand that on a personal level. this is about arguing and speaking to is your life better than it was four years ago.

ask, when you look at the general malaise in this country. ask if you wab the to be lied to about why an ambassador is killed in a foreign country. why we've lost four middle eastern countries our embassies have had to be closed and abandoned. ask yourselves, is your life the potential future for your children's lives better than it was for six years ago. that's where reagan connected it to the individual. he asked individuals to think personally, about where you are. forget about the rhetoric from washington we know they lie. we know it, so you have to ask yourself not what the tv news is asking you, or telling you, but what your personal experience -- i think every candidate, especially like mia love, who embodies and has the personal

story of that kind of remarkable life experience. so voters could look to her and think, yeah i can relate to that. every candidate has a personal life. we've got i think to reinforce that as conservatives that it's the personal that matters. >> let's give our panel another round of applause, and we have a minute left, we're going to show you some quick slides, i think they're up on the screen. these are some things that were submitted for you guys as a summary. if you want to take a picture and save it, go ahead. there's two more slides with resources as well as how to move forwards forwards. >> practice when you're talking to someone, talk in such a way,

if there was someone listening who was undecided. they would be as interested and moved as the person who was hearing this for the 47th time and already agreed with you. if you got someone voting for you, talk to them again may be fun, but one fish, one hook. you don't need to explain 12 times to the same person. be looking for additional people to bring into the movement and always talk so that both people hear you correctly. the solid reagan republican agrees with what you're talking about. the noncommitted person says, yeah, i can do that too. if you can do that every conversation is affirming the base. >> it's not about politics it's about freedom. you don't have to be a republican, it's about conservatism. it's about freedom versus politics. >> thank you so much.

[ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thanks so much. thanks for allowing me to join you here today. your voices and your actions are so important to fight to get our great nation back on track. thank you for all that you do. for the next few minutes, i am honored to have the opportunity to discuss a topic that as many of you know is very near and dear to my heart. celebrating the service and recognizing the sacrifices of america's military veterans.

>> i wanted to take a moment to honor those men and women who currently or have in the past worn our nation's uniform, those who have defended the very ideals values and freedoms that make this the greatest nation in the history of mankind. for more than 20 years, i've had the great privilege of serving my state and my country while working alongside some of our finest soldiers. my husband has been a tremendous support system. he's a command sergeant major and army ranger.

and has humbly served our country. >> today i serve as a lieutenant colonel in the army national guard, i've been privileged to have commanded at many levels from company to battalion. from 2003 to 2004, i served as a company commander during operation iraqi freedom. while my unit was tasked with running con voice throughout kuwait and southern iraq. the brave soldiers sailors, airmen and marines that we served alongside while deployed all came from different corners of america, and from different backgrounds. but what was so much more important than any differences was the common belief in the greatness of america. and their willingness to make tremendous sacrifices to defend

her, and so they came forward they raised their right hand. and they pledged to defend our freedoms. and our very way of life. because of the fearless men and women like these. veterans from earlier generations to those who will step forward and answer duty's call in the months and the year s ahead. i will always remain optimistic about the bright future for america. i have the honor of serving on the armed services committee. we have had threats from al indicate de and others radicalized by them. congress must hold president obama accountable to ensure that

he and his administration finally develop a cohesive and strong strategy to confront these in the many other threats that we face. we also must do all we can to stand up here at home to ensure that our veterans receive the quality of care they were promised and deserve. >> a month ago, i was ordered to give the republican address following the tight of the union, i had an extra gallery ticket so i call eded my friend owen, an iowaen who lives in this area. we attended iowa state university together, many years ago and now owen is an active

duty member of the united states army army. when i called him, he said joannie, i would love to go. but on that day i'm being fitted for my new leg. folks, owen lives here now at least temporarily at walter reid medical center. during his last deployment to afghanistan, he and his team were caught in a firefight, and he was shot multiple times, which resulted in the loss of his leg and the sight in his left eye. i spent a morning with owen at walter reid. as he went through his routine appointments and physical therapy with his new prosthetic leg i was honored to be there with him. there were maybe a dozen other service members present they were missing arms legs or a

combination. they were in wheelchairs or on prosthetic s prosthetics they were using canes and crutches. and as i looked around i didn't see america's broken soldiers. i saw america's tenacious survivor s survivors. [ applause ] >> that day, that day with owen reinforced to me that in the end, we will not be judged by what's on the outside. our physical perfection and strength, by what's on in the inside. our inner perfection and strength, that strength which

enables us to stand up for what is right and to stand against what is wrong these men and women owen his teammates, our other wonderful veterans, they have all demonstrated their inner strength and courage. as we gather together over the next few days to celebrate our values, our beliefs, and our great freedom i encourage all of you to take a moment to reach out and thank a veteran and their family, because they help to protect those rights. in fact, at this time if you are able i would like to ask all of our military men and women to please rise and allow us to show

our deep gratitude and appreciation appreciation. thanks to each of you, from a forever. forever grateful nation. thank you all for having me here today. and may god bless you may god bless our wonderful servicemen and women, and god bless the great united states of america. thank you. [ cheers and applause ]

♪ ladies and gentlemen, please welcome lieutenant colonel oliver north. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

>> thank you. thank you all. it is great to see you all here today, and i want to remind you what i've said before that i have the best job in broadcasting, my job is to keep company with heroes. and let them tell their stories of ordinary americans who have done extraordinary things to the benefit of our country. as vietnam was for my generation, the war on radical islam that by the way is our enemy, whether anyone at the white house knows it or not. the war against radical islam is the defineing event for this generation of americans. it is shaped by politics, our culture and society. it's impacted our economy. it's divided our nation between those who see radical islam as a real and dangerous threat and those who try to explain it away. for millions of americans, the war is experienced in longer

lines at the airport. security screenings at professional football games, but for others it's left a more lasting mark a deeper scar if you will. i'm talking about the 2.5 million young americans who have deployed to difficult and dangerous places in support of operation enduring freedom and operation iraqi freedom. many of them have served 7, 8, 9 even 10 or more deployments. that kind of op tempo has strained an often broken family relationships. some 6,849 americans lost their lives in iraq and afghanistan to an enemy this administration cannot even identify. tens of thousands more have returned home wounded. but every american who served in those theaters of combat and their families have been impacted. each of them have left a piece

of their body or a part of their soul on those battlefields. and now, more than ever, they need our support. they need a veteran's administration that cares and doesn't lie about the treatment they offer. they need an economy that creates real jobs. they need a commander in chief who knows our enemy, and knows how to win. i can't even say the word today. they also need a head of state who knows that our country has made extraordinary sacrifices to defend us the american people and offer offers the hope of freedom. thankfully need open alliance helps our troops and families as they struggled with the wounds of war that can keep them in rehabilitation for years. here's some of the projects freedom alliance sponsors, to care for healing heroes and the families of the fallen. freedom line scholarships fund

is now awarded more than $9 million in college scholarships to the children of military heroes who have been seriously wounded or killed in the line of duty. the line of duty. this past year we provided scholarships to 304 sons and daughters of american heroes. in fact, a few of our college scholarship recipients are here. i hope you'll join me tomorrow to meet them and learn about the sacrifices their fathers made. freedom alliance is providing mortgage free homes to service members that served in iraq and afghanistan. we've given homes to troops in california a, arizona a, minnesota and soon another in florida. because nothing heals a hero like the great outdoors with fellow service members who have

been there done that. freedom alliance offers recreational therapy to dozens of troochs with hunting and fishing excursions in the united states and joefrz seas. out in the wilderness new friendships are forged. counselling takes place and many troops we host in god's country said they benefitted more by a few days in the woods with freedom alliance than all appointments at the va. one of those young men who joined freedom alliance and outdoor adventures and mentoring others injured as heroes for our country, a man i want you to heat. he served as an observer in the ar miz operation iraqi freedom n. january 2009 he was on second deployment to iraq. he and his team were headed into a village to seize a weapons case riding in a striker armored vehicle. they struck a tank mine and 55

gallons of homemade explosives, hme as they call it. the blast caused multiple injuries including massive damage to both his legs requiring amputation of his leg leg and since that day, he's fought to keep his right leg. just recently, a week ago had further surgery on it. he spent many months at walter reeds medical center where freedom alliance met him and joined us on many outdoor activities. please welcome to cpac united states army soldier and american hee hero sergeant john moore. come on out here [ cheers and applause ] that is an american hero right

there. [ applause ] another project -- another project sponsored by freedom alliance is helping amputees like john increase their mobility and take advantage of that outdoor therapy. in order to do that a, they need to be able to get into the woods and out of the woods with some degree of mobility not offered by a chair like the one he's in. to help with that, freedom alliance provides all terrain track chairs for amputees who love to hunt and fish. john, in recognition of your service and sacrifice, and to help you continue on the road to recovery freedom alliance and all these great americans gathered here at cpac want to present you with your very own track chair.

[ cheers and applause ] look at this. i think calvin bumped up against the screen. i see it moving. [ cheers and applause ] now i want to make sure you're going to be able to transition into this thing. watch this. john is despite injuries, despite surgery last week is still mobile enough don't want help. i can do it is john's favorite word. i can do it. this is the controls on this thing even i can handle controls on this thing. there you go. [ cheers and applause ] john, we're going to ask you to take us with you on one of those

hunts. i promise to bring with me casey the wonder do, best bird dog i've ever had and maybe one of her puppies. >> sir you're welcome to come hunting with me any time you want to. i can promise you. that. >> i appreciate that. you're going to take this back 40e78. tell everybody where you live. >> smithfield virginia. if you don't know where that's at, that's where they make the hams. you know, i'm fortunate enough my family has property there. we love hunting and fishing. that's all we do. just we actually like having warriors come out and hunt and fish with us all the time. we host several hunts a year. like you said earlier for me getting out in the woods, that's my peace. that's what i love. so -- >> we admire you brother. we're grateful for the chance to provide something for you to be able to get around in. >> i appreciate it thank you.

>> i look forward to going on a hunt with you. thank you john. >> thank you sir. >> soldier on. >> i'll do it. >> an american hero, ladies and gentlemen. [ cheers and applause ] one of the deals we're going to have nra come out and supervise scrubbing black marks off the white carpet up here. thank you john. i notice there's a lot of young people here as part of cpac. i'm curious, if you would, give me a show of hands if you're currently or recently a college student. oh yeah. oh yeah. here's the question how many of

you have had professors or coaches that told you things everyone is a winner, everyone deserves a trophy, at some point in your education? same number. almost surreal isn't it? well, that idea that everyone deserves a trophy or every participant is entitled to some kind of medal affected the thinking of my kids and my grand kids which there are now 15 of them since friday. i was once introduced as the husband of four father of one, grandfather of 15. it's actually husband of one, father of four, and it is grandfather of 15. i tell them all a, welcome to the real world where there are real awards that rierz real actions. honors that must remain exclusion toif individuals who go above and beyond necessity.

the award i'm about to present is one of them. to be in the running, the recipient must meet the classical definition of a hero. not a person who catches a pass in the end zone or sets a new athletic record or even one who wears a spandex suit and cape. one of those comic book heroes. the recipient of this award must be someone who selflessly puts him or herself at risk to the benefit of others. that's the real definition of a hero. that certainly defines the recipient of our annual american hero award. this year's cpac freedom alliance recipient of that award from cpac and freedom alliance repeatedly demonstrated courage integrity, perseverance and honor when he could have done less without criticism. he honed god given gifts and

talents and risked his own life to save the lives of others on difficult and dangerous battlefield battlefields. he was chosen unanimously by the nra and freedom alliance board of directors to be the resip gent. it's my privilege as chairman of the military veterans afairs committee to present this year's american hero award to united states navy seal and american hero chris kyle. [ cheers and applause ] the plaque recognizing his extraordinary service and

sacrifice was to be presented to chief kyle's we co taya. she intended to be with us this morning, but as you know, the grueling trial of her husband's killer was just completed. now the weather and the trial coming to close together transpired to prevent her from being here to get that award in person. i'll hold that plaque in safekeeping and ask that you please keep her and their children in your prayers as they will be in mine. god bless you and thank you for being part of this today. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ i will always do my duty no matter what the price ♪ ♪ i've counted up the cost i know the