2009 Values Voter Summit
Washington, DC
Friday, September 18,
2009
[ TRANSCRIPT from FRCAction, corrected by DEMOCRACY IN ACTION]
Well thank you very much. And no Brett Favre is not part of the
cash for clunkers progam, so...(laughter, reactions) He's going to be a
Super Bowl quarterback this year
I’m delighted to be with you tonight, and I’m honored to be the
governor of the great state of Minnesota. And of course, one of the
privileges and perks of being governor of a state is you get to travel
around your state and hear these great stories. And I heard one the
other day about these two gentlemen were sitting out on a bench outside
of the pearly gates waiting for their opportunity to talk to St. Peter,
and one gentleman turned to the other and said, “So how did you get
here?” The guy said, “Well, you wouldn’t believe it, but I came across
a situation where this motorcycle gang, you know, big and
brutish-looking people, they were threatening and intimidating this
young woman, and so I pulled out a tire iron out of my car and I
wielded it and I yelled, ‘Hey, knock it off’ and I went over to their
row of motorcycles and I kicked over the whole row and knocked 'em all
down. And then I went up to the leader, the biggest one, the most
muscular one of the whole group, and I went right in his face and I
grabbed his nose ring and I yanked it out.” And the other guy on the
bench said, “Well, my goodness, when did that all happen?” The guy
said, “Just about a minute ago.” (Laughter.)
Now, I share that story with you because we’re here to talk about our
values. We’re going to talk tonight a little bit about our values, but
it is important that we not just talk about our values, we also need to
be able to translate those into action and results, so it’s important
that we know what we believe, why we believe it, that we’re able to
communicate it to others in effective and powerful and inviting ways,
but we also have to make a difference by making sure that our values
get implemented, and that’s why I’m so glad that you’re part of this
gathering here, the Values Voters, an organization that is committed
not just to values but to action, to voting, to mobilizing, and
frankly, holding public officials accountable because I know you’re
tired and I’m tired of sending people to places like Washington, D.C.
under the banner of, you know, the conservative or values jersey and
then they don’t behave or vote like we expect them to behave and vote.
So let’s hold them accountable and each other accountable as well.
(Applause.)
Now, I know some in the audience or in the press, they always say, “Oh,
isn’t this hard? I mean, my goodness, you’re facing a lot of challenges
as conservatives and people who embrace traditional values.” I can tell
you about hard. I grew up in a town of South St. Paul, Minnesota. I was
the only Republican in my family. Back then it was the world’s largest
meat packing plants and the world’s largest stockyards in South St.
Paul, Minnesota. For a good chunk of their lives my one brother worked
for a grocery store for 40 years as part of the United Food and
Commercial Workers. My other brother worked at an oil refinery as part
of the Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, and for times they were union
stewards. My other sister is a one-on-one special ed aide in public
schools and my other sisters worked for 40-some years for a company as
a secretary or administrative assistant. And they’re all Democrats.
And my mom died when I was young, age 16, and not too long after that
my dad lost his job for a while, and so we had a lot of discussions in
our family about hardship and values and oftentimes politics, and
they’d get pretty heated. And so I'd have some discussion with them–
you know, do you really want your taxes raised in a place like
Minnesota? Oh, no, they’re high enough, I’m with you on that. Well,
what about education, do you think we should plow more money into the
schools or do you think we should them hold them accountable for
results? No, darn right, let’s hold them accountable for results. Well,
what about health care? Do you want the federal government taking the
thing over or do you think you and your doctor should make those
decisions? No, we’re with you on that. What about even some of the more
controversial issues like second amendment rights? No, we love to hunt
and fish, don’t mess with our guns. And on down the list. And so they’d
agree with us on, you know, seven, eight, nine, ten of the top issues.
You know, how come you’re not with us then as a conservative or my
party, a Republican? Well, because you guys aren’t always for the
working person. You’ve heard that before? So that’s a stereotype we
need to overcome.
But in Minnesota, I’m here to tell you as the governor of, to put it
charitably a left-leaning state (laughter), if we can do it there –
now, this is the land of Eugene McCarthy. It’s the land of Hubert
Humphrey. It’s the land of Walter Mondale. It’s the lane of Paul
Wellstone. And it’s the land of United States Senator Al Franken.
(boos) If we – if I and the Republicans in Minnesota and the
conservatives can govern Minnesota and make a difference and make
progress with conservative goals and values and principles in mind, as
Frank Sinatra said, “If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.”
And we can do it across this great land. (Applause.)
Now, as you know, you’re gathered here because you share a belief in
those values. Those values are under attack. These are not just
conservative values. Our values our American values. (Applause.) They
are not rooted in pop psychology, they’re not rooted in feelings,
they’re not rooted in emotion. They are rooted in the wisdom and
experience of our founding fathers and the faith and the wisdom that
they brought forward in the defining moments of this nation. And so we
need to remind each other and remind our fellow citizens about the
importance of those values. Why they exist. And part of that is
educating. Part of that is raising awareness and I know that's
part of why you’re
here for these next two days. So what are they? And time doesn’t
allow to go through all of them, but let me give you a few by way of
example.
At every turn, at every gathering we should start with first things
first by thanking and acknowledging God (Applause.)
Now in Minnesota we do this in a variety of ways with prayer breakfasts
and days of prayer and prayer proclamations and other faith gatherings
and public proclamations about the importance of faith in our
lives. This is not politically incorrect, it’s
not politically sensitive. This is what our nation was founded
on; this is what our Founding Fathers believed. It’s
in our founding documents for the United States of America. (Applause).
There are many, many examples of that, but let me give you one that I
think is particularly elegant. In the preamble of the Minnesota
Constitution, the very first paragraph of our founding document in my
state, in the very first sentence it says this: “We
the people of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious
liberties...,”
and then it goes on to talk about the perpetuation of blessings and the
importance of spreading it across our state and to our citizens.
So if it’s
good enough in the founding documents, the cornerstone documents for
our Founding Fathers, it should be good enough for us in our time with
our fellow citizens. (Applause).
Our Judeo-Christian values are important, they are traditional, and
they are the basis for so much of our country. Now, we have some folks
who are skeptics about that. I’m reminded of the story – the true story
of Tony Blair, the former prime minister, who came to our prayer
breakfast here in Washington, D.C., about a year or so ago. He recalled
a story that as a young schoolboy his father had suffered a terrible
stroke. It was life-threatening and quite severe. And he remembers
being in school and having a teacher pull alongside him and bend down
on his knee and whisper to him, “Tony, I’m going to pray for your dad.”
And Tony reminded the teacher and remembered the teacher and said, “But
teacher, my dad doesn’t believe in God.” And the teacher said, “That’s
okay, Tony. God believes in your dad. God believes in your dad.”
(Applause.)
So as value voters, as conservatives, as Americans, I gather with folks
like us in meetings and rooms and there’s a lot of concern. People are
worried and they’re afraid and they see an uncertain future. They see
an un-secure future with a lot of the things that are swirling about in
our great nation.
They know that this government-centric viewpoint of this administration
and the Congress and the federal takeover of so much, and more by the
hour, more by the week, more by the day, is corrosive to our culture.
It’s corrosive to our individual spirit and our spirit of freedom. But
do not get discouraged. Keep the faith, and have heart, because
remember, God is the God of all. He’s the God of the White House, of
the Congress, of state capitols, of school board meetings, city council
meetings, all of it. So our job as value voters and concerned citizens
is to get up each day, to be faithful, to work hard, and our job is to
put in our best effort, and God owns the result, so do not lose heart.
(Applause.)
In addition to thanking and acknowledging God, another important value
that we need to articulate strongly and boldly and effectively is the
value of respecting and protecting life at all stages of life.
(Applause.) I am proud to stand for life as a governor. I am proud to
stand for life each year on the anniversary of Roe vs Wade on the steps of our
Capitol to defend life as a value and as a principle. But I’m also
proud that we’ve made progress on this issue, even in a state like
Minnesota. And we shouldn’t be afraid of this issue. This issue is a
cornerstone issue for our culture, for our society. If we can’t stand
for protecting and defending life and respecting life, then all else is
lost because it is foundational. Life is a blessing. It is a precious
gift that’s been given to us, and it needs to be respected and
protected. (Applause.)
In Minnesota we’ve done a number of things – I won’t go through them
all – but one that I’m most particularly proud of and it’s been very
impactful is I’ve proposed and signed into law the so-called women’s
right to know bill, which provides women important information who are
considering abortion, and it also provides a waiting period for them to
consider their decision. That combined with many other measures and
efforts of good-hearted people all across Minnesota has significantly
decreased the number of abortions performed in my state, and it’s a
very effective piece of legislation. (Applause.)
But as we discuss this issue, we should always remember that this is
about changing hearts and about changing minds. As we change hearts and
change minds, changes in laws will follow. Changes in members of
Congress will follow. Changes in the courts will follow. But it starts
with changing hearts and minds, so we need to be loving and effective
in the way that we communicate our views because we have convinced each
other, now we need to convince more to join our cause.
Another value I want to just speak to you briefly about is very
important and that is the value of respecting and defending the
Constitution of the United States of America. (Applause.) We stand for
the principle of a limited and effective government, and a measure of
the fidelity to that principle is making sure that the Constitution is
remembered in its original intent and that the Constitution is the
measure of the limited and effective government. There’s lots of ways
to do it, but a really important way is to make sure that the people
that get appointed judges are strict constructionists and don’t make up
the law on the back of a napkin. (Applause.)
A really important example of this is defending and protecting
traditional marriage. All domestic relationships are not the same, and
traditional marriage needs to remain elevated in our society and in our
culture. Marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, and I
sponsored that legislation when I was in the Minnesota Legislature, and
we should make sure that the people are heard on this, that the
Constitution is heard on this, not courts who are making up the law in
the backroom. (Applause.)
Now, this is not some radical notion or some extreme notion. My
goodness, when it’s been put to the vote of the people even in left-of
center places like Oregon and – California voted twice for traditional
marriage. If they can support traditional marriage in California we
should do it all over this country. (Applause.)
I’m very concerned that the direction that President Obama’s
administration is headed is in the direction of activist judges, and we
need to do all that we can to slow that down and stop it and bring
strict constructionists to the bench.
Another important value is the value of living within our means and
being responsible with our finances as a nation. (Applause.) It is a
measure of again a limited and effective in the proper scope of
government. I read an article today – I read an article today that said
within ten years it is likely that the debt of the United States of
America will be 70 to 80 percent of the entire gross domestic product
of our nation. Not long ago our United States Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton was in Communist China on rhetorical bended knee
pleading with the Chinese to continue to buy our debt because if they
don’t our ability to pay our bills would be jeopardized. We go around
the world asking foreign sovereign wealth funds to support our debt so
we can pay our bills. Is that the United States of America that you
want to live in? (Audience: No).
There are many just unbelievable examples of the reckless and
irresponsible spending that’s taking place in Washington, D.C., but one
that really gets my goat is the cash for clunkers program. Now, think
about this. We are borrowing money we don’t have in many cases from the
Chinese to pay ourselves cash to buy cars from ourselves from companies
that we own so some day we might be able to pay ourselves back. Does
that make economic sense to anybody in this room? I mean it’s
ridiculous.
So Minnesota, we’ve taken a very different view of how we should be
fiscally responsible. We celebrated or sesquicentennial last year in
Minnesota, 150 years of history in my state, and guess what? In no
two-year budget cycle in the history of state ever has spending gone
down in real terms until I became governor. (Applause.) If we’re asking
our citizens in these challenging times to live on flat or declining
revenues, if their paycheck is shrinking or staying flat, or worse yet,
if they’re laid off and they don’t have growing resources and they’re
having to tightened their belts, government should do the same thing.
(Applause.)
So in Minnesota in this budget, by way of example, we’re reducing
spending in real terms 7.6 percent. I’ve got the most vetoes of any
governor I think in Minnesota history. And we’ve reduced spending by
the largest margin in the modern history of the state, and we’re
turning that left-of-center state into a fiscally responsible state.
(Applause.)
I also want to just visit about the value – the value of understanding
and remembering that it is weakness, not strengths, that temps our
enemies around the world. We have a circumstance of an anniversary this
week. It was 70 years ago this week that Russia invaded Poland. Now,
I’m half Polish so I don’t bring that up just for that reason. But
everyone remembers or should remember what that means in terms of the
threat to the national security of our Eastern European friends then
and now. In today’s terms we have North Korea and Iran threatening not
only to develop nuclear weapons but to operationalize it on missiles,
in medium or long-range missiles down the road. President Obama
announced today that he is abandoning plans for the radar missile
defense system in the Czech Republic and the missile defense
capabilities that were to go into Poland. He also is cutting the
defense budget in this important area. And by the way, an overwhelming
share of the discretionary budget reductions that he’s proposed or
talked about are in defense. Now, this does a number of things. One of
the things it does is if you’re in Poland or you’re in the Czech
Republic and you’re an ally of the United States and you stick your
neck way out of the United States of America because we asked you to,
and you get in big trouble for that within your country, the last thing
you want to see is the United States of America pulling the rug out
from underneath you. So if we’re going to stand with our friends, we
need to stand with our friends, and we need to stand strong. (Applause.)
History is clear. Appeasement doesn’t work. Appeasement didn’t stop the
Nazis. Appeasement didn’t stop the Soviets. Appeasement didn’t stop and
hasn’t stopped the terrorists. And we need to stand with our allies
like Israel. We need to stand like our allies with Eastern Europe
(applause). And we need to be strong and confront the challenges that
face our nation’s security. We also need to remember the value of
individuals and families deciding their health care decisions for
themselves. (Applause). This issue is a case study for all that’s
taking place in Washington, D.C. You heard it all. But I want to just
highlight for you the Democrats’ plan is an absolute financial
monstrosity. This is a plan that if you count it from full – full
implementation ten years out, it’s not a $1 trillion plan, it’s
approaching a $2 trillion or more plan. The president of the United
States has said, you know, “We don’t have any more money.” He said that
in a recent interview. “We’re out of money.”
Well, with all due respect, Mr. President, if we’re out of money, stop
spending it. (Applause.)
It’s also a plan that features taxes on employers, taxes on
individuals, taxes on manufacturers of life-saving medical devices and
technology and down the list. It’s a bucket load of tax increases. Even
with that, it doesn’t even begin to pay for itself, and the question we
should be asking amongst others is, “What happens when the money runs
out? What happens when the money runs out?” And it will. Two states or
so have tried essentially this same thing. It doesn’t work. It is
nowhere close to containing costs. It has gone the other direction. And
when the money runs out they’ve got two basic choices after we’ve
already given up our rights to the federal government. And by the way,
they’ve run into the ground or put on the pathway to bankruptcy every
entitlement program that they have. Social Security is on a pathway to
bankruptcy. Medicare is on a pathway to bankruptcy. Medicaid is on a
pathway to bankruptcy. They can’t run the programs they have. Why would
we give them another one to run into the ground? (Applause.)
But what happens when the money runs out? They’re going to have two
basic choices. They can raise taxes some more or they can begin to
ration care. I don’t like either option and I know you don’t either.
This proposal needs to get killed. It is a bad idea. (Applause.)
President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress not long ago
regarding this topic, and he said he’s going to start calling people
out on this debate by name. I guess I was the first one up this
morning. The DNC put up a video or some sort of thing attacking me on
this debate for various things I’ve said in recent weeks and months,
and I accept the challenge. And I’ll just respond by calling out the
president back tonight. And I would say – (applause) – and what I’d
like to say to him is, DNC and he calls me out, I’ll call you out, call
you back, and here’s my message: Stop spending the country into
bankruptcy. Stop taxing us into oblivion. And the next time you address
a group of young people maybe you should apologize for the crushing
debt you’re putting on their shoulders. (Applause.)
And one additional challenge. If, as he and the Democratic Congress, or
some of the Democratic Congress say, “Oh, no, we’re not for public
funding for abortions,” then don’t duck, don’t bob, don’t weave, put
the language of the Hyde amendment in the health care bill. (Applause.)
I want to close with one last story. It’s a true story. In January of
1981, it was a cloudy, cold day in Washington, D.C. It’s a time when
the country was discouraged and worried, hostages were being held, the
economy was in deep trouble. And shortly after noon on a January day,
1981, Ronald Reagan walked out of the United States Capitol and he
strode to the podium to be sworn in as the president of the United
States of America. As if on a director’s cue, the clouds parted and a
ray of sunshine hit the podium and him, and Ronald Reagan said later
it’s as if a burst of warmth or an explosion of warmth hit his face at
that very moment.
As he prepared to take the oath, they opened up the Bible that he was
going to be sworn in on and they opened it up to a passage where his
mom, Nell, had written. It was II Chronicles 7, and the passage reads
as follows: “If my people, who are called by my name will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(Applause.)
Now, in the margin was Nell’s handwriting. She had made a note decades
before, not knowing what her son was going to do in the future. And in
her handwriting she wrote: “A great verse for healing the nations” – “A
great verse for healing the nations.”
So there’re many lessons to be drawn from that, but just a few as we
confront difficult times as we do now and surely we will again in the
future. We need to do so with humility. We need to make sure that we
are focused on wise values, not just wisecracks. We also need to what
are values are. We need to know why they are important. We need to work
hard and we need to humbly ask God to continue to bless the United
States of America.
Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it very much.
Have a great conference.