campaign how much white southern heritage folks and how much black southern folks or african-americans in general have in common. we both live in the past it a large degree and have long memories. i said african-american alzheimer's we forget everything but the grudges. we remember way back it slavery as if it was last week. and so do a lot of southern heritage folks and apparently the suspect roof was a southern heritage fanatic of the worst kind and i don't think we automatically think that confederate flag means the person who owns it is a ku klux clansman. what other war do we have so

many reenactments? i'm a vietnam era veteran and we don't reenact it but people born decades after the civil war still go out of their way to reenact the great battles. there is something in the american spirit that we are dealing with that can't be casually dismissed. but black folks see a rebel flag and they think ku klux klan immediately. i'm talking to fellow americans about this. it is not easy to persuade them otherwise. it is a reality. you don't wave the red cape in front of a bull and don't wave the confederate flag in front of black folks and expect them to clear. host: might, florida, republican mind. caller: good morning, mr. page. first of all i would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to the victims and families in the state of south carolina. it was a horrible action and it always goes back to the gun

owners and makes us look bad. what i really want to comment on today is the situation and mr. page mentioned it, talking about gun ownership in comparison with canada and they certainly are well armed up there there. but they do not have the violence to any comparable level so it makes me believe it is more of a cultural issue. you mentioned the black on black crime that is there. but it seems like not only african-americans but just a certain demographic -- i don't know if you want to say it is under 35 or 25 or whatever it is. it seems like they are disenfranchised to the american experience and i don't think -- touching on gun laws there is a universal background check. it is impossible to buy a firearm without a bound check

-- background check from any retailer. you can go on line or any pawn store or gun shop and they will not sell you a gun. the only way you can purchase a gun illegally is if you are to contact someone, say on craigslist and meet them in the parking lot and they give you a gun. i own numerous firearms and i have never purchased one like that. my family has numerous firearms and we have never purchased them like that. i have never known anyone to purchase a firearm like that. given the fact we've numerous gun laws that are never enforced and we have these constant repeating career criminals that obtain firearms and using them in crimes and the crimes escalate into violence because we really can't take what happened yesterday as a common occurrence.

the media blast them and they are really insignificant compared to crime on a daily basis. somebody goes to rob somebody else. host: we'll leave it there. guest: certainly we have crime on a daily basis unfortunately. it tends to happen in the same neighborhoods and demographics. a massacre like there is big news because it sis so unusual but it could be more unusual but sadly enough it is remarkably usual the last 20 years with various episodes of people shooting people in churches or the mass murders we have seen in various schools and other public locations, movie theatre. where will it happen next and my question is how many more have to die before we get serious about a comprehensive remedy for the situation. because right now we have had a

lot of -- we have allowed it to be a local situation and governed by state laws and which is ok except it is so easy to go from one state to another. we are still dealing with this as though we are talking about the 1700's and we are not. part of the cultural difference is gun ownership is most popular the farther out in the suburbs to rural areas. the more rural areas, like illinois for example, you have chicago that has very much pro gun control, pro safety, whereas downstate the folks are more accustomed to guns being part of life for hunting and defense. so, it is a kind of a cultural gap we have to deal with in a diverse country.

host: this is something i learned, and have no memory of july 1, 1974, martin luther king's mother was killed while playing the organ in church. guest: i remember it very well because i was an assistant city editor and assigned a couple of reporters and photographer to cover it and the young who did the killing was a young black man from columbus, ohio. i am a native ohioan and i remember this very well. i also didn't have the history of murders that i have now. but it was the kind of thing a lot of us forget because there are so many bizarre murders away -- that we forget them. host: your perspective on this last year in america beginning with ferguson, new york, north charleston, what happened had charleston. cleveland, some of the other places we have seen some either

violence or police actions, et cetera. guest: what strikes me about all of these is what they have in common. modern media technology. you have cameras, everybody has a tv station in their pocket called a smartphone. so you flip it out and you can take video of whatever is going on and put it on the would be instantly and it can go out to the world. plus, you have twitter. this is the age of the hash tag and hash tags like black lives matter or bring back our girl. instant movements is what i call the flash mob politics. that is how tea party started and occupy wall street and we ve seen there become integral to the whole debate over police conduct nduct. is this something new as far as the episode?

the only new thing is the video. look at ferguson that came up earlier, compared it cleveland or new york where you did have video. look how we are still arguing about whether michael brown was an innocent victim or not. but we don't argue about that with the other episodes where we have video. host: amanda in rockville, maryland, democrat line. caller: hi. i would like to add that i'm 15 and i was on here 1 1/2 months ago with greta in baltimore. we don't really know the motives of the shooter although probably a guy who got maybe caught up with propaganda on the internet. we don't know. but i have heard a lot of perspectives from college that

are simplistic and -- callers that are simplistic and liberal agenda. the nra just once to push guns. but this is like the united states culture as set by the media outlets and our own leaders who, you know, they are in the political game and they have to play on emotion and so show demographic factors , simplifying things and they don't consider the impact of geography, culture and under underlying societal conflicts that are impacting today's generation. i believe that our country would be better served if we had leaders like loyd feinstein. guest: who?

host: lloyd blankfein. caller: he doesn't let emotions impact his actions. he evaded most of the investigators' comments but he did so in a way that was clever and what i'm saying is that we need people who are impartial, who do not let emotions impact them. who take in all the perectives and try to put it into one coherent narrative. host: amanda, thank you for calling in and watching. hope we hear from you again in 30 days. any reaction for that young lady? guest: she is right about letting emotions getting in the way of rational thinking. but we are not mr. spock but we are humans but she is hitting on something about the need for cultural change whether we're

talking about the gun debate or whatever. we see good examples of the impact of cultural with things like marijuana legalization and gay marriage. a decade ago i think i did say i wouldn't see these in my lifetime but i have been astounded how things have changed the last 10 years. what seemed like would never happen is part of the landscape and a politician can be put on the defensive if they don't have the right thing to say about those issues. that is because of cultural change. that is where the politicians are trying to catch up with the change in the culture. i saw the same thing around civil life after legislation in the 1960's. conservatives were saying we can't change what is in people's hearts but once you give pple

-- people permission by law to not discriminate, it is funny how much they rush to show how much they are not racist or sexist. we should not give up too quickly on these issues. host: wild and wonderful tweets if you want to understand the recent history of institutional racism read the pre-1960 deeds , in your local record room. richard, hollywood, florida, independent, you are on the air. caller: how are you doing, sir? i want to say something. you know who i blame for what happened in charleston? i blame the tea party and republican party and right wingers. this young man said something before he killed those people. he said, you are taking our country. it doesn't take a brain scientist to realize where he got that from. the tea party started it when

this president walked into office saying that they wanted to take their country back. what is happening is these politicians have family and children, and people look at tv. when you hear leaders -- i can't imagine how someone like some of these politicians that same some of the most vile things about this president, they have children. if they say that in public i wonder what they say about this president in private. we need to stop getting around trying to pretend we don't know , where this came from. this came from white folks who have gotten mad because this president walked into office and they have been saying all types of hateful things and it is coming home to roost. we have to stop getting on television and saying these hateful -- i'm a gun owner and i'm a concealed weapons carrier but just because i believe that

a person that is halfway mental shouldn't have a gun don't mean that i'm against gun rights. just because i say some police officers are not for the good of people don't mean i'm against every police officer. but when it comes to the tea party and right wingers you can't have a conversation with them because logic means nothing to them. host: richard, before we get mr. page to respond do you carry your gun with you on a regular basis in florida? caller: i carry it with me on a regular basis. host: would you have had it with you wednesday night at bible study? caller: i have carried my gun to church. host: do you think in your mind that you would have reacted to what happened there? caller: because i'm a veteran and i know this, there are some loony people because when you look at media and all this stuff that people say and hate, i

carry my gun with me. so, you always have to be prepared because you never know. i have four children, six grandchildren and i'm going to protect my family. host: thank you, sir. clarence page. guest: well, an issue he brought up initially was in regard to the atmosphere established or inflamed by the right wing. i saw the same thing happen in the 1970's inflamed by the left wing with the s.d.s. under ground and underground. everybody in politics has it wear the jacket of the atmosphere set up in certain times. i have heard people on the right and left talk about taking the country back depending on whether they were in power. this is the nature of our political rhetoric.

i think we need to tone it down and be more intelligent or we provide more fuel for the rage of folks who are mentally unbalanced. host: from the "washington times " this morning, gun rights supporters call for more concealed carrying in churches. it talks about the case in colorado at the new life church and where gene assam was a volunteer security guard and killed the shooter prior to the shooter getting in the church because she had a gun with her. what do you think of concealed weapons in church? guest: that is almost the standard response for any of these gun related tragedies, that the gun ownership advocates say what we need is more begins. -- more guns. we saw lapierre say that, a

popular response for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun but it is not so easy to tell the bad from the good and so much as we come up with scenarios of people defending themselves or the one you mentioned there are many more cases of people who were killed or members of their family killed because of a gun in the house and had there not been a gun it wouldn't have happened. you can use anecdotes to argue for any side and we feed host: -- we need to get beyond that and talk about practical solutions. host: ruth tweets and people are coming up with all kinds of excuses for there racist thug. why can't they face it and call it what it is, racial hatred. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate it. are you there? host: we are all listening to you.

caller: i have called in three times now, and i have tried to get people to understand that in 2012, we had a poison data system that said that no one under 13 years old have died or overdosed from marijuana but back in the late 1960's, we said that marijuana cause socialistic communistic, and , narcissistic tendencies. all of that was racial. we didn't want black people living in rural areas. that is why we push them into the middle cities so that we could police just the middle of the cities. i'm writing a book about this right now. had over 55 cities here in michigan, and 70 cities in illinois that it was illegal to walk around the street after 7:00 in 1970. that is what is all about. white people saying that pot is bad. people like me, you're going to try to tell me that taking your

oxycontin, and that 248 thousand people died per year from that that is what you want me to take. i have a new home in wisconsin -- host: we will leave it there. it is a little bit off-topic. anything you want to respond to there? guest: 1970 was about the time that the black panthers to their weapons out to an assembly and caused a ruckus. you have these people walking into the state legislator with their weapons. that is when governor ronald reagan pushed for gun control. that was the first big push for gun control at the tail end of the 1960's, when black folks have them, and they happen to be black panthers did that is one of the interesting ironies of this whole debate. host: jerry, independent line.

caller: i am a gun rights advocate. i am over 70 years old. i wish people would google the norway massacre, 2011. the young man went to an island that was a gun free island in norway, where there was a young political party camp, summer camp. he proceeded to kill almost 90 young boys. before going to the island, he killed eight people getting to the island. he also wounded nearly 200. there were 600 boys on this island. this was carried on ap. if you google it, you will find 50 or 75 articles, associated press articles, covering this

killer. almost none were carried in the united states. guest: that's not true. caller: president obama says this does not happen outside the united states. he is smoking something. host: clarence page? guest: that is not true. it was well cover, thank you very much. there is also a book out. i can't recall the author and title, but very good book. what intrigued me was that he put his manifesto online. it was like 1500 pages. i read tough the whole thing. if i can read through the obamacare law, i can do this. it was a pretty quick read because it was mostly reprints and rewrites of american authors.

his rage was fueled by easily available propaganda on the web that he was able to obtain easily enough. most of it came from the united states. mostly right-wing writers, some of whom were anti-diversity racial purity writers, some as the nine -- benign as my friend, pat buchanan, who was quoted in this piece. these are legitimate issues for debate -- multiculturalism diversity, etc., but the fact is that we are a shrinking globe. the internet does allow for actions like this to be fields. -- to be fueled. the bigger question is how he got hold of the heavy weapon that he got a hold of, which are banned in norway. he was able to do it anyway.

this is a problem that is really international. host: tony is in california. democrats line. go ahead. caller: i have always loved you. guest: i love you too. caller: i am from chicago. i have followed you a lot. i like your writings. i like what i see on tv. it is like i am so glad to see you now. i think it is amazing how people always try to justify when a caucasian person goes off on a killing spree as mental illness. but when a black person goes off on a killing spree, it is a thug when a brown person -- a terrorist. i think obama has nothing to do with this guy's ideology. i think people need to stop incorporating obama's ideals into what these people are

doing. these people have been around for like years and years. starting from way back with the ku klux klan. like you said, in the black panther party, how ronald reagan saw that we were arming ourselves, and decided, ok, gun laws are not good, let's strike the gun law. then you have the nra people that say it is great. then, you have a young guy like this, going into a church, shooting these people up. you have sandy hook. columbine. every serial killer in america has been of caucasian background. i think people need to stop making excuses and call it what it is. thank you so much. i love you. guest: thank you. i appreciate you too. i have to point out that not all

serial killers are white. i think specifically of the d.c. sniper. two black fellows terrorized the washington, d.c. vicinity a few years ago. a lot of us going with that usual prudice thought it must be a white guy, because black folks are not serial killers. we were wrong, it turned out. host: mike is in akron, ohio. caller: hello, nice to talk to you. we spoke before. i'm from kent state. i know you are from ohio yu. guest: you are forgiven, it's ok. caller: yes. anyway, this shooting is a lot like newtown, connecticut. we all mourn for the families of the victims. the families can mourn for months, weeks, years, it can

take as long as they need. i'm fortunate, my mourning only lasted for a few hours. for those who do not know these people personally, it takes -- it is time to take political action. the nra, it turns out, does not support the owners. they don't even support the second amendment. they stand for gun manufacturers. if you are careful with your gun, and it misfires, you can't blame the gun manufacturer. if you get shot cleaning your own gun, that is on you. the nra used to be prounion. they started with union generals at the end of the civil war. they were proud to be prounion. they have now turned -- they are not for gun owners, therefore -- they are for gun

manufacturers. for those who have not lost loved ones in the shootings, we can mourn for a few hours, but then we need to pick up the cross for those who really need to mourn, the families of the victims. guest: interesting, the history of the nra. i have had a number of people say i should not call the end of -- the naacp the oldest civil rights organization, the nra is older. the nra did not start as a civil rights organization, they started as a gun safety organization. they shifted in the 1960's, especially after john f. kennedy was assassinated to clamp down on gun ownership and gun access. that was when nra shifted and became much more defensive as a pro ownership group, opposeding restrictions and regulations.

host: according to fox eight dylann roof confesses to killing nine people in the church, and wanted to start a "race mowar." -- "race war." patricia williams has an op-ed this morning in "the new york times." she writes that we must resist the comfortable fiction that whatever racial turmoil exists as i will swear, genteel charleston is a place of kong. -- calm. the killing of walter scott showed otherwise. we must do more than aknowledge the fact that for all of our legal advances, i can walk into any number of charleston's finest restaurants and not see anyone who looks like me. that means committing ourselves as the black community to fixing the systemic barriers and education, employment, housing

to black upward mobility that makes it virtually impossible for poor african-american children to ever catch up to their white counterparts. guest: i read that piece. it is very powerful. one footnote that i would add -- about walking into restaurants and not see anyone who looks like you -- that happens a bc, new york, chicago. what we don't talk about is the class element to the whole racial and cultural war that we see going on in parts of america. there is much more integration among college educated classes -- the yuppies and hipsters -- they are reviving our cities and running into culture clashes on the gentrification issue. there is also a tendency even , among the part of black folks,

who separate themselves into haves and have-nots. i think what really shocked what shocks people is that it happened in a church. these are god-fearing -- folks going to a prayer meeting. if they are not safe there where? are any of us safe? too bad it takes that to shake us up. otherwise, we tend to lapse into denial. it's a shame, but that's not my part of town. we are all in the same town now. host: warren, you are on with clan page -- clarence page. caller: i think you are barking up the wrong tree. i don't think it has anything to do with guns. they are not going to hurt anyone with guns.

drugs. this country is so affected with drugs. young people, adults. colorado, it affects the learning on young people. if you don't have a purpose to take drugs, why are all these people on drugs? it is here in my community. infected with drugs. that's what's the problem in the home life of these kids growing up. i grew up with 10 in my family and my mother and father were there, and we all turned out good. drugs is the big problem. i think we should face that. guest: it is a problem, but we have to separate causes and symptoms. i think the drug epidemic is in many ways a direct result of economic dislocation. so many distressed areas have experienced that over the last 30-40 years. or the misplaced drug policies.

why has vermont become the biggest heroin state per capita, vermont of all places? it goes back to oxycontin in the 1990's was pushed on society, on so many people who became addicted to it and later discovered you can get the same effect with heroin, and cheaper. so the heroine problem has expanded greatly. these problems don't happen in a vacuum. they are related to other factors. if you take a holistic approach, one part of the starfish, exploring the tentacles on the other side -- host: clyde is in san antonio independent line. caller: good morning. i think the common context of the contemporary context is inappropriate to examine any of

the problems that people who like to call themselves white have. and the ones who call themselves black have. i think it's more than that. the young man sitting in front of you referred to himself the other day when i was listening as "the other white guy" or whatever. what does white really mean, to him or anybody else? while we all know about the middle passage and all of that what we don't talk about is the ice age inheritance. some of the africans, based upon archaeological biological and anthropological evidence, won't own up to. therein, i think lies a lot of the context that should be explored. i don't know if you are familiar with this or not. your adopted state illinois

was examined by tom brokaw in a documentary in the 1970's or 1980's, which was the most honest thing i had ever seen on television. only caucasians were interviewed. and they talked about their perceptions, based upon their fears. so much so, some of them moved so far out of the city into the county that they had cornfields in their backyards. i think that if you have any influence, you would ask that this documentary be aired, if the rights are available to c-span, to talk about what they really feared. generally, that boils down to the bottom line -- cultural annihilation. thank you so much. host: what do you do in san antonio? we will never know. clarence? guest: he touched on a lot.

i think, he mentioned the tom brokaw talking to whites in that documentary, it reminds me of charles murray's book from a couple years ago, which only looks at white america, the rise of poverty and decline of in-wedlock childbirth. what we would call "an underclass" if we were talking about white folks, and this has been happening since the 1950's from economic dislocation and the fact that this day and age, you cannot get any real income in your life unless you have some schooling beyond high school. that has become a new divide now. i praised that book. charles murray has redeemed himself, in my view, for that whole fiasco in the 1990's. we have been on stage a couple times, debating this topic.

because, we keep focusing on race, because race is so visibly obvious. but the real conflict in our society is class-oriented. shrinking opportunities. the kinds of opportunities we had when i was growing up, it was much easier to get into college when tuition was $770. it is over $13,000 now. this kind of thing makes a big difference. we don't really talk much about it because -- host: where did you grow up in ohio? guest: i grew up in middletown, john boehner's district. we are about the same age. when he got his first paycheck, he became a republican when he saw what was being taken out of it. when i got my first paycheck at

the steel mill, my dad said, that's where your money for social security and everything comes from, i became a democrat. host: what do your parents do? guest: my mother was a cook, and my father was a factory worker at a paper mill. host: 65 years, you have been around. lived in the midwest. how has the issue of race relations in your view changed in your personal life over the years? guest: i have been just delighted with the progress we have made over the years. i'm one of those folks who didn't think i would live to see a black president. i also didn't have any delusions that we has suddenly entered a utopia. i knew that the day after election day, we would start over again with the same issues

we had the day before. what was the leadership going to do about that? but my son now, you can talk to him. he's 26 years old. he volunteered for obama back in 2008, and here guantanamo is still open. one of his prime issues. yet his other young friends are much more frustrated by the political process. i said, that's ok, kid, your mind -- you remind me of me. it's your job to be impatient. but you become a conservative when you have something to conserve. i think that's what older people tend to be more conservative. host: would you say your son does he understand the issues you went through in the 1960's and 1970's? guest: yes. when he was 14 for history day he went out with his video

camera and his computer and put together a 15-minute documentary about the civil rights movement. and he can do that, because of today's technology. of course, he thinks he knows everything. [laughter] when you get a bit older, you learn the questions. as i said, he's disappointed and frustrated by the political process, all the sausage-making on capitol hill. while you would love to give obama a chance, give peace a chance etc., today young folks -- i have been really pleased. i feel sorry for young journalism majors, because the world as i knew it has changed. but there is a new world. the world of newspapers, that's my era. they are now geniuses when it comes to multimedia and genuity

skills, etc. so i'm very excited. i just look forward to each day i can stay on this earth so i can watch more of these fascinating changes. host: in your coverage of politics over the years, did you ever attend or go to a manual ame -- emmanuel ame interest in? or see reverend pinckney? guest: he is 41 years old. he is a kid -- was a kid. he is a decade younger than obama, for heaven sake. he was really the hope of the future, if you will. to see him cut down at this young age is just triply tragic. there are a lot of really bright young people out there like him forming the new leadership for this new century. we need to give them more chance

, not that all of us old geezers get all the attention. host: fred tweets -- [laughter] guest: i would love for him to say all the progress republicans have made. i would like to know. host: frank, independent line go ahead. caller: i have to agree with you. what the republicans are doing absolutely nothing. mr. page, i wish we had some of your articles down here in sumter. we don't usually carry syndicates. charles krauthammer and such. the question i want to ask you, do you think the right-wing radio stations, especially fox news, set up an atmosphere for

this? portraying black people as all savages, all muslims as terrorists gays are going to hell. setting up this atmosphere. right wing radio stations especially fox news. what do you think about that? guest: i think you are right, to a degree. you can say that about a lot of ideologically-driven media on the right and the left. i suggest to people, go ahead and watch fox news. i have friends who are really superb journalists in their own way, and they don't pay too much attention to the ideologues, though. the people who they criticize for being the critics, like media matters see why these charges are made. all of us in the media need to

get as good as we give when it comes to criticism and abuse. this is part of the game. we all need to be held accountable, regardless of which immediately work in. but i'm delighted that on the whole, the first amendment -- secondly the abundance of media we have in the society, the choices people have. i urge news consumers to not lock themselves into one newspaper, one tv channel, but to explore. there is a potpourri of information out there. we need to enjoy all of it. host: just a few minutes left with our guest. george, republican. hi, george. caller: thank you for speaking truth, clarence. i think you have done that throughout your career. guest: thank you. caller: my great-grandfather was with a newspaper in port royal and he took on the klan 110

years ago. the descendents of the klan are the skinheads, not the tea party people. i know a lot of tea party people, and i have never heard hatred out of them. to stop these killings, we need to do three things. you are talking about the morality of making sure people have jobs. i fully agree. we should also teach christian values. the second thing, i truly believe that if more sane people have guns, we will have less problems. the third is a must never talked about. there are over 200 brain infections found on the silk road. animal planet has a series cable tv, they have a serious "monsters within me." i would suggest you watch that. some things can start out as a and then there is a large parasite in the brain. doctors are not dealing with it. they tend to give maintenance

psychiatric drugs instead of antibiotics. my mother, she -- sitting in the office in augusta, georgia, they were trying to get out of attics. host: we are getting a little deep in the weeds here, but mr. paige understands where you are headed. guest: i appreciate the call. he talks about antibiotics.this is out of my main realm as far as science reporting, but i entreat by -- i am entreat about how my own doctor advised cutting down the use of antibiotics, because we are using too many these days, leading to the development of super-viruses, super-germs that are resistant to end of attics -- antibiotics. host: let's tie this back into

gun laws. we have discussed this, other tragedies that have happened, whether or not there, where the line should be drawn for buying a gun with a mental illness. guest: well, there should be universal background checks without exceptions. i think this makes sense. if i them -- if i am a gun owner, and i'm familiar with guns, i am an army veteran, i would say, i'm safe, but what about the guy down the street? that's what bothers people, why folks are so frightened about the proliferation of guns. too many folks get them who should not. this can vary from state to state. as far as the federal law goes

new york has the toughest. everybody who wants to buy a gun must be interviewed by a state police officer. we will come out come interview you, do a federal background check. i know new york city over the last 20 years, for a number of different reasons, has had a really sharp decline in violent crime. new york city, for pete;s sake, we are talking about here. i think we need to go to places like new york where some controls are working, where gun safety laws are working, and replicate what they are doing elsewhere. host: clarence page. author of his most recent book "culture worrier." i have seen the book, on book tv, and i accused you of being

with the "chicago times." [laughter] i apologize. guest: i will forgive you for that. host:what culture am i worried about? after what happened in charlotte, you know. talking about this fellow, this southern heritage guy or whatever you want to call it, the kind of culture gap we have in this country. a bigger problem than the racial problem, which is just so visible. host: clarence page of the "chicago tribune." he was on book tv live. you can go to book tv and type in clarence page and see him with david axelrod talking about books. thanks for being on "washington journal." [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> south carolina governor nikki

haley visited the church in south carolina where a gunman shot and killed nine people on wednesday night. in the wake of the shooting, she told reuters that they need to address the question over why a confederate flag still flies over the state capital. american history tv heard about denmark vesey a freed slave who helped lead a slave rebellion. >> denmark vesey was the quintessential charleston man. he represented the majority of the population here, a black population and an enslaved population. and he, through his actions in an effort to organize a conspiracy, spoke to the aspirations of african people in this city, in this state, and indeed throughout the south in the early 19th century. he was a member of what was then known as the african church in

charleston. the african church in charleston was an independent african-american denomination affiliated with the ame church, the african methodist episcopal church that had been founded in philadelphia in 1816. this is a significant development. a significant point in history. because the black charlestonians who created this church, affiliated with the ame church in philadelphia, were essentially affiliated with an abolitionist church, and they were attending to run their own affairs in the midst of a slaveowning society. as you might imagine, the church's leaders, vesey was one of the leaders, came under persecution. the church was closed down on

more than one occasion. and we thank that it was probably the persecution of this church, as well as denmark vesey's personal dissatisfaction with his inability to enjoy all of the full fruits of the freedoms in a slaveowning society as a free black, then his inability to obtain freedom for his children, he was unable to purchase their freedom, and it may have been the convergence of all those factors that led hand to begin to organize a conspiracy of slaves and 1822. and let me tell you about the plan. the plan was to organize slaves in the city of charleston, and for them to arm themselves, set fire strategically to a number of locations around the city, and then to call in slaves from

the surrounding area to occupy the city. as it turns out, word got out. there were some informants slaves themselves who informed on the conspiracy. denmark and others were arrested. they would be tried, and of course a trial on these kinds of accusations virtually always led to a conviction and execution. so indeed, in the summer of 1822, denmark vesey, along with 34 others, were executed by hanging on the outskirts of the city. 37 other people convicted of participating in the conspiracy in one way or other. today, we are standing right in front of the emanuel ame church in downtown charleston on

calhoun street. this is important because of the connection to denmark vesey. the original builder for this church in 1865 was denmark vesey's son. the members of the original african church that remained in charleston comprise the nucleus for this congregation and this place of worship. when the african church, or the ame church was in effect we organized and reestablished in the city of charleston in 1865. >> coming up later today president obama will address the u.s. conference of mayors annual meeting, taking place in san francisco and hosted by san francisco mayor edley. focused on -- mayor ed lee focused on the economic health of cities. . 5:00 15 eastern, here on c-span.

>> this weekend on the c-span networks -- c-span, saturday night at 8:00 eastern, supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg on issues like gay rights, race relations in america, and the production of a new movie about her life and career. sunday night at 6:35, a profile interview with presidential candidate texas senator ted cruz. on book tv, saturday morning at 10:00 eastern, we are live for the annual roosevelt reading festival at the fdr presidential library and museum. authors include christopher o sullivan on world war ii, harry hopkins, sheila collins and molly manning on how books helped the morale of our military in world war ii. sunday night at 9:00 on "afterwords," on the need of a sexual revolution in the middle east. and on c-span3, live from the gettysburg college civil war

institute annual summer conference on the civil war's end and aftermath. saturday morning, beginning at 8:30 eastern on general grant and appomattox. abraham lincoln and the press. sunday morning, we continue our live coverage beginning at 8:30 with city college of new york professor gregory downes on the consequences of the civil war. at 11:00, it is cash in on treason and loyalty during the civil war with penn state history professor william blair. get our complete schedule at www.c-span.org. >> the faith and freedom coalition today continued into the second day of its annual conference in washington. among those we would hear from new jersey governor chris christie, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, and presidential candidates jeb bush and ben carson. >> timothy hahn!

[applause] >> good morning and welscome to the 2013 road to majority conference. we got started a little bit yesterday. some very encouraging, informative, and a little bit of vengeful -- eventful yesterday with lunch, with senator rubio senator paul, senator cruz. we look forward to hearing much more in the coming two days. all kinds of recognizable names. also some names that may not be as easily recognized, but are certainly emerging on the national scene. so before we officially get started, i wanted to say as we are gathering, certainly here at our conference and across the country, one of my great hopes for all folks engaged in the political process is that we can

offer a listening ear to all the people who put themselves out in the position of, you know endeavoring to lead on issues. my hope over the next 48 hours or so here, a lot of folks are bringing slightly different points of view, their own life experience, the run passion, their own ideologies. let's go ahead and offer tremendous respect and deference . we had a few folks yesterday who were disagreeing. disagreement is certainly ok. but let's do that at appropriate times. with that said, i will go ahead and get the program started. will you join me in welcoming first, dr. richard lee, and after him, mr. john rodale, who will lead us in our pledge. [applause]

dr. lee: i don't think i've ever had anyone clap that i was praying. can you say amen? father, we are grateful this is the day you have made. it was not made in a courthouse. it was made by you. today, we give this day to you. we want to thank you for the privilege of getting together so we might be able to take the messages we hear here, at this place, out to others. to share truth so that in these times ahead that our nation might return to its moral foundation. forgive us of our sins. thank you for your grace and mercy thus far. thank you for all of those who made these events possible. lord, may we listen with years the spirit -- ears that the

spirit of god has given us, so that we hear truth. we give you this time amen. >> please stand for the pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. ♪ ♪

>> ♪ o say, can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and

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

[applause] >> good morning. my name is larry sarin. i am from new jersey, home of m&ms. governor chris christie is our next guest. he was first elected as new jersey's governor in 2009 replacing jon corzine, who outspent him four to one. he is new jersey's first " proudly pro-life governor." he defunded planned parenthood removing $7.5 million per year every year, and a deck i'd -- a decade-long lawsuit for the choose life license plate -- he

just dropped it. we have a choose life license plate in new jersey, 29 other states, and ec noon -- and d.c. he was reelected in a landslide against a woman named barbara bono. chris christie won 51% of the women's vote that election in a state where even christie whitman, the first e-mail governor, could not win women's votes. i am sorry. he won 57%. he won 51% of the hispanic vote in a state barack obama had won by 58%. known for his blunt, no-nonsense approach, you have probably seen him on youtube. i don't think there is anybody that has not. but you are lucky, if you don't know it. chris christie is here live at faith and freedom. my friend, chris christie. [applause]

governor christie: good morning. thank you. good morning, everybody. great to be back. i appreciate you being here. most of all, i appreciate this work you do every day in your communities to bring our message out. i am distracted by this teleprompter stuff. i am not barack obama. [laughter] governor christie: we will do the best we can to ignore the glass plates in front of me, and ignore the politician instinct to look at them even though there is nothing there. maybe it happens to the president. i don't know. i saw something on one of the new stations last week. i saw the president speaking and he said something to this effect. the world respects america more

because of my administration. and i came to the conclusion that day that everything we have worried about is true. he really is living in his own world. look at what is happening around the world right now. when you think about the world that barack obama inherited when he came to the white house, and the world that he will be leaving the next resident, it is startling how much damage can be done to america's reputation in seven short years. look at what is happening around the world. in western europe, they live in active fear of terrorist attacks from extremist islamist. -- islamists. in eastern europe, for the first time in 70 years, after the explosion of spending we did there and lives we gave up there to have a free and united europe

-- we have russian soldiers marching east in europe for the first time in 70 years. and across the middle east, iraq is on fire, libya is on fire, syria is on fire, jordan is being invaded with a third wave of refugees. egypt is under martial law. iran, with this presidents permission, is steaming toward becoming a nuclear power and a dominant force in that region. and in china we watch the chinese building artificial islands in the south china sea and we have a president who says he does not want us to sail our ships within 12 miles of those islands, nor fly american planes overhead, because he does not want to get into a dispute with the chinese. the dispute is being caused by the chinese, not by those who want to navigate the free waters of the world. and you look at all of these circumstances, and you realize

what an awful bill of goods this presidents sold the american people seven years ago. he tried to make us believe that america was the cause of violence in the world, that if we just hold back from iraq and afghanistan and said nice things and gave nice speeches, somehow the world would be a safer, more peaceful place. well, the exact opposite has happened, and now we have fires all over the world. and the reason those fires have occurred is the lack of american leadership and the lack of american strength. this country needs to lead the world again so it is safe in liberty and prosperity for all the people in the world and the people that live here in the united states. [applause] governor christie: this president diminished our military, both through actions that have hurt their morale, like the awful scandal at the

veterans administration, where veterans have been denied the health or they have been promised -- that is a national disgrace and the president has refused to fix it in a way that honors the service of our veterans. we have 100,000 fewer active duty soldiers in our army. we are headed toward a 260 ship navy the smallest in our lifetimes. and we are headed towards a 50% reduction in the hardware of the air force. if i know these numbers, so does vladimir putin. so do the mullahs in iran. there being less respectful is a direct result of this president's weakness and the weakness he has put on our military. we need to make our military stronger. our public has always understood that strength brings peace. it does not cause war. weakness causes war. [applause] governor christie: and speaking of weakness, let me say this. of all the people who may be

coming before you who are considering entering the race for president, i am the only one who has had the responsibility of having to prosecute and investigate terrorist conduct. i was appointed united states attorney for new jersey by president george w. bush on september 10, 2001. the next day, my wife went to work two blocks from the world trade center. and i was on the phone with her when the second plane hit the second building. she was assuring me everything was fine, everything was ok. the phone went out. she was evacuated. 5.5 hours, i did not hear from her. those with the longest hours of my life, with our three young children wanting to know if mom was ok. thank god she was ok. but we lost one of our dear friends in our parish and our town that day in the world trade

center. our oldest son, his best friend lost his father. we have watched that young man for the last 13 years, and his siblings, put up with the emptiness that can never be filled, a parent lost much too young. these things are not hypothetical to me. i live in the state that lost the second most people on september 11. only less than the state of new york. and i went to the funerals of the people that knew who was killed that day. what the united states congress has done in the last few weeks through their changing of the patriot act, i will tell you today, has made america weaker and more vulnerable. there is no excuse for taking legitimate tools away from our intelligence community in what is a dangerous and dirty world. the fact is, if civil liberties

are you concerned there are many ways for us to protect those civil liberties that we have. i can tell you i was the u.s. attorney who reviewed patriot act applications, and who was brought the first case of a british citizen trying to sell shoulder rockets to shoot airports -- airline -- airplanes out of the sky. we convicted him and he got sentenced to over 50 years in prison. since he was in his early 60's, i do not think we will have to worry about him again. those tools allowed us to do what president bush instructed us to do after 9/11, which is to never let this happen again. if congress is worried about civil liberties, have aggressive congressional oversight. if they are worried about people going outside the lines prosecute those people who go outside the line, but do not put

the men and women in our intelligence community in harms way, and do not make america weaker and more vulnerable when isis and al qaeda are plotting every day to kill us because we are americans. i am telling you from experience, these actions are shortsighted. the same people who give the long speeches on capitol hill -- if there is another attack on this country, they will be the first ones to haul the cia and fbi director up to capitol hill and excoriate them for not preventing the attacks, without understanding the hypocrisy that underlies that questioning. they were the ones who made the job harder for these people to do. this is a fight we need to have and a fight we better open our eyes wide two. this is not about politics. this is about life and death for our country, and i stand with making america strong and not giving political speeches on the floor of the senate to raise money for a presidential campaign. that is where i stand. [applause] governor christie: but to do

these things, to project authority around the world in a way that helps make people free and safe, to strengthen our intelligence community, to strengthen our military, we need to invest in that. the shame of what is going on in this country right now is in the current federal budget 71% of the spend is on entitlement programs. listen, everybody. those programs are heading toward insolvency. you know this to be true. yet we do not want to talk about it because we are all dominated by political consultants who tell us, do not talk about entitlements. it is the third rail of american politics. don't even touch it. i am not going to touch it everybody. i am going to hug it. we are selling our country short. worse yet, we are resigning our children to a lesser life.

social security is a promise. it is a promise that is rooted in this idea that no one in america who has worked hard should grow old in poverty. that is a good idea and a right idea. but now we are to the point where the choices are few because of the lack of action by our leaders. i've said we should raise the retirement age to years over the next 25 years. think about that. a two-year increase in 25 years. i will be 77 when it becomes fully effective. will the world really stops spinning on its axis? what do you say to someone who makes over $200,000 a year in retirement income. retirement income. maybe you don't need to get your social security check. you have four or $5 million saved. do you really need your social security check?

or is it better to leave that money for the person who really needs it, who is trying to figure out how to pay the rent, buy food, or pay the heating bill, or go to the doctor? you see, these programs -- if we do not do this, you only have two other choices. either insolvency, which is creeping up on us over the next seven or eight years or a massive tax increase on all the american people, which would be damaging to our economy and hurtful to working families today. our opponents on the democratic side say they do not touch social security because they are for the working people. baloney. they do not touch social security because they do not think it is popular. leaders are not supposed follow polls. leaders are supposed to change polls and lead by telling people what needs to be done. i have no idea how a massive payroll tax on all american

people is good for our working-class families. taking more money out of their pocket is not what they need in an economy barack obama has turned into a part-time employment economy. that is what he has done. 4 million more people in america are working at part-time jobs, and 3.2 million fewer people are working at full-time jobs. that is the economy this president has bequeathed to this country. the idea that other people want to roll tax increases on top of that makes no sense to me. that is why we need to discuss reforming medicare. let's face it in over the next 25 years. if you make over $200,000 a year in retirement income, let's not subsidize your medicare premiums 75%, as we do now. let's subsidize it 10%. if you have the money to pay it, you are blessed. this country has given you the opportunity to work hard, have a great idea, and have that fast.

no place else in the world does that happen. let us make sure we understand what the real things are. do not listen to the people who say you cannot touch social security. if the government lies and steals from you, what do we have left? i say to him, the lying and stealing has already occurred. remember al gore in 2004? it was a lockbox we were putting this money in. let me tell you what is in the lockbox -- a stack of iou's. the lying and stealing has already happened. the next question is not to prevent the lying and stealing. the horse is already out of the barn. it is how do we get the horse back in the barn? it is easier for the horse to run out of the barn than it is to get it back in. it does not want to go in the barn which is why it ran out in the first place.

it is hard to do these things. we need to, though. that is why the first speech i have given in this national conversation is on entitlement arm, not because it was strong politics but because it was strong leadership. and that is what we need in this country again, is people who are willing to tell us the truth whether they think we are going to like it first time we hear it or not. larry mentioned that i got reelected in new jersey with 61% of the vote. democrats in new jersey said i would never get elected worst time. jon corzine outspent me 3-1 in a state that has not elected a republican to the united states senate in 42 years. it is the longest streak of any state in the country. this is as blue a state as there is in america. getting outspent three-one, we beat a democratic incumbent because people said we were strong enough to tell them the truth and to follow through on it. in the years since then, we have cut business taxes over $2 billion.

we have battled the budget six years in a row. we cap property taxes and performed the oldest teacher tenure law, so teachers who get a failing job can get fired, not have a job for life in front of our children's classrooms. [applause] governor christie: we reformed a pension and benefit system that needs more work but is better than it was when i got there. i have now withstood a fight all the way to the new jersey supreme court, who upheld those reforms and said workers need to pay more into their pension and cannot get cost of living adjustments on the backs of hard-working taxpayers in my state. those things were accomplished with a democratic legislature. not even close, everybody. 24-16 in the senate, 48-32 in the lower house. people did not wake up every morning saying, how can we make chris christie happy today. believe me.

but it does not stop me from doing the things that are right and compromising to get things done. you need to do both. when they send me planned parenthood funding year after year and i am the first governor to ever veto planned parenthood funding out of the budget -- [applause] governor christie: there is no room for compromise there. but when you have a pension and benefit proposal that the president of the senate, a democrat, is willing to sponsor if you make a few changes, then yes, you need to make those changes, and you need to compromise. compromise is not a dirty word. it is compromising our principles that is wrong. but the government is set up to force compromise. the people have twice elected a conservative republican government and a liberal democratic legislature. it is like a science experiment.

let's see what happens. in the eight years before i became governor, we had zero net rabbit sector job growth for eight years. in the 5.5 years since i have been governor, we have created nearly 200,000 new private sector jobs in new jersey. we took an economic basket case and put it on the road to recovery. those families who were not working when i became governor became -- know the power of our ideas and how they worked for our state and country. that is what we need to fight for, putting people back to work. [applause] governor christie: but when you are pro-life, you need to be pro-life for the whole life. [applause] governor christie: the easiest time is when the child is in the womb. they have not done anything yet to disappoint us. [laughter] governor christie: they have not made any bad choices yet.

because when it's hard to be pro-life -- when they are drug addict on the floor of a jail cell. that is a gift from god as well. that life is a gift from god. that is why in new jersey we say for first time nonviolent drug users, we are not sending them to prison. we are sending them to mandatory inpatient drug treatment. every one of those lives is a gift from god and deserves a chance at redemption. [applause] governor christie: life is precious. and we learned that again in south carolina. the idea that anyone, that any human being would walk into a church and sit there for an hour and pray with people that he intended to murder is depraved

is unthinkable. we cannot put our minds around conduct like that, can we? so i want to conclude with this today. all the issues i just talked about and lots of others i did not mention are really important to the future of our country but there is nothing more important today than taking as many moments as you can to pray for the families of those victims. good, decent people who care about their church, who loved god and their families, who worked for their communities who served in public life, who were cut down by someone who was depraved and disturbed and seemingly has now confessed to the crime. in fact, he even said he spared one of his big m's and hold her i am not going to kill you because i want you to be alive to tell people what happened here. this type of conduct is something that only our display

of our own love and good faith that is in our hearts camp change. laws cannot change this. only the good will and the love of the american people can let those folks know that that act was unacceptable, disgraceful and that we need to do more to show that we love each other. open our chests, open our hearts, and show love to each other. that is what leadership is about too, everybody. i will pray for those families today, and i suspect you will too. if we can have the power of our prayers and the power of our conduct be an example to those who have hate in their hearts then we are doing what we really need to do to make the community, our states, and our country a better place. i know this audience believes

that, and i know it is the way you live your lives. some of us use the power we derive him that in a way that will help to heal the wounds of these families. knowmoments like this, when america comes together and shows the rest of the world what a great country we are -- i know you will be part of that, and you can count on the fact that i will be too. i appreciate the work you do. and i appreciate the fact that it is folks like you, your family's, and friends who make this the greatest country on the face of the earth -- we have to fight to keep it that way. thanks for coming, everybody. [applause] larry: please help me welcome back to the stage timothy hill. timothy: last fall, many pundits

predicted the gop would pick up seats in the senate. some predicted republicans would pick up a narrow majority. i think you would have been very hard-pressed to find anyone anywhere who would have predict that the gop would emerge with one of the largest senate majorities in modern politics. but when the dust settles, that is exactly what happened. the resulting senate minority leader mitch mcconnell becoming senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. he was the 15th senate republican leader and the second kentucky man to lead his party in the senate. senator mcconnell previously served, again by the unanimous vote of his colleagues, as the republican leader in the 110th 111th, and 112 congress, but also as majority whip. mcconnell also served in leadership as chairman of the and rsc during the 1998-2000

election cycles, and serves as senior member of the appropriations, agriculture, and rules committee. married to elaine chao, who served as president george w. bush's secretary of labor, and as the former president of united way of america and former director of the peace corps, he is the proud father of three daughters. please join me in welcoming to the stage senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. [applause] senator mcconnell: good morning. thank you very much for the opportunity to be here with you today. i am deeply honored to have an opportunity to speak to all of you. i particularly want to thank ralph reed, the founder and chairman. ralph is an extraordinary leader over the years. he has worked hard in building

the faith and freedom coalition and i want to thank all of you for being a part of it, and being here today. you have got another great conference this year. it seems nearly every republican presidential candidate is here which is a testament to the importance of your organization. i was hoping somebody might actually recognize me with all of these presidential candidates coming up here. it is a great treat, i know, for you to have a chance to hear from all of them in one place at one time. mainly, i want to thank you for your involvement and for caring about the important issues that we face. i was reminded on the way over here of a story of a traveling preacher. the story goes that before making his way to the church the preacher wanted to mail a letter so he asked a young boy along the way where the post office was. when the boy had told him, the preacher thanked him and said, if you will come to the baptist church this evening, you can

hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven. "i don't think i'll be there," the boy said. "you don't even know where the post office is." there is a saying, i am a conservative, but i'm just not angry about it. and that is the spirit in which i think we are all gathered here this morning because conservatives actually have a lot to be happy about. for example, i had the honor of speaking before the faith and freedom coalition several times but this is the first time i have had the honor of doing so as the majority leader of the united states senate. [applause] senator mcconnell: thanks to the thanks to the voice of eth american people last november the senate is under entirely new management. into republican senators bring much-needed change to washington, and one of the most important change is that the causes that all of you championed will not get the respect and the attention they deserve in the senate.

because of the big difference, my friends, between being the majority leader and being the leader of the minority if you you're a football fan can best be described as follows. the leader of the minority is like the defensive coordinator. you can score occasionally but it's a lot harder. if you're the leader of the majority you are the offensive coordinator and you get to call the place, set the schedule and just about chance to get an outcome that you want. not that it guarantees every outcome but at least i get to decide instead of that other fellow harry reid what -- i thought that would get your attention -- get to decide what the agenda is. so let me give you an example. take the sanctity of life. the senate is not in a place where the pain capable unborn child protection act, a bill that protects life after 20 weeks in the womb -- [applause] >> a bill that in the past in the senate couldn't even get a hearing, i promise you will be getting a vote.

[applause] so that's not only good news for pro-lifers, it's good news for our entire country. it's about time we begin the process of putting america into the ranks of most other civilized countries by protecting unborn children after 20 weeks in the womb. it's high time we did that. [applause] because i do know about you but i think we're fairly as a country is the best thing we can offer to a scared young mom to be is a referral to planned parenthood. is that the best we can do? i don't think so. another hospital endo room cares about is free speech.

the opportunity for you to express yourself on any issue at any time. i've been a big defender as a few of you know, the first amendment over the years, had a lot of help from groups like yours because you and i know that you simply can't do what you do everyday if the government doesn't respect your right to free speech. after all, if the government won't even let us express ourselves and advocate for the causes we believe in, then the fight is over before it begins and it's that simple. this administration, this one, has repeatedly sought to stifle free speech by singling out its critics. they do it through the irs. try to keep you from organizing and speaking up if they do it over at the federal communications commission or the disastrous disclose act, some you may have experienced this firsthand. and somebody said well, yeah

it's just a renegade employee over at the irs, lois lerner. actually the president was going on the irs to do exactly that. the leadership of the said at the time were calling on the irs to do exactly that. she could argue, i was just carrying out orders. they were quite public about it if they wanted to quiet the voice of people who disagreed with them and that has to stop. [applause] welcome they haven't succeeded. them succeed because people like you have been vigilant in protecting and defending our rights including the most fundamental right and that is the right of free speech. actually through the irs tried to promulgate a regulation to

quite the voices of their critics. and amazingly enough it was the single biggest, largest number of complaints about any proposed irs regulation in history professor many americans heard about it or read about and wanted something about the felony be quite clear about the the government has no business interfering with free speech. not now, not ever. [applause] every american has a fundamental constitutional right to speak their mind and that includes certainly christians and conservatives. after all, the rights of free speech and freedom of religion are inherently linked. the latter cannot be protected without the former. as jane -- just as it were, the religion of every man must be left to conviction and conscience of every man come and it is the right of every man to exercise it as they may take. this right is in its nature an unalienable right. that's why it's imperative for christians everywhere to speak up for what they believe in and

it's imperative that every american defend your right to do so. the scripture says speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves for the rights of all. we need your voice is now more than ever. why do i say that? because we've never had a president as liberal as this one. i'm something of a student of american history. woodrow wilson was really a liberal. fdr was really liberal. barack obama is the most liberal president in american history, bar none. this president has sought to withdraw the united states militarily from its presence overseas, fail to invest in the modernization of the force, put his faith in personal diplomacy and international organizations. he has pushed a regular state that operate under the assumption that anybody making a profit must surely be up to no good.

can you imagine that mindset? if you're making a profit you must be up to no good. how do they think businesses grow and hire people and how we have prosperity? you do it with growth. but their view is if you're making a profit you must be up to no good. to a legislative agenda that assumes government as the answer to all of our problems. he wouldn't have put it this way but what does the president really want to do? think about he wanted to europeanized america. when i say europeanized america, what do i mean? big debt, high taxes overregulation, slow growth. and while it may not be directly connected to it, another problem they have in europe is declining church participation. the secularization of america. big debt, high taxes, slow growth, less future. it all goes together.

so republican congress will not able to achieve as much as we would like. i think it's an important remind people of high expectations, there's only one person in america who can sign something into law or veto a bill. the presidency in our system is a really important job. and you're going to hear from a whole lot of people who would like to have that job come and i can tell you every single one of them would be a heck of a lot better than what we've got now i tell you that. [applause] >> but one of the things that fit into even now is still a lot of bad things from happening. we may not be able to achieve everything we would like because as a lot of you know most things in the senate

require 60 votes your i've got 54 members. he's got that veto pen so there are limits on what we can achieve a we can stop a lot of bad things. we have hand we will stop a lot of bad things, i guarantee you that. for the next year and a half until hopefully we get a new president with a new agenda for america. [applause] and i want to thank all of you for the great class of freshmen we've got. you know, this time last year we were down 55-45. it's now 54-46. that only could we have a lot of

great new republican senators, they are really, really smart. this is an outstanding group of americans who share the agenda that we all believe in. meanwhile, our democratic friends in an interesting sort of disarray. they are divided these days, not quite sure what they stand for. only yesterday, just to be an example, they joined us in passing a defense authorization bill, but authorization is policy. appropriation is spending. and i followed the authorizing to with an appropriation bill that would actually spend the money to enforce the policy. and they kept us from actually even giving on the bill that would actually spend the money. so you could say they were for the troops before they were against the troops. sound familiar? they were for the troops before they were against the troops. so they're in a bit of a circular firing squad, and occasionally that's helpful. but look, fundamentally we

believe american is a force for good in the world. we are a force for good in the world. we believe america is an exceptional country. we don't think it's appropriate to go around the world apologizing for our shortcomings when most people would give anything they had to actually be here and to be in america. we are a beacon of truth and life. the life. we need to lead and the rest of the world. we don't need to lead from behind. we desperately need a new president with a new agenda for america on a whole lot of different fronts. that's why also the american people need to faith and freedom coalition. you all are important. people of faith have let in this country going back to the founding fathers. so thank you for your advocacy. thank you for your support. thank you for your engagement. thank you for everything you are doing to protect and preserve

the freedoms and values and institutions that have made our nation great. our country needs you, and i'm proud to stand with you. after eight years of barack obama, we will have a lot of work to do your a lot of messages are going to be left behind. it will take patience, it will take perseverance, but we can do it. you know, every generation of americans have felt a strong obligation to leave behind a better country than their parents left behind for them. a lot of americans doubt that these days. you look at the polls, they seem to wonder whether we'll be able to fulfill that commitment. i'm optimistic.

you know, winston churchill is probably the most quoted person who ever lived said this about us, about americans. he said come you know, the americans, they always do the right thing. after they've tried everything else first. [laughter] our best days are ahead of us. 90 for all you're doing. appreciate the opportunity for being here. thanks so much. [applause] (music) >> my brother and although all dropped out of school. by the time i was in third grade i failed twice. >> my first job was picking up garbage, cardboard, so i could have some money to help feed my family, my mother and my son. >> lucy has autism. she doesn't speak. she doesn't walk, but nothing it is because not the same as not having anything to say the

people with disabilities want to have freedom just like anybody else. >> one out of four women are going to be victimized by somebody. domestic violence is an epidemic this isn't a small problem. >> the barriers right now on people rising up is the great challenge of our time. time. >> so many people to do so much better if we fixed a few things. my core beliefs start with the premise that the multiple in our society should be at the front of the line, not the back. and as governor i had a chance to act on that quickly. >> governor jeb bush institute the first voucher program in the united states to give low income kids an opportunity to go to a private school. out of my immediate and i'm the first person to graduate from gh school, and then i went on to graduate from college. >> i am currently an account manager and the main reason i'm in this situation, in the position i'm in right now because jeb bush allows

companies to grow, create high-paying jobs. jobs. >> this is what leadership is about. it's not just about having a things. that a lot of people talking and they're pretty good about but we need to start fixing things. i said i was going to do these things added to them, and the result is florida is a lot better off. >> i think governor bush changed a lot of lives in florida. i don't think that we would be where we are today with regards to domestic violence had he not been the governor. >> he wanted women to not live the way that i found myself. it's changed so many lives. >> he really cares about us. he really cares about people with developmental disabilities and with all disabilities. there are people today that are getting services because of what he did. he doesn't do it for himself. he does it because he's a true servant. is the best voice that we can

have. >> i'm proud of the fact that many families now have a chance to live lives of purpose and meaning. you can improve the lives of people whether it's in the disabled or change change our economy are fixing our education system to all of these things can be fixed. what we need is new leadership that takes conservative principles, applies them so other people can rise up. amera's best days are in front of us and we're going to leave the world -- lead the world. >> ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the 43rd governor of the state of florida jeb bush. [applause] >> good morning. good morning, everybody. ralph reed and penny, thank you for this great invitation to come back and speak year at the faith and freedom coalition been. it is a joy to be with you all. before i start my remarks i'd like to pause and i know many of you are concerned with what

happened in charleston. in fact, i was traveling to campaign in charleston the day before yesterday. .. they were praying. they were learning and studying the word of the lord to find grace in his kingdom to fill his house with love. in times like these, in times of great national mourning, people of faith, all of us must come together and at least reflect on this and fortify your strength and love of christ and love of god to be able to continue to go forth. i don't know about you that had big impact on me as i am sure it has with you. we need to support with each other. we need to continue to bear the witness got acts through us. even in crisis, even in desperate times we can always walkup right as brothers and sisters look to the heavens and know we're children of god. that gives us all strength and i know your hearts and prayers are

with families and pastor who lost their life and hope it never ever, ever, happens again. even in crisis, even in desperate times we can always walkup right as brothers and sisters look to the heavens and know we're children of god. that gives us all strength and i know your hearts and prayers are with families and pastor who lost their life and hope it never ever, ever, happens again. [applause] i'm glad, i'm glad and honored to be here as a candidate for president of the united states, the greatest country on the face of the

earth. today will not be a political speech. i thought i would talk a little bit more about my journey of faith and how faith impacted my life personally and as public servant. my life was transformed when i was 17 years old. i was in mexico. most of the older guys in the room won't understand this, although occasionally a person i can see of a guy will nod their heads when i tell this story but i saw a young woman, and i fell in love at first sight. totally head over heels in love. and she is my wife now, of had 41 years. columba, now columba bush is my guiding light, my soulmate, my inspiration in many ways. and it took a while for us to, for me to convince her it was love at first sight. i finally got that done. we were married when we were 21 columba, now columba bush is my years old. she was 20.

because of her my life became focused and starting my life's journey earlier than most people did. it has been c blessing. i converted the catholic church. christ came into my life a little earlier, but i converted to being catholic in honor of my life and i believe in the blessed sacraments and they give me great comfort, on easter sabbath in 1994. i lost election in 1994. i found solace in the rca class to convert to being a catholic. it has been organizing part of my architecture as a person and certainly as an elected official. so sometimes people are asked about this question about people that are aspiring to public life or people that are serving they're asked whether you allow decisions in government to be influenced by your faith. whenever i hear this i know typically the answer that they

want to hear is no, never, of course not. gosh i would never do that. because in the game of political correctness that is the answer that gets you to the next level. that is, i that is my personal experience and continues to this day. the end point is certain kind of politician that we've all heard before. guy's whose moral convictions arso private, so deeply personal

he refuses to even impose them on himself. [laughter] well, that's not . how strange in our time today to hear that our faith and our moral traditions spoken as some kind of a backwards or oppressive force when in fact it is really the moral foundation of our country, the greatest country on the face of the earth. [applause] it is also been, i think, in many ways if we're objective about this and take a step back the greatest force for good in the world, the greatest force that has ever been known in the world. feeding the hungry, healing the sick, welcoming the stranger these are the tenants of our faith. if we act on our faith each and every day we'll create a more just, a more loving world. the instinct to do these things didn't come from nowhere. they came from our religious tradition. we must stand together to protect those freedoms that are so sacred and so important for a free society. when i got to be governor of the state of florida i insisted that we build a culture of life, from beginning to end.

it was one of the guiding principles of my joyous experience t was a crazy experience but certainly joy full to be governor of my beloved state of florida. we took special care as that video mentioned, we took special care for the most vulnerable in our society because i do believe, i honestly believe, that as a conservative that believes in limited government we need to put the most vulnerable in our society first, front. line because they're of value, they're of, as much value as everybody else. others need to take a step back. so whether it is an abused woman, or a child with developmental disabilities or our child welfare system, in florida, as the most conservative reform-mined governor in modern times where i cut taxes, i shrunk the government, we created an environment of lots of high, sustained economic growth, we eliminated affirmative action and replaced it with a model that was not discriminatory but allowed minorities to attend universities, we did all of these conservative things but we also put the most have nebraskaable int( society at the front of line, guided by my faith. and we also put the rights of the unborn in the front ever the line as well. when i became governor -- [applause] when i became governor i was shocked at the total lack of regulation of abortion clinics. that parents had no legal role in their minor daughter's abortion decisions. so we, what we did was we put

regulations on abortion clinics. we narrowed the number of them but we made sure there was reasonable health and safety standards to protect women. i led the fight for a constitutional amendment requiring parental notice for abortions an signed into law a bill that required 48-hour notice to a parent or guardian. at my urging, the state of florida was the first state to sustain funding, two million dollars a year, to go to crisis pregnancy centers to provide counseling and therapy. state money going to crisis pregnancy centers to give parents moms other choices. i signed into law a partial-birth abortion ban. i helped programs to allow seniors to age with dignity, not institutionalled care, wherever off possible aging at home or aging in community centers where they get the love and respect they deserve. we oversaw major reforms to conditions and standards in

senior centers as well. partially because miami and florida in general is a place where a lot of seniors exist. we reflect the future of our country though. we better start focusing not just on the beginning of life but the end of life issues as well in a country and do so in a loving compassionate way. when i was asked to intervene on behalf of a woman who could not speak up for herself i stood on her side. i stood on the side of terri schiavo and her parents. [applause] and i think that should be the first and most important instinct in this nation filled with charitable hearts. to stand on the side of the most vulnerable, the innocent because if we do that, if we treat people with the same dignity and respect that we believe that we should receive we're going to solve a lot more problems than giving up that basic concept and allowing government to be the end all, be all.

we could shut down government if we all acted on our sense of consciousness about helping others. if we restore that, front and center as the guiding principle what it is to be successful person, and i know many people in this room do that, the demands on government would subside. we would all be conservatives, which should be the objective. to win this fight over the long haul by creating self-governing people again. where we define see troubles that exist in our communities, that we act on it. imagine a country that would be

focused on that? it has been and we need to restore that front and cenrte in our society. my belief is religious freedom now sunday attack in ways we have never seen before, whether it is the obama administration or just the generalultu c it is important for to us recognize, it has been a rough years for religious charities and their right of conscience in this country. there seems to be attitude when the prevailing government policies runs headlongs into the views of the faithful, the

>> as we don't stand up for religious freedom we see what happens. radical islam and the adherence are now targeting christians. cops are being beheaded on the shores of mediterranean. christian students being

targeted in a university in kenya where the muslim kids were allowed to go. the christian kids were slaughtered. over and over and over again we're seeing this and where is the united states? if we're going to have a strong foreign policy, yes we need to focus on our own national security, yes we need to build alliances to keep us safe but we also need to support those in the world that believe in their faith, but for us who? who will be there to stand bit side of someone who has courageously continuing to adhere to their faith? i believe the united states has a role to do that, and we better start doing it soon. [applause] if we get this right, if we restore proper balance where people of faith can act on their faith and we express our love of others knot just talking about it but acting on it and we create a government that is the servant, not the master of our own destiny, this is going to be most extraordinary time to be alive.

this is growing to be a time of abundance. this will be a time where our children and grandchildren will have much more opportunity. if we fix how we tax, how we regulate, embrace the energy revolution, focus on the things that right now are broken through proper leadership if we fix these things young people particularly are going to have a time that it will be the greatest time to be alive in this world. we can grow far faster than we're growing today. we can create a more secure world. in doing so, in doing so, people of our generation, those, not young people here, but their parents and grandparents can fulfill what every generation has done since the beginning of the creation of this republic. we've always left things better for the next generation. can we honestly say today that is the case? we can't. but we can fix it. i honestly believe we can. with conservative principles applying limited government, asking people to act on their