Restore
American Dream by Restoring American Common Sense
Tim Pawlenty
CPAC 2011
Washington, DC
February 11, 2011
[REMARKS AS
PREPARED FOR DELIVERY]
Thank you and thanks to Sean Duffy.
Are you fired up and ready to take back our country? That’s great,
we really need you. You know why?
President Obama has done the impossible. He’s proven that someone
can deserve a Nobel Prize less than Al Gore!
Now, I’m not one who questions the existence of the
President’s birth certificate. But when you listen
to his policies, don’t you at least wonder what planet he’s from?
On what planet do they create jobs by taxing the daylight out of
people trying to grow jobs? On what planet do they try to
reduce the deficit by spending even more? On what planet do they
make health care better by putting bureaucrats in charge?
I do tip the cap to President Obama in at least one area:
he’s pretty good at duping the mainstream media. In fact, some of
them have been reporting that he's behaving like Ronald Reagan.
Can you believe that?
Ronald Reagan knew how to stare down our enemies. He understood
the price of freedom. He understood that putting our people back
to work means the U.S. must be open for business not open to more
taxation, more regulation, and more big government strangulation.
Ladies and gentleman: Barack Obama is not behaving like Ronald
Reagan! He’s behaving like Jimmy Carter!
The individual mandate in Obamacare is a page right out of the
Jimmy Carter playbook. The left simply doesn’t
understand. The individual mandate
reflects completely backwards thinking. They, the
bureaucrats, don’t tell us what to do. We, the people, tell the
government what to do!
We're blessed to live in the freest and most prosperous nation in
the history of the world. Our freedom is the very air we
breathe. Make no mistake: The policies of the left encroach
every day on the very freedom that has made this country great. We
will never, ever, ever stop fighting for our freedom.
If we bend, if we compromise, on this bedrock issue we are in
danger of losing our edge. But there’s a real concern
that we're losing our edge already. Did you know that
a recent survey asked Americans which country they thought would
be the dominant country in the world in just twenty years?
Guess what the answer was? China!
You know what I say to that: No
way! No how! Not the America we
know. Not the America we love!
America's rightful place is not lagging behind
China. America’s place is leading the world!
My friends, we need to restore American confidence,
American optimism, and America’s hope for the future. We need to
restore the American Dream by restoring American common sense.
As Washington proves time and time again, not everyone’s born or
elected with common sense. We need leaders who remember where
they came from, and what made this nation the greatest
country the world has ever known.
For me, that real world experience started in my hometown of South
St. Paul, Minnesota – a place filled with good-hearted people,
strong families and the rock-solid values of the heartland.
Back in the 60s, when I grew up there, it was home to some of the
world's largest stockyards and meat-packing plants. Many families in
my hometown relied on those big plants for their paychecks, for
their family’s well-being and for their future. But those plants
shut down, and so did a big part of the spirit and the soul
of my hometown.
My mom died when I was 16 and not much longer after that, my dad,
who worked for a trucking company, lost his job for awhile.
The foundations of my hometown and my family were shaken hard.
At a young age, I saw up close the face of loss, the face
of hardship, the face of losing a job and I saw in the mirror the
face of a very uncertain future. I know many Americans are
feeling that way today. I know that feeling – I’ve lived it.
But in those moments, we learn some things. We see some things. We
remember what’s important. One of the most important things that
we should always remember is the motto of our country "In God we
trust.” And we should stand on that foundation as our founders
intended.
A few weeks into the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin
Franklin addressed George Washington and the other
convention members, speaking to the bedrock importance of
seeking God’s guidance as they pursued the sacred task of creating
our country.
He said, “I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the
more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the
affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to
the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can
rise without His aid?” Ladies and Gentlemen, we, as a nation,
must move towards God, not away from Him.
The solutions to our problems aren’t easy, but they’re not
a mystery either. We simply need to remind each other what made
this country great and restore America’s greatness by
restoring American common sense. We need more common sense and
less Obama non-sense.
And let’s start with this: We can’t spend more than we take in.
You can't do it as an individual. You can't do it as a family. You
can't do it as a business. And we can’t let our government do
it anymore.
The big spenders in Washington D.C. have us on a course
of trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see.
The federal government spends our money the way Keith Olbermann
talks: too much without a point and it leaves the whole
country confused.
It’s not a matter of right versus left. It’s a matter of 6th grade
mathematics. It isn't going to work. It’s irresponsible,
it’s unsustainable and it’s reckless. Just because we
followed Greece into democracy, does not mean we need to follow
them into bankruptcy!
And, of course, the government spenders come with excuses.
They say, "Oh, Governor, how do you do that? It's too hard. The
politics are difficult and the interest groups are really tough.”
I know something about the spenders and I know something about
difficult. I'm from the state of McCarthy, Mondale, Humphrey,
Wellstone and now United States Senator Al Franken.
But we cut government in Minnesota. If we can do it there,
we can do it anywhere.
The naysayers say “we can’t cut spending; we can’t prioritize; we
have to raise taxes.”
I drew a line in the sand and said, "Absolutely not. We're going
to live within our means just like families, just like businesses,
just like everybody else.”
It wasn’t easy. I set a record for vetoes in my State.
Vetoed billions of dollars of tax and spending increases. Had the
first government shutdown in Minnesota’s history. Took one of
the longest transit strikes in the country’s history to get public
employee benefits under control. And, in the last budget period,
I cut spending in real terms for the first time in the history of
my state.
The federal government should do the same.
Here are a few things I think you’ll agree with me: We should NOT
raise the debt ceiling! We should pass a constitutional amendment
to balance the budget! And here’s one I know you’ll agree with: We
must repeal Obamacare!
And while we’re at it, one more thing: Let’s throw the ridiculous
federal tax code overboard!
Let’s start by requiring, under penalty of perjury, every member
of Congress to do their own tax returns without the help of a
tax preparer, accountant or lawyer. Let them experience
firsthand the moronic, burdensome and intimidating beast that our
tax system has become.
Here’s another commonsense principle from the heartland
that President Obama clearly still needs to learn. And
it’s this: People spend money differently – when it’s their
own money.
Now, maybe you've got time in your busy life to read white papers,
go to seminars, stay up all night and watch cable TV or read
journals about public policy. I hope you do -- they’re really
valuable.
But if you don’t, here’s all you really need to know
about government reform. On a given weekend, go to two weddings.
Go to one where there's an open bar where the drinks are
supposedly free. Then, go to another wedding with a cash bar where
people pay for their own drinks. You’ll see very, very
different behaviors.
Now, I said this on Wall Street not long ago and somebody said,
"Well, who the heck has a cash bar anymore?" That question right
there from a Wall Streeter tells you about all you need to know,
doesn’t it?
If you have a system where people get to consume stuff,
without any of their own skin in the game or responsibility, and
the bill magically goes somewhere else -- that’s a system that is
doomed to fail.
Unfortunately, that describes most of our government. So
whether it’s education, health care, housing, or just about
anything else, we need to put people in charge, give them the
power to make their own decisions, not government.
And the best thing we can do to empower
people is to make sure they have a good job. That means always
remembering this next commonsense principle: The private
sector, not government, is the answer to job creation.
We shouldn’t be looking to Washington D.C. for how to create
jobs.
We should be asking the people who actually provide the jobs!!
When you do, they give you some pretty clear answers. They say:
“Reduce my costs and get government off my back”.
It isn’t that hard.
By the way, in Minnesota our unemployment rate, as I left the
governorship, was significantly below the national average. And since
the crash, we’ve been helping lead the nation towards
recovery.
Ladies and gentlemen, America needs job growth, not government
growth!
Now, you may have learned this next
principle on a playground, in sports, at work, or maybe even in a
back alley. But no matter where you learned it, it’s always
true.
Bullies respect strength, not weakness. So when the United States
of America projects its national security interests here and around
the world, we need to do it with strength! We need to make
sure that there is no equivocation, no uncertainty, no daylight
between us and our allies around the world.
The current administration doesn’t seem to understand
this principle. We undermine Israel, the U.K., Poland, the Czech
Republic, and Colombia, among other friends. Meanwhile, we appease
Iran, Russia, and adversaries in the Middle East, including Hamas
and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr. President, with bullies, might makes right. Strength -- makes
them submit. Get tough on our enemies — not on our
friends. And, Mr. President, stop apologizing
for our country.
The bullies, terrorists and tyrants of the world have lots to
apologize for. America does not.
My friends, none of this is going to be easy. If prosperity
were easy, everybody around the world would be prosperous. If
freedom were easy, everybody around the world would be free.
And, if security were easy, everybody around the world would be
secure.
They’re not. It takes an extraordinary effort. It
takes extraordinary commitment. It takes extraordinary strength to
stand up to those who oppose these principles. But we can do
it.
Valley Forge wasn't easy. Settling the West wasn't easy.
Winning World War II wasn’t easy.
Going to the moon wasn’t easy. This ain't about easy.
We’ve had enough of the hype and speeches filled with rhetoric
that soars – but takes us in the wrong direction. This is
about rolling up our sleeves, plowing forward, standing tall,
and getting the job done.
This is the United States of America. We are the American people.
We have seen difficulties before, and we always overcome. We can and
we will do it again.
We will rise up, as our forefathers did, with the assurance of our
time-tested conservative values, the wisdom of the American people,
and the courage of our convictions.
Thank you. God bless you. And God Bless the United States
of America!