>> coming up tonight on c-span president obama at a conference of mayors in san francisco. the annual face and freedom -- faith and freedom coalition. and more on the shooting in charleston, south carolina. president obama discussed the recent shootings when he spoke at a meeting of the u.s. conference of mayors in san francisco. he called for tighter restrictions on guns. he also talked about the economy of u.s. cities and climate change. this is half an hour. [applause]

[applause] president obama: hey! thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. thank you, mayor. thank you so much. everybody, please have a seat. thank you. thank you so much. i love being with mayors. [laughter] it is great to be here, although i did worry a little bit that dennis johnson would introduce me again. at the white house, he had the

old bulls theme song. it set a very high bar, as if i were michael jordan coming out. he is a great friend, and i appreciate him, as i do so many of the mayors here. i saw a lot of you in washington in january. i had such a good time, i said let's move this summer as well and this summer i thought i would come to you. i want to thank our host, san francisco mayor ed lee. [applause] he was just in the white house for the san francisco giants championship visit. i know how excited the mayor is over the golden state warriors championship. [cheers and applause] i want to thank two outstanding public servants -- governor jerry brown and leader nancy pelosi, who are here with us today. [applause] and i want to thank this year's leaders of the conference of mayors, kevin johnson, stephanie rawlings blake, and oklahoma

city mayor mick cornett. i also want to mention a few outstanding mayors who are getting ready to step down. michael nutter of philadelphia has done outstanding work. greg ballard of indianapolis, an outstanding mayor, doing great work with my brothers keeper. thank you. anita parker of houston. loving it. and my dear old friend, michael coleman of columbus, ohio. and finally, a great mayor, one of my favorite people, and i know one of the people all of you admire so much, a great mayor, joel riley of charleston. [applause]

joe's back home doing one of a mayor's sadder, more important duties today. obviously, the entire country has been shocked and heartbroken by what happened in charleston. the nature of this attack in a place of worship where congregants invite in a stranger to worship with them only to be gunned down adds to the pain. the apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together. we have made great progress, but we have to be vigilant because

it still lingers, and when it is poisoning the minds of young people, it betrays our ideals and tears our democracy apart. as much as we agree that this particular tragedy -- i think it is important, as i mentioned at the white house, to step back and recognize that these tragedies have become far too common place. few people understand the terrible toll of gun violence like mayors do, and whether it is the mass shooting like the one in charleston or individual attacks that add up over time, it tears of the fabric of the community, it costs you money and costs you resources, it costs this country dearly. more than 11,000 americans were

killed by gun violence in 2013 alone. 11,000. if congress had passed some common sense gun safety reforms after newtown, after a group of children had been gunned down in their own classroom, reforms that 90% of american people supported -- we would not have prevented every act of violence, or even most -- we do not know it would have invented what happened in charleston -- no reform can guarantee a limitation of violence, but we might have some more americans with us. we might have stopped one shooter. [applause] some families might still be whole.

we all might have to attend fewer funerals. and we should be strong enough to a knowledge this. at the very least, we should be able to talk about this issue as citizens, without demonizing all gun owners, who are overwhelmingly law-abiding, but also without suggesting that any debate about this involves a wild eyed plot to take anybody's guns away. i know today's politics makes it less likely that we stand any serious gun safety legislation. i remarked that it is very unlikely that this congress would act, and some reporters, i think, took this as resignation. i want to be clear -- i am not resigned. i have faith we will eventually do the right thing. [applause] i was simply making the point that we have to move public

opinion. we have to feel a sense of urgency. ultimately, congress will follow the people, and we have to stop being confused about this. at some point as a country, we have to reckon with what happens. it is not good enough simply to show sympathy. you do not see murder on this kind of scale with this kind of frequency in any advanced nation on earth. every country has violence hateful, or mentally unstable people. what is different is not a free

every country is awash with easily accessible guns. and so i refuse to act as if this is the new normal or to pretend that it is simply sufficient to grieve and that any mention of us doing some thing to stop it is somehow politicizing the problem. [cheers and applause] we need a change in attitudes among everybody. lawful gun owners, those who are unfamiliar with guns. we have to have a conversation about it and fix this. and ultimately, congress acts when the public insists on action. and we have seen how public opinion can change. we have seen it change on gay

marriage. we have seen it beginning to change on climate change. we have got to shift how we think about this issue. and we have the capacity to change but we have to feel a , sense of urgency about it. we as a people have got to change. that is how we honor those families. that is how we honor the families in newtown. that is how we honor the families in aurora. now, the first time i spoke at this conference in 2008, i said that americans should not be succeeding despite washington. they should be succeeding with washington.

i made it a priority to partner with mayors like you. that is why i named reformer mayors to my cabinet. that is why i asked the former president of this conference jerry abramson, to be one of my top advisers. [applause] that is why my staff and i work with mayors like you across the country every day on just about every issue under the sun from school, community policing business development, veterans homelessness. because mayors have to get the job done. if you are mayor, it is not sufficient to just blather on. [laughter] you actually have to do something. it is not enough to figure out -- how do i position myself on a particular issue to minimize the possibility that i might get in trouble or criticized? because people expect you to trim the trees and pave the road and pick up the garbage and educate our kids and police our

streets. whatever the problem, large or small, you have got to do everything you can to solve it. you do not let partisanship stop you. you do not let cynicism stop you. you are always on the hunt for good ideas no matter where they come from. and i'm going to embarrass jerry for a second. he took his wife, madeline, to paris a few years after they got married. and she took in all the splendor, the shoretel is charm, and he took photos of garbage cans -- and he took photos of garbage cans. [laughter] that is a mayor for you. so she teased him about it. there is the eiffel tower -- he said, "those are some beautiful garbage cans." [laughter] soon enough, downtown louisville

had garbage cans that looked an awful lot like the parisian garbage cans. that is a mayor right there! announcer: somebody who is always thinking about how to make his or her city better, even on vacation in paris! and stops at nothing to get it done. now as president, i am constantly thinking about how we together can keep growing the economy and growing new pathways of opportunity for the american people to get ahead. and across the country, the good news is we are making progress and you are seeing it in your cities. more than 12 million new private sector jobs in the past five years. more than 16 million americans who have gained health insurance. more jobs creating clean energy. here in california, solar is going crazy. we are producing 10 times as much solar power today than we did when i came into office, 10 times. three times as much wind energy. double the amount of clean energy. [applause] more kids graduating from high school and college than ever before. i'm proud of that.

and by the way, we have done it while reducing the deficit by 2/3. you do not hear that much, but let me just point that out. [applause] and i am proud when particularly it is hard to get anything through congress, even when we are talking about issues that most americans outside of washington agree on. but that is why we also partnered with many of you over the past couple of years, to make real progress on the economic priorities that matter to middle-class families. we are working with many of you to help working families make ends meet and feel more secure in a changing economy. so far, 19 cities have enacted paid sick days. five states enacted paid sick days or paid family leave, oregon is set to join them soon. 17 states have raised their minimum wage.

27 cities and counties have taken action to raise the wage as well. we are working with many of you to help working families earn higher wages down the road with skills and education they need. seattle, a city with a democratic mayor, ed murray, just passed universal pre-k. indianapolis, a city with a republican mayor, greg ballard is starting citywide public scholarships. even more young people getting the early enrichment that can pay off over a lifetime. three months ago, i initiated tech hire to train for the high skilled, high wage jobs of tomorrow. 21 communities have signed up so far, and we are looking to double that number. so if you're town has jobs that need filling, and people want to fill them, come join us. we are working with many of you to generate more high wage jobs

for our workers to fill. 11 cities have joined a new initiative called start up in a day to help start of employers start up a business in just one day, cutting the red tape. we are working with high-tech manufacturing hubs to keep america at the forefront of innovation. the first hub in youngstown, ohio is doing cutting-edge research and 3-d printing and has already attracted tens of millions of investment to the region. so we are creating jobs, we are training folks for jobs, we are also working with many of you to make our streets safer and our communities stronger. more than 230 local and tribal leaders have joined the my brother's keeper initiative, and are taking meaningful steps to change the odds for young people in tough circumstances. together, you are working to

curb juvenile arrests, reduce absenteeism, and you are helping these kids imagine a bigger future for themselves. today at the lawrence livermore national lab just on the road, more than 100 students from oakland and san francisco are participating in the first mbk day at the lab, where they can learn about s.t.e.m. careers. and meanwhile, police holding impromptu meetings at barbershops and meetings in charlotte, training young people on the job, cities like yours are striving to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and communities. they are making sure police have the resources they need to do their jobs, and making sure that every police officer who has an incredibly tough job is trained in making the kinds of

connections with community that engender trust and ensure that everybody is treated equally under the law, which makes for smart law enforcement and vindicates our values. so these are just a few of the examples of the work that is being done, and i have named everything we are doing to work together, but we would be here all day, so here is the bottom line. on america's most important economic priorities from supporting working families to improving education to creating good new jobs, getting people to those new jobs, to improving a affordable housing to dealing , with homelessness, cities are not standing still. you are moving forward. so i want to say two things to you. number one, thank you. thank you for your leadership and your vision. and i particularly want to thank

you because more than just about any other office in the land those who occupy the office of mayor are approaching it in a practical way. democrats aren't clinging to dogmas and are partnering with businesses in any way they can and republicans are not clinging to their dogmas. they are recognizing the government has a role to play in helping make for a vibrant city and expanding opportunity. and that common sense problem-solving, can-do attitude, you know, that is what the american people are looking for. that is what they need. i want to say thank you to all of you. you are setting a good example. now i also want to say do not second, stop now because we

still have got a lot more work to do. we have got to keep pushing to grow our economy so that more americans who work hard feel like their hard work is paying off, which is why i am working with congress to pass new 21st century trade agreements with higher standards and tougher protections than past agreements, and i appreciate the help of many of the mayors here to get that done because you know it is important to your cities. [applause] i believe it is the right thing to do for american workers and families, or i would not be doing it. i want to thank all of you who helped me make that case because this matters to your cities. we have got to keep pushing to put people to work rebuilding our infrastructure. there is not a mayor here who cannot real off 10 infrastructure projects right now that you would love to get funding for, and it will put people to work and help businesses move their products and help people get to their jobs. [applause]

we can keep paying the cost of patching over our existing infrastructure. more expensive, less efficient leading to higher commute times more waste -- that is an option. or we can create tens of thousands of jobs right now building a 21st century infrastructure that makes us competitive well into the 21st century. that is what we have got to do. we just have to convince congress to make it happen, and i need mayors to help from all across the country. put some pressure on congress to get this done. [applause] we have got to keep pushing to prepare for the impact of climate change because it is science. it is a fact. like gravity. [laughter]

it is. a lot of cities have gone far ahead on this issue, along with states. you are making a difference right now. you are not waiting for congress. the mayor from the view, i went is here. -- the mayor from the view iowa is here. they have set a target to reduce their greenhouse gas omissions from 50% from 2003 levels by the end of the next decade. this man was governor, jerry brown, he was talking about how california, which so often has been a leader on environmental issues, is looking to partner and make a difference internationally. today, my administration proposed new fuel standards for

buses and tractor-trailers and other heavy-duty vehicles, another important step toward reducing harmful carbons affecting our planet. a lot of this does come down to congress. i know many of you are worried about congress cutting programs that are important to your cities' economic growth, but the battle we should be having with congress is not just about individual programs. it is about the foolish self-destructive cut in , washington known as the sequester. because with the sequester, the whole pie is smaller, so protecting one program means cutting another. that is why you are facing cuts that do not make any sense to things like tiger grants, which you all know are so important to putting people to work rebuilding our infrastructure. that is why it is so hard for us to get the funding we need to get homeless assistance grants which helps our most vulnerable

neighbors and get them off the streets. that is why it has been so difficult to fund the preschool development grants which help , educate our children, which we know if we make better investments will pay off for your cities, for your states and for our country. i have been clear -- i will not sign bills at sequestration level. i will not sign bills that seek to increase defense spending before addressing any of our needs here at home. [laughter] and i need your help. i need your help, mayors. two talk to your members of congress to get rid of this sequester once and for all because it is harming our city and harming our country. there is no business -- no successful business -- that if it needed to reduce spending would simply lop off 10% of

everything, or 15% of everything. that is not how any of us would run our household budgets. you would cut out things you do not need, but you would still keep the college fund going. you would still pay your health insurance bill and your mortgage note. there are things we have to do as a country to stay ahead. once again, mayors understand that if there is a conflict between ideology and reality you should opt for reality. [applause] [laughter] [applause] reality is a stubborn thing.

facts, evidence, reason -- so, thanks for your partnership. [laughter] i want you to know that as long as i am in the white house, i have got your back. i love the country. i love the suburbs. but i am a city guy. [laughter] and i know that when cities thrive, suburbs thrive. when cities thrive, farmlands thrive. when cities thrive, states thrive. when states thrive, america thrives. you guys make it happen. i enjoyed you taking pride in what makes your hometown unique. you may be proud and your people or your barbecues, even though everybody knows chicago has the

best pizza. [applause] [laughter] you may be proud of your city's victory parades even though we , have a black hawk parade that is pretty good. i am sure you are all very proud of your parks. we have got nice parks. or the number of sunny days you have got, which we enjoy half the year. [laughter] chances are you have got a few superlatives ready in case somebody asks you what makes your city so special. that is what mayors do -- you are boosters. yet as unique as your cities are, as proud as you should be of your cities, we always remind ourselves we are also americans. and we all want an america to be

a place where our zip code does not determine our destiny. where every kid in whatever city, whatever hamlet, whatever town has an equal shot at life no matter where they grow up. no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make it. that is what america is about, that is what you are fighting for every day, and i will fight right there alongside with you. thank you, everybody. god bless you, god bless america. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> on the next washington journal, howard's snyder on federal reserve and interest rates. and we will talk of political advertising on tv more than a year before election day. we were also talk about labels. washington journal, live every morning on c-span at 7:00 a.m. eastern.

>> here are some of our featured programs this weekend on the c-span networks. saturday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern, ruth bader ginsburg on national issues like gay rights, race relations america, and the production of a new movie about her life and career. sunday night at 6:35 p.m., an interview with presidential candidate ted cruz. on book tv on c-span two, saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the annual roosevelt reading festival at the fdr library and museum. christopher o sullivan on roosevelt envoy and world war ii. sheila collins and her book. and how books helped the morale of our military in world war ii. sunday night at 9 p.m. on after words. the need of a sexual revolution in the middle east. this weekend on american history

tv on c-span three, we are live from the gettysburg college civil war institute summer conference on that civil wars and and aftermath. saturday morning, beginning at 8:30 a.m. eastern with history professor on general grant and appomattox. sunday morning, we continue our live coverage with gregory downes and the consequences of the civil war. at 11:00, a discussion about treason and loyalty during the civil war with william blair. get our complete schedule at c-span.org. >> several republican presidential candidates and potential candidate spoke at the annual faith and freedom coalition conference. on the second day, jeb bush, ben carson, john kasich, bobby

jindal, and rick santorum. this part of the conferences two hours. it begins with new jersey governor chris christie. [applause] >> good morning. i appreciate the work you do every day in your communities to get our message out. i am distracted by this time proctor stuff. i am not barack obama. [laughter] [applause] we will do the best we can to ignore the glass panes in front of me. that might be the way it happens with the president, i'm not sure. [laughter] [applause]

i saw something on one of the news stations last week to the president said something to this effect. the world respects america more because of my administration. i came to the conclusion that they that everything we have worried about is true. he is really 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 he will be leaving the next president, 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 terrorists and attacks from extremist islamists. in eastern europe, for the first time in 70 years, after the

explosion of spending we did there and lives we gave up their to have a free and united europe we have russians soldiers marching in eastern europe for the first time in 70 years. across the middle east, iraq is on fire. libya is on fire. syria is on fire. jordan is being invaded by refugees and under martial law. i ran is steaming towards becoming a dominant force in that region and a nuclear power. china, we watch them build artificial islands in the south china sea and we have a president who says that he doesn't want us to sail our ships within 12 miles of those islands nor fly american planes over 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. you look at all these circumstances and you realize what an awful bill of goods that this president has sold the american people seven years ago. he tried to make us believe that if we just pulled back from iraq and afghanistan and said nice things in gave nice beaches that somehow the world would be a safer and more peaceful place. the exact opposite has happened. 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 and this country needs to leave the world again so that it is safe for liberty and prosperity for all the people of the world and for the people that live here in the united states. [applause] this president has diminished

our military, both through actions that have hurt the morale, like the awful scandal at the veterans administration, where veterans have been denied the health care that they have been promised. that is a national disgrace and this president has refused to fix it in the way that honors the service of our veterans. we have 100,000 fewer active-duty soldiers in our army. we are headed to a 260 ship navy. the smallest in our lifetimes. and a 50% reduction in the hardware in the air force. if i know these numbers, so does vladimir putin and the mullahs in iran. i believe a direct result of this president's weakness and the weakness that he has put on our militaries, we need to make our military strong. republicans have always understood that strength brings peace. it doesn't cause war. weakness causes war.

[applause] speaking of weakness, let me say this. of all the people who may be considering the race for president, i'm the only one who has had the responsibility of having to prosecute and investigate terrorist conduct. i was appointed the united states attorney for new jersey on september 10, 2001. the next day, my wife went to work two blocks in the world trade center. i was on the phone with her when the second plane hit the second building. she was assuring me that every thing was fine and she was ok. the phone when out. she was evacuated. for five hours i did not hear from her. those are the longest hours of my life.

our three young children wanted to know if mom was ok. thank god, she was ok. but we lost one of our dear friends in our parish in our town that day in the world trade center. our oldest on, his best friend losses father. we have watched that young man for the last 13 years and his siblings put up with the emptiness that can never be felt in the place of apparent that was lost much too young. you see, these things are not hypothetical to me. i live in a state that lost the second most people on september 11, only less than the state of new york. i went to the funerals. the people that we knew. the people who were killed that day. and what the united states congress has done in the last few weeks through their changing of the patriot act, i will take you today, it 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 that if civil liberties are your concern there are many ways for us to protect those civil liberties. i was a u.s. attorney who reviewed applications for the fisa court. i brought the first terrorism case post 9/11 of an indian born british citizen who is trying to sell shoulder fired missiles to shoot commercial airliners out of the sky. we prosecuted him with the use of the patriot act. we convicted him. we won't have to worry about him again. here are the facts. those tools allow 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, how about some

congressional oversight? do not put the men and women of our intelligence community in harms way and do not make america weaker and more vulnerable while al qaeda at isis are plotting every day to attack and kill us. they are shortsighted. these people who give these long speeches on capitol hill, if god for bid there is another attack in the country will be the first one all that atto hall them forward and escorted them for the attack. they were the ones who made the job harder for these people to do it. this is a fight we better open our eyes wide two. this is about life and death for our country. i stanford keeping america safe and strong, and not giving

political speech is to raise money for presidential campaign. that's where i stand. [applause] to do these things, to reject authority around the world in a way that helps make people free and safe, to be able to strengthen our intelligence community and military, we need to invest in that. the shame of what is going on in this country right now is that 71% of what is spent is on interest and entitlement programs. lesson those -- listen, those programs are heading towards insolvency. we know this. you know this in your heart. you know it to be true. yet, we don't want to talk about it because we are bombarded by political consultants because it is the third rail of american politics. don't touch it. i'm not going to touch it.

i'm going to hug it. [laughter] [applause] 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 rooted in this idea , that no one in america who has worked hard should grow old in poverty. that's a good idea and a right idea. now we are to the point where the choices are few because of the lack of action by our leaders. yes i said we should raise the retirement age two years over the next 25 years. think about that. the two-year increase in 25 years. i will be 77 when it becomes fully effective. will the world stop spinning on its axis for that? or say to someone who makes over $200,000 a year in retirement income that maybe you don't need

to get your social security check. you've got $5 million saved if you're getting $200,000 in retirement income. do you really need your social security check? is it better to leave that person for the person who really needs it to pay the rent or buy food or pay the heating bill or go to the doctor? you see, these programs, if we don't do this, you only have two other choices everybody. either insolvency, which is creeping up on us over the next 7-8 years, or a massive tax increase on all the american people, which would be damaging to our economy and hurtful to working families today. the democrats don't touch social security because there for the working person, baloney. they don't trust social security because they don't biggest popular. leaders are not supposed to follow polls.

leaders are supposed to lead by telling people what needs to be done. [applause] i have no idea how a massive payroll tax increase is good for our middle class working families. taking more money out of their pocket is not what they need and an economy that barack obama has turned into a part-time employment economy. that is what he has done. since 2007, 4 million more americans are working part-time jobs. 3.2 million fewer people are working full-time jobs. that is the economy this president has bequeathed to this country. and they want more massive tax increases on top of that. it makes no sense to me. that's why we need to reform medicare. let's increase eligibility to years over the next 25 years. if you make over $200,000 a year in retirement income, let's not subsidize 75% as we do now. let subsidizing 10%.

if you have the money to pay it, you are blessed. you worked hard. this country has given you the opportunity to work hard and have that success. no place else in the world is that happen. let us make sure we understand what the real stakes are. don't listen to the people who say, you can't touch social security. this is a sacred trust. if the government lies and steals from you, what do we have left? i say, the lying and stealing has already occurred. [laughter] remember al gore in 2007. that me tell you it what is in the lockbox, a stack of ious. the horse is already out of the barn. how do we get the horse back in the barn?

you know it's a lot easier for the horse to run out of the barn than it is to get it back in. it is hard to do these things. we need to. that's why the first b jack given in this national conversation is on entitlement reform, not because it was strong politics or because all it takes. it was strong leadership. the democrats in new jersey said i would never get elected the first time. in a state that has not elected a republican to the senate and 42 years. it is the longest streak of any state in the country. it is the bluest state as there is an america. we be a democratic incumbent

because people said that we were strong enough to tell them the truth and follow through on it. we have cut business taxes over $2 billion. we have balanced budgets six years in a row. now, teachers to get a failing grade can get fired, not have jobs for life in our children's classrooms. [applause] we reformed the pension and benefits. it still needs work. and now, we have taken a fight to the supreme court that says workers need to pay more into their pension and can knock it cost-of-living increases on the back of hard-working taxpayers in my state. not even close. 48-32 in the lower house. these guys do not wake up in the

morning saying, how do we make chris christie happy today. [laughter] it does not stop me from doing the things that i think are right and from compromising to get things done. you need to do both. when they send me planned parenthood funding and i'm the first governor to veto it out of the budget -- [applause] -- there is no room for compromise there. when you have a pension and benefit proposal that the president of the senate is willing to sponsor if you make a few changes, then yes. you need to make those changes. you need to compromise. compromise is not a dirty word. it is a principle. our government is set up to force compromise. the people of new jersey oh elected a conservative republican governor and

democratic legislature. they said, let's put these things together and see what happens. [applause] in a state where we had zero net private sector job growth, for eight years, zero net private sector job growth. in the five and a half years i have been governor, we have created 200,000 new private sector jobs in new jersey. we took a basket case and put it on the road to recovery. and those families who are now working know the power of our ideas and how they work for our state and country. that's what we need to fight for. putting our people back to work. [applause] when you are pro-life, you need to be pro-life for the whole life. [applause] the easiest time is when that

child is in the womb. they have not done anything yet to disappoint us. [laughter] they haven't made any bad choices yet. it becomes much harder to be pro-life when they are drug addicted on the floor of a jail cell. that is a gift from god as well. that's why in new jersey we say for first-time nonviolent drug offenders, we no longer will send those people to prison. we will send them to mandatory inpatient drug treatment because we need to save lives. everyone of those lives is a gift from god and deserves a chance at redemption. [applause] life is precious. we learn that again in south carolina. the idea that anyone, any human being, would walked into a

church, sit there for an hour and pray with people that he intended to murder, is depraved, unthinkable. we can't put our minds around conduct like that, can we? i want to conclude with this today. all of the issues that i just talked about and those that i did not mention are important to the future of our country but there is nothing more important to our country 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, love god and their family, the work for their communities, who served in public life, who were cut down by someone who is depraved and has seemingly confessed to the crime. in fact, he said he's scared one of his victims and told her that i'm 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 love and faith can change. love and changes. only the love and goodwill of the american people cannot this people know that that act was unacceptable, disgraceful, and that we need to do more to show that we love each other. open our hearts and show love to each other, that is what leadership is about to come everybody. and i pray for those families today. 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 need

to do to make our community and country better place. i know that this audience believes that. i know it is the way you live your lives. so let us use that the power we derive from that in a way that will help these families. it's moments like this when america comes together and shows the rest of the world what a great country we really are. i know you will be part of that. i will be too. i appreciate your invitation this morning, the work that you do, and i appreciate the fact that it is folks like you, your families and friends who make this the greatest country on the face of the earth. we just have to fight to keep it that way, everybody. thank you for coming. i appreciate it. [applause] >> good morning.

good morning, everybody. [applause] thank you for this great invitation to come back and speak here at the faith and freedom coalition meeting. it is a joy to be with you all. before i start my remarks, i would like to pause and i know many of you are concerned about what happened in charleston. i was traveling in trials in the day before yesterday and got in at 11:00 at night and saw the tragic story, our hotel was literally a block away from the church. it is appropriate to mourn because we know that a house of god as a house of peas and brotherhood, and the violence that took place in that church just breaks our hearts. this was an evil act of aggression. i don't know what was on the mind of the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes, but i do know what was

in the heart of the victims. they were meeting and brotherhood and sisterhood in that church. they were praying. they were learning and studying the word of the lord. at times like these, at times of great national mourning, people of faith, all of us, must come together and at least reflect on this and fortify our strength and love of christ and him alone of god, to continue to go forth. this has had a big impact on me, and i am sure that it has with you. we need to support each other. we must continue to bear witness that the truth god asks of us. in desperate times, we can always walk upright as brothers and sisters and look to the heavens and know that we are children of god. that gives us all straight, and i know that your hearts and prayers are with the families and the pastor of those who

lost allies, and let's hope that it never, ever happens again. [applause] 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. they were not be a political speech. i thought i would talk a little bit more about my journey of faith and how faith has impacted my life personally and as a 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 i can see a guy will not their head when i tell the story, but i saw a young woman and i fell in love at first sight, totally head over heels in love. she is my wife of 41 years. she is my guiding light, my soulmate my inspiration in many

ways. it took a while for us -- for me to convince her that it was love at first sight. because of her, my life became organized, focused on starting my life journey earlier than most people did. it has been a total blessing. i converted to the catholic church. christ came into my life earlier, but i converted to being catholic in honor of my wife and because i believe in the blessed sacraments and they give me great comfort. on easter sabbath 1995, i had lost an election in 1994 and i found incredible serenity in the class to convert to being a classic, and it has been a part of my architecture, if you will as a person, and certainly as an elected official. sometimes people are asked about this question about people who

are aspiring to public life, people who are serving they are asked whether you a little your decisions and government to be influenced by your faith. whenever i hear this, i know typically the answer is that they want to hear, no, never, of course not, i would never do that because in the game of political correctness, that is the answer they get you to the next level. that's my personal experience and it continues to this day. the in point is a certain kind of politician that we have all heard before, the guy who's moral convictions are so private , so deeply personal, that he refuses even to impose them on himself. [applause] [laughter] well, that's not me. how strange to hear that our faith and moral traditions spoke of as some kind of backwards or oppressive force, when it is the moral foundation of our country the greatest country on the face

of the earth. [applause] it's also been i think in many ways if we are objected about this and take a step back to 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, and if we act on her face each and every day, we will create a more just, more loving world. the instinct to do these things did not come from nowhere. they came from a religious tradition and we must stand together protect -- to protect those freedoms that are so sacred an important for a free society. when i got to be governor of the state of florida i insisted that we build a culture from beginning to end. it was one of the guiding principles of my joys experience. it was a crazy experience, but it was joyful to be governor of my beloved state of florida. we took special care, as that

video mentioned, we took special care for the most honorable and our society, because i honestly believe that as a conservative that believes in limited government, we need to put the most vulnerable in our society first, the front of the line because they are of value, as much by you as everybody else, and others need to take a step back whether it is an abuse woman or a child with development of disabilities or a child welfare system in florida as the most conservative governor in modern times, i shrunk the government. we created an environment of a lot so sustained growth. we eliminated affirmative action and replace 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 vulnerable in society at the front of the line, guided by my faith. we also put the rights of the unborn at the front of 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 have no legal role in their children's abortion decision. decisions. we put regulations on abortion clinics and made sure there was reasonable health and safety standards to protect women. i let the fight for a constitutional amendment requiring parental notice for abortions and signed into law a bill that required a 40 hour notice to appear in or guardian. at meyer ching, the state of florida was the first state to sustain funding, $2 million a year to go to crisis pregnancy centers to provide counseling and therapy. to get -- give moms other choices. i signed into law a partial birth abortion ban. i helped programs to allow

seniors to age with dignity. not in -- in centers where they would get the love and respect they deserve. we oversaw major reforms to conditions and standards in senior centers partially because miami and florida in general is a place where a lot of seniors exist. we better start focusing not just on the beginning of life but the end-of-life issues as well in the country and do so in a loving and compassionate way. when i was asked to intervene on behalf of all woman who could not speak of for herself, i stood on her side. i stood on the side of terri schiavo and her parents. [applause] 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 nsn. because if we do that, if we treat people with the same dignity and respect that we believe we should receive, we are going to solve a lot more problems than giving up that basic concept that allowing government to be the end-all and 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 of what it is to be a 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 a self-governing people again where we define when we see the 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 center in our society. my belief is that religious freedom now is under attack in ways that we have never seen before. whether it is the obama

administration or just the general culture it's important for us to recognize, it has been a rough year for religious charities and their right of conscience. there seems to be an attitude that when the prevailing government policy runs headlong into views of the faithful, the faith all must yield. -- faithful must yield. i am reminded of what secretary clinton said that when clinton who have religious beliefs they run into conflict with a woman's right to choose, for example that the people who have religious conscience have to get over it, have to get -- take a step back. in a big diverse country we need to make sure we protect the right not just of having religious views but the right of acting on those shoes. religious conscience is one of the first freedoms and our country. -- in our country. [applause] we find a government agency dictating to a charity what has to go in their health plan. nevermind the objections of conscience. i do not know about you but i am

betting that when it comes to doing the right and good thing the little sisters of the poor no better than the regulators of the health and human services. [applause] from the standpoint of religious freedom, you might say it is a choice between the little sisters and big brother and i am going with the sisters and i hope you are as well. [applause] this conscience should also be respected when people of faith want to take a stand for traditional marriage. in a country like ours, we should recognize the power of a man and a woman loving their children with all their heart and soul as a good thing as something that is positive and helpful for those children to live a successful life. while there are people who disagree with this, we should not push aside those that do believe in traditional marriage. i for one believe it is important and i think it has got to be important over the long haul irrespective of what the court say -- courts say.

[applause] in america, our conscience has shown not just it home but found our borders, we are living in a world where this administration particularly believes that the u.s. presence in the world it's very pleasant, it's leadership is not a force for good. that it creates more problems and benefits. this is the first president and the first -- in the post-world war ii era. we are seeing -- allowing for people of conscience outside of our country. jews are being discriminated at higher levels and christians around the world are being targeted. as we back and we do not stand up for religious freedom, then we see what happens. radical islam and their adherents are targeting christians like place it in places like iraq and throughout

the middle east. cap beheaded on the shores of the iranians. 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 are seeing this, and where is the united states? if we are going to have a strong foreign policy, we need to focus on our own national security. we need to build alliances to keep us safe, but we need to support those in the world that believe in their faith but for us, who would be there to stand by the side of someone who is courageously continuing to it here to their faith? i believe the u.s. has a role to do that and we better start doing it soon. [applause] if we get this right, if we restore the proper balance where people of faith can act on their faith, and we express our love for others by not just talking

about it and acting on it, and we create a government that is the servant, not the master of our own destiny, this is going to be the most extraordinary time to be alive. this is going to be a time of abundance. this will be a time when 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 will be the greatest time to be alive in this world. we can grow faster than we are growing today. we can create a more secure world and in doing so, people of our generation, not the 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 have always left things better for the next generation. can we honestly say today that that is the case? we cannot but we can fix it.

i honestly believe we can. with conservative principles applying limited government, asking people to act on their hearts become a self-governing people again, this will be the most extraordinary time in america's history. i hope that you believe that. that we shed the negativity that exist and we offer a hopeful optimistic message for people who have not heard it in a long while. the politics of grievance, the politics of angst, the politics of anger is important to fight against the overreach by the progressives. we are never going to win elections unless we inspire people to believe that the future will be bright by applying the timeless principles that we know to be true and effective. with your help, we can make that happen. i appreciate your activism. i appreciate all that you do and i humbly ask for your vote. thank you all very much. [applause]

dr. carson: thank you very much. i am delighted to be here with you today. i am thinking yesterday about the terrible tragedy and charleston, south carolina and one of the people who was killed somebody i was talking to just a few weeks ago, the state senator who along with one of the other members, a cousin

of my business manager and close friend armstrong williamson. these things hit so close to home and if we do not pay close attention to the hatred and the division that is going on in our nation, this is a harbinger of what we can expect. i would like to take a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives. thank you. you know faith and freedom those are topics i like to talk about. there is no timeclock appear -- up here. you will see me checking my watch from time to time. when i was out in iowa, one of the left wings media said carson kept checking his watch. they gave me a specific time and i did not want to go over it. they always find something

negative. i find it amusing. when i think about the things that really enhanced my faith it was -- i was a youngster who was troubled. i had a horrible temper. when i was 14, another inkster -- youngster angered me. i had a large camper -- camping knife. ithe knife blade struck with such force he fled in terror. i was struck with terror. i was trying to kill someone over nothing. i started contemplating my life. i had turned things around academically. i was a horrible student but through the efforts of my mother , making me read, and i conquered that and became a good student. i realized i would never realize

my dream of becoming a doctor with a temper like that. my choices were going to be jailed, reform school, or the grave. none of those appealed to me and i fell on my knees and i said lord, unless you help me i am not going to make it. there was a bible there and i picked it up and there were all these verses from the bible about false -- fools. i read them and they sounded like they were talking about me. there were these verses about anger like proverbs 19:19. encouraging verses like probert 16:32. verse after verse, chapter after chapter, it seemed like they were all written about me and i came to an understanding during that time, that to lash out at somebody, to punch someone in the face was not a

sign of strength. it was a sign of weakness. it meant you could be easily controlled, easily manipulated. i came to understand that being angry has a lot to do with selfishness, because it is always about me, my, and i. somebody is in myspace and took my thing. and if you can learn how to step out of the center of the equation and let it be about someone else and look at things from other people's point of view, you're not likely to get angry. that was the last day i had an angry outburst. it has never happened again since that day. [applause] but, you know, some people say you just learned how to cover it up. no. i will tell you a secret. when god fixes a problem, he does not just do a paint job. he fixes it from the inside. it is fixed. they gave me a lot of faith. i adopted god not only is my heavenly father but my earthly father to go to when you have

problems. and to help you in situations. i remember as i was entering my senior year in college, i had been resisting relationships with girls women because i did not want to get in the way of my studies and i said it is probably time to start here. i said, lord, let the next relationship be the right one because i want -- i will not resist it. he gave me the most wonderful wife and in a couple weeks we will celebrate our 40th anniversary. [applause] that is the way he is available if we just ask him for stuff in terms of our faith. when i was finishing my residency at johns hopkins johns hopkins is the modern birthplace for narrow surgery and we were opening a new neuroscience center.

one of the bigwigs from australia took a liking to me. he said, you should come to australia and the hour senior registrar at the major teaching center. i said australia you got to be kidding me. i did not say that out loud. you drill a hole from washington and you come out and australia. i had heard that they had a whites only policy. i was not all that interested. it seemed like every time i turned around, there was somebody saying, g'day, mate, how you going? i said to my lot -- wife i think the lord wants us to go to australia. she did some research and discovered that they did have a whites only policy but it was officially abolished in 1968. we sold all of our earthly belongings and off we went to

australia. our friends were saying, you will be back in three weeks but little did they know we did not have any money. we could not come back. [laughter] the biggest problem we had was keeping it -- up with all the dinner invitations. they love americans and they like to hear your accent. when i would dictate an operative note, the ladies would call me up and say we can't understand your accent. i would say excuse me, i am the american, you have the accent. the second biggest problem every time i sat down and wrote in a chart, someone would come up to me and say, can i feel your hair? i would say you can but it will cost you $10. i always told them i could not remember their names because they all looked alike. [laughter]

but i realized why god sent me there. there were only four neurosurgical consultants in all of western australia. once they discovered i knew how to operate, they left me in charge of the major teaching hospital so i was doing three or four major crainiotomies every day. i was doing these fabulous cases. for a year. when i came back to hopkins and joined the faculty, shortly after that a position opened up and normally they would get someone with a lot of gray hair and a big name. they said carson is very young but he knows how to do everything. so there i was at 32, but the lord had heard me for that. i began to understand how he always prepares you for what he wants you to do. i must say i thought it was

pretty hot stuff. this little kid came in from georgia, and he had been diagnosed with a malignant rain stem tumor and multiple opinions, everybody told the parents to take him home and let him die. he ended up at hopkins and i looked at his skin and i said, this is awful looking and the kid was barely moving, barely breathing, foaming at the mouth eyes looking in different directions. i said to the parents, there is nothing i can do about this. they said, a doctor, the lord is going to heal our son read he will use you to do it. i said i will tell you what. let's get an mri. maybe there is something the cat scan is not showing us. i showed it to the radiologists, they said the same thing. malignant brainstem tumor. but doctor, the lord will heal

our son. i will do a biopsy. one in 1000 times, the scans are wrong and maybe this is this time. i opened his head up and i went down to the brainstem. there was this ugly grayish red mass. i have -- biopsied it. a malignant tumor. i debulked it and close it up and talked to the parents and said all the things you normally say. only god knows what will -- why people only lived for so long. they said him a thank you -- they said, thank you but the lord will heal our son. i just shook my head in amazement at their faith as i walked away, fully expecting that he would deteriorate and die. but instead, his eyes became

conjugate, looking in the same direction. i said, what is going on? maybe we should do another scan and we did, and there was still a big ugly tumor but you could see a ribbon of tissue in the corner. is it possible that maybe this is outside the brainstem and it is crushing the brainstem to the point you cannot see it and i should go back in? they said by all means. the nature of the tumor was different. i peeled it away layer by layer. when i got to the last layer there was the glistening white brainstem smashed but intact. long story short,, that boy walked out of the hospital and today he is a minister. [applause] but interestingly enough, one of

the oncologists came up to me and said i have always been an atheist but now i am a believer. it was really for me because i thought i was doing everything. i thought i was really hot stuff and i realized after that that it was not me. it was god. i said lord, you be the neurosurgeon and i will be the hands and that is where the title "gifted hands" came from. god is in charge. and i look at something like the vendor twins -- bender twins the first set of conjoined twins. such twins had never been before separated and survived. two months before i knew anything about the two ends -- twins, i have this obsession with conjoined twins and i started reading this literature,

trying to figure out why the results were sowed -- so dismal. it was examination or bleeding to death. i started talking to people, to a friend of mine who was a chief of cardiac the rustic surgery. how do you keep them from bleeding out and he only about hypothermic -- he told me about hypothermic arrest. you cool the blood and then warm it up. that might work if we did it at the critical time. two months later, they showed up they were being presented all over the world to see if anybody had an idea of how they could both be saved. when i explained things, everybody started getting excited. we put together a team at hopkins and that was the great thing about being at hopkins. you have incredibly smart people in a lot of different areas and you are able to together the

right kind of team. that is such an important factor because they were things i did not know but there were experts who did know them. if you can get those people all working together toward the same goal, it is amazing what could be accomplished. as you know, it turned out well and they both survived and that was the first and only time that has happened with those kinds of twins. god always prepares you for what he wants you to do, and that is the key. those of us who are people of faith have to trust in him have to believe that he will give you what you need, and understand what you are doing know your stuff so well, a workman who need not be ashamed because you know what you're talking about. i remember a few years back i was engaged in a debate in hollywood with a leading atheist.

this guy thinks that anybody who believes in god is a total more on. -- moron. as we got to the end of the conversation and he is denigrating anybody who could believe in creation, i said, you know what, you win. because i believe i came from god and you believe you came from a monkey and you have convinced me you are right. [applause] but -- i mean, what can i say? the fact of the matter is, it is important for us to have a good foundation in terms of what we believe. and we have to be willing to stand up strongly for it. you think about in the revolutionary days in this country, those settlers, they

were not happy with king george iii and his dictatorial style. tyranny was alive and well. they began to get together in their town halls their barns their living rooms, they even invited the loyalists -- and said what kind of a nation do you want to have, what are you willing to stand up for, what are you willing to fight for? what are you willing to die for? and they encouraged each other and that is how a ragtag bunch of militiamen was able to beat the most powerful and professional army on the planet. that is what we are going to have to do today. we are going to have to be willing to stand up for what we believe in. the majority of americans actually have common sense. the y actually think logically.

they actually believe in the values and principles that made this into a great nation. but they have been beaten into submission, and they are afraid to speak out. that is the reason that i stand so vehemently against political correctness. people fought and died so we can have the freedom of speech and expression. we should not give it away. [applause] it is the reason i am so vehemently opposed to the so-called affordable care act because -- not because it does not work, not because it is all about income redistribution and control, but the reason i dislike it so much is because i love america and what america stands for, and america is a place that is of, four, and by

the people, with the government there to facilitate the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. what this demonstrates is the opposite. the government comes along and says, i do not care what you the people think. we are doing it our way. we are jamming it down your throat and if you do not like it too bad. that is not america. we must stand up for what america really is. [applause] and it is going to come down to this. are we willing to be called a name to get an irs audit, to have someone miss with your job -- mess with your job or your children. most of us have had the tendency to put her head down and hope

that -- our head down and hope that nobody notices. i got to tell you, freedom is not free. you have to fight for freedom every single day. and it is not something that we are going to be able to pass on to our children if we neglect to do that. think about the people who came before us. nathan hale started as a teenager, became a spy when he was caught by the british and being ready to be executed. he said, my only regret is that i have but one life to give for my country. think about that. think about all the soldiers who gave their lives, in many cases knowing they would never see their loved ones or their homeland again. and they did it for you and for me and now, it is going to be

up to us to decide what we are going to do with that freedom. and, yes, i know that president obama said that we are not a judeo-christian nation, but he does not get to decide. we get to decide what kind of nation we are. [applause] thank you so much. [applause] gov. kasich: thank you listen, let me -- i want to tell you a story that has been rolling around in my head for the last few days. when i was a little boy probably in the fourth grade, i was a catholic and i would go to church on sunday and i saw these

altar boys. i thought, roy, that would be a cool thing to do. they told me i would have to learn about 100 pages of latin which i did over the course of a week. i qualified and i got to be an altar boy. i remember my first mass. i did it for a number of years. i went to public school, but i was deeply involved in the church. around the 10th grade, one sunday, the commentator, i don't know how many of you know what a commentator is that he stands at the podium and does the readings and announces the hymns. the commentator did not show up so the pastor of the church said it out of those close and put on your polyester jacket and lead the folks. i got up on the podium, and i could see my mother sitting out there and she started to get up wondering what i was doing.

i was part of that service. i did that for a number of years. i don't remember if i was a junior or a senior but one sunday, we were doing this and one of the things that i would do is sing. i am in a public school. all of my friends are watching me. i just did not want to sing. we got to the closing hymn and i announced the closing hymn and the organ started to play, and the priest was coming off of the altar, and no one was singing. and i shouted, shep -- stop the organ. i asked the people why did they go to church? you come here to be a bump on the log? the lord love singing and he particularly loves the closing hymn. the priest is looking at me like -- what is this guy doing? the organist -- the organist

plays and a few people thing and that is the end. i am walking off of the podium, and a little old lady walks up to me and she says that young man, -- young man, i love to sing in church, the next time, please give us the right page that the hymn is on. and it has been that way through most my lifetime. as a kid, as a young man, in the church, and in my life, i felt the lord. he did not speak to me or send me an e-mail or a phone call but i felt him. like many young people, the lord became a rabbit's foot for me. pull it out on test day. pull it out on election day. come on lord, i have the rabbits foot. and then in 1987, michael novak

the great theologian talks about life as a veil of tears. in 1987, a severe storm hit my life and threatened to wash me away. i wrote a book about this and it is called every other monday. when that happened, and that storm hit i was not sure how i was going to survive. i reached out and i clung to all a new. i think that -- i said -- god i do not know what is going on here. a minister showed up and we talked. and he said to me, where do you stand with the lord?

as i buried my mother and father , i reflected on that. he said to me -- there is a window of opportunity right now for you. you are hurt and your pain will disappear. you have an opportunity to figure out who you are and where you are and i started at ground zero. is there such a thing called god? does god love me? does he know my name? will he answer me? did jesus really live on the earth? was he really the son of god? and i tore it all apart. no more rabbits foot for me. no more rabbits foot. i got to get to the bottom line and either i believe it or i don't.

that was 28 years ago. fort the eight years -- 428 for 28 years i have wrestled with it all. the more i wrestle, the struggle i get. the more i wrestle, the stronger the foundation that i am trying to build my house upon. i did not come here for politics. ralph reed asked me to come here. i was in utah the other day doing an interview. with a young woman. she said sometimes you talk about faith. a lot of you -- a lot of people don't like you when you talk about faith. why do you do it? i told her i would let her in on a secret. the storms of life will come, it is inevitable. how is your house built?

the lord is there to be with you. to support you, to give you strength. over the last 28 years, i have been set free. people say, john kasich takes issue and we don't understand it. i will tell you what the lord has done for me. confidence d strength, and worldly criticism doesn't matter a lot to me. i know that the role that i have to play on earth, to lift people, to realize that all of those who are made in the image of the lord, need to be upheld. we know we need to love our enemies. that is a hard one. we know we have to be humble. we know we have to stand for the poor and the bereaved and the widowed. god bless those people in south carolina.

they are playing for the larger game, i believe, just like i am. i have a mission, and i have a role on this earth, but i am trying to prepare myself for the world that is yet to come. one of my heroes, dallas willard, he said -- as you live your life on earth, are you prepared to run five cities for the lord in the kingdom yet to come? i talked to a lot of young people. i tell them they have a gift. you are made special. there is no one like you. you don't have to believe what i am saying, and by the way, i don't believe in shoving my views down anyone's throat. i have a roadmap. cs lewis in a book i was just reading last night said -- he cannot even live up to his own

principles and i don't either. i am a failed guide. what i know, is that every day i have a new opportunity. what i tell these young people is -- your gifts are different and unique to you. the key to life is to unwrap those gifts, whatever they may be. and use those gifts to change the world. to make the world a better place. you can tell people about that handbook. the handbook was not here to tell us what we should not do, that handbook that the lord has given us has told us about the way to lead a successful and meaningful life. and his blessings come, in my opinion, from reading that handbook. my life, i have been struck by

lightning since the day i was called to that podium to be the commentator at that church. i was elected to the legislature at 26 years old. they do not even live and ohio. in 1982, at the age of 30, i got a chance to go to washington and work with ronald reagan. and so many other great people. i became the chairman of the budget committee. my dad carried mail on his back. my mother's mother could not speak english. my father's father was a coal miner. and johnny case it is in washington? i became the budget committee chairman and one of the architects of the balanced budget and we paid down that. the economy grew and we lifted people. i served on the defense committee, putting the resources in so that america can be strong. it needs to be strong today.

and then i left. i just left. i said it is time to leave. i wrote books. and i worked in business and i travel. lled. i was a big star on fox, you remember. [laughter] jonah did not want to go to nineveh. when you are called, in whatever way you sense it, you have to go to nineveh. so i became governor. first guy to beat an incumbent in 36 years. i have never even run statewide. how does this happen? the state was about dead. people were getting crushed and losing hope. not today. we are growing jobs, the most

important thing. as we grow jobs, we leave no one behind. if you are mentally ill we are not looking you up in prison if we can avoid it. we want to treat you and have you be on your feet to live your god-given purpose. i have been criticized for this. the drug addicted, they could be in your family. get them treated and get them on their feet to let their god-given purpose. ok? are you working poor? we want to get you decent health care. we don't want you to be poured. weor. if you are a minority, we are going to include you and lift you. if you have a son or daughter who is autistic, you're going to get insurance. we are not going to bankrupt you. i won in ohio, 86-88 counties.

60% of women and 51% of union households. one of the largest victories in the history of our state. why did that happen? hope returns. there is another thing that has happened. we have not been able to do it all, but everyone is respected. everyone is made in the image of the lord. everyone has to be given an opportunity. everyone. that is what has to happen in america. this tragedy that has all of us crying and any bleeding, represents a vicious division that can be healed. it can be healed. america can be healed.

we just have to get back to the basics. as a kid, the son of a mailman my mother, and my father would always say -- johnny, you can be anything that you want to be. that is the american dream. anybody, black, white, yellow red -- it does not matter. everyone has a chance to live their dream and fly. it is all about hope. it is all about unity. it is all about lifting people. it is about showing them the better and the kinder way. so that everyone understands the critical value of personal responsibility and resilience and empathy and family at the cornerstone and faith. we have done it in ohio. a big state. it is an important state.

i am here to tell you that it can be done in america. whatever you should desire don't fracture, don't divide give hope, unity, lift everyone. that is a formula in my opinion, for strengthening the beautiful and precious united states of america because when we left all of us as individuals, we come together as part of a beautiful mosaic. to form the most hopeful important, and greatest leadership country in the world, the united states of america. that bless you and thank you. [applause] -- god bless you and thank you. [applause]

gov. jindal: thank you all very much. inc. you. thank you for that very warm reception. i want to start by asking you to do something unusual for a political speech. you heard what happened in south carolina this week. i went to ask you to join me in prayer. i cannot think of a better way to start our time together. please join me in prayer. dear father, we come to you with a deep sorrow in our hearts. father lord, we grieve deeply for our brothers and sisters who lost their lives studying your holy scripture in a sanctuary. in a church, and house of god. father, we know that you are almighty and just and if it -- and a forgiving god. we pray for the healing for the families left behind.

god, we know we are taught in scripture that the tomb is empty and you're not on the cross. we believe in the gift of eternal life. we pray for our brothers and sisters that have gone to your glory and your kingdom. lord, we pray that we might be joined with them one day in your glory. thank you for the gift of your sense of sacrifice for us on the cross. we pray for the sons and daughters, the wise and husbands, the children and grandchildren left behind. we pray for communities across america that this might be a time of healing and prayer. we come to you as united -- we come before you simply as sons and daughters and children of god. father, we pray that bible studies will be filled today -- this week. got, we pray that we will not

see your perfect world as long as there is sin in our world. we know there are no perfect human beings. other than your son, who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. god, we pray that this would be a time of grace and healing and we commend all of those troubled and broken families to your heart and your care. we pray that this might be a time of spiritual revival and faith and we pray that folks all over our country will find meaning in this awful tragedy. we list of these prayers in your son's most holy and precious name. in christ's name we pray. amen. this is a faith and freedom coalition. i want to talk about both faith and freedom. i cannot think of a more natural response to this week's horrific acts than to turn to god and our fate.

i want to share with you a little bit about my journey to faith. i have always believed in god but i had a childlike faith when i was a child. maybe you remember that kind of faith. i would say my prayers every night but when i prayed to god it was like praying to santa claus. you remember that fate. god, if you would just give me an a in history tomorrow i will be good to my little brother for a whole week. you probably have prayed -- dear god, i do not want to go home empty-handed from this duck blind. the problem with that faith is that every night i would make a promise and every morning i would break it. every night i would be right back there, trying to make deals with god. my faith what is state exactly that way if it had not been for my best friend. we were on the school bus one day. he came up to me and he said the strangest thing that anyone had ever said. he said, bobby, i will miss you when my family and i go to

heaven. i will miss you when you're not there. i don't suggest that you tell your neighbors that. they will think you're crazy. my friend had been to a summer bible study camp and his pastor had taught him the importance of sharing his faith. use that experience to plant a seed. that same best friend gave me a christmas present i did not want. i ripped over -- i ripped open the paper. if you have ever given a child underwear for christmas, you will know how disappointed i was. i opened my guest and i realized that my best friend in the world had given me my first copy of the bible as my christmas gift. i remember thinking, who in the world buys a bible. if you won a bible, you can get one for free in any hotel room in america. god used that experience to plant as the. i was so mad i wanted to give

the bible back. my friend was smart. it was a black, and iv, paperback bibles. he had put my name on the front cover. you cannot regift it or return it. good luck trying to give someone a bible with the cover torn off. i threw it in the back of my closet and i refuse to to read it. -- i refused to read it. my grandfather died suddenly. the thing that was so hard was i never got to say goodbye. i could not even remember if i had ever told him how much i loved him. i was so mad about all of the

time that we had wasted when we were together. i remember thinking, i would give anything to have five more minutes with him. i begin to wonder if i would ever see him again. does this place called heaven really exist. if it exists, have you get into heaven? yet have a million dollars to impress god or you have to be good when hundred percent of the time or do you just have to be good to do what percent of the time. maybe god grades on a curve. i started reading that bible out of desperation. this would be a great testimony if i had a sudden epiphany but it was not so easy for me. i read about noah, the tower of babel -- i thought these were disney stories. i had no idea they came from scripture. i was confused about what i read and i was looking for a shortcut. i did not find any easy answers and i put it away. god used that experience to plant as we -- ac.

a seed. number one, i want to know if you exist. if you exist, i want to know how to worship you. my friend c grew so frustrated because nothing was working. one pastor said that bobby is so stubborn i don't think he'll ever become a christian. people give up on people. but we worship an all-powerful god. [applause] we worship a god who can do whatever in our lives to bring us back and closer to him. god used what was most important to me. i was a normal teenaged high school boy. he used a teenage high school girl to get my attention. it makes sense if you think about it. there was a pretty girl in my school that i had liked. my friends were tired of

hearing about it. i went and spoke with her and it was amazing how easy it was to talk to this girl. before i knew it, i couldn't believe myself, it was going better than i thought. she like to me and i liked her. -- she liked me and i liked her. of course, i screwed it up. my kids want to play sports. this little girl gave me an answer i had never heard before. she said, when i grow up, i want to become the united states supreme court justice. and i thought, who in the world wants to be that? what normal kid dreams about that? i asked her why. she said, a cousin when she grew

up, -- she said when she grew up she wanted to save innocent lives here in america. and i wondered how we had gotten onto such a serious subject. i just wanted to talk to a pretty girl. i realized there was something in her life that was missing in my life. i would later realized it was the holy spirit in her life. god used that experience to plant a seed. about that time, i best friend invited me to come listen to him sing in a church musical. they played a black and white film in the middle of the musical. there was an actor playing jesus crucified on the cross. i don't know why god chose that moment. i have been asked throughout the years. i have no idea why that church in that moment god hit me harder than i have ever been hit before. it hit me. that is really, the son of god dying for me and my sins. for bobby jindal.

it was that personal. the youth pastor came out and said -- if you have not accepted jesus christ as your lord and savior, we want to talk to you. we started meeting every day and studied scripture. the words jumped off of the page. it was like jesus was talking to me from 2000 years ago. we prayed together. soon, i knew what i had to do. i would later say the most important moment in my life is easy. the moment i found jesus christ. if i am honest. it was when he found me. i encourage you to plant seeds. you don't know whose life you might change for all of eternity. i want to turn my attention to the freedom part of today's conference. there is an all out assault on freedom in the united states.

we can talk about it in terms of the second amendment. they don't think you're smart enough to buy the right health insurance. by the way, in case you are worried, the president will defend us against trans fat. he want to declare radical islam, but he will declare war on trans fat. i have a dear for the president. i will protect my own kids from oreos, medieval christians like the crusaders if he will do his job as commander in chief and hunt down these radical terrorists. [applause] i want to talk about the assault on religious liberty. i gave a speech at the reagan library over a year ago and i said this is all was coming.

it is here. there are several examples starting with the hobby lobby case when the government wanted to find them over a billion dollars a day because they did not want to use their money to pay for abortions. how many of you are happy that the supreme court found in favor of hobby lobby versus the government. [applause] why was that not a 9-0 ruling. a second example. phil robberson said some things that may people wrong and they wanted a and e to cancel his show. i was one of the first to stand up for him because they were friends, they film it in louisiana, and it is fun to watch with my family. but i am also tired of the have proper c of the left.

-- hypocrisy of the left. the third example. the fight in indiana and arkansas where big business made an unnatural alliance with the radical left to attack religious liberty and conservatives in those states i have a message for big business, by the way. you are now in bed with folks that want to tax and regulate you out of business and they profit is a dirty word. economic freedom and religious freedom rt to view a sides of the same coin. we are not the party of big government or big business. i am standing for religious liberty every chance i get. [applause] the fourth example, you may have seen hillary clinton say that those of us who are pro-life

need to have our religious police changed. my religious beliefs are not between me and hillary clinton. my religious police are between me and god almighty. [applause] i am not changing my believes because they make her unhappy or unpopular with the left. when you hear hillary clinton or president obama say we have freedom of religious expression, all they need is that you can say what you want in church. that is not religious liberty. religious liberty is the ability to live our lives according to our religious beliefs. unlike hillary clinton and president obama, my views on marriage are not evolving with the polls. i believe in traditional marriage between a man and a woman. [applause] this fight is bigger than marriage. and make no mistake about it,

this fight is about religious liberty. about whether we really do have first amendment rights. withouti will summarize this in a way that even the liberals in hollywood can understand. the united states of america did not create religious liberty. religious liberty created the united states of america and there is a reason we are here today. [applause] i want to close with the following thought. this president and secretary clinton are intent on trying to divide us. we must remain united as a country. one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [applause]