some of you saw last night with dave. like reagan, i am for first principles. tonight, i am going to apply first principles to three areas. one, strengthening our unique american civilization. two, strengthening our national and homeland security. 3, building a productive america with the best jobs and the greatest prosperity in the world. first, we must strengthen our unique american civilization. . [applause] >> let me be clear. i am not a citizen of the world. [applause] >> i think the concept is intellectual nonsense and

stunningly dangerous. [applause] >> there is no world sovereignty, there is no world system of law. there is in fact no circumstance under which i would like to be a citizen of north korea, zimbabwe, venezuela, cuba or russia. i am a citizen -- [cheers and applause] >> i am a citizen of the united states of america. and the rest of this speech is about the united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> america is an unique civilization. calista and i a couple of years ago did a movie called "rediscoverying god in america" which ises a walking tour of this city. we did it deliberately. it was our answer to the ninth circuit of court which is in

fact irrationally out of touch with this country and irragly ruled that one nation under god was unconstitutional, grounds for my thought we should abolish the court and -- thomas jefferson eliminated 18 out of 35 federal judges, over one half of all federal judges. i am merely proposing one court of appeals. i am a moderate on this issue. [applause] >> but the core of this is a very historic straightforward debate. it's not a theological debate, it's not a religious debate despite every effort of the elite media and every effort of the left to distort it. it's a fundamental debate of history. if you go to the national archives you will find the declaration of independence, a political document. it says, "we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights which among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." it is fundamental to the nature of americans.

we are the only country in history which says "your personal rights come from god directly to you, and you loan the government sovereignty. but the center of sovereignty in america is inevitably and inex otherrably with the citizen because it is inalien able." that's the core document of this country. [applause] >> that is why quote as and soto my for are wrong. that is why -- sotomayor is wrong. no government bureau carat has the right to take from you the rights that god gave you. and rationing under healthcare is inevitably limiting your life at the whim of a bureau carat and at the manipulation of a politician. [applause]

>> the greatest believer of this was the president who presided over the civil war to end slavery. it was not an act of happiness, it was a fundamental and stunningly painful expression of our willingness to live and die for the beliefs that make men free. [applause] >> it's looking at lincoln because he is speaking only four years after the founding of the republican party. and by the way, if you want absolute proof you cannot teach american history honestly and accurately without reference to god, go to the lincoln memorial, read the second inaugural, march 1865. 703 words, 14 references to god, two quotes from the bible, and explain to me how you would teach lincoln accurately and honestly without explaining his attitude.

[applause] >> i'm going to quote from lincoln for a few minutes. it's a little longer than good speechmaking toll rates. but i'm doing it quite deliberately. i want to reset in you the passion, the sinister, the authenticity, -- the sincerity, the authenticity of the declaration of independence in making us an unique country. in his debates with douglas, only four years after the founding of our party, lincoln said the following: pros parity might look up again to the declaration of independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began so that truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land so. that no man would here after limit and circumdescribe the great principles on which the

temple of -- the temple of liberty was being built. now, my countrymen, if you have been taught principles conflicting with the declaration of independence, if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its gran door and mutilate the fair symmetry of it proportions,er if you are inclined to believe that not all men are created equal in this declaration of liberty, let me retreat you to return back, return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the revolution. think nothing of me. take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsore. but some back to the truths that are in the declaration of independence. you may do anything with me you choose if you will but heed these sacred prince. you may not only defeat me for the senate but you may take me and put me to death. while pretending no indifference to earthly honors, i do claim to be actuated in this contest by

something higher than anxiety for office. i charge you to drop every paul triand insignificant thought for any man's success. it is nothing. i am nothing. judge douglas is nothing. but do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the declaration of american independence. >> that is what this is all about. that is why i am a citizen of the united states of america and not a citizen of the world. [applause] >> compare that passion for individual liberty and individual opportunity with the question as, group politics, and bureaucratic healthcare rationing advocating by our opponents. this republican commitment to the individual did not cease after lincoln.

reagan in one of his radio talks in the 1970's, part of which we have in our movie, said the following: "some of our social planners refer to them as the masses, which only proves they don't know them. i've been privileged to meet people all over this land, in a special kind of way you meet them when you are campaigning. they are not the masses or as the elitists would have it, the common man, they are very uncommon. individuals, each with his or her own hopes and dreams, plans and problems, and the kind of quiet courage that makes this whole country run better than just about any other place on earth. and that's why rationing is wrong, and that's why question as are wrong. because in fact they eliminate the very power of the individual -- question as are wrong. this -- quotas are wrong. >> this lead us to some profound commitmes.

having judges that understand that america that has driven god from the public square will no longer be the america that has extended freedom and prosperity for 400 years. understand that individual rights and responsibilities are at the heart of our system, that there are no quotas and no group identities in the american system. understanding that at cape henry, where english-speaking settlers first came, they erected a cross as their first act in order to thank god for having gotten across the atlantic. understanding that at jamestown, our first permanent settlement, they established the principle "if you do the do not work you will not eat" not for the poor but for the air rest toe cats. it was at the heart of our wealth forereform in 1986. it is our most successful conservative program in the modern times. 65%% of the people on welfare went to work or went to school. [applause] >> it's why we have to teach

american history accurately and honestly, and frankly, replace those professors and those teachers unwilling to be accurate and honest about american history. [applause] >> it is why we have to have judges who refer to the american constitution and worry about american presidents and reject those would-be judges or replace those judges who insist on quoting foreign precedent and foreign law which has no application the united states of america. [applause] >> it's why we recognize that american entrepreneurial capitalism and a free market will work and that european socialism will not work in terms of productivity and prosperity. [applause] >> because america is unique, it is worthy of defending. and so my second point is, we must ensure national security

and homeland security. we need areat national debate on five key questions: is the world dangerous. are there people in governments who would like to destroy us. what is it worth to keep america and americans safe from those dangers. what strategies can defeat our opponents. what metrics can we use to tell if the strategies are working or failing. under the obama administration, we have fallen back into the eutopian fantasies and self-deception of the 1977 carter administration and the 1993 clinton administration. the reagan movie is a remarkable portrait of the contrast between idealistic realism and idealistic eutopianism. let me remind you. ronald reagan and his idealistic belief in democracy announced firmly that our goal in the cold war was we win and they lose, that our opponents were an evil

empire. and 1 years after his administration the soviet union disappeared -- 11 years. jimmy carter who was a sincere idealist was totally out of touch with reality. he lived in a world of fantasies. the result was a catastrophic failure. the clinton erra failures are similar. their passion for mistreating terrorism not as an act of war but as an act of criminal justice, their refusal to accept the threats to america, meant that they couldn't cope with the world trade center in 1993 which was in part plotted by a prison ica prison. -- in attica prison. or deal with the bombing in saudi arabia that they blocked the fbi from going and finding out what happened. they couldn't take charge of the two embassies bombed in africa. -- or yemen where the ambassador blocked the fbi from looking for people. therefore during the entire

period of the clinton administration the ability of al-qaeda to plan 9/11 was never stopped, and the people who were doing it were never stopped, and as a result we were left in enormous danger. again and again the legalisms and self-deceptions of treating enemies as criminals led to more and more disastrous results. today many of the same civil libertarians defend the accused terrorists, follow criminal proceedings in a war, ideal ogs are now in the obama justice department. it's amazing how many of them come from law firms which were eagerly giving pro bono representation to alleged terrorists in guantanemo. the challenge for the obama administration is simple: americans know better. this isn't the first issue in which the president's clearly and devicively on the wrong side and the american people have begun to get it. by 3-to-1 the american people believe that we are safer with prisoners in guantanemo than in america. 3-to-1 is a pretty big margin.

[applause] >> guantanemo is a case study in common sense versus self-deception. i thought the president's decision to deliberately schedule a speech opposite dick cheney was the first big tactical mistake of his presidency. i'm sure that what happened was his political advisors said to him, vice-president cheney has bad poll numbers, you have good poll numbers, it will be a terrific contrast. they forgot a couple of things. vice-president cheney was the youngest chief of staff to an american president in history. he was on the intelligence committee in the house, he was secretary of defense for four years, he spent eight years as vice-president focused on national security, he actually understands the issue. [applause] >> the great difference between

reagan's rhetorical skills and president obama's rhetorical skills are that reagan used his rhetorical skills to shine light on truths >> retore cal skills to hide from fundamental facts. if you want a single case, read the cheney speech and the obama speech on the same day. it's a fundamental mistake which tells you a great deal about this administration. cheney had a fairly simple message. the reason we have guantanemo is we have people at guantanemo who are dangerous. they are called terrorists. we call them terrorists because they want to kill us. it is good to not have them anywhere near us because it makes it harder for them to kill us. now, the average american could hear that simple, declare tiff sentence and say to themselves, "okay, there's the terrorists are ok gang and there's the terrorists in guantanemo gang." okay, i got it. i'm with the terrorists stay in

guantanemo gang. well, the president who had aim possible position -- it was once said of lincoln and douglas that lincoln was the best lawyer in illinois with a good case and douglas was the best lawyer in illinois with a bad case. i'm beginning to think president obama is in the douglas tradition. the president whose a remarkably wonderful other tore said we are here in a deeply meaningful moment in which we are going to in a meaningful way engage in discussing a problem so complex and difficult that only myself can present it to you in a way that you will fully appreciate the meaningfulness of this moment that we have here together. an average american said "got it. he doesn't understand what's going on." and they're currently losing this debate by about 3-to-1 and it will get worse if they stick to it. because it is none. [cheers and applause] -- because it is nonsense come. >> but we need to build on the lesson of this debate. it's not about guantanemo. it's about the nature of reality.

the lesson of terrorism is that we have to control our borders. the lesson of terrorism is that we must have a system of effective legal immigration. we must have a system of legal temporary workers. we must have a vastly expanded system of h-1 visas for highly qualified workers. we must outsource the guest worker identity system, to visa, master card or american express because no federal agency could keep up with the fraud if you tried to internalize it to the bureaucracy. and we must ensure assimilation into being americans by making english the official language of government. [applause] >> and by teaching american history both to first generation immigrants and to our own children. now, some of you will be told later, how can we appeal to a latino vote if we're actually in favor of english? the fact is if you go to american solutions.com and click on platform, 59% of the hispanic

american population favors english as the official language of government. and as bob bigin call's father who is a first generation immigrant from india said to me recently, we are crazy if we do not make english the official language of government. we need it to assimilate everyone from every country into being american. [cheers and applause] >> and in that process we have to teach american history both to first generation immigrants and to our own children. and i believe we should have a national campaign to fundamentally redesign the curriculums of every school in this country so they actually learn american history as a part of their citizenship. [applause] >> these steps will make us more secure, more prosperous and more law-abiding. but the challenge of foreign dangers will remain. beyond guantanemo there are enormous dangers threatening america and our allies. our enemies seek weapons of

horrifying danger. nuclear weapons, electric magnetic pulse weapons, biological weapon systems must become dramatically morrow bust to cope with these threats and protect america and americans. after 9/11 people asked "why didn't we think of that attack?" in fact many of us had. just nobody wanted to pay attention. there is no excuse for not thinking today about the potentially catastrophic attacks that are threatening us. our current defense in homeland security budgets are simply too small and the bureaucracies are too small and too cumbersome. we have to meet short-term threats and we have to meet long-term threats. the current budget cannot possibly meet both challenges. focussen on the short-term small war threat while starving recap stallization of the navy and air force, underfunding science and contingency to pay for afghanistan and iraq is a

formula for a future collapse in our ability to cope with china and russia. i appreciate what secretary gates is trying to do. it is impossible to defend this country and to maintain homeland security on the current budget. and we frankly need more retired military people talking out and telling the truth about the decay of our navy, the decarry of our -- decay of our air force and decay of our long-term capabilities in the current budget constraints. .

>> i do not want to t recapitalization. >> the first generation in american history to have failed to have done its job of fixing the country so our children and grandchildren are better off, not worse off. >> without a strong economy and without scientific and contingency cal leadership we cannot sustain our military capabilities. the economy and education are national security issues. competing with china and india will be a bigger challenge than competing with the soviet union during cold war. i commend to all of you bob compton's film "2 million

minutes" that's four years of high school, that shows you vividly two indian high school students, two chinese high school students and two american high school students. and at the end of the movie you realize that we are a country aggressively preparing for the 1956 olympics. we will win no gold medals at that level. and i recommend to all of you to go to 2mminutes.com to see how bad the challenge is. to meet that challenge we have to reform litigation, regulation, taxation, education, health, energy and infrastructure. that's the minimum for us to compete successfully in the next generation with china and india. yes, it's big. i think it's also historically true. and the question is do we have the courage to do it. the scale of change requires all 513,000 elected officials -- school board, county commission, city council, state legislature,

not just the presidency. it requires a, red, white and blue majorities, democrats, republicans, independents, not red versus blue majorities. in california 64% is an encouraging sign that if we are creative and we are articulate and we are clear, we might just build a red, white and blue majority that is truly tri-partisan. we do not need stimulus, we need growth. we do not need temporary fixes. we need real investment and real productivity improvements. the question is, how do we make america the best place in the world for the next factory and the next job? the answer is the opposite of the left's formula. because we don't need stimulus. we don't need temporary jobs. we need investments to create permanent productivity increases to sustain permanent jobs. to sustain permanent jobs. for years, the left talked about

trickle-down capitalism. let me offer you an observation. trickle-down bureaucracy works even less than trickle-down capitalism. pouring $787 billion in in washington and somehow create jobs is a fantasy of the first order. not that the people that voted for care. their goal was power and paying off their allies. the [applause] you can tell how badly the stimulus has failed, and let's be clear, this is not something president obama inherited from president bush. he got his stimulus delivered by his robots in congress that did exactly what they were told without reading the bill. he can't turn around now and said that george w. bush made

him have. they promised we would peak at 8% unemployment. at friday, we were at 9.4%. their budget is correct because we will have higher unemployment, greater expenses, and less revenue than projected because their plan has already failed. [applause] let me be clear as a matter of first principle. bureaucrats micromanaging companies does not work. politicians dominating the economy does not work. barney frank and chris dodd are not substitutes for a sound market economy. tim geithner and lawrence summers on not a replacement for warren buffett and bill gates. we have been here before. jimmy carter got us to 13% inflation, 22% interest rates,

sliding into the worst recessions since the great depression and every day gasoline rationing. how many of you remember when you could only buy gasoline every other day based on your license plate? this happened. america was reduced by bad policy, bad politicians, and bad government to rationing gasoline. my good friend pointed out he was only 13 at the time every morning, his father would give him a screwdriver to go out back and change the license plate so the car that needed gas had the right license plate. if you learn that a government rationing led 13-year olds to change license plates, you are a conservative. if you conclude that what we needed was license plate police

at every gas station, you are a liberal. it is that straightforward. we have been here before. replacing the rule of law with special interest deals and bankruptcy does not work. having a 31-year-old to take time off to did -- to redesign the auto industry will not work. he is a symbol of the arrogance and lack of realism of this administration. [applause] heading off a corn and other groups will not work. you can't have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down. you are going to choose one of the other. i pick capitalism because it has been the most productive, most prosperous, highest quality of life system on the planet. [applause] you have to have the rule of

law, not the rule of empathy. you cannot pay off political allies with contract lot if america begins to resemble venezuela and russia in changing the law to favor political allies and punish enemies, our economy will be crippled for a generation. people will not invest where politicians can rip them off. i don't think that barney frank and chris dodd are good advertisements around the world for the next factory to come to the united states. how do we get back to economic growth? raising taxes does not work. what would work? let's go back to first principles. taxes are a first principle. high taxes kill jobs and growth. low taxes encourage jobs and growth. what would a free on the prize orient the stimulus package be like? first, let's give it to the people that work and the businesses that hire them.

if we have a two-year 50% reduction in the social security and medicare tax, you would have an extraordinary explosion of small business, a dramatic increase in unemployment, the money available for businesses to invest without bureaucracy and without politicians. he would have a dramatic rebound. it would be much better than the theories of the left. i know what the impact would be of a two-year 50% reduction. if you want to compete with china for jobs, match the chinese in capital gains. their rate is zero. [applause] if you want to compete for profitable businesses creating good jobs, adopt the irish tax rate of 12.5% for corporas.