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Sen. Ted Cruz: Turning America Around
FrontPage Magazine
by Frontpagemag.com
12/6/2013
Excerpt:
Editor’s note: (Embedded) is the video and transcript of Sen. Ted Cruz’s keynote speech at the Freedom Center’s 2013 Restoration Weekend. Restoration Weekend took place November 14th-17th at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Ted Cruz: Thank you. Wow. What a tremendous introduction. What a tremendous comparison to the Last Lion, Winston Churchill.
You know, I have to note — I can think of at least one person on the face of the earth who, in a tiny, tiny, tiny aspect, would agree with that comparison. And that is President Obama.
(Laughter)
Because he would, I think pretty assuredly, like to send my head back to England.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Let me say a word about David Horowitz. David is profoundly principled. And he commits one very simple act that has incredible power over and over again. He tells the truth. Telling the truth is so rare in our modern world that it seems utterly bizarre. And yet, the truth has a powerful, powerful impact. And David is fearless. Utterly fearless.
You know, in Texas, we’re proud of a lot of Texans. The one Texan we’re particularly proud of is Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris is a tough guy.
You know, a lot of kids across this country wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.
(Laughter)
And Chuck Norris wears David Horowitz pajamas.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Now, the night is getting late. So I’m going to make a promise to you. I’m going to try my very, very best to speak for under 21 hours.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
But you will know that I’m nearing the end if and when I begin to read “The Cat in the Hat.”
(Laughter)
Twenty-one hours is a long time. I mean, it’s really a long time. That’s almost as long as it takes to sign up on the Obamacare website.
(Laughter)
You know, I haven’t talked about Forest Gump. I think President Obama has discovered Obamacare is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to find.
(Laughter)
All of us are here tonight because we love this country. We’re here tonight because we love our kids, we love our grandkids. And we’re worried about the future. And one of the great things of being a parent is that kids, I think, have a unique ability to instill humility, frankly, whether you want it or not.
Couple of weeks ago, Heidi and our girls — we have two daughters, Caroline and Catherine. Caroline’s five, Catherine’s two. Just turned three. They were up in DC. And it was a Sunday afternoon, we were driving down to Mount Vernon. And we’re driving down there, and Caroline asks her little sister, Catherine, she says — Catherine, what do you want to do when you grow up? And Catherine says — I want to work in the US Senate.
(Laughter)
I want to work with Daddy. And Caroline says — oh Catherine, that’s boring.
(Laughter)
We’re going to be in a rock band. And then she throws in the zinger. She says — besides, Daddy will be dead by then.
(Laughter)
This is a true conversation. I’m sitting there, driving, going — hello, I’m right here.
(Laughter)
Frankly, I kind of wondered if maybe Caroline had been speaking with Republican leadership.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
If maybe she knew something I didn’t know.
These are times of big challenges in this country. And yet, I want to come with a word of encouragement. I’m incredibly optimistic for turning this country around. And I want to tell you three things that we need to do together to turn this country around.
Number one — champion growth and opportunity. Number two, defend American interests. And number three, empower the people.
Let’s start with the first one. You know, in the last four years, our economy has grown 0.9 percent a year on average. 0.9 percent. I can tell you, in the less than a year I’ve served in the Senate, every day my top priority has been bringing back economic growth, bringing back jobs. The reason is simple — because growth is foundational to every other challenge.
You want to turn around unemployment? You want to turn around our national debt? You want to maintain the strongest military in the world to protect our national security? You got to have growth.
You know, there’s only one other four-year period since World War II of less than one percent growth on average — 1979 to 1982. Coming out of the Jimmy Carter Administration, it was the same failed economic policies — out-of-control taxes, spending, and regulation. But it doesn’t work. Produced the exact same stagnation.
Now, President Obama is fond of saying that he inherited the worst economy in the history of the universe. Anyone here remember the 1970s?
(Laughter)
Double-digit unemployment, 22 percent interest rate, stagflation, gas lines? And yet, in 1981, a very different President came into office.
(Applause)
Ronald Reagan came into office and implemented policies the exact opposite of Barack Obama’s. Instead of jacking up taxes by $1.7 trillion, Reagan cut taxes and dramatically simplified the tax code. Instead of exploding national spending and the debt, Regan restrained the growth of spending. And instead of unleashing regulators like locusts to destroy small businesses, Reagan pulled back federal regulation. The result was some of the most incredible economic growth this country has ever seen.
By the fourth year of Reagan’s presidency, 1984 — anyone know what GDP growth was? 7.2 percent. 7.2. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean in a real sense? One point David makes all the time — Republicans, we talk like a bunch of accountants. We put on green eyeshades. I’ll tell you, a friend of mine who’s an accountant said — how do you tell an extroverted accountant? He looks at your shoes when he’s talking to you.
(Laughter)
Now, in the interest of all the accountants in the room, I’m obliged to tell a lawyer joke in response, which is that I don’t know if you’ve heard, a number of laboratories across the country have started using lawyers instead of rats in their experiments.
(Laughter)
This is true, this is true, this is true. But really, for two reasons. Number one, the scientists were getting too attached to the rats.
(Laughter)
And number two, there’s some things even rats won’t do.
(Laughter)
What does that growth mean? What does 7.2 percent mean? It means that if Barack Obama coming into office, inheriting the same lousy economy Ronald Reagan inherited, had implemented the same economic policies Reagan implemented, and if the same economic growth had resulted, by today, we would have an additional seven million new jobs. Seven million. That is the equivalent of taking every single person who is unemployed in 46 of the 50 states and finding a new job for every one of them.
That’s transformational. That’s what we need to stand for. How do you get growth back? You do what has worked every time we’ve implemented it. You do tax reform, you do regulatory reform, you unleash entrepreneurs and get the economy growing. It worked in 1980, it worked in 1960, it worked in 1920. We stand for growth.
Fundamental tax reform — you know, every year we spend roughly $500 billion on tax compliance? That’s about the entire budget of our military. Wasted, pure deadweight loss. Lawyers and accountants filling out government paperwork. We need to dramatically simplify the tax code. I think the best solution of all — we should abolish the IRS.
(Applause)
You look at regulatory reform. The most important regulatory reform we could do is to repeal every single word of Obamacare.
(Applause)
And let me make a point about Obamacare. Boy, it is amazing how things can change in a couple of weeks.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Three, four weeks ago, in DC, people asked over and over again — why are you guys fighting so hard on this? Today, nobody asks that.
You know, a couple of weeks ago, Jay Leno came out on his show. He said — so, President Obama called me. He said — Jay, if you like your job, you can keep it.
(Laughter)
Last week on Leno, Leno came out and said — so, holiday season is coming up. Thanksgiving. You know, the first Thanksgiving, the pilgrims said to the Indians — if you like your land, you can keep it.
(Laughter)
What a powerful indication, a barometer of where this country is. Look, Obamacare is a disaster.
(Applause)
It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, millions of people have been forced into part-time work. Over five million people have already had their health insurance canceled.
Now, this compassionate President says — well, your health insurance was substandard. So now you don’t get any.
(Applause)
Thanks a lot!
And you know, the shoes will keep falling. One of the next steps that more and more people are going to discover is you can’t see the doctor that you’ve been seeing. We’re seeing hospital chains all over this country — Texas Oncology, one of the leading cancer providers in Texas, has just said it’s out. It’s not dealing with Obamacare at all. Visit with a cancer survivor whose doctor they suddenly can’t go to anymore.
One of the next steps we’re going to see this spring, since nobody is signing up for this thing — it was actually funny, “Saturday Night Live,” when they made fun of this, they made a joke saying — we designed the website for six people to sign up.
(Laughter)
And then we discovered, on the first day, six people signed up.
..........................................
View the complete article, including video, at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/fro...merica-around/
FrontPage Magazine
by Frontpagemag.com
12/6/2013
Excerpt:
Editor’s note: (Embedded) is the video and transcript of Sen. Ted Cruz’s keynote speech at the Freedom Center’s 2013 Restoration Weekend. Restoration Weekend took place November 14th-17th at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Ted Cruz: Thank you. Wow. What a tremendous introduction. What a tremendous comparison to the Last Lion, Winston Churchill.
You know, I have to note — I can think of at least one person on the face of the earth who, in a tiny, tiny, tiny aspect, would agree with that comparison. And that is President Obama.
(Laughter)
Because he would, I think pretty assuredly, like to send my head back to England.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Let me say a word about David Horowitz. David is profoundly principled. And he commits one very simple act that has incredible power over and over again. He tells the truth. Telling the truth is so rare in our modern world that it seems utterly bizarre. And yet, the truth has a powerful, powerful impact. And David is fearless. Utterly fearless.
You know, in Texas, we’re proud of a lot of Texans. The one Texan we’re particularly proud of is Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris is a tough guy.
You know, a lot of kids across this country wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.
(Laughter)
And Chuck Norris wears David Horowitz pajamas.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Now, the night is getting late. So I’m going to make a promise to you. I’m going to try my very, very best to speak for under 21 hours.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
But you will know that I’m nearing the end if and when I begin to read “The Cat in the Hat.”
(Laughter)
Twenty-one hours is a long time. I mean, it’s really a long time. That’s almost as long as it takes to sign up on the Obamacare website.
(Laughter)
You know, I haven’t talked about Forest Gump. I think President Obama has discovered Obamacare is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to find.
(Laughter)
All of us are here tonight because we love this country. We’re here tonight because we love our kids, we love our grandkids. And we’re worried about the future. And one of the great things of being a parent is that kids, I think, have a unique ability to instill humility, frankly, whether you want it or not.
Couple of weeks ago, Heidi and our girls — we have two daughters, Caroline and Catherine. Caroline’s five, Catherine’s two. Just turned three. They were up in DC. And it was a Sunday afternoon, we were driving down to Mount Vernon. And we’re driving down there, and Caroline asks her little sister, Catherine, she says — Catherine, what do you want to do when you grow up? And Catherine says — I want to work in the US Senate.
(Laughter)
I want to work with Daddy. And Caroline says — oh Catherine, that’s boring.
(Laughter)
We’re going to be in a rock band. And then she throws in the zinger. She says — besides, Daddy will be dead by then.
(Laughter)
This is a true conversation. I’m sitting there, driving, going — hello, I’m right here.
(Laughter)
Frankly, I kind of wondered if maybe Caroline had been speaking with Republican leadership.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
If maybe she knew something I didn’t know.
These are times of big challenges in this country. And yet, I want to come with a word of encouragement. I’m incredibly optimistic for turning this country around. And I want to tell you three things that we need to do together to turn this country around.
Number one — champion growth and opportunity. Number two, defend American interests. And number three, empower the people.
Let’s start with the first one. You know, in the last four years, our economy has grown 0.9 percent a year on average. 0.9 percent. I can tell you, in the less than a year I’ve served in the Senate, every day my top priority has been bringing back economic growth, bringing back jobs. The reason is simple — because growth is foundational to every other challenge.
You want to turn around unemployment? You want to turn around our national debt? You want to maintain the strongest military in the world to protect our national security? You got to have growth.
You know, there’s only one other four-year period since World War II of less than one percent growth on average — 1979 to 1982. Coming out of the Jimmy Carter Administration, it was the same failed economic policies — out-of-control taxes, spending, and regulation. But it doesn’t work. Produced the exact same stagnation.
Now, President Obama is fond of saying that he inherited the worst economy in the history of the universe. Anyone here remember the 1970s?
(Laughter)
Double-digit unemployment, 22 percent interest rate, stagflation, gas lines? And yet, in 1981, a very different President came into office.
(Applause)
Ronald Reagan came into office and implemented policies the exact opposite of Barack Obama’s. Instead of jacking up taxes by $1.7 trillion, Reagan cut taxes and dramatically simplified the tax code. Instead of exploding national spending and the debt, Regan restrained the growth of spending. And instead of unleashing regulators like locusts to destroy small businesses, Reagan pulled back federal regulation. The result was some of the most incredible economic growth this country has ever seen.
By the fourth year of Reagan’s presidency, 1984 — anyone know what GDP growth was? 7.2 percent. 7.2. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean in a real sense? One point David makes all the time — Republicans, we talk like a bunch of accountants. We put on green eyeshades. I’ll tell you, a friend of mine who’s an accountant said — how do you tell an extroverted accountant? He looks at your shoes when he’s talking to you.
(Laughter)
Now, in the interest of all the accountants in the room, I’m obliged to tell a lawyer joke in response, which is that I don’t know if you’ve heard, a number of laboratories across the country have started using lawyers instead of rats in their experiments.
(Laughter)
This is true, this is true, this is true. But really, for two reasons. Number one, the scientists were getting too attached to the rats.
(Laughter)
And number two, there’s some things even rats won’t do.
(Laughter)
What does that growth mean? What does 7.2 percent mean? It means that if Barack Obama coming into office, inheriting the same lousy economy Ronald Reagan inherited, had implemented the same economic policies Reagan implemented, and if the same economic growth had resulted, by today, we would have an additional seven million new jobs. Seven million. That is the equivalent of taking every single person who is unemployed in 46 of the 50 states and finding a new job for every one of them.
That’s transformational. That’s what we need to stand for. How do you get growth back? You do what has worked every time we’ve implemented it. You do tax reform, you do regulatory reform, you unleash entrepreneurs and get the economy growing. It worked in 1980, it worked in 1960, it worked in 1920. We stand for growth.
Fundamental tax reform — you know, every year we spend roughly $500 billion on tax compliance? That’s about the entire budget of our military. Wasted, pure deadweight loss. Lawyers and accountants filling out government paperwork. We need to dramatically simplify the tax code. I think the best solution of all — we should abolish the IRS.
(Applause)
You look at regulatory reform. The most important regulatory reform we could do is to repeal every single word of Obamacare.
(Applause)
And let me make a point about Obamacare. Boy, it is amazing how things can change in a couple of weeks.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Three, four weeks ago, in DC, people asked over and over again — why are you guys fighting so hard on this? Today, nobody asks that.
You know, a couple of weeks ago, Jay Leno came out on his show. He said — so, President Obama called me. He said — Jay, if you like your job, you can keep it.
(Laughter)
Last week on Leno, Leno came out and said — so, holiday season is coming up. Thanksgiving. You know, the first Thanksgiving, the pilgrims said to the Indians — if you like your land, you can keep it.
(Laughter)
What a powerful indication, a barometer of where this country is. Look, Obamacare is a disaster.
(Applause)
It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, millions of people have been forced into part-time work. Over five million people have already had their health insurance canceled.
Now, this compassionate President says — well, your health insurance was substandard. So now you don’t get any.
(Applause)
Thanks a lot!
And you know, the shoes will keep falling. One of the next steps that more and more people are going to discover is you can’t see the doctor that you’ve been seeing. We’re seeing hospital chains all over this country — Texas Oncology, one of the leading cancer providers in Texas, has just said it’s out. It’s not dealing with Obamacare at all. Visit with a cancer survivor whose doctor they suddenly can’t go to anymore.
One of the next steps we’re going to see this spring, since nobody is signing up for this thing — it was actually funny, “Saturday Night Live,” when they made fun of this, they made a joke saying — we designed the website for six people to sign up.
(Laughter)
And then we discovered, on the first day, six people signed up.
..........................................
View the complete article, including video, at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/fro...merica-around/
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