1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: I'm very excited about sharing with you some ideas that 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: I think will really help us, not just this year, 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: but as an American people coming together over the next 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: few years with some very big ideas and with the 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: kind of changes we need if we're going to successfully 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: compete with China and the world. Though the proposal I 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: have outlines the leadership challenge we have as citizens in 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: our generation. We have an opportunity to bring together a 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:38,959 Speaker 1: very large American majority, not just a narrow Republican majority. 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: You know, there is huge agreement among a vast majority 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: of Americans on many key issues. There's a potentially vast 12 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: movement focused on solving problems, emphasizing positive values that unify, 13 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: while drawing a clear distinction between most of Americans and 14 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: the small elitist minority which is sought to dominate and 15 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: distort America. An American majority movement would be in the 16 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: best tradition of President Ronald Reagan, who began as a 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: Democrat and became a Republican, but always sought to appeal 18 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: to the broadest range of citizens. An American majority movement 19 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: would also draw lessons from Prime Minister Thatcher's remarkable achievements 20 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: in dramatically reforming Britain while destroying the moral legitimacy and 21 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: political acceptability of socialism. An American Majority movement would learn 22 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: from the nineteen ninety four Contract with America, which led 23 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: to the first Republican House in forty years, and the 24 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: bipartisan reform legislation which followed and which led to the 25 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: first reelected Republican House since nineteen twenty eight. An American 26 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: Majority Movement would draw on the information at American Majority 27 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: Project dot com and would shape campaigns and governance for 28 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: two twenty two and the next decade around solving America's 29 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 1: problems while unifying the vast majority of Americans to focus 30 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: on developing a better future. This movement would reassert the 31 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: Declaration of Independence, assertion that we are endowed by our 32 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: Creator with certain unamiable rights, among which our life, liberty, 33 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: and the pursuit of happiness. This movement would rebuild the 34 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: rule of law within the framework of the Constitution, which 35 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: pledged quote we the people the United States, in order 36 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, 37 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and 38 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity 39 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: to ordain and establish this constitution for the United States 40 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: of America. This movement withdraw its strength from President Abraham 41 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: Lincoln's belief that we should work and struggle to ensure 42 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: that quote, this nation under God shall have a new 43 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by 44 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. 45 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: It's our generation's challenge to take power back from the lobbyists, 46 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: the career politicians, the giant corporations, the imperial bureaucracies, and 47 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: the billionaires, and reform that power so that we truly 48 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: have government of, by and for the people. Only a 49 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: vast majority of Americans, working together to find positive solutions 50 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: and to find ways to listen to and learn from 51 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: each other, can achieve these historic goals. We must go 52 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: forward as citizens in the spirit which President Lincoln described 53 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: in his Second and State of the Union message to 54 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: Congress December first, eighteen sixty two, which remember is in 55 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: the middle of a civil war. Lincoln wrote, quote, the 56 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. 57 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must 58 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so 59 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,239 Speaker 1: we must think anew and act a new. We must 60 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Lincoln 61 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: went on to say, fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. 62 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered 63 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can 64 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through 65 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor. 66 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: To the latest generation, we say we are for the Union. 67 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: We even we here hold the power and bear the responsibility. 68 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best 69 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: hope of Earth. Close quote in the traditional Lincoln Every 70 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: generation has to save freedom. Now it is our turn. 71 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: This proposal outlines the path to an American majority capable 72 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: of solving our problems and creating a dramatically better future 73 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 1: for all Americans. I hope you will share it with 74 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: our fellow citizens, and for updates, please visit our website 75 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: at American Majority Project dot com. Part one, An American 76 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: majority not a Republican majority. This is the first of 77 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: four parts outlining the potential for a dramatic shift in 78 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: the American political and governmental system. These ideas are dedicated 79 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: to turning a temporary opportunity into a permanent change that 80 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: can create a stable reform government for several generations. The 81 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: combination of big government socialism, woke radicalism, a governing performance disaster, 82 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: and weak personalities at the top of the Democratic Party 83 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: is creating an opportunity for a new American majority to 84 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: emerge that brings together everyone who rejects all three components 85 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 1: and supports common sense efforts to create a better country 86 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: for everyone. Are appalling at The American majority project, which 87 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: is available in Everyone makes clear that free market capitalism 88 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,679 Speaker 1: beats big government socialism by fifty nine percent to sixteen percent. 89 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: In fact, if forced to choose, swing voters pick free 90 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: market capitalism by eighty two percent to eighteen percent. Woke 91 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: cultural issues are even more decisively in a minority, by 92 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: sixty seven percent to twenty percent. Americans opposed transgender men 93 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: competing in women's sports, and overwhelming seventy five percent believe 94 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,280 Speaker 1: there are only two genders. But that's just a tip 95 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: of the iceberg. There's even more common ground in America. 96 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: Some eighty four percent favor parents having the right to 97 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: see everything their children are being taught in school. By 98 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: the same margin, Americans think American ideals are worth fighting 99 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: for by seventy nine percent to twelve. Americans favor religious 100 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: freedom by similar seventy seven to twelve. Americans oppose the 101 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: canceling and censoring of people in speech. An amazing ninety 102 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: one percent oppose racial discrimination. Only six percent think people 103 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: should be given preference due to their race. What is 104 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: emerging is the potential for an American rather than a 105 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: Republican majority. If everyone who opposes big government, socialism, and 106 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: left wing woke ideology can work together, there is enormous 107 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: potential to get good things done. This potential requires Republicans 108 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: to think much more broadly about their language, proposals, and actions. 109 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: Done correctly, the two thousand and twenty two and two 110 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: thousand and twenty four elections can bring together Republicans, independence, 111 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: and anti left Democrats into a grand coalition comparable to 112 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: the one President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created in the nineteen thirties, 113 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: which in many ways has defined our politics for ninety years. 114 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: Building an American majority does not require accepting the policies 115 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: of the left. There are tens of millions of Democrats 116 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: who are tired of high food and gas prices, rampant crime, 117 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: the collapse of the border, the inconsistencies of left wing bureaucrats. 118 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: This American Majority can reject every element of the left 119 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: and still be a broad coalition of Republicans, independence, and 120 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: anti left Democrats. The members of the American Majority are 121 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: those who favor common sense solutions to the challenges that 122 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: face America and oppose those who, for their own hard 123 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: left ideology, try to force unworkable solutions down American throats. 124 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: The key ideas for its new American Majority were developed 125 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: and explained by Ronald Reagan, a Democrat turned Republican. As 126 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: a movie star, Reagan knew his following was much broader 127 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: than the Republican Party, which, according to Pew Research after Watergate, 128 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: had dropped to twenty one percent of all Americans by 129 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five. Internal polls at the Republican National Committee 130 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:42,199 Speaker 1: were even more disheartening, with only seventeen percent identifying as Republican. 131 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: There was a real danger that the GOP would become 132 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: a minority party. It was clear that a base mobilization 133 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: campaign would get nowhere with a base that small, there 134 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: had to be a base broadening campaign, and former Governor 135 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: Reagan understood this imperative. Then Nitor. Reagan, speaking at the 136 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: Second Conservative Political Action Conference in nineteen seventy five, said, 137 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: let's have a new first party, a Republican party, raising 138 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: a banner of bold colors, no pale pastels, a banner 139 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: instantly recognizable as standing for certain values which will not 140 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 1: be compromised. Yes, we must broaden our base, but let's 141 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,839 Speaker 1: broaden it the way we did in nineteen seventy two, 142 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: because those Americans, Democrats and independence and Republicans are still 143 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: out there looking for a banner around which to rally, 144 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: and we have what they want, what they're seeking, but 145 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: they don't know that. And sometimes I wonder if we 146 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: know it, you know. Reagan's vision of no pale pastels 147 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: repudiated the Republican establishment's desire to take the GOP to 148 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: some kind of mushy middle where Republicans could pretend to 149 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: be frugal liberals and could be intimidated into accepting the 150 00:10:55,160 --> 00:11:01,959 Speaker 1: establishment's dumbest and weirdest ideas. When Reagan's Vice President George H. W. Bush, 151 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: was behind by nineteen points in May nineteen eighty eight, 152 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: there was a temptation to move to the middle, but 153 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: the Reagan spirit was still there. The strategy was adopted 154 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: to expose Governor Michael Ducaucus for the liberal he was. 155 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: After five months of defining Ducaucus as a Massachusetts Liberal 156 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:27,319 Speaker 1: Bush one with fifty four percent, which meant the one 157 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: out of four voters switched between May and November. That 158 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: was the power of Reagan's Bold Colors. After the damage 159 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: done by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer, 160 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: There's never been a more opportune time for a Bold 161 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:50,719 Speaker 1: Color's GOP. Gone correctly, it will attract millions of independence 162 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: and anti left Democrats. Then in two twenty three and 163 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: two twenty four, if the Republican majorities in the House 164 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: and Senate governed with an American majority attitude rather than 165 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: a narrower Republican majority attitude, there will be an opportunity 166 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: to win in two thousand and twenty four with a 167 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: campaign that attracts every one but the hard left. Many 168 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: Republican governors already understand the power of articulating solid conservatism 169 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: while solving problems with common sense and focusing on helping 170 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: people improve their lives. The key is for Republican House 171 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: and Senate candidates and members and their staffs to learn this. 172 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:35,839 Speaker 1: They must create both the campaign in two thousand and 173 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,719 Speaker 1: twenty two and the opening round of governing as a 174 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: majority in two thousand and twenty three. The examples of 175 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: the Republican governors and the Republican Congress should create an 176 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: opportunity for Republican presidential candidates to compete for the nomination 177 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: of an American majority movement, not just a traditional Republican party. 178 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: The difference between an American majority and a Republican majority 179 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: is so important to the future of the country that 180 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: I am dedicating four consecutive areas to outline how it 181 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: can work. Next, I'm going to talk about President Reagan, 182 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: his approach to governing, and his reelection. Then I'm going 183 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: to turn to the bipartisan nature of the Contract with America. 184 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,679 Speaker 1: I'll explain how it helped us win a majority for 185 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: the first time in forty years and then win re 186 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: election for the first time in sixty six years since 187 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight. Finally, I'm going to talk about the 188 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: polling data from the American Majority Project, which indicates the 189 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:43,079 Speaker 1: potential for a citizens majority in two twenty two that 190 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: transcends the traditional parties. Let me talk now about lessons 191 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,680 Speaker 1: from President Reagan. I should say, by the way that 192 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: I first worked with President Reagan when his governor of 193 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: Californian came to Georgia in nineteen seventy four. We had 194 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: a chance to be together. I was running for Congress 195 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: and losing was during Watergate, but he was very generous 196 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: and spend time teaching me how he does his speeches, 197 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: which shaped the whole rest of my life. So I 198 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: feel very close to President Reagan. But it's interesting because 199 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: as I thought about it, to really understand the American 200 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 1: majority that we can build, we have to understand the 201 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: one that emerged to support President Ronald Reagan. But to 202 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: do that, it's essential that we go back and think 203 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 1: about what Reagan had learned from President Richard Nixon and 204 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: the emerging massive anti left majority that first appeared in 205 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. You know, Nixon his head a very 206 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: hard time being understood because Watergate and the left's hatred 207 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: of him sort of overwhelms everything. And yet in the 208 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: years preceding Nixon's presidency, left wing values combined with big government, 209 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: bureaucracy and massive income transfers to create a desire ester. 210 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: There were nearly one hundred and sixty riots in the 211 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen sixty seven, and the Black Panthers openly 212 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: called for the assassination of police. At least nineteen police 213 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: were killed. Leftist activists committed more than twenty five hundred 214 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: domestic bombings in nineteen seventy. In nineteen seventy one, they 215 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: averaged five a day. Rational people started to react to 216 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: the chaos. The development of a new American radicalism to 217 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: replace the New Deal coalition of President Franklin do Roso 218 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: was captured brilliantly in Tom Whiff's nineteen seventy article on 219 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: Radical Sheek and his other essays parodying the left's absurdity. 220 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: Theodore White, in his Making of the President in nineteen 221 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: seventy two, argued that the radical Senator George McGovern found 222 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: it impossible to appeal to mainstream Democrats because the liberal 223 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: ideology had become a liberal theology. The earlier FDR liberal 224 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: politicians had been able to compromise and to consider public 225 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: opinion and practical realities. The new theologians of the Church 226 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: of left wingers were rigid in their positions, and those 227 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: positions were totally unacceptable to a substantial number of Democrats 228 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: and virtually all Independence and Republicans. Furthermore, the rise of 229 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: the hardline leftists was connected to the rise of big 230 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: government socialism and President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. As Charles 231 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: Murray and Marvin Olaski outlined in their two books, Losing 232 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: Ground and The Tragedy of American Compassion, it was the 233 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: Great Society which broke with historic American norms in favor 234 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: of left wing ideological stubbornness. So the rise of big government, 235 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: socialism and radical left wing culture in the late sixties 236 00:16:54,080 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: nearly seventies began a dramatic shift in political support for popular, servative, 237 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:05,960 Speaker 1: pro American ideas. Now Nixon had been through a really 238 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: tough series of races. He had a virtual tie in 239 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty Senator John F. Kennedy had lost. Then he 240 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:18,680 Speaker 1: had a shocking loss in California to incumbent Governor Pat Brown. Finally, 241 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,879 Speaker 1: he'd won election by a stunningly narrow margin in a 242 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: three way race in nineteen sixty eight. Nixon only got 243 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: forty three point four percent of the vote, barely beating 244 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: Democrat Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had forty two point 245 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: seven seven tenths of a vote difference will Independent Governor 246 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: George Wallace had gotten thirteen and a half percent. However, 247 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: just four years later, in nineteen seventy two, Nixon won 248 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: a stunningly big victory with sixty point seven percent of 249 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: the vote, wiping out Senator George mcgovernor. Nixon then won 250 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 1: reelection by a bigger margin than Ronald Reagan would win 251 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: it in nineteen eighty four. Reagan got fifty eight point 252 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: eight present, so Nixon's sixty point seven was actually bigger, 253 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: something which virtually nobody looking backwards can remember. Now, Reagan 254 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,680 Speaker 1: was watching all this, and he instinctively understood the need 255 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: for an American majority rather than a Republican majority. Reagan's 256 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:25,479 Speaker 1: first great national televised political speech was the October twenty seventh, 257 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, A time for choosing a speech made 258 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,640 Speaker 1: on behalf of us under a very Goldwaters campaign. In 259 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: that speech, Reagan clearly indicated it was speaking for more 260 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: than the Republican base. Just listen to Reagan, I have 261 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently 262 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that 263 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,960 Speaker 1: the issue is confronting as cross party lines. In Reagan's 264 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: own race for governor of California in nineteen sixty six, 265 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: he outlined the case for welfare reform, lower taxes, and 266 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: combating left wing radicals and academic campuses. He did so 267 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: as a citizen candidate, reaching far beyond the Republican base. 268 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: In his first race, Reagan got fifty seven and a 269 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: half percent of the vote to Governor Pat Brown's forty 270 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 1: two point three. That was an increase over Nixon of 271 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: eight point seven percent. Remember Nixon had lost his four 272 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: years earlier to Governor Pat Brown. Reagan was broadening the base, 273 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 1: not just mobilizing it. Reagan continued to reach out to 274 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 1: an audience far bigger than the Republican Party in nineteen 275 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: seventy five, when only seventeen percent of voters identified with 276 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: the GOP, a narrow base mobilization strategy was a guarantee 277 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:47,120 Speaker 1: of defeat. Reagan knew that, and he acted accordingly. He 278 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: was following strategies of educating and leading the public, which 279 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: he learned in his eight years a General Electric. This 280 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: era of his life was captured brilliantly in Thomas Evans 281 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,119 Speaker 1: book Educational Ronald Reagan, The General Electric Years and the 282 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: Untold Story of his Conversion to Conservatism. And I recommend 283 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: the book highly because even though I'd worked with Reagan 284 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: for years, I never fully understood his strategies until I 285 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: read Tom Evans book. At the nineteen seventy five Conservative 286 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: Political Action Conference, Reagan called for the kind of boldness 287 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: he had displayed in his first Governor's Risk. Listen to 288 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: Reagan speaking in nineteen seventy five, a Republican party raising 289 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,399 Speaker 1: a banner of bold colors, no pale pastels, a banner 290 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: instantly recognizable as standing for certain values which will not 291 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 1: be compromised. Yes, we must broaden our base, but let's 292 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: broaden it the way we did in nineteen seventy two, 293 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: because those Americans Democrats and independence and Republicans are still 294 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: out there looking for a banner around which to rally, 295 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,639 Speaker 1: and we have what they want, what they're seeking, but 296 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: they don't know that. And sometimes I wonder if we 297 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 1: know it. Reagan's efforts to broaden from a Republican majority 298 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 1: to an American majority continued. Consider the opening of his 299 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: speech to the nineteen seventy six Republican National Convention, I'm 300 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: going to say, fellow Republicans here, but those who are 301 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: watching from a distance, all those millions of Democrats and 302 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 1: independents who I know are looking for a cause around 303 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: which to rally, and which I believe we can give them. 304 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: As the Republican nominee in nineteen eighty, Reagan continued to 305 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: follow a base broadening strategy and worked to bring his 306 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,879 Speaker 1: party with it. I participated in the first Republican Capital 307 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 1: Steps event on September fifteenth, nineteen eighty. I was the 308 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:45,440 Speaker 1: House Republican organizer, collaborating with Republican National Committee Chairman Bill 309 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:50,159 Speaker 1: Brock to get it done. Never had a presidential Canada 310 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: joined with his party's congressional candidates to pledge specific actions. 311 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: The historic nature of the day was captured by David Broder, 312 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: whose entire column is worth reading. Roder wrote, quote, the 313 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: implicit message of Monday's ceremony is that there can be 314 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,879 Speaker 1: only one government in Washington at a time, and that 315 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: if voters want Reagan to lead it effectively, they have 316 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: to go all the way with the GOP. That is 317 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: an honest statement, and it is as commendable for the 318 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:25,640 Speaker 1: Republicans to dramatize it as it is risky. The House 319 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 1: of Santa candids joined then Governor Reagan and then Ambassador 320 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: George H. W. Bush, and they had five pledges. First, 321 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: cut spending on Congress as a signal to the rest 322 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: of the government. Second, cut government spending and reduce waste, fraud, 323 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: and abuse to fight inflation. Third, cut individual income taxes 324 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: across the board, and develop and settings for savings, investment, 325 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: and capital recovery to put the country back on the 326 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 1: road to prosperity. Fourth, encourage more private investment and permanent jobs, 327 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: especially in our central cities. And fifth, strengthen our national defense. 328 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: More than two hundred and fifty incumbents and candidates stood 329 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: with the Reagan Bush team and made these pledges. The 330 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: impact was clear on election day, when the GOP picked 331 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: up twelve Senate seats and one control of the upper 332 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: chamber for the first time since nineteen fifty four. No 333 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: one had expected a Republican Senate majority, just as virtually 334 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: no one would expect a Republican House majority in nineteen 335 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: ninety four. It was proof of the power of a 336 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: tidal wave to exceed expectations. Despite the Republican victory, President 337 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 1: Reagan continued to reach out to Democrats to create an 338 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: American majority. On the key vote on his three year 339 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,640 Speaker 1: tax cut, the centerpiece of his economic recovery plan, forty 340 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: eight Democrats joined with one hundred and ninety Republicans to 341 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: provide a majority the House. In the Senate, thirty seven 342 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: Democrats joined with fifty two Republicans to pass the tax cuts. 343 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: The term Reagan Democrats began to be used, and his 344 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: appeal to independence and modern and conservative Democrats was a 345 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: key part of his success. President Reagan emphasized the broad 346 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,959 Speaker 1: nature of his coalition in his victory statement for the 347 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,919 Speaker 1: tax cuts, The victory we've just won doesn't belong to 348 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:32,880 Speaker 1: any one individual, or one party, or one administration. The victories, 349 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, because it's been more than 350 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: one today, are for all the people. A strong bipartisan 351 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 1: coalition of Congress, Republicans and Democrats together has virtually assured 352 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: the first real tax cuts that this country has had 353 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: in nearly twenty years, and it has also removed one 354 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: of the most important remaining challenges on our agenda for prosperity. 355 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: This effort to broaden the base and bring together as 356 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:04,120 Speaker 1: minimer kins as possible would continue throughout President Regan's eight 357 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,920 Speaker 1: years in office. His debt to all Americans came through 358 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:12,400 Speaker 1: again in his farewell address in January nineteen eighty nine. 359 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: Listen to President Reagan himself, thanking everybody, not just Republicans. 360 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind 361 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 1: that truly reversed the course of government. And with three 362 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: little words, we the people, We the people tell the 363 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: government what to do. It doesn't tell us. We the 364 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,399 Speaker 1: people are the driver. The government is the car, and 365 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: we decide where it should go, end, by what route, 366 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents 367 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. 368 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 1: Our constitution is a document in which we the people 369 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: tell the government what it is allowed to do. We 370 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: the people are free. This belief has been the underlying 371 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years. 372 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: Reagan explicitly acknowledged the American people as the key to 373 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:16,160 Speaker 1: always victories. He asserted, what few people noticed is that 374 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: I never won anything you didn't win for me. They 375 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,399 Speaker 1: never saw my troops. They never saw Reagan's regiments. The 376 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: American people. You won every battle with every call you 377 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 1: made and the letter you wrote demanding action. Today's Republicans 378 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,199 Speaker 1: have an opportunity to rebuild the Reagan American majority. They 379 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,160 Speaker 1: would do well to study how he did it. With simple, 380 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 1: clear language. Tear down this wall, evil empire. We win, 381 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: they lose. Simple, clear, understandable and to the point. Next, 382 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: I want to spend some time and explain something I 383 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: had a lot to do with, the nineteen ninety four 384 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,920 Speaker 1: Contract with America as a base broadening American Jority's strategy 385 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: that stood in the shoulders of President Ronald Reagan's leadership. 386 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 1: The Contract with America became famous because it was the 387 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: centerpiece of the House Republican campaign, which won a majority 388 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: for the first time in forty years. As I mentioned earlier, 389 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,679 Speaker 1: the Contract campaign stood on President Ronald Reagan's shoulders. The 390 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: Contract's capital steps rally of candidates was modeled after the 391 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 1: one with Reagan in September nineteen eighty. We knew it 392 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: would draw media attention because we'd already done it. Reagan 393 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: himself had described a contract back in that nineteen eighty 394 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: event that I participated in. As he himself said, quote, 395 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: this occasion marks the first time that legislative and executive 396 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: candidates of a party have come together to propose a 397 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: contract with the American people. But the times demand a 398 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: unique response. For too long, government has been distant and uncaring. 399 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,439 Speaker 1: Now he must return government to the people. See how 400 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: much I honestly believe that we stood on reagan shoulders. 401 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: The contract was written with an understanding that nothing would 402 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: be included that was supported by fewer than sixty percent 403 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,679 Speaker 1: and ideally more than seventy percent of the American people. 404 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: By definition that men, we were writing a bipartisan document 405 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: that appealed far beyond the Republican base. Most of the 406 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: specifics in the contract grew straight out of President Reagan's policies. 407 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: For example, Candidate Reagan had advocated a work oriented welfare 408 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 1: reform in his first race for governor in nineteen sixty six. 409 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: We finally passed it into law thirty years later in 410 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, and it became the most successful conservative 411 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: reform of our lifetime. We added one other rule to 412 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: our development of the contract, because we knew that the 413 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: news media was our active opponent many of them had 414 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: worked as Democratic staffers. We insisted that some of our 415 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: favorite items, specifically right to life in school prayer, would 416 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: not be in the contract. They would allow the New 417 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: York Times and other left wing media to focus only 418 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: on those issues. This was a tough decision because I 419 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 1: am strongly pro life and believe America would be much 420 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: better off with prayer back in school. But looking back, 421 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: it was right because the media would have totally ignored 422 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: all the strong points of the contract and distorted it 423 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 1: as a southern right wing document. The biggest understanding of 424 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: the contract was its bipartisan nature. The news media had 425 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: to find an explanation for our stunning victory after four decades, 426 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: and they could not blame the arrogance, corruption, and failures 427 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: of their friends in the Democratic Party. Therefore, they had 428 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: to blame me and interpret our victory's narrowly partisan. However, however, 429 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: note how the contract was framed in a speech on 430 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: the House floor September twenty second, nineteen ninety four, a 431 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,239 Speaker 1: week before the Capitol Steps signing ceremony. This is me 432 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: speaking from the House floor in nineteen ninety four. There's 433 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: not a negative word here about the Democratic Party there's 434 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,360 Speaker 1: not a negative word here about President Clinton in his administration. 435 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: It is an effort in our part to be positive. 436 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: You might say, why are we being positive about this? Well, 437 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: I think that there are two very profound reasons why 438 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: it would be good to have a positive campaign in 439 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: October of nineteen ninety four rather than a negative campaign. 440 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: The first reason is that people are so frustrated. People 441 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: are so hostile, people are so angry that you don't 442 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:46,920 Speaker 1: need to go out and get a matter. You don't 443 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: have to go out and beat up on President Clinton 444 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: or go out and beat up in the Congress. People 445 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: get it. They're already fed up. What people want to know, 446 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: I think is what are you going to do differently? 447 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 1: And our challenge the Democrats is if they don't like 448 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: our ten bills, what are theirs? They don't like our 449 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: three reforms, what are theirs? Let's have a debate between ideas, 450 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: but let's not have the kind of negative smear tactics 451 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: that have driven the country, I think, to distraction and 452 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: have broken down any willingness to have a decent political debate. 453 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: We're prepared to debate on the issues. Is it a 454 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: good idea to have a balanced budget amendment and line 455 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: on a veto or not. Is it a good idea 456 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: to have an effective, believable and timely death penalty for 457 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: violent offenders or not? Should we encourage work and family 458 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,959 Speaker 1: in the welfare system or not? I mean, these are 459 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: real policy proposals, and we're going to have next Tuesday 460 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,280 Speaker 1: a whole set of bills. All ten bills are already 461 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 1: going to be written and available. Now there's a second 462 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: reason I would argue why it would be good to 463 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: actually try to have a debate in October on the issues. 464 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: I think this country is in trouble. I mean, people 465 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: talked about the economic recovery and all this stuff nonsense. 466 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: The underlying core pattern of where America is at is 467 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: real trouble. And if you don't believe me, watch any 468 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: major city local television news, including Washington for two nights. 469 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 1: The child abuse, the rape, the murders, the cocaine dealing, 470 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: the problems of American life are unbelievable. I am a 471 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: history teacher, and I tell every audience that as a 472 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,800 Speaker 1: matter of history, not politics. As a matter of history, 473 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: it is impossible to maintain American civilization with twelve year 474 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: olds having babies fifteen year olds killing each other, seventeen 475 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: year olds dying of AIDS, and eighteen year olds getting 476 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: diplomas they can't read. I don't think that's debatable. I 477 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: think it's clear. I have to say the one I 478 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: said that back then, I really deeply believed it, and 479 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: when I began to work on this supposal, I was stunned. 480 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: And how much it is all still relevant, how much 481 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: we're still facing the same problems, and how much we 482 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: still need of a deep reform. You know, my speech 483 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,719 Speaker 1: was really modeled on Reagan's statement on the Capitol steps 484 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: fourteen years earlier. To quote Reagan speaking personally, I can 485 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: remember the many times in California when I reached out 486 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: to members of the party in order to pass important legislation. 487 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: I know that all of us here today as a 488 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: team will also seek close co operation with the other 489 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: side throughout our terms. Now, that was Reagan one by 490 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 1: partisanship in nineteen eighty, and that is what Reagan did 491 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: as president for eight years. The news media didn't want 492 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: to cover it and has since frankly just lied about it. 493 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: But the truth is that the bipartisan appeal of the 494 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: Contract of America can be seen in the voting pattern 495 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: on the House floor. The specific contract items average getting 496 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:08,600 Speaker 1: sixty three Democrats, voting with the House Republicans. I know 497 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: this is the opposite of the news medium mythology, so 498 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: don't take my word for it. Here are the key 499 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: votes in nineteen ninety five. The Congressional Accountability Act two 500 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight Republicans, two hundred Democrats voted yes. 501 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: The Wine Item Veto Act two hundred twenty three Republicans, 502 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,400 Speaker 1: seventy one Democrats voted yes. Taking Back Our Streets Act. 503 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,879 Speaker 1: The House passed elements of this package in several forms. 504 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: The Exclusionary Rule Reform Act two hundred and twenty Republicans, 505 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,359 Speaker 1: sixty nine Democrats voted yes. The Effective Death Penalty Act 506 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: two hundred twenty six Republicans, seventy one Democrats voted yes. 507 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,400 Speaker 1: The Violent Criminal Incarceration Act two hundred and six Republicans, 508 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: fifty nine Democrats voted yes. The Local Government Law Enforcement 509 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,920 Speaker 1: Block Grants Act two hundred and twenty Republicans and eighteen 510 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: Democrats voted yes. The Personal Responsibility Act of nineteen ninety five. 511 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: That's welfare Reform two hundred and twenty five Republicans and 512 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 1: nine Democrats voted yes. The Unfunded Mandate Reform Act. Two 513 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty Republicans and one hundred and thirty Democrats 514 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: voted yes. The American Dream Restoration Act. Two hundred and 515 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 1: nineteen Republicans and twenty seven Democrats voted yes. The National 516 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,800 Speaker 1: Security Revitalization Act. Two hundred and twenty three Republicans and 517 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,719 Speaker 1: eighteen Democrats voted yes. The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act. 518 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: Two hundred nineteen Republicans and fifty eight Democrats voted yes. 519 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,919 Speaker 1: The Securities Litigation Reform Act. Two hundred and twenty six 520 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: Republicans and ninety nine Democrats voted yes. Proposing a balanced 521 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: budget amendment to the Constitutional United States. Two hundred and 522 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: twenty eight Republicans and seventy eight Democrats voted yes. Proposing 523 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: amendment Constitution with respect to how long you can serve 524 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: This was pure term limits. One hundred and eighty nine 525 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,600 Speaker 1: Republicans and thirty eight Democrats voted yes. Our bipartisan American 526 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,719 Speaker 1: Major Already approach enabled House Republicans to survive the nineteen 527 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: ninety six loss in the presidential campaign and retain the 528 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:12,360 Speaker 1: majority for the first time since nineteen twenty eight, the 529 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:17,400 Speaker 1: American people endorsed the positive attitude, positive reforms, and focus 530 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: on an American rather than a Republican agenda. The ability 531 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:26,760 Speaker 1: to legislate with a bipartisan majority continued in nineteen ninety 532 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,399 Speaker 1: seven when we moved to balance the federal budget, which 533 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 1: succeeded in balancing for four years for the only time 534 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: in our lifetime. When we initially passed the Balanced Budget 535 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,879 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen ninety seven, the initial vote was two 536 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,759 Speaker 1: hundred nineteen Republicans and fifty one Democrats voting yes. When 537 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,600 Speaker 1: the final conference report came up after we'd met with 538 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: the Senate, one hundred and ninety three Republicans and one 539 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:57,400 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three Democrats voted yes. We had achieved 540 00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:03,880 Speaker 1: an enormous step forward with bipartisan majorities for conservative reforms 541 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,120 Speaker 1: because we had followed the lesson of President Reagan and 542 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,600 Speaker 1: the strategies he'd learned at General Electric and described by 543 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: Thomas Evans in his book The Educational Ronald Reagan. If 544 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: you are determined to be an American majority, and you 545 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:23,280 Speaker 1: are committed to listening to and learning from the American people, 546 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,239 Speaker 1: it is amazing how much the grassroots will help you 547 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: legislate in a bipartisan way. And now I want to 548 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: take some time and talk about the great opportunity of 549 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: two and twenty two to continue developing an American majority 550 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,239 Speaker 1: to pass truly big reforms. I wanted to share these 551 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:49,640 Speaker 1: ideas about an American majority, not a Republican majority, because 552 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,240 Speaker 1: I'm convinced that the radicalism of the big government, socialist 553 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:58,400 Speaker 1: woke politicians and their performance failures create a unique opportunity 554 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 1: to propose a dramatically different future based on very different 555 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 1: principles and focused on unifying all the American people who 556 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: reject leftism and are fed up with the performance failures. 557 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,520 Speaker 1: There is a chance to restore the America that works 558 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:19,760 Speaker 1: by replacing the big government, socialist, woke world that fails. 559 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: Moving forward to a new renaissance of a successful working 560 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:28,320 Speaker 1: America requires winning both the performance argument and the policy 561 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: values argument. The importance of winning the much more complex 562 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:37,760 Speaker 1: philosophical ideas fight as well as the simple, straightforward failed 563 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: performance argument is captured in Claire Berlynski's invaluable book There 564 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:48,359 Speaker 1: Is No Alternative Why Margaret Thatcher Matters. Berlynsky describes how 565 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,799 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Thatcher set out from her very first days 566 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: as opposition leader to destroy the moral legitimacy and performance 567 00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,839 Speaker 1: promise of socialist She did such an effective of discrediting 568 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 1: socialism as a moral force that no openly left wing 569 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,279 Speaker 1: leader has been elected Prime Minister of Great Britain in 570 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,440 Speaker 1: forty years. Who was during this prayer to intellectual and 571 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: moral hammer blows against the left? The Prime Minister Thatcher said, quote, 572 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,440 Speaker 1: first you win the argument, then you win the vote. 573 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Thatcher is as important a leader as President 574 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: Reagan for those who want to understand how to win 575 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,720 Speaker 1: cultural arguments and move a nation from a big government, 576 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: socialist woke policy to a much more conservative, work oriented, 577 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: historically based policy of seeing a better future through free 578 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:46,200 Speaker 1: enterprise and entrepreneurship. Before Thatcher, the Conservative Party had been 579 00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,359 Speaker 1: dominated by elitist who were used to accepting the core 580 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: attitudes of socialism and operating within a framework of a 581 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:56,520 Speaker 1: little less than the Labor Party but nothing too bold. 582 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: Thatcher had come from a solid middle class background and 583 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,600 Speaker 1: grew up with Winston Churchill as a hero. She saw 584 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: herself fighting to save Britain from the moral and economic 585 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,840 Speaker 1: decave socialism fully as much as Churchill had fought to 586 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: save Britain from Hitler. Thatcher had the toughness and firmness 587 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:18,200 Speaker 1: of a wartime leader. For a woman to have these 588 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:22,680 Speaker 1: characteristics in politics in nineteen seventy five Britain was astounding. 589 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: For her to be this tough and determined personally was 590 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:31,600 Speaker 1: also astounding. She once pulled Hyas the Constitution of Liberty, 591 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,879 Speaker 1: a seven hundred and ninety three page classic work on freedom, 592 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 1: out of her purse and slammed it on the podium 593 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,920 Speaker 1: and said, this is our platform, this is what we 594 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,720 Speaker 1: were fighting for. And she won, and candidly, I've always 595 00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:49,840 Speaker 1: wondered how big that purse must have been. Her greatest 596 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,280 Speaker 1: achievement may have been Tony Blair's development of New Labor 597 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:58,080 Speaker 1: built around thatcher righte principles. Paul Johnson called Blair Thatcher's 598 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:02,160 Speaker 1: adopted son or fight against the very principles of socialism 599 00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:05,839 Speaker 1: was so decisive that no openly left wing leader has 600 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:11,040 Speaker 1: successfully been elected prime minister in four decades like Prime 601 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: Minister Thatcher. We have an opportunity in two twenty two, 602 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,799 Speaker 1: two twenty four, and two thousand and twenty six to 603 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,040 Speaker 1: win both the performance argument and the policy values argument. 604 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,320 Speaker 1: If the American people conclude that the Biden, Harris, Schumer 605 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:31,360 Speaker 1: Pelosi team has failed on performance only, they might be 606 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:35,200 Speaker 1: comfortable replacing them in a few years with other equally 607 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:40,160 Speaker 1: big government, socialist woke leaders. However, if in the Thatcher tradition, 608 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 1: the American people conclude that the very policies, beliefs, and 609 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,839 Speaker 1: values are the ultimate cause of the failure, then they 610 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:51,080 Speaker 1: will be reluctant to return them to power for decades 611 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: and possibly even generations. Look at how long Republicans remained 612 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:58,800 Speaker 1: a minority in the rows of Eltian Revolution after nineteen 613 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:03,719 Speaker 1: thirty two, really only beginning to achieve parody under Reagan himself, 614 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: a former FDR Democrat, after nearly fifty years. It is 615 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: impossible to win victories on this scale focused on trying 616 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:17,240 Speaker 1: to create a Republican majority. There are millions of Americans 617 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:21,320 Speaker 1: who are deeply and increasingly unhappy with the current system, 618 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 1: but they are not ready to become Republicans. Just as 619 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 1: the Reagan Democrats became a halfway step for conservative Democrats 620 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: who then gradually transitioned to Republican there has to be 621 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,600 Speaker 1: an American focus to make it as easy as possible 622 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: for people to be allied without having to repudiate their 623 00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: own identity. Consider some of the massive American majorities that 624 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,239 Speaker 1: could decide to support a movement that focuses on a 625 00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:51,800 Speaker 1: better life for all Americans. We have a great amount 626 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,839 Speaker 1: of this data at American Majority Project dot com available 627 00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,640 Speaker 1: to everyone, but here are a few examples. In every 628 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:03,719 Speaker 1: one of these examples, the majority is much larger than 629 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,200 Speaker 1: the Republican Party and usually includes a vast majority of 630 00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 1: independence and a significant minority of Democrats. These are truly 631 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: American issues. By fifty nine percent to sixteen percent, Americans 632 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:22,280 Speaker 1: favor free market capitalism over big government socialism. This particular 633 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: question let people have no opinion if they want ed to. However, 634 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,480 Speaker 1: when undecided voters were asked the same question but had 635 00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:34,280 Speaker 1: no place for no opinion, they chose eighty two percent 636 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 1: for free market capitalism to eighteen percent for big government socialism. Again, 637 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 1: the majorities are massage. Seventy eight percent agree that the 638 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: United States is the greatest country on Earth, while eighteen 639 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: percent disagree. Eighty four percent believe the founding ideas of 640 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:56,440 Speaker 1: America are something worth fighting for, only nine percent disagree. 641 00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: Seventy nine percent believe that people who believe in the 642 00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:02,760 Speaker 1: us found in the Bible have the right to express 643 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 1: them publicly. Only twelve percent disagree. Seventy seven percent believe 644 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:13,280 Speaker 1: that canceling or blacklisting over opinions is wrong. Only thirteen 645 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:17,800 Speaker 1: percent see it is helpful. Eighty percent think big government 646 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:22,319 Speaker 1: and big business work together against small businesses. Seventy four 647 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,840 Speaker 1: percent believe big government and big business work together to 648 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 1: harm individual citizens. Eighty four percent of voters believe that 649 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,160 Speaker 1: parents should be able to see all curriculum plans and 650 00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: materials for the classes their children take. This would mean 651 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,239 Speaker 1: that parents would have access to teacher lesson plans, book excerpts, 652 00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,440 Speaker 1: and videos shown in class. Sixty eight percent believe that 653 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:48,800 Speaker 1: public schools are lowering standards rather than expecting stronger performance 654 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:53,360 Speaker 1: from students. Seventy five percent of American adults agree that 655 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,080 Speaker 1: there are only two genders, male and female. That total, 656 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: by the way, includes sixty three percent whose strong agree. 657 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: Only eighteen percent disagree. Over sixty seven percent do not 658 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:09,480 Speaker 1: want teachers in kindergarten through third grade discussing gender identity 659 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:13,440 Speaker 1: with their students. By over two to one, Americans believe 660 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:17,320 Speaker 1: transgender athletes should compete on teams with their birth gender. 661 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,719 Speaker 1: Fewer than ten percent of Americans one gender removed from 662 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:26,200 Speaker 1: a child's birth certificate. Sixty three percent agree that America 663 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:30,400 Speaker 1: can further develop natural gas and oil production without putting 664 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:34,759 Speaker 1: the environment at risk, but twenty eight percent disagree. Seventy 665 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:38,280 Speaker 1: percent believed the drug cartels operating at the southern border 666 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,640 Speaker 1: should be designated as a terrorist group. Sixty seven percent 667 00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:46,080 Speaker 1: believe that the border should be secured and that a 668 00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:49,360 Speaker 1: legal border crossers should be returned to their country of origin. 669 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: Sixty six percent would support eliminating every government payment to 670 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:59,080 Speaker 1: illegal immigrants, will twenty two percent disagree. Seventy one percent 671 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:02,359 Speaker 1: believe lee immigration is good for the United States, just 672 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:06,120 Speaker 1: fifteen percent of disagree. At the same time, seventy three 673 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:09,799 Speaker 1: percent believe illegal immigration is bad for the nation, which 674 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:13,520 Speaker 1: is thirteen percent this year. The way the government spends 675 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:18,759 Speaker 1: money is seen as wasteful, corrupt, and prioritize wrong. There 676 00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: was little partisan or ethnic difference in the perceptional amount 677 00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:29,160 Speaker 1: of waste in government. Majority of Democrats, Independence, Republicans, African Americans, Whites, 678 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:33,000 Speaker 1: and Hispanics all say that if government actually cut out 679 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,680 Speaker 1: wasteful spending in corruption, that it will be enough to 680 00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 1: balance the federal budget. Seventy three percent agree that the 681 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,799 Speaker 1: federal government is a special interest group that looks out 682 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,560 Speaker 1: primarily for its own interest. By sixty seven to nineteen, 683 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:50,279 Speaker 1: Americans believe limiting federal spending and balancing the budget will 684 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:54,799 Speaker 1: reduce inflation, with seventy four percent of Hispanics offering the 685 00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:59,840 Speaker 1: strongest support. Seventy four percent approved requiring able bodied adults 686 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:04,440 Speaker 1: work for taxpayer funded benefits such as food stamps, healthcare, 687 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:09,120 Speaker 1: or welfare, while sixteen percent opposed. Fifty nine percent believe 688 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,520 Speaker 1: people should be encouraged to work and be less dependent 689 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:15,399 Speaker 1: on the government, while thirty three percent favor taking care 690 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:20,520 Speaker 1: of people even if they may become dependent. Americans overwhelmingly, 691 00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:25,480 Speaker 1: ninety one percent support equal treatment regardless of race when 692 00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:30,040 Speaker 1: it comes to education, jobs, healthcare, and government services. Only 693 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:34,640 Speaker 1: six percent favor preferential treatment. The majority in favor of 694 00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:39,359 Speaker 1: race neutrality is strong among every demographic, including seventy eight 695 00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:43,760 Speaker 1: percent of African Americans, eighty nine percent of Hispanics, includes 696 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,360 Speaker 1: eighty seven percent of Democrats, eighty nine percent of Independence 697 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:52,160 Speaker 1: and ninety seven percent of Republicans. In fact, ninety one 698 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:55,839 Speaker 1: percent agree with Reverend Martin Luther King Junior that the 699 00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:59,400 Speaker 1: content of our character should matter more than the color 700 00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:03,760 Speaker 1: of our skin. Only six percent disagree. Eighty seven percent 701 00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: support healthcare price transparency as a way to control costs 702 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:11,480 Speaker 1: and increase access to healthcare. Seventy five percent believe you 703 00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:15,200 Speaker 1: should fix healthcare by putting patients and doctors in charge 704 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:19,560 Speaker 1: instead of insurance companies in big government. Americans are clear 705 00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:24,240 Speaker 1: about the importance of honest elections. Eighty five percent support 706 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,120 Speaker 1: requiring all voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot. 707 00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:32,279 Speaker 1: Eighty percent support a requirement for states to remove from 708 00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:36,399 Speaker 1: voter registration list people who have died removed. Eighty two 709 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:40,919 Speaker 1: percent support requiring all ballots to be received by election day. 710 00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:45,040 Speaker 1: The consistent scale of these majorities should be a roadmap 711 00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:48,080 Speaker 1: for those who want to build a long term, stable 712 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:54,239 Speaker 1: American majority rather than a smaller and short lived Republican majority. Now, 713 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,480 Speaker 1: I went through this long list because I wanted to 714 00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:01,680 Speaker 1: drive home the point there are tremendous number of issues 715 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 1: on which good leadership could bring together three out of four, 716 00:49:06,239 --> 00:49:08,560 Speaker 1: or four out of five in a couple of cases, 717 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:14,880 Speaker 1: nine out of ten Americans. And it is the aggressiveness 718 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,440 Speaker 1: of the partisans. It is the nature of things like 719 00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:23,359 Speaker 1: Twitter where people maximize being negative, and it is the 720 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:26,600 Speaker 1: structure of the left wing media that makes us feel 721 00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:30,480 Speaker 1: somehow that we can't come together. The truth is, with 722 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:35,359 Speaker 1: good leadership, overwhelmingly Americans could find a path that they 723 00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,400 Speaker 1: would like to So I hope you will decide as 724 00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:44,239 Speaker 1: a citizen that working to create an American majority is 725 00:49:44,239 --> 00:49:46,840 Speaker 1: what we should be doing. I hope as a citizen 726 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:50,680 Speaker 1: you'll tell your candidates, and you'll tell the people you 727 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:53,520 Speaker 1: support that you want them to work to create an 728 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:57,279 Speaker 1: American majority, and I hope you'll share with others the 729 00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:01,279 Speaker 1: whole concept that an American majority, it is possible, an 730 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:06,680 Speaker 1: American majority is necessary, and it can be done. I'm 731 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,320 Speaker 1: want to thank you for listening today and for updates, 732 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: please visit our website at American Majority Project dot com.