PRESS RELEASE from Romney for President
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
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CONTACT: Romney Press Office
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March 20, 2012
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MITT ROMNEY DELIVERS REMARKS IN ILLINOIS
Boston, MA – Mitt Romney
today delivered remarks in Schaumburg, Illinois. The following remarks
were prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Illinois! What a great night!
I’d
like to congratulate my fellow candidates on a hard-fought
contest.
I’d like to thank our volunteers and our friends for their hard work
and unwavering support. And, tonight, we thank the people of
Illinois
for their vote – and for this incredible victory.
Elections
are about choices. And today hundreds of thousands of Illinois voters
have joined millions across the country in our cause.
We
began this movement on a small farm in New Hampshire on a sunny June
day, surrounded by a small group of friends, family, and supporters. We
shared a conviction that the America we loved was in trouble and adrift
without strong leadership. Three years of Barack Obama had brought us
fewer jobs and shrinking paychecks, but many of us believed we were in
danger of losing something more than the value of homes and 401(k)s.
After
the years of too many apologies and not enough jobs, historic drops in
income and historic highs in gas prices, of a President who doesn’t
hesitate to use all means necessary to force Obamacare on the American
public but leads from behind in world affairs, it’s time to say,
“Enough!”
We
know our future is better and brighter than these troubled times.
We
still believe in America – and we deserve a President who believes in
us.
Yesterday
I gave a speech at the University of Chicago, not far from here and
where Professor Barack Obama taught Constitutional Law. It was a speech
on economic freedom and as I was writing it, I thought back to the
lifetime of experiences I’ve had learning the unique genius of the
American free enterprise system. It started when I was just a kid, and
my dad, who never graduated from college, would tell me about his dad,
who was a contractor and never quite made it but never gave up.
Later
I helped start companies that began just as an idea and somehow made it
through all the inevitable difficulties to create thousands of jobs.
Those jobs helped families buy their first homes, put kids through
school, live better lives, dream a little bigger.
For
25 years, I lived and breathed jobs, business, and the economy. I had
successes and failures but each step of the way, I learned a little
more about what it is that makes our American system so powerful.
You
can’t learn that teaching Constitutional law. You can’t learn that as a
community organizer. The simple truth is that this President just
doesn’t understand the genius of America’s economy – or the secret of
our success.
The
American economy is fueled by freedom. Economic freedom is the
only
force that has consistently succeeded in lifting people out of
poverty. It is the only principle that has ever created sustained
prosperity.
But, over the last three years, this administration has been engaged in
an assault on our freedom.
Under
President Obama, bureaucrats prevent drilling rigs from going to work
in the Gulf. They keep coal from being mined. They impede the
reliable
supply of natural gas. They even tell farmers what their
15-year-old
sons and daughters can and can't do on the family farm.
The
administration’s assault on freedom has kept this so-called recovery
from meeting their projections, let alone our expectations.
And
now, the President is trying to erase his record with rhetoric.
Just
the other day, he said, “We are inventors. We are builders.
We are
makers of things. We are Thomas Edison. We are the Wright
Brothers.
We are Bill Gates. We are Steve Jobs.”
That’s
true. But the problem is: he’s still Barack Obama.
And under this
President, those pioneers would have faced an uphill battle to
innovate, invent, and create.
Under Dodd-Frank, they would have struggled to get a loan from their
community bank.
A regulator would have shut down the Wright Brothers for their “dust
pollution.”
And the government would have banned Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Oh,
that’s right. They just did.
The real cost of these misguided policies are the ideas that are never
pursued and the dreams that are never realized.
For
centuries, the American Dream has meant the opportunity to build
something new. Some of America’s greatest success stories are
people
who started out with nothing but a good idea and a corner in their
garage. But today, Americans who want to start a new business or
launch a new venture don’t see promise and opportunity. They see
government standing in their way.
We once built the interstate highway system and the Hoover Dam.
Today, we can’t even build a pipeline.
We once led the world in manufacturing, exports, and infrastructure
investment. Today, we lead the world in lawsuits.
When we replace a law professor with a businessman, that will end.
Every
great innovation, every world-changing business breakthrough begins
with a dream. And nothing is more fragile than a dream. The genius of
America is that we nurture these dreams and the dreamers. We
honor
them, and, yes, we reward them.
That’s
part of what is uniquely brilliant about America. But day by day,
job-killing regulation by job-killing regulation, bureaucrat by
bureaucrat, this President is crushing the dream and the dreamers.
The
proof is in this weak recovery. This administration thinks our
economy
is struggling because the stimulus was too small. The truth is
our
economy is struggling because the government is too big.
You
and I know what President Obama still has not learned, even after three
years and hundreds of billions of dollars in spending: The
government
does not create prosperity; prosperity is the product of free markets
and free people.
This
November, we face a defining decision. Our choice will not be one
of
party or personality. This election will be about
principle. Our
economic freedom will be on the ballot.
I
am offering a real choice and a new beginning. I am running for
President because I have the experience and the vision to get us out of
this mess. We know what Barack Obama’s vision of America is –
we’ve
all lived it the last three years. Mine is very different.
I
see an America where we know the prospects for our children will be
better than our own; where the pursuit of success unites us, not
divides us; when a government finally understands that it’s better for
more to pay less in taxes than for a few to pay more; where the values
we pass on to our children are greater than the debts we leave them;
where poverty is defeated by opportunity, not enabled a government
check.
I see an America that is humble but never humbled, that leads but is
never led.
Today
we took an important step toward that America. Tomorrow, we take
another. Each day we move closer not just to victory but to a better
America. Join us. Together, we will ensure that America’s greatest days
are still ahead.
Thank you and God bless America.
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