Below is a transcript of the speech given by Mitt Romney to the Conservative Political Action Committee – February 7, 2008
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I want to begin by saying thank you. It’s great to be with you again. And I
look forward to joining with you many more times in the future.
Last year, CPAC gave me the sendoff I needed. I was in single digits in the
polls and I was facing household Republican names. As of today, more than 4
million people have given me their vote for president, less than Senator
McCain’s 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless. 11 states have given
me their nod, compared to his 13. Of course, because size does matter, he’s
doing quite a bit better with his number of delegates.
To all of you, thank you for caring enough about the future of America to
show up, stand up and speak up for conservative principles.
As I said to you last year, conservative principles are needed now more than
ever. We face a new generation of challenges, challenges which threaten our
prosperity, our security and our future. I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the
21st century—still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no
longer the superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable.
Simon Peres, in a visit
to Boston, was asked what he thought about the
war in Iraq.
“First,” he said, “I must put something in context. America is unique in the history of
the world. In the history of the world, whenever there has been conflict, the
nation that wins takes land from the nation that loses. One nation in history,
and this during the last century, laid down hundreds of thousands of lives and
took no land. No land from Germany,
no land from Japan, no land
from Korea. America is unique in the sacrifice it has made for liberty, for itself and for freedom
loving people around the world.” The best ally peace has ever known, and will
ever know, is a strong America!
And that is why we must rise to the occasion, as we have always done before,
to confront the challenges ahead. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is the
attack on the American culture.
Over the years, my business has taken me to many countries. I have been
struck by the enormous differences in the wealth and well-being of people of
different nations. I have read a number of scholarly explanations for the
disparities. I found the most convincing was that written by David Landes, a
professor emeritus from Harvard University. I presume
he’s a liberal–I guess that’s redundant. His work traces the coming and going
of great civilizations throughout history. After hundreds of pages of analysis,
he concludes with this:
If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that
culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the difference.
What is it about American culture that has led us to become the most
powerful nation in the history of the world? We believe in hard work and
education. We love opportunity: almost all of us are immigrants or descendants
of immigrants who came here for opportunity—opportunity is in our DNA.
Americans love God, and those who don’t have faith, typically believe in
something greater than themselves—a “Purpose Driven Life.”
And we sacrifice
everything we have, even our lives, for our families, our freedoms and our
country. The values and beliefs of the free American people are the source of
our nation’s strength and they always will be!
The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare programs
created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed
welfare, but the liberals haven’t given up. At every turn, they try to
substitute government largesses for individual responsibility. They fight to
strip work requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to
remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever.
Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a
culture-killing drug—we have got to fight it like the poison it is!
The attack on faith and religion is no less relentless. And tolerance for
pornography—even celebration of it—and sexual promiscuity, combined with the
twisted incentives of government welfare programs have led to today’s grim
realities: 68% of African American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of
Hispanic children, and 25% of White children. How much harder it is for these
children to succeed in school—and in life. A nation built on the principles of
the founding fathers cannot long stand when its children are raised without
fathers in the home.
The development of a child is enhanced by having a mother and father. Such a
family is the ideal for the future of the child and for the strength of a
nation. I wonder how it is that unelected judges, like some in my state of Massachusetts, are so
unaware of this reality, so oblivious to the millennia of recorded history. It
is time for the people of America to fortify marriage through constitutional amendment, so that liberal judges
cannot continue to attack it!
Europe is facing a demographic disaster.
That is the inevitable product of weakened faith in the Creator, failed families,
disrespect for the sanctity of human life and eroded morality. Some reason that
culture is merely an accessory to America ’s vitality; we know that it
is the source of our strength. And we are not dissuaded by the snickers and
knowing glances when we stand up for family values, and morality, and culture.
We will always be honored to stand on principle and to stand for principle.
The attack on our culture is not our sole challenge. We face economic
competition unlike anything we have ever known before. China and Asia are emerging from centuries of poverty. Their people are plentiful, innovative,
and ambitious. If we do not change course, Asia or China will pass us by as the economic superpower, just as we passed England and France during the last century. The
prosperity and security of our children and grandchildren depend on us.
Our prosperity and security also depend on finally acting to become energy
secure. Oil producing states like Russia and Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran
are siphoning over $400 billion per year from our economy—that’s almost what we
spend annually for defense. It is past time for us to invest in energy
technology, nuclear power, clean coal, liquid coal, renewable sources and
energy efficiency.
America must never be held hostage by the likes of Putin, Chavez, and Ahmendinejad. And our economy is also burdened by the inexorable ramping of government
spending. Don’t focus on the pork alone—even though it is indeed irritating and
shameful. Look at the entitlements. `They make up 60% of federal spending
today. By the end of the next President’s second term, they will total 70%. Any
conservative plan for the future has to include entitlement reform that solves
the problem, not just acknowledges it.
Most politicians don’t seem to understand the connection between our ability
to compete and our national wealth, and the wealth of our families. They act as
if money just happens–that it’s just there. But every dollar represents a good
or service produced in the private sector. Depress the private sector and you
depress the well-being of Americans.
That’s exactly what happens with high taxes, over-regulation, tort
windfalls, mandates, and overfed, over-spending government. Did you see that
today, government workers make more money than people who work in the private
sector. Can you imagine what happens to an economy where the best opportunities
are for bureaucrats?
It’s high time to lower taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a
weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform entitlements, and to stand up
to the increasingly voracious appetite of the unions in our government!
And finally, let’s consider the greatest challenge facing America — and
facing the entire civilized world: the threat of violent, radical Jihad. In one
wing of the world of Islam, there is a conviction that all governments should
be destroyed and replaced by a religious caliphate. These Jihadists will battle
any form of democracy—to them, democracy is blasphemous for it says that
citizens, not God shape the law.
They find the idea of human equality to be
offensive. They hate everything we believe about freedom just as we hate
everything they believe about radical Jihad.
To battle this threat, we have sent the most courageous and brave soldiers
in the world. But their numbers have been depleted by the Clinton years when troops were reduced by
500,000, when 80 ships were retired from the Navy, and when our human
intelligence was slashed by 25%.
We were told that we were getting a peace
dividend. We got the dividend, but we didn’t get the peace. In the face of evil
in radical Jihad and given the inevitable military ambitions of China, we must
act to rebuild our military might. Raise military spending to 4% of our GDP,
purchase the most modern armament, re-shape our fighting forces for the
asymmetric demands we now face, and give the veterans the care they deserve!
Soon, the face of liberalism in America will have a new name.
Whether it is Barack or Hillary, the result would be the same if they were to
win the Presidency. The opponents of American culture would push the throttle,
devising new justifications for judges to depart from the constitution.
Economic neophytes would layer heavier and heavier burdens on employers and
families, slowing our economy and opening the way for foreign competition to
further erode our lead.
Even though we face an uphill fight, I know that many in this room are fully
behind my campaign.” You are with me all the way to the convention. Fight on,
just like Ronald Reagan did in 1976. But there is an important difference from
1976: today… we are a nation at war.
And Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the
war on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat. And the consequence of
that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on America,
launched from safe havens that make Afghanistan under the Taliban look
like child’s play. About this, I have no doubt.
I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I
agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on
finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror.
If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall
the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton
or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign,
be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.
This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends
and our supporters… many of you right here in this room… have given a great
deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only
about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel
I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country.
I will continue to stand for conservative principles; I will fight alongside
you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot
allow the next President of the United States to retreat in the face evil
extremism!!
It is the common task of each generation—and the burden of liberty—to
preserve this country, expand its freedoms and renew its spirit so that its
noble past is prologue to its glorious future.
To this task… accepting this burden… we are all dedicated, and I firmly
believe, by the providence of the Almighty, that we will succeed beyond our
fondest hope. America must remain, as it has always been, the hope of the earth.
Thank you, and God bless America.
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