strength, strength, courage, principle -- he has these things and it is because he has these things and they do not have these things they have turned on him. here is a memo to the ruling class that i have got in washington, d.c. -- we will not allow that to happen. tell me now, tell me now, will you stand with ted cruz? [applause] tell me now. does he deserve our gratitude for his magnificent devotion to liberty? does he deserve our prayers for continuing -- tell him now, do we stand with him in his crusade to save america? do not tell me. tell senator ted cruz. ♪

>> thank you. thank you so very, very much. >> [indiscernible] >> thank you. i receive that blessing. and let me say to each and every one of you, i am inspired by you. >> we are inspired by you. >> i am invigorated by your passion for this great country. now, as inspired as i am, i will do my very best to speak for

less than 21 hours. [laughter] >> [indiscernible] >> but you will know i am wrapping up when i begin to read "the cat in the hat." i'm here with words of encouragement and exultation. i want to say two things. number one, these are extraordinary times. these are not typical times. the challenges facing this country are unlike any we have ever seen. you look at our constitution, you look at our bill of rights, this is an administration that seems bound and determined to violate every one of our bill of rights. i do not know if they have yet violated the third amendment, but i expect them to be quartering soldiers in people's homes soon.

if you look at the bill of rights, if you look at the first amendment, this is an administration that has told servicemen and women that they cannot risk discipline. -- they cannot share their faith or risk discipline. this is an administration that has reprimanded a person in alaska. mind you, he was quoting dwight d. eisenhower, who i might note has some passing familiarity with the military. this is an administration that is telling christian companies like hobby lobby and the little sisters of the poor, that they must -- or provide millions of -- provide abortifacents or pay millions of dollars in government fines.

the little sisters of the poor is an order of nuns that provides health care to the elderly poor. the federal government is coming after them saying they have to provide abortions as well. we have the second amendment, which no administration in the history of the country has ever come after guns like this administration. now, vice president joe biden -- [laughter] you know the nice thing? you do not need a punch line. [laughter] you just say his name, people laugh. but vice president joe biden had some advice. he said if anyone is to attacking your home, go outside with a shotgun and shoot both barrels in the air, which is very good advice if it happens you're being attacked by a flock of geese.

[laughter] we have seen the fourth and fifth amendment, an administration whose policy and wiretap policies and your e- mails and phone calls, their view is the policy of the american people does not matter to them. and then there is the 10th amendment, an amendment i am sure they have gone and cut out of every copy of the constitution in the library of congress. we have seen an explosion of federal government power, none more important or significant or dangerous than obamacare. we look at the state of our economy and the last four years are coming has grown on average 0.9% a year. there's one other time since world war ii of four consecutive years of this kind of growth, and that was 1979 to 1982. coming out of the jimmy carter administration, it was the same

policies, out-of-control spending and taxes and regulation, and it produced the exact same results. and we have seen a hapless, feckless foreign policy leading from behind, set by a president who does not appreciate the concept of an oxymoron -- [laughter] [applause] these are extraordinary times. every one of you is here because you love this country, because you love freedom, and you know we cannot keep going down this road much longer. we are nearing the edge of a cliff, and our window to turn things around, my friends, i do not think it is long.

i do not think it is 10 years. we have a couple of years to turn this country around, or we go off the cliff to oblivion. throughout the history of the world we have seen great nations rise and fall, and everyone here today is here today because we are not content to allow the united states of america to do anything but continue to rise and remain the greatest country on the face of this earth. [applause] >> senator cruz, why won't you consider a pathway to citizenship for immigrant families? >> i appreciate that. it is a great thing that people can trust their first amendment right, and i only wish obama administration trusted first amendment rights that much. [applause]

but how do we turn things around? the second point i want to say is only the american people can turn this great nation around. only the american people. now, the book of ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. as dire as things are, i want each to remember back to 1978, 1979. those were dark times, with 22% interest rates, double-digit unemployment, gas lines going round the block, our hostages languishing in iran. the president of the united states said we have to accept malaise. the soviet union cannot be stopped. our foreign policy is d?tente, and i am pretty sure it is french for "surrender."

and what were we all told over and over again? there is nothing you can do about it. it cannot be done. the top marginal rate is 70% and it will stay 70% no matter what. government will always continue to grow come and freedom in america will always recede. what we have seen across this country -- >> [indiscernible] >> thank you for being here. i wish you would participate in the democratic process by speaking respectfully. it seems that president obama's paid political operatives are out in force today. [applause] and you know why? and you know why? because the men and women in this room scare the living daylights out of them.

[applause] in 1980, in a situation every bit as dire as the one we face today, a revolution began across this country, the reagan revolution, and i am looking at an awful lot of foot soldiers and generals from the reagan revolution, a lot of the men and women in this room bear the scars and understand the power that when the people rise up, ultimately sovereignty resides in one place and one place only in our constitution, and it is with we the people. [applause]

and i will suggest a model for how we turn this country around in the next couple of years, and it is the model that we have been following together for the last couple of months to stop that train wreck, that disaster, that nightmare that is obamacare. [applause] i do not know how many of you remember that movie "the usual suspects," where they describe the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. >> senator cruz, why -- >> [indiscernible] >> you know what, i'm curious, is anybody left at the

organizing for america headquarters? [applause] i'm actually glad the president told political staff is here instead of actually doing mischief in the country. [applause] in the movie "the usual suspects," the greatest trick the devil ever played was convince the world he did not exist. the greatest trick the left has ever played is to convince conservatives we cannot win. [applause] the media will tell us that believing in free-market values, believing in the constitution, believing in freedom, that those are extreme views.

it is a lie. if it were not a lie, why do so many democrats, and they are running, for 10 to be conservatives -- pretend to be conservatives? why do so many republicans do the same? [applause] the values each and every one of us are defending our values that every small town, every family, every small business has understood in this country for centuries. that is what we are defending. that is what we are defending. you know, at this point -- you know what is striking, actually? in the course of this brief speech, we have heard more questions than president obama

has allowed in the past year. [applause] in fact, since we have the men and women of the media here, let me make an offer to our president. i would welcome the president, if he wants to get 100 of his most rabid political operatives in a room, i will answer their questions on television as long as he likes. [cheers] and in exchange, all i would ask, mr. president, is you take

not a hundred, but 10 of the men and women in this room and spend 30 minutes answering their questions for the american people. [applause] when the fight for obamacare started, senator mike lee and i began by pitching it in washington. and it was abundantly clear that this was not a strategy that washington was going to embrace. it was far too risky, and if there is one overarching urge in washington, it is risk aversion. do nothing that has any risk, that it might actually doing anything. and so this summer mike lee and i took a very different strategy. we said, ok, we are going to go >> [indiscernible] >> ma'am, i look forward to you at the town hall.

we tried a different strategy. we said, ok, we will go over their heads. a lot of folks in washington said we will talk to the republican leadership? we went over their heads to the american people. [applause] for much of the month of august and september, mike and i traveled this country speaking to town halls over the country and saying, saying -- how scared is the president? what a statement of fear, what a statement of fear. [applause] they do not want the truth to be heard. they definitely do not want the

truth to be heard. as we traveled the country, speaking to the american people, making the case, what we said, i said you know what? i cannot stop obamacare. mike lee cannot stop obamacare. we have two more, thank you.[indiscernible] for your passion, but you should respect the rights of the men and women who are here. [chanting] it is unfortunate -- it is unfortunate that the administration -- [chanting] >> usa! usa! usa! usa!

>> the nice thing is the left will always, always, always tell you who they fear. and they fear you. they fear the american people. the fundamental problem in washington is washington is not listening to america. this fight on obamacare, we went to make the case to the american people, and in a matter of a few weeks, over 2 million american sign that petition on dontfundit.com. [applause]

it is because of you that the house of representatives has been standing strong, because the house has been listening to the people. [applause] it is because of you that for the past two months the country has engaged in a national debate about the enormous harms obamacare is causing, all the millions of americans who are losing their jobs, being pushed into part-time work, losing their health insurance. it is because of you that the american people are energized. and we see the obama administration defending positions that are utterly and completely unreasonable. repeatedly, the house has acted to compromise them to fund vital priorities, and repeatedly obama and the press have refused to negotiate.

i will note this afternoon, the democrats are feeling the heat. [applause] this afternoon president obama has invited the senate republicans to the white house. so after leaving here, i am going to be going to the white house -- [cheers] i will make a request. if i'm never seen again, please send a search-and-rescue team. i hope tomorrow morning i do not wake up amidst the syrian rebels. [laughter] but listen, they will talk to us, unlike this administration. you are exactly right.

listen, none of us know what is going to happen on this obamacare fight right now. in my view the house of representatives needs to keep doing what it has been doing, which is standing strong. [applause] and that is the model for every other fight. we need no more washington solutions. we need to go back to the american people. [applause] the media tells us we cannot win. i read in "the new york times" that hillary has already started her second term. [laughter] the media wants america to get up and allow this country to

keep sliding off the edge of the cliff, but let me tell you, there are two things i have an abiding faith in. one is a benevolent god who loves each and every one of us. [applause] and number two is the american people who love liberty and opportunity, unlike any nation, any people in the history of this world. [applause] many of you know my father, rafael cruz. [applause] i am hoping in time i can encourage him not to be such a wallflower. [laughter] when he fled cuba 55 years ago, after being in prison, after being beaten, when he came here

seeking freedom, he did it because no nation on earth has allowed so many people to come with nothing and achieve the american dream. [applause] what does it take to win this fight? it takes the men and women in this room. each of you is called to be here. much like esther, you were called for a time such as this. [applause] for 400 years, every generation of americans has given to their kids and grandkids an opportunity, greater prosperity, a greater future. if we keep going down this road, we will become the first generation not to do that, and

every man and woman in this room believes that is utterly and completely unacceptable! [applause] as ronald reagan famously observed, freedom is not passed down in a bloodstream from one generation to the next. every generation has to rise up and defend it, or one day we will find ourselves answering questions from our children and our children's children -- what was it like when america was free? none of us will ever have to answer that question, because together the american people, we are going to restore that shining city on the hill that is the united states of america. thank you, and god bless you.

♪ >> thank you, senator cruz. a couple of things i want to mention. if you would like to stand firm in our call to stop obamacare, we will post a phone number on the screen that you can write down and make those calls. you also have all of your congressional phone numbers in your packets. we encourage you to take advantage of that. i must say a couple of quick items before we introduce our next speaker. for those of you who paid full

price only to be evicted, we would like to thank you for your donation to the values voter summit. and i do urge you to please restrain from interfering with any of the protesters. we do have security for that. so please, don't you get involved with any of that. or any protesters who are left, we urge you to exercise decorum. this is a place for freedom of speech. i have never understood that those who stand for freedom and tolerance. we will mercifully flee past you. our next speaker is in his first term as senator from the great state of kentucky. he has so graciously carved out time, because he is rushing from here to a meeting with the president, so we are grateful

that he could come ensure with you now. he has proven to be an outspoken champion for constitutional liberties and fiscal responsibility. he serves on the foreign relations, health, education, labor and pensions, small business, and government affairs committees. will you please welcome a senator who represents your values in washington, d.c., rand paul. ♪ >> thank you. does anybody have a message that i can carry to the president? >> [indiscernible]

>> and i am in a toyota prius. if you need a ride back to the white house, we will take you along. today i want to talk about something that is serious. i want to talk about a war that the mainstream media is ignoring, from boston to zanzibar. there is a worldwide war on christianity. christians are being attacked around the world, but you will not hear much about it on the evening news, because the answer is not convenient. it does not fit the narrative we have heard about it radical islam. the media describes the killings as sectarian. but the truth is a worldwide war on christians is being waged by fanatical elements of islam. ever since 9/11 commentators

have tried to avoid pointing fingers at islam, which is somewhat fair. it is fair to point out most muslims are not committed to violence against christians, but it is not the whole truth. the whole truth -- and we should not let political correctness stand in the way -- the whole truth is a minority of muslims condone the killing of christians, but unfortunately, that minority numbers in the tens of millions. pew research did a poll that indicated 21% of egyptians, 15% of jordanians -- and many jordanians are friends -- 15% of pakistani muslims find terrorism acceptable, if not laudable. the minority to be sure, but if you add up the numbers in three countries, it is over 40 million muslims sympathizing with violence against christians. you should not be understated. a survey indicated there were

100,000 muslims in britain who fully supported the london subway bombings. 400,000 said they had some sympathy for these bombings. this is not a little problem and will not go away quickly. in syria, there is an ancient christian city called -- where they still speak aramaic, the language that jesus spoke. they have been christians since the time of christ. they are a small outpost in the middle east for christians. the town was recently overrun by islamic rebels. they swarmed into the town and demanded everyone convert to islam or die. a person stood up and answered them, and he said, i am a christian, and if you want to kill me because i am, do so. these were his last words. sister carmella of damascus said of him, his death is true

martyrdom, a death in the hatred of faith. make no mistake, this is about your religion. elsewhere in syria, islamic rebels have filmed beheadings of their captives. they have filmed themselves eating the heart of their enemy. two christian bishops have been kidnapped, and one priest was recently killed. these rebels are allies of the islamic rebels that president obama is now arming. we are now arming islamic rebels who are allied with al qaeda that attacked us on 9/11. does that make any sense at all? >> no! >> american tax dollars should never be spent to prop up a war on christianity, but that is what is happening now across the globe. as christians, we should fight against any tax dollars funding any persecution of christians.

[applause] in zanzibar, a tiny little island off the coast of africa, a priest was recently shot in the head on his way to church by two muslim youths. a message by the muslim renewal said we thank our young men, trained in somalia, for killing the infidel. many more will die. we will burn homes and churches. we will not finish. at easter, be prepared for disaster. in kenya, muslims broke the legs of a pastor. in indonesia, the world's most populous muslim nation, three girls were beheaded on the way to their christian school. make no mistake, there is an element of radical jihad in this.

in guinea, christians were killed. in egypt, 82 churches were attacked, leaving hundreds dead and wounded. earlier this year, i forced the senate to vote to defund the muslim brotherhood, and every democrat -- [applause] every democrat voted to continue sending your money to the muslim brotherhood. i can tell you one thing, though, as long as i am in the senate, i will fight against sending any money to the muslim brotherhood. [applause] in cameroon recently, two

christians were murdered. in iran, american pastor is detained indefinitely, facing physical and psychological torture. they asked him to renounce his faith, the same thing they asked the person before he was killed. i have introduced a resolution that says we should do everything within our power and our voice, from the white house, from the state department, from our government, to release this man. [applause] and i will not rest until the pastor is free. across the globe christians are under attack, almost as if we lived in the middle ages or we lived under early pagan roman rule. it is almost as if that is

happening again throughout the middle east. this administration does nothing to stop it, and it can be argued they are giving aid and comfort to those who tolerate these crimes. in libya, the country we freed from oppression, the militias that were guarding our ambassador have raided a christian church, rounding up hundreds of christians, accusing them of being missionaries, accusing them of the crime of having a cross or a bible. many were tortured. in pakistan last week, 75 christians were killed them a several hundred were killed in a bombing of a church. a pakistani christian sits on death row for blasphemy. she says it began when she drew water from a muslim well. as she was filling her bowl of water, a crowd formed and

chanted, death, death to the christian. she pleaded for her life. she was pelted with stones, punched in the face, and drugs through the streets. the local imam interceded, saying you must convert to islam. the crowd descended on her, beating her with sticks. finally, the police stopped the attackers only to arrest her. she has now been on death row for the crime of blasphemy. what i say is until this person is freed, not one dollar of u.s. aid should go to pakistan. [applause] many of you have heard of malala, the precocious 14-year- old who was shot in the head by

the taliban for the crime of wishing that girls could go to school. she is not a christian, but even so, the radical islamists were not tolerant of this girl who seeks nothing more than an education, nothing more than a right to go to school. if you have not listened to her, pull up one of her youtubes and listen to her. she is amazing. what a bizarre distortion of religion, someone who would shoot a little girl and had to make a religious point? where is the rest of islam? why don't they stand up and condemn this? [applause] the urdu poet shakir wrote they insist on examining the firefly in the daylight, the children of our age have grown clever. radical islam will end only when

islam begins to police itself. only when islam allows her children to examine the firefly in the daylight, only then will knowledge and enlightenment begin to glow and grow and religious violence will recede. we should all pray for that day to come sooner rather than later. [applause] we send billions of dollars to egypt, to pakistan. we help new islamic regimes in afghanistan and iraq. obama now sends arms to rebels in syria. i do not know about you, but i have had enough. [applause]

i say not one penny more to any country that would burn the american flag. [applause] we must work to ensure that our country, our policies, our tax dollars are on the side of ending this violence rather than encouraging those who retreat it. this war on christianity is not just abroad. it came to boston this year just in time for the marathon. two islamic radicals blew up dozens of civilians. i guess they thought somehow killing women and children would make a religious or political point. you might argue, maybe they were not targeting christians, but they certainly did not target a mosque. their motive, if you can perceive one, was not against

our government, but against us as a people, a christian people. how someone could believe that killing innocent people could further one's cause is beyond me. shortly after the attack, i met one of the boston policemen who were there, one of the first responders. he described his feelings, his horror, his sadness as he raced to apply tourniquets, and the death and carnage in what he saw as he showed up. he described his anger as he pursued these two islamic radicals through the streets. he described he felt it was justified, the shootout where one of them was killed, but he also said that after the last one, after we captured and disarmed the last bomber, he said he also described a special appreciation for american justice. after the bomber was

apprehended, he said we did not drag into the street and beat him to death with tire irons. he will get a lawyer, he will get a trial. it is what makes us different from them. [applause] when i talk to our young soldiers, wife -- my wife and i helped build a house for one of our young soldiers -- i asked him what he was fighting for and what did it mean to fight for your country? he said the essence of what we fought for was our freedom, our bill of rights, our constitution. we have to believe and preserve those, that's what we are here for. that's what we are here to fight for and that's what arm young men and women have put their lives on the line for. some politicians say this war on christianity means that we must fight a large conventional war against all of radical islam.

part of my pointers to tell you there is 100 million, this will not be fought with a conventional war. it will require islam to police islam. there will be times and we will have to defend ourselves. we were right to go to war after 9/11. there are times when military action is justified and necessary. i believe we must be willing and able to defend ourselves against the jihadist's but we must also re-examine our policies because military action can and able and in power radical islam. going into syria could possibly enable al qaeda. it could make things worse. we have to be very clear about that. in egypt, libya, and syria, it is not clear whether the changes of the new regimes will be more friendly or less friendly to america. to me, it does not make any sense to send american arms, american planes, or american

troops to aid syrian rebels or the muslim brotherhood, for goodness sakes. we should stop it. [applause] in the future, i see less and less conventional wars. i don't see the possibility of how 100 million radical jihadist art defeated and the have to be contained and we have to defend ourselves. make no mistake, we should actively defend ourselves. the ultimate answer i think is that the rest of islam that is not radical has to police radical islam. [applause] the islamic republics see us as invaders and infidels. they will never accept us through force of arms. somehow, they must be made to understand that they must root

out and destroy the sadists and killers amongst them, the ones who distort and contort religion to justify killing of civilians and children. islam needs to remember and re- create the good in their history. for centuries, the middle east was home to cultural and intellectual centers of ancient world. math and science flourished in the middle ages. tolerance and sophistication were the norm at one time in the middle east. the great media will position rozzis identified smallpox and measles. the great politician made advances in algebra. there was a enlightenment at one point in the world. islam carried the light of learning and pave the way for our enlightenment. this history needs to be brought back to life again. innovation and muslim communities developed a magnetic compass, pens and printing. it was said at one time that

books were printed in cairo, passed out in baghdad. at one point in time in the middle east, the world was really something that was very amazing. it needs to come back but they need to figure this out. the policing has to come from them. as late as the 1960s, books were printed in cairo and read in baghdad. there was a time in our history when islam was policing itself. most muslims described islam as a peaceful and tolerant religion. at one time, they prized inquiry over the heads of infidels. the scientific method over fanaticism. i believe islam still contains some of the roots of this classical tradition and can return to them. in the meantime, we must defend ourselves. make no mistake, we need to understand the war on christianity is not being waged by a rare anomaly but by a

significant majority that numbers in the millions. christians should be prepared for were but actively seek peace. reagan said we should strive for peace through strength and i agree. i urge us not to lose sight of either. too often, we have lost sight of these as the goal. the message of the gospels is not war. hopefully, the message of christianity, if listened t, can be part of a peace process. in the meantime take action, pray for solution and older politicians accountable for standing up and protecting life and standing up against the war on christianity. thank you and may god bless you. [applause] >> thank you senator paul. ♪

let's keep it going. our next speaker's faith and america's promise was shaped early on by his parents who left communist cuba under the castro regime. he was raised in miami and learned the value of diligence and hard work through his godly parents. that early training paid off big time as he came from a huge underdog in his 2009 campaign to win the senate seat for his home state of florida. his mission, among other things, as a senator is to build a strong america that our children can inherit to reach their dreams just as he has reached his dreams. he has become a leading voice for values voters all over

america, ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome, senator marco rubio? [applause] caller♪ right here, right now watching the world wake up -- ♪ thank you. thank you. let me start off by saying -- i was listening to the news -- i hope all the protesters that came to scream you're left with ted because he did a good job with them. i appreciate it. i am honored to appear before you at this uncertain time in our countries history. with all the fighting going on in washington these days, my biggest fear is that we are losing focus on the biggest issues facing our country. that's the growing sense by so many people across the country, that we are losing control. that we are losing control of our nation and that we are losing what we've come to know as the american dream. why do people feel this way?

because millions of them have been out of a job for months and maybe years at a time, because millions more are trapped in jobs that don't pay enough to live off of. when these people here on the news that the economy is recovering, when they hear that unemployment is down .1% somewhere, it makes them angry. because maybe wall street has recovered but for millions of americans, they are still stuck with jobs that do not pay enough to make ends meet. making all this worse is that while their paychecks are stable or going down, it their bills keep going up. ask single parents and working families how much they are paying every month for child care. ask the thousands upon thousands of students who are saddled with student loan debt. when i graduated, i had over 100 thousand dollars in student loans which i paid off last year with the proceeds of my book which is available in paperback.

[laughter] how do people make it through when they face the stuff? i faced a rough patch like that a few years after jennette and i got married and we faced difficult moments i got rid of the car and moved in with her mom for six months. sound familiar? from time to time, we have had to do that but we did that temporarily. now you have millions and millions of people who feel like they may have to do that as a new way of life. they asked themselves that this is the new normal. is this the way things will be in this country from now on? that's what people are wondering these days that maybe the american dream a member be what it used to be. we ask ourselves why this is happening and there are many reasons. globalization has changed the nature of our economy. you have all these jobs that have gone overseas because of cheaper labor costs. millions of jobs have been replaced by machines.

go to your local grocery store and there are less cashiers and more self checkout counters. too many people never got the education or the skills they needed for the jobs that the new economy has created. big government is keeping our economy from creating the new middle class jobs that people desperately need to live the kind of life they want. all these things are contributing to our challenges. one of the major causes of it i think does not get enough attention and that is the fundamental truth that you cannot have a strong economy if it is not built on strong values. no one is born with these values. these values have to be taught. the government cannot teach them. these values have to be taught by strong families and they have to be reinforced by institutions like churches and synagogues, coaches and mentors, by civil society.

we have countless children in this country today who are not eating taught these values. because our society is breaking down. our families are falling apart. as a result of our country is paying a terrible price. the liberal answer to all of this is just a happy government spent more money. there is a role for government. no matter how much money the government spends, it will never be able to take the place of parents and strong families. [applause] children born into broken families with no access to positive roles models and bombarded by popular culture the glamorizes violence and irresponsibility, these children will struggle to succeed no matter how much government spends. this is a serious problem. millions of our people are going to be left behind if we do not fix this.

what can those of us in public service do about all of this? the first thing is we have to empower parents and we have two amp hours civil society and that's what i believe, as most of you do, that every single parent in america has the right and should have the opportunity to send their children to the school of their choice. [applause] second, we need to make sure our government for rims encourage work and not dependence. [applause] we support a safety net to serve those who cannot help themselves, to serve those who have fallen so they can stand up on their own feet again and try again. our people want jobs, they don't want a safety net as a way of life. it's why these programs need to be reformed. so that these programs encourage work and encourage education and they need to be reformed to make

sure they do not punish parents if they decide to get married. [applause] by this point, i would've hoped someone could heckle me so i could sip some water. [laughter] that will get me through. the third thing i think we have to do and this is perhaps most important -- our leaders have to stop ignoring the impact that culture is having on our nation. [applause] let me tell you the reaction i get to that from some. some say that this is nothing more than an effort to impose religious values on others. this is not about imposing values. these values don't work unless you really believe them. i have also been lectured about how we need to stop talking about social issues if we want

to win elections. if we are serious about saving the american dream, we cannot stop talking about these issues. we cannot stop talking about the importance of our values and our culture. [applause] we cannot stop talking about them because the moral well- being of our people is directly linked to their economic well- being. [applause] today, we see a rising tide of intolerance in america. intolerance toward those who cherish these values. in this country, we still have millions of people who try to live by these values. the traditional values they cherish, hard work, responsibility, self control -- they believe that life does not revolve around us. who is harmed by these values? how does promoting these values hurt anyone? the millions of americans who share these values are tired of eating constantly told that they

need to keep their opinions to themselves. [applause] on issue after issue, they are expected to be tolerant of others but increasingly our culture is intolerant of them. this is not about imposing our religion on anyone. in america, you have the right to worship any way you choose. that's why virtually every faith in every denomination on earth has a presence in our land. you have a right to not believe in god at all. i believe that jesus christ is god. [applause] i believe he loved every single

human being that has ever lived no matter what they have done, even if they don't believe in him. that's why he suffered a brutal death and he resurrected from the dead, to erase the sins that separate us from him. i respect the rights of those who do not share my beliefs but to teach my faith to my children and to share it with anyone who will listen, that is my right, too. [applause] in this country of ours, we have the right to our own beliefs and the responsibility to respect the differing views of others. if we want to save our country, we must all realize the

breakdown of our culture is trapping millions of people in a cycle of poverty and dependentce and we have to do something about it. let me close by saying that the dream of a better life that we all share, it's really the universal hope for people everywhere. for much of human history, most people were trapped in the circumstances of their birth. whatever your parents did for a living, that's what you were allowed to do or it it should that for a moment -- living in a society where what you will be in life was determined for you before you were even born the matter how hard you were willing to work them and no matter how much talent you had come it did not matter. in that society, you're only allowed to go as far as your family family before you. picture for a moment living in a place like that. as americans, it's on a manageable but that has been the human condition for almost all of human history. america is special.

because here, this nation was founded on a powerful and eternal truth, that every one of us has the god-given right to life, liberty, and to pursue happiness. [applause] that's why my parents came here. that's why my parents came here. because it was the only place on earth where people like them born poor and disconnected from power could achieve a better life. to be rewarded for your work and be able to leave your children better off than yourself is what we call the american dream. is our identity as a people and at what makes this country exceptional. i say this to you because i know so many of you are discouraged. i know so many people around this country are discouraged by

the direction our nation is headed. i know so many of you are deeply disappointed at the way the last election turned out. [applause] . .