we are determined to determinedp winning and winning and winning. are you tired of it yet? not yet. we are going to make this country safer, stronger, and i am confident that with your help and support, we are going to succeed. thank you all, it is an honor to be with you. may god less this country and all of us together. [applause] thank you. hello. good morning. senatore to introduce cory gardner. [applause] i am here because elizabeth warren was unavailable. [laughter] she spent all day yesterday with corey and she said she never had so much on in her life. did you see that double date they had with the cap and joe?

maybe not a lot of msnbc watchers out here. i got some links off the grudge report. show, the craig silverman show. every saturday from nine until noon. i've have the show for your your the first guest on my first show was a guy named congressman cory gardner. i liked the man and i liked his family. i like his colorado roots. i like his law school background. he doesn't write about that. but he is a lawyer. i like the way he treats paper. i like the way he loves the greatest state in the greatest country in the world. like the way he supports the jewish state of israel. cory is respected by his fellow legislators and his poetical party and by our president. someday comewell

the first person from the great state of colorado to be president of the united states. it is my honor to introduce colorado's own senator cory gardner. >> please welcome colorado's own u.s. senator cory gardner. ♪ sen. gardner: good morning wester conservative summit how is everybody doing? i didn't hear him talking about my student loan. i don't like that much. thank you for all of you for the opportunity to be here today. there is no other place to be than colorado in a great rocky mountains summer. but, maybe a great rocky mountains winter or spring or -- this is a great state. we are glad you are here.

as we were driving here this morning, i was reminded of my grandmother. a woman named and gardner carried all of her 4 foot glory. she grew up in denver a few miles away there. graduated from denver east high school. she knew that my dad would probably never bring us kids to denver to learn to drive in the big city because i live in a little tiny town out in yuma. she said, i don't think your dad will ever teach you how to drive in the city. so, when we were 15, she brought us to denver. she stopped on the interstate, got out of the car, and she said you are driving. ages of driving legally were a little bit different. but it reminded me of the tenacity that she had for life.

it wasn't long after that that she made sure she took my sister and i to downtown denver to see the place. -- the plays. to go out to restaurants to learn which fork to use, because back home we had one fork and in this idiot they had or than one. -- in the city they had more than one. i started inking how she weighs -- i started thinking about how she raised her two sons. what it meant when she met a grandfather and moved out there. i became filled with the motions that we all share today about our families and faith and who we are. that is a notion of gratitude. a notion of gratitude that i don't think we spend enough time in america talking about today. gratitude for our country. gratitude for our god-given rights. for those people in our lives

whether it is our emily members or in this case i grandmother, who have around us invested so much of their time to make sure we learned. it is gratitude for our country and others around us that are truly going to hold us together as a nation. i believe that conservatism, true conservatism is built on gratitude. gratitude for those blessings that i have talked about. gratitude for the extraordinary nation and the incredibly brave men and women all around us who stand up for our nation time and time again here at that we have the ability to pursue happiness. happiness that we find in families, ace, our work. gratitude for the men and women like my grandmother who made sorifices argent her family that we could chart our own paths. we are all grateful in this room for the extraordinary nation we have.

that gratitude is the core of what motivates us and how we continue to keep the faith and keep the fight. to preserve what makes this nation extraordinary and to continue to perfect this union. it is not a novel idea the idea of gratitude. it goes all the way to our founding. one of george washington's first acts was to establish a national day of thanksgiving. in his thanksgiving day proclamation, he called to give their thanks to god and he wrote "let us render unto him our sincere and humble tanks for his kind care and protection. for the mercies of his providence, for the great degree of tranquility which we have enjoyed for the civil and religious liberty which with we are blessed." arguably the other greatest president had the same idea. thanksgiving

proclamation came in the middle of a terrible civil war. amid the bloodshed, lincoln thought it was necessary to pause and give thanks. high god,"the most well dealing with us in anger neverthelesshath remembered mercy. it seems to be fit and proper that they should be gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole american people." both of these american men made gratitude a matter of utmost national significance. of the empty new all along that gratitude is not complacency. washington presided over the war that founded america. lincoln presided over the war that kept her from coming apart. gratitude is freedom's reserve a tip. freedom's preservative.

but sometimes preserving freedom requires a fight. those of us in this room know that all too well. we are here because we know there are those that would undermine our freedoms and who detest the nature of freedom in favor of statism. they will never rest. bureaucrats and washington usurp our 10th amendment rights that reflect the people will. they try to make controversial sets notions as race, educational choice, and limited government heard lawmakers squandered the inheritance of our children and threaten the ability of our enterprise system. i am grateful to each and every one of you for all that you do to write back against these and so many other threats. you all are part of the reason that we know we have important degrees to celebrate today as well. last year when i came to the western conservative summit we talked about the opportunities of the united states congress

was committed to and we would pass a tax cut will to benefit all americans. we did just that. i stood up and told you that we would use our majority to return to you what is yours to begin with. i said we were going to cut taxes on hard-working families, americans, and all businesses here it that is exactly what we did. i said that we would cut regulations and over the past two years we have cut regulations i over $80 billion and we are not done yet here it. [applause] sen. gardner: we have continued to roll back relations that put a boot on the throat of american economies around the country. we passed legislation to make it for thanks to get money back in their community. making it easier for businesses to start a business. thenow what happened during obama years. we saw more businesses going out isbusiness is that business

starting. that is not who we are as a country. we have been able to do more than just tax reform. tohave recommitted our party the idea that when we put conservative judges on the bench, our constitution will be upheld. three world. justice neil gorsuch. this, when we accomplish limited government to get washington out of the way, we know we have a country that is not only great but will continue to be an america on the rise. withld that looks to us that exceptional notion in mine. and indeed america, we are rising again. america is back and we are mighty. fruitful peace talks on the peninsula for the first time and speak korean war. thanks to our fearless heroine of the united states and nikki

haley and the leadership of global leaders, like kim jong-un are beginning to stand down. after a decade of trying to make nice, america is respected again on the world stage. live under a to foreign policy of strategic patience. we can show the strength and maximum-- strength in pressure. i talk about judges. home, we are appointing judges who respect the rule of law and will not make the law. judges who view themselves as guardians of the constitution as the federalist papers barely dated. the senate and president have confirmed a record number of judges. you have to go back over 100 years to see more circuit judges nominated by a first term or steer president. -- first year president. these judges are young and principled jurists.

the importance of the guardianship of the constitution. when americans went to the voting booth and this last election, they made one thing clear. those judges matter. americans were tired of judges to getting from the bench in order to add ants their own pursuits and agendas. americans made it plain that they wanted since a bold jurists . we're filling a pipeline with judges who want to be a judge in not a resolution of a cause for them, but for the constitution. will shape our country for generations to come and we should he proud of the work that is being done. that is why the next fight from our next fight is so important. there is only one body that confirms judges and that is the united states senate aired we have the potential to confirm scores more of these constitutional judges that we have to keep the senate.

the media knows this. the media is afraid of this. that is why they want us to fail. they are already writing their stories are a you can see it in the news. they don't want to think we will lose the house and senate, but i think they are tearing it on. this past election was a rebuke of their narrative that our movement is on the outs. is not expiring. we are stronger than a lover. -- stronger than ever. while we celebrated victories in 2016, there was a dark side to that election, a dark side that we in this room, everyone in the conservative movement must recognize. even as hillary clinton lost, we must address it. the most dangerous thing to happen in america in the 2016 presidential election was bernie sanders normalization of socialism.

bernie normalized socialism for a broad set of the electorate, mainly young voters. a generation of young voters who have never lived through an era where the evils of socialism played out in eastern europe night after night after night on the evening news. they didn't see the socialist boot on the neck of the hard-working people in once prosperous nations. they did not see people clamoring to be free from the grip of the iron curtain. are not seeing what should be wall to wall coverage of the once prosperous nation of venezuela buckle under the undying weight of socialist ideology. president trump was right. venezuela is not a failed example of socialism, it is listen at work here it as americans, we used to be able to point to socialism as a fringe element of the left and treated as think that would ever be , foundedor the country

on liberty and freedom. we took it as something to mock and to say, they have gone too far. we know they have gone too far. but bernie sanders changed that. his successful hostile takeover of the democratic party means that his policies are now used as a litmus test for democratic candidates. across the country and in primary after primary, bernie sanders acolytes have run and in some cases one. they are in colorado two. it is easy to dismiss this as politically advantageous to the right. that is because the thinking went, they nominate a radical the more likely we are to win a general election. but we know that mentality is lazy. we must take this threat seriously. it earns the candle lit for freedom at those ends if we ignore it. on election night, some of these socialists will win and be

elected to state, local, or federal office. once this happens, the normalization of bernie sanders brand of democratic socialism will be complete. socialism will have gone mainstream here it candidates will be held to this new standard on the left. versus be our system their system and some of their policies will prevail. and our government as we know it will have changed. how fight we must to roll those changes back. as conservatives, we believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we believe in what thomas jefferson fought for all those years ago. we believe in hard work and the ability for a man or woman to pull themselves up and achieve their own american dream. is teachingm, it redistribution and mandates.

fact, it actively destroys them. i know this and i know you do too. we all know the threat and risk of socialism. our parents and grandparents taught us about the dangers. once great nations following -- falling into desperation. it is incumbent upon us now today to make sure we are teaching the next generation of americans that danger just as our parents taught us. it is upon us to be the standard bearers of liberty and to never let that socialism take route. -- take route. this, and when we do this, i know that our movements best days lie ahead. are people who have always written our own story. we came together when the nation was falling apart. to date we are a big tent in the

canvas under the belief that it is men and women together in our work. they build up this nation and make it great. it is the fruits of our hard work of individuals that drive our economy forward. up the next generation of great american citizens. it is the cultural and religious institutions that ring people together. democrats want people to believe that this is the government's job. conservatives believe that the government job is to stand down or step back that we the people have the right to continue to live our lives in edom. -- in freedom. most importants protect the-- is to people.

it was the republicans who passed the homestead act. democrats were against us then to. the republicans have always believed that prosperity is not a zero-sum game. we succeeded in the eyes of the nation. turned to the west to colorado. newhomestead act opened a chapter in american history, where big dreamers set off to claim a piece of the earth for the cells and their families. the children and grandchildren they hoped to have heard parts of the unsettled west like where we stand now were built up by visionaries that wanted to create something. they felt emboldened to do some to protect what they thought was rightfully theirs. men and women like my great great grandparents moved west after the act passed. dreams, their hopes and for a life in that new land. for the dreams to come.

, in you are on your way home want you to think about the car that you are in and the streetlight that you see. the airplane that you notice overhead. know that these great technological revolutions of our time, the phone in your pocket, the facetime with your relatives , those innovations came from a great nation dedicated to ourwering and bettering people. it was not just any nation. it was the united takes of america that gave these technologies and innovations and through our efforts, the hard work and innovations of the american people, we have made this world a better, greater place. that those dreams that come, when we stand up and fight for what we believe in him at that liberty and freedom that make this nation great.

the opportunities and ink that make lives that are and empower people. they will betinue spread around the globe thanks to the people in this great country. i am here today because of these dreams. for that, i have eternal gratitude. that gratitude is what i take with me next week when i had back to washington. i will not rest in fighting for each of you. every one of you. and the rightful claim to your of thato our share american dream and an american that will always be on the rise. god less the western conservative summit. thank you for the opportunity to be with you all. remember this, we have a great nation because we believe this nation is always worth fighting for. god bless you all. [applause]

rossi,se welcome josh colorado christian university student. josh: the museum of the bible is a rich interactive new treasure in the heart of d.c. in visiting the museum several weeks ago, i was taken aback i the amount of detail and care given to its exhibits. mcafeemilar way, michael shows his care and love for the church and bible in his everyday work. through his efforts, michael shows the world the amazing works of god, and yet his humility and trust for the lord is out ending. in his own words, god is good, and he does good, even it is not the good we desire. please help me welcome michael mcafee. >> please welcome michael mcafee, the director of community initiatives of the

museum of the bible. good morning. thank you so much for allowing me to be her. i am very excited to be with you this morning. i want to extend a special thank you to my friend jeff hunt for the opportunity to be here. from theou greetings museum of the bible and hobby lobby. we mentioned the museum of the bible, our family has been the founding family. the museum itself has been supported by tens of thousands of people all over the world and many of whom i am sure are in this world. the museum opened up last year in washington, d.c. and it is three blocks from the nation's capital. there are 97 museums in our nation's capital and the museum of the bible is the third largest museum. it is also the most technologically advanced. i hope you get a chance to come and see it. the thing that takes it distinct is that it is privately funded.

we receive no private funding. i hope you will come see us soon. the museum of the bible is founded on this conviction, that the world is a better place when people read the bible. regardless of your background or your political preference or your religious affiliations, that we see time and time again when people engage with this book, it causes the flurry sea of society. thatnight we had a lecture shows some recent scientific research that shows that when the bible was introduced into prison and an prisoners. morale began to increase and behavior began to improve. that is not just true in our presence, but also true in life as well. the bible, you cannot imagine our world outside of his books impact on every area of our society.

in our hospitals today nation around the world, because people who love the bible wanted to care for the sick. we have compassion ministries and the justice system we have is founded on biblical principles. even government ourselves. of the matter of fact, you may not know this but there was several flags we had during the american revolution. lag that wasas a used by george washington and his army. imagine a white flag with a large pine tree and it had this phrase on that flag, "an appeal to heaven." ,hat was taken from john locke who has coined a famous a hundred years before. we remember phrases give me liberty or give me death. no taxation without representation.

phrase, an appeal to heaven was important. said, awhat locke person is denied their god-given rights by an authority, a can appeal not to the human authority, but to a heavenly authority and thus an appeal to heaven. what i would like to do is to begin this conference, this important weekend together by considering what does the bible have to say about the government's role. i think this will benefit to you even if you wouldn't identify yourself as a christian or jew at all. if you have a bible, open it up to romans 13. exposition longest on how we are to view government in the bible. if, we are jumping into the middle of an ancient email to the church in rome. let the catch you up to what has happened in romans 13.

paul is writing this letter to christians who are living in rome here they are living in the global superpower of the day. on the outskirts of the roman empire at what is going on currently is the roman empire has just named a new caesar. a new emperor. a man by the name of nero. this 17-year-old boy will have one of the most infamous rains -- reigns. he will become infamous for lighting his garden at night i setting the bodies of christians on fire. paul begins by unpacking the gospel. paul says, i am not ashamed of the gospel. anyone believe. that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god.

, the wages of:23 our sin is death but internal life. no condemnation for those in christ jesus. and, confess with your mouth not that caesar is lord that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead. in romans 12, he turns and says in light of all this good news, here is how you are to live. particular3, he in turns his attention to letrnment and says this, " every person be subject to the governing authorities. there is no authority except from god, and those that list have been instituted by god. whatever the authorities resist what god has appointed. those who resist will incur judgment. contact noto good

bad. would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will iseive his approval, for he god's servant. if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not air the sword in vain. he is the servant of god, and avenger who carries out god's wrath on the wrongdoer. b and subject to an not only to god's wrath, but" god has absolute authority over all governors -- all government. god is the one who truly has authority. let every person be subject to the governing authorities, including nero, for there is no authority except from god. those that have been instituted have been placed there, have been instituted by god himself. this would have been a very difficult teaching in this day. can you imagine?

claudius had commanded all jewish people to leave rome. the bible says that god changes at times and seasons. he removes kings and he's up things. this means that god has raised up every government that exists today or has ever existed. all there is -- there is no authority except from god and those that exist have been instituted by god. because god has absolute authority, there is a couple things we can do. we don't place our hope in any one nation or tweet love of america and we fight for its good, but we have the opportunity to have a greater hope. absoluteod has authority, we don't even place our hope in politics. well politics is important and we engage in politics, that is not ultimately where our hope lies. in the world we live in today, it is hyper political. we politicize everything we do.

a pluralistic society under a secular government, many of whom has a rich tradition of religious leaders involved in politics and much of our government was founded on consoles out in the bible. as we become more and more diverse, the question for us as a society is how are we going to navigate these waters can sort the divide that exist tween us? i want to come to you today to suggest that those will not be sorted out through politics. while politics is important and his power, ultimately, it's like fire. you need higher to live. it rings heat and light. especially in ancient societies. two don't want a whole village to be made up of fire. you don't want everything in higher. you don't come to an out of control iron with or fire. well politics is urgent, there is a greater hope that we have in the bible that is ultimately the answer for the problems that

we see today. jesus himself rose above politics. he was not a republican, pharisees, or a democrat, said he sees. so, i would say that we should be primarily identified not by our political persuasion, but i the principles we hold that work themselves out in politics. not the is the means ends its self. god has absolute authority over all government and god delegates authority to all governments. so the crazy thing, i married into the green family. whenever we began going to the hobby lobby case journey, one of the family members with the most speaking experience, i was commissioned to share why we were in the case we were in. i had zero authority. i was not in a position of leadership at the company or at

the museum of the bible at the time. but i came as an advocate or ambassador from people who gave the authority, from my in-laws. in a similar way, god says this is how government works. god has all authority and he delegates a portion of his authority to government to rule in a way that brings the flourishing of evil. the same way he gives parents authority over his children. and pastors and ministers authority over their church members. opening government is obeying god. when we serve the government, we serve god. he give us government to restrain evil. therefore, we want to honor the government therefore forgot. -- four god. a the parking meter. pay your taxes and rejoice that you are getting to honor god. when a police officer pulls you over, inc. him as a minister and servant of god it says in

chapter 13, for carrying out his god-given duty. we can honor our governments officials and people in the community that work for those reasons. but when we honor the government forgot, we honor god for our government. so, nazi germany could have read this passage and did as let every person be subject to adolf hitler, for there is no authority except for god. therefore, they said, they cannot question or challenge hitler's sure it. clearly, what the passage is saying is that there is a greater authority. god has all authority and we want to honor him in all we do. the united hates people have been delegated authority from god to government. we honor the government as an act of worship to god. when the government asks us to violate its command, we must honor god as primary.

we must make our own appeal to heaven. this is what we celebrate that happened with jack phillips this week p this was our story in the hobby lobby company p we were asked to do something by the government that we felt violated god law. so to force hobby lobby to provide for and pay for contraceptives that were the potential to end life violated our conscious. thankfully, the u.s. supreme court agreed. thankfully, the u.s. supreme court agreed with jack phillips as well. we must contend for the religious faith of all people. one of the things that a chimeric or unique is that our government does not give us our rights. it recognizes we already have god-given rights. so we hold these truths to be self-evident. all men are created equal. they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. among these are life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness. what does this look like? how are we to live out teaching? what does it look like to begin to love our knees and our nation and the unique and specific way? how can we make a difference to make politics a part of the answer to the problem but not center? rest that we look no further than the cross. jesus himself. jesus in the last week of his life was approached with a political question that was a trap. should we pay the taxes to caesar? you see what is happening. he has a side coming to him that once him to say no, you shouldn't pay the tax. if he says don't pay the tax, he is a revolutionary and rome will kill him. but if he says yes, you should pay the tax, then the jewish people, who are excited about him will see he is a revolutionary at all. he is no different. so jesus, caught in the quandary

asks for a coin. he looks at it and says whose face is on this coin? caesar. then render to caesar that which is caesar's and give to god that which is god's. caesar may have his face on the client but god owns the coin that was made here at god owns caesar himself. god owns the throne that caesar is sitting on at this very point in time. so when he stands that week i-4 pontius pilot and pilate says to him, do you not know that i have the authority to see you killed but he's people want or to set you free? but he's people want or to set you free? jesus response, you have no authority except what has been given to you and what has been delegated to you by my father. so jesus went to the cross. he went to the cross because pontius pilot went to the cross, that because god sent him to the cross. heaven, appeal to

calling out my god, my god. why not calling down angels to take him off the cross, he subjected himself to government authorities. even in suffering, that is how we are to live. the love of god and the grace of god would be poured out on us. now, jesus is our perfect appeal that we can make to heaven. so, i pray for you and i pray for us and we will be a people that live this way. thank you. welcome seven 10k and u.s. talkshow host peter boyles. peter: good morning everybody. my name is pete boyles i do the morning show on 710. all the guys working on error and we have been involved with the western conservative summit

since the concept. we all get involved to introduce certain people. i drew the short straw, so i got george brock were. .e is my friend i met him 10 years ago. this is a true story. we ran a contest, who wants to be talkshow host and this young, fresh faced guy one. years later, i said i think that is the guy that one our contest. .e has been a tremendous friend he serves in the military today and has been a tough prosecutor, some of the toughest cases. he had the aurora theatre shooting and he has always been a man. he is my friend socially, politically, and i think he hung the moon. it is my pleasure to introduce to you and i hope he is the next attorney general. if you look at numbers come i think it is like seven sitting governors used to be ags and a are in theormer ag's

senate. i love him dearly. george brockler. >> please welcome george colorado candidate for attorney general. ♪ i hope they don't expect me to sing along. inh the lights right there my eyes, it looks like a packed room. don't dissuade me from thinking that. it looks packed. -- 153ed and 53 mornings mornings from right now, we will in places all across this country and for the tens of you that's ill read the ethical newspaper and the rest of us who do it on our phones and ipads, we will look and see what we have just accomplished on november 6. we will look and see what the future of this date and country

has become. that whato tell you we are looking to do is fortified freedom but there is one in particular up for election in 30 different states across this country. it is more powerful than you can possibly imagine. no, not governor, those pretty men and pretty women that give driven around by the state patrol. it is not that one. it is not u.s. senators with their perfect hair. cory gardner? come on? [laughter] his lasthat share a be political asset. i don't know. it's not either of those things. it is the attorney general. this is not your grandfather or grandmother's attorney general office anymore.

the states that will be deciding who is going to be there next ag, their next defender of their populace. the protect your of their laws and constitution, 30 of them. states as small as insignificant florida, california, new york, and even where we sit right now. attorneys general in this country will face an election. these positions have become weaponize over the past couple of years. we have seen a sick to forget change in these when it comes to things like the rule of law. you will remember that before president trump, we had eight years of a different president. during those eight years, there

lawsuits.ltistate almost all of them bipartisan to prevent the federal government from overreaching into our state and telling us how to live our lives. 46. that is less than six a year. , the democrate attorneys general across this differentled 47 multistate actions -- i'm sorry, 35 multistate actions to stop not federal overreach, but to prevent federal under reach. here's the examples. under president obama, do you guys remember that there was some legislation and ideas for governance that were so radical they could not pass congress?

one of them, waters of the united states. it sought to regulate every accumulation of water bigger than a puddle and co-opt it and make it regulated by the federal government. do your member that? a bipartisan group of attorneys general and said no. that is not the role of the federal government. that is not what the constitution ensures. we will not stand for it. and administrative rule that hijacks our water. had you heard of the clean power plan? the clean power plan was so radical that it too good not pass congress. , andgh an agent the role administrative action, the federal government sought to dictate to beach and every state and territory the level of emissions that they must have come at the cleanliness of their air. that epa under president obama said that the clean air act of 1990, the one that had been in

force for a quarter century was somehow now ambiguous. hijacked states ability to govern its self and did an end run around congress. congress, through the cra says we disagree with this rule. president obama vetoed the rejection of that overreaching rule. who came to save the day? attorneys general across the country. in a bipartisan fashion, they sued to prevent the federal government from taking over more state responsibility. you know who else agreed with them? the supreme court of the united states. in an unprecedented fashion they delayed the plantation of that rule. today it is different. today, we see a president is willing to give back to states the ability to make decisions for themselves. [applause] george: today, we have a

president who says, these are matters so big they cannot he determined by a 3-2 vote of and an illustrated agency. congress must act. who is standing in the way of this new liberty? of this new discretion? across thet ag's united states part what they have done is to take this position which for decades was a mere protector of the laws and constitution and turned them into little more than political ambulance chasers. sou can almost see the ad right now. academic looking sitting on the edge of a death, behind him, a person who has ever been in a courtroom for

the cameraoking into saying "liberty that you down" does your neck hurt from being backed over by a truck load of freedom? call me. the crazy progressive ag, i can help you accomplish in a courtroom what you could not accomplish through the democratic process. call me. we will legislate through which it -- through litigation. ont is what is at stake november 6 across our country. there are a great number of ideas out there that need to be debated in congress. maybe net neutrality is one of them. maybe daca. maybe anything to do with immigration. can i just say right now, if you are out there and you are a member of congress or you know someone, can we please get them to do something on the immigration issue? can we get them to do something,

please? we have created a situation here with daca, we are talking about the rule of law. we have allowed the president of the united states to say, i disagree with this congressionally passed law and i will stop enforcing it. that is outrageous. we can't tolerate that. the only people that seem to have the ability to stop them are either ag's or congress. we need them to act. look, this debate we have on these issues, these things that will take place in congress, regardless of the outcome, as conservatives we are people that believe the democratic process achieves the right result. the other side believes that the ends justify the means. we cannot let government become machiavelli and.

we must insist that the democratic.emain the districtlonel, attorney of one million people in this state, as the father of four public school attending the issues are as varied as the opioid crisis, human trafficking, the increasing violent crime rate, and also the things that govern how states regulate themselves, i plead with you to leave this room when you do and take a renewed interest in those spots that you make have only given scant thought to. those attorneys general are the new third u.s. senators across the country. it is important that whoever we put in those positions, independent of party or personality, is someone who is

committed to our loss and committed to our constitution. i leave you with these three things, i want more democracy and less your accuracy. legislation and less litigation. you hear from this great state, 5280 feet up in the is what is making you feel funny. it's not the legalized marijuana. it is the air. i want more colorado. les washington, d.c. andame is george brauchler it has been an honor to speak in front of you. thank you very much. [applause] >> please welcome courtney rainier colorado christian university student.

courtney: thomas jefferson once said that the true price of freedom is eternal vigilance. he understood the importance of conserving american l use, ethics, and foundational principles regardless of what change may come. in the same way, our next speaker strives to protect and preserve the very characteristics that is find our society. her work is the ice president -- her work as the vice president -- a strong national policy. her hard work and dedication to understanding truth has come to serve as an example to countless other conservative leaders. she exhibits nothing but vigilance. ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome jennifer marshall.

>> please welcome jennifer marshall, weiss president of the heritage foundation. ♪ jennifer: good morning and thank you, courtney. isn't the work of ccu and students like courtney so impressive? [applause] jennifer: it gives me a lot of hope and i hope it does to you for the future of our country. i want to read weight ccu and the centennial institute and thank jeff hunt for the opportunity to be with you here today. i want to talk about the issue of poverty. how we can respond with effective compassion to it. i think this is an issue that cries out for conservative leadership. i want to talk about that today. i want to begin i telling you about a gathering that took place here in denver seven years ago. it brought together next gang

leaders, on convicts, recovering addicts. they got together to talk about what it takes to overcome poverty and social breakdown. they should know. they are experts. they have seen this issue from both sides. now, instead of pushing drugs, they are helping addicts overcome their addiction. instead of being members of gangs, they are helping young people find belonging and healthy relationship. the others of us in the room were there to learn from these runs line experts. it was very educating and insightful for us. aboutatherings talking poverty or urban problems have a lot of masters of social work in the room, counselors and licenses of all kinds and officials of all types here it credentials are the conventional poverty.to fighting not this room in denver seven years ago.

it was a much different profile. almost none of the leaders in that room at that time if it -- time fit that credential. the woodson center in washington is top has a ton for decades to go into communities and identify people who are succeeding at transforming lives, transforming communities and helping them overcome addiction, gangs, come out of prison and reenter society, gainfully employed and overcome homeless. what he found is that the leaders who are having the most success at this are those whose strength has come through weakness. they themselves have hit rock bottom third a be through addiction, maybe through committing crimes, maybe through losing loved ones to gang violence.

these leaders did not just transcend tough circumstances themselves, they came right back and put themselves in the middle and find those in need like they had been in the past and testify to the power of transformation in their lives. when others are tempted to give up on lost causes, these are leaders who believe enough in the dignity of those they serve to expect more and see a brighter future for them. those expectations can translate into pretty strict handers. one person who was legendary in this regard was a man named bob. he passed away a few years ago, but he has left a legacy in this city for his work helping men overcome addiction. the way he got to this work was that he himself was an alcoholic on the streets of this city.

until faith transformed his life and he sought to give that gift to others. he started a project, a residential center for men trying to overcome addiction. he was a drill sergeant for the orderliness and tidiness of center. very tough. he believed in the dignity of those men and he wanted them to believe in their own dignity. because of it, he ran an incredibly successful center compared with other work in the area of overcoming addiction. i'm sorry to say, public policy to often undermines work like this. government handouts without expectations undermine the tough love approach is of people like bob woodson. policy must change in order for these good works to be able to expand their transformational

efforts. focused ation have lot on the material needs of the poor. but we haven't done very well in our concern are the overall it dignity and well-being of those who are in tough circumstances. we need, if we are going to really address need, we have to begin i understanding that need goes much deeper than material circumstances. if we want to be of service to our neighbors, we must begin by accurately diagnosing the reasons for poverty around us here in the united states. poverty here in america is much bigger than the kind of poverty we see in the developing world abroad. that extreme poverty is marked by a lack of a sick food, housing, basic goods that are needed for everyday life. here in america, that type of extreme poverty is all but eradicated. people do experience hardships,

sometimes severe, but it is not the typical situation in the united states. the living standards of the poor have improved dramatically over the last 75 years. today, the typical family considered for by the federal government that has children in the home has at least one car, more living space than the average household in rants, a microwave, many other material goods. anti-poverty efforts have focused on material hardship and they have made progress in lifting up the material living conditions of the poor. for that, we can rejoice. but we cannot be satisfied with it. anti-povertynment programs began in the 1960's under president lyndon johnson when he launched the war on poverty. since then, government spent $25 trillion on anti-poverty programs.

each year, the government spends $1 trillion on assistance to poor and low income americans on cash, food, housing, medical socialnce, and other service programs, totaling 80 different programs across the federal government here it. those statistics tell us, if we were going to win the war on poverty through spending, we would have done it a long time ago. [applause] war on poverty government handouts have not succeeded in lifting up more americans to self-sufficiency, that they have succeeded on making far more americans dependent on government for their welfare. this status quote is not done justice to the poor, and no one should say that we have done our duty by calling for more federal

spending, and yet more federal spending, for anti-poverty programs. poverty in america goes far deeper than material need. it has to do with relational needs, the kinds of relational ands that x gang members former addicts were talking about here in denver seven years ago. poverty is linked to father absence. in the mid-1960's, a percent of children were born to unmarried mothers. 8% of children were born to unmarried mothers. today, 40% of children are born to unwed mothers. among blacks, seven of 10 children are born to an unwed mother. the strongest factor predicting child poverty is absence of marriage, absent in that child's

home and absence of marriage in the community around that home. ishild born outside marriage five times more likely to experience poverty than a child born to a married couple and raised in an intact family. seven out of 10 for families with children are headed by a single parent. correlationnore the between the collapse of marriage and child poverty. and tackling this kind of poverty is far more complicated than calling for more federal tax dollars. if we want to fight poverty and welfare dependence it is crucial that we get to work on restoring marriage and family and community. [applause] strong marriage is a powerful .ntidote against poverty jerem : one of my favorite stories about outreach to restore marriage

begins with an unlikely friendship. the story begins in dallas with a man name roderick, a drug dealer who lived with his girlfriend and their four children in public housing. and a church from across town was doing outreach in that neighborhood, and some guys would play pickup basketball and roderick joined them. and through their ministry, roderick became a christian. and soon after coming to faith, he felt the need to marry the mother of his children. and do you know what? very first wedding that roderick ever went to was his own. he did not have an example of healthy, strong marriage to model after in his own life. so one of the ministry leaders goinged, if roderick is to have a strong start in his marriage, we need to find him some mentoring, an example. so the ministry leader reached

out to a couple named ron and cheryl, empty-nesters, totally different background, that soon they were befriending this young couple and having sunday dinners at holidays together, swimming parties, shopping trips, a beautiful friendship emerged. that is the kind of creative, life-giving out rich we need in order to restore marriage and family in america. beyond these private responses cheryl,ple like ron and when public policy interventions are necessary, it is important that government assistant work -- government assistance work with the way that humans are designed for flourishing agreed and too often the opposite is happening. providesgovernment eight and discourages people from work who are able, and the sad fact is that all of our programs today do not require work, we need programs that are

going to work with human nature to encourage work, because of human dignity and the way we are designed after the pattern of our creator, putting our hands to a task that is meaningful. this is the way we contribute to the dignity of our neighbors and debt -- neighbors and contribute to their long-term flourishing. programs make it more advantageous for a single mother to stay single, then to marry a man with a job. this needs to change. must notre, government get in the way of those who are working so hard, and with great andess, to rebuild family community. faith-based foster care and adoption agencies are doing exactly that, when they place children with a loving mother and father. and yet we have just seen the city of philadelphia, officials

telling catholic social services in that city that they will no longer be able to partner in serving foster children and placing for adoption there. why? catholic social services is committed to placing children with a mom and a debt. the same thing has happened in boston and washington dc and illinois, to religious groups who have long histories of successful service in these areas. have drivenfficials faith-based agencies out of the work of serving children in need because they don't happen to 'sree with government definition of marriage. the neediest children are hurt the most by such punitive policies. what makes the situation in philadelphia all the more outrageous is that the city had just issued a call for 300 more families to volunteer for foster because of the roles

becoming so large in the wake of the opioid crisis. this doesn't make sense. when it comes to meeting needs like these in fighting poverty, the first rule of policy must be to do no harm. in order to accomplish that, policymakers must reform welfare and protect religious liberties. 1996 isare reform of inl known as a great success reducing dependency and poverty because it required work as a condition of receiving aid. [applause] it's a good thing to cheer about. but that reform only received one of several dozen federal programs. what that means is that policy is still failing to do justice to the poor, and it still is undermining the good work of people like bob woodson. that is why we at heritage are working to promote robust work

requirements and more federal programs, like food stamps, which is currently under consideration in the congress. as for religious liberty, we had an important victory this week at the supreme court on the bay half -- on the behalf of jack phillips. much to cheer about. [applause] libertye are religious cases incorporate behind it. the aclu has gone to court attacking the religious freedom of faith-based adoption agencies. we will continue to see these challenges. that is why congress and state legislatures need to defend the religious liberties of these child welfare agencies, with bills that are called the child welfare in collusion act. they will protect the religious liberties of these good samaritans in their communities. friends, we have a great deal of work to do. many of you are involved in relational outreach of the kind i have talked about today.

i am sure our foster and adoptive parents. do not grow weary and your work -- in your work. let's work together to achieve the kinds of policies that will protect these good listen on the freeze -- the free c-span radio app. >> c-span where history unfolds daily br. and979, c-span was created today, we continue to bring you unfiltered c