Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20240622

Please welcome back the president of christians united for israel action, gary bauer. [applause] i do get to introduce gary bauer to you. I am tamara scott. I get the honor of not only introducing gary but im working with him on christians united for israel. Just last tuesday when our secretary of state, thats right, our secretary of state put us in a very dangerous position, god already had 5,000 christians on capitol hill waiting to talk to their legislators, as if he had it planned. You could be part of the action fund as well. Please stop by the booth. We have a very special offer. If youd like to be part of next years summit in d. C. Only today, the money has to be turned in today, 25 registration. That is the cost of the first registration 10 years ago fortunes united for israel. So stop by. Get one of those, and give us your money. Join us next year on the hill when we stand up for israel. I get to introduce gary bauer. Somebody i have admired and known for several years watched him work. If youre wondering what one person can do, what your call is, listen to this. Eight years he served in the reagan administration. For 11 years he was the president of Family Research council. He was the Vice President of focus on the family like a trifecta in our world right . Now he started a campaign for work go families where he had 90,000 contributors in less than two years. Now hes working with john haagee and the christians united for israel to start this action fund here in iowa and across the nation. If youre wondering what one person can do thats quite a resume. If you think it was an easy walk for him, i heard the stories years ago when he had to have armed guards in his driveway. When they called his home and said, you know were watching your child play soccer. Name the color of jersey. Let him know that they could put danger, put his family in danger because they didnt like what he was saying and what he stood for. He didnt back down. He knew the price. He trusted god. He stood firm. Im asking you to stand firm with him. He has shaped policy, framed the debate for decades. Would you please put your hands together and give a warm, iowa welcome for gary bauer . [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. It is great to be here in iowa and the great heartland of the United States. I know you are here not just because you wanted to see certain candidates but because you love america. Thats what motivates you. [applause] my friends, if you love america, you know that our country, our civilization is in deep trouble. I want to remind you of things that will happen this weekend. Youre here with friends neighbors, people that you love. There are other things happening around the world. You probably wont even read about them in your newspaper. The media ignores a lot of them but they happen every weekend. I can tell you right now today in mosques in africa and the middle east and in europe and even someplaces in the United States imams are telling their worshipers to hang on, have the faith, that the great satan the United States and the little satan israel will soon be destroyed. The infidel will be laid low. Islam will prevail around the world. I know that today jews in europe will go to synagogues and will have to have armed guards outside because antisemitism has slithered out from underneath its rock in europe and the problem is so frequent. I know in major cities in europe this weekend there will be jews beaten up simply because theyre jews. I know that right now arab cluns arab christians, christians in africa, will leave humble homes and go to church to worship the god that we worship, and for many of them, it will be the last act they do on this earth. Because the church will be blown up or they will be shot down. It happens every weekend. Im not a prophet. Its happening in nigeria, kenya, somalia. The media puts it on page 40 of the newspaper. Washington yawns. No u. N. Resolutions get passed. Nobody cares. I know that right now in iran iranian scientists are working deep underground on their bunkers on the nuclear program. They continue to work even after the Obama Administration was negotiating for two years. They didnt stop their work. I know right now in tehran runian government officials are putting finishing touches on their plan to kill as many jews in 10 minutes that hitler had to take 10 years to kill. Ladies and gentlemen, we are led by a president of the United States during all these years, during two years of negotiations did not once demand of the iranian government that its leaders stop calling for a second holocaust. Shame, shame on the president of the United States for his silence. [applause] a few months ago you might have seen the story, the media basically reported, even the white house used the same wording, that 20 egyptian men had been captured by isis. They were 20 christian men who just happened to be egyptian. They had gone to libya to try to find work for their families where they were captured. You may have seen the video of these men on their knees. Islamic warriors oh, so brave with unarmed men, islamic warriors standing behind them with swords and machetes. Just before these men were going to be beheaded. What you may not know is that there was an audio with the video. Not many news outlets bothered to tell you what was on the audio. On the audio these christian men were told, you know, youre going to die here. But there is a couple of ways out. You could pay a tax for the privilege of living under the islamic talabas, the tax we require of all infidels. These were poor men. They didnt have the money to pay a tax. Well, the jihaddist said. There is Something Else you can do. All you have to do is denounce jesus christ. Renounce him. Embrace muhammad and you will live today. Friends, i dont know about you. I cant say what i would do. Id like to know what i would do. But cant you imagine under the circumstances you might have said to yourself, well, look, im going to pray right now. Im going to tell god god, you know whats in my heart. You know i love you. I love your save or, your son, but i need to tell these murderers that im renouncing you. I know you dont want me to die on this god forsaken day. Youll understand, god. But none of those men did that. If you actually listen to the audio, my friends, those men, in the moments before they died, were calling out the name jesus. He know in this weekend in villages all over africa and nigeria and kenya christian girls will be kidnapped. Any girl 10 or older who is fair game. The jihaddists really like the 10yearolds. You see, theyre kidnapped either to sell them into sexual trafficking or to give them to the islamic warriors to do to them whatever they want. You hear anybody pounding on a table in washington, d. C. To discuss a stop . Its been a lot of talk about slavery in 1850. I think there is a consensus in america that slavery in 1850 was wrong. Maybe a couple of these politicians might think about speaking out against sexual slavery at the hands of islam in 2015 instead of 1850. [applause] remember a year or so ago the entire an entire Christian Village in nigeria had their girls stolen. All of them. Oh, and my goodness, that couldnt be ignored. People in washington knew they had to do something. Of course, not anything that actually matters. Not anything that would involve using the power of the United States to do something about it. So we had people running around at the white house and elsewhere taking selfies of little social media programs, bring back our girls. Oh look. I tweeted. The girls arent back. Who would have known that jihaddists dont melt into submission at bring back my girls . Ladies and gentlemen when you go home later this afternoon and you hug your 10yearold daughter or your 10yearold granddaughter, understand this. That the only thing that prevents the same thing from happening to them is the grace of god and the brave men and women serving in the United States armed forces. [applause] my friends, the choice that will be made in iowa in the weeks and months ahead is an incredibly important choice. Its in your hands. There is a gathering storm on the horizon, on every horizon. This next decade will probably be the most fateful decade for the United States and western civilization in any of our memory perhaps the most fateful decade since the 1930s. Judeo christian civilization is under attack. When is the last time you heard anybody even say the words Judeo Christian civilization . I hear the president talking about islamic civilization all the time. Defending it all the time. Telling us over and over again every time some islamist runs into a building and blows it up while hes yelling allah akabar that it has nothing to do with nouveau islamic civilization but i never never, never hear him defend the civilization that has brought more freedom and more liberty to the people of the world than any other alternative. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, when our founders who were very learned, very well read men, were going to constitution hall, they were not reading the koran. I can say this with certainty, because there are countries all over the world whose founders read the koran. They are not pleasant places to live for women for religious minorities. Seven out of the top 10 violators of human rights in the world are islamic countries. Do you think thats a coincidence . Ladies and gentlemen, the founders of this country were reading the torah, the jewish Old Testament and the new testament, and there it found the ideas that undergird, they found the ideas that undergird western civilization. They summarized them right in the middle of the second pair fwraff of the declaration of independence. There are about 22 words right in the middle of that paragraph i discovered when i was trailing around in 2000 campaigning. Our children arent being taught the words in that paragraph. They are the central idea of who we are. You know the words. We hold these truths now, see, that is a problem right there because the left of america doesnt believe in moral truth. They believe in moral rel tism. We hold these truths that all men are created equal and endowed by their government . No. Endowed by their president or by the congress as long as its controlled by the right party . Or endowed by five magical votes from the Supreme Court . No. Endowed by their creator. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the god of abraham isaac, jacob, and jesus. [applause] and because our founders built this nation on that idea and this civilization is built on that idea, it doesnt matter what the color of your skin is. It doesnt matter if you are a newborn with downes syndrome or an 80yearold with dementia. You were made in the image of god and you have value. You have dignity. You have worth. [applause] we hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable life among these the right to life. Isnt that interesting that the founders even before sonograms knew they would have to write the life the other rights were sort of beside the point the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My friends, israel and the United States are the two pillars of this Judeo Christian civilization. [applause] christians and jews must stand together to defend this civilization. You know, in the bible in genesis, you all know the covenant. I was raised a southern baptist, and i was taught that when god speaks in a declare tiff sentence, you listen. God said to abraham again, the god that knows you so well he has numbered hairs on your head. He knows when a swallow falls to the ground. He hung the stars in the sky. Great nations rise and fall only with his permission. That god said to abraham he who blesses you i will bless. He who curses you i will curse. Ladies and gentlemen, i tremble for our nation. As long as we have a president whose policies curse the nation of israel. God help us. [applause] my friends, ive been in washington 30 years. Ive heard promises from politicians every one of those years. Ive heard those promises made and those promises broken. Because politicians put their finger up in the air and try to figure out which way the wind is blowing. God does not put his finger up in the air. Hes the one that makes the wind bhow. And if he told us to bless israel, thats good enough for me. [applause] so i came here today not only because i love iowa and i love iowans and i wanted to be with you in this great day but i came here today because pastor haagee and christians united for israel wanted me to make an appeal to you. Were asking you and all of the other things youre dealing with, the issues internally that affect the United States, this meltdown of our values, this effort to redefine america as a place where you get to do whatever you want different strokes for different folks that you, in spite of all of those challenges, will also find time to rally against the external threats to our civilization around the world. Were asking you to stand with israel. Were asking you to join with us to fight antisemitism and christian persecution. We want you to take your time, even if its just a minute to call your congressmen and senators and tell them, they must defeat the Iranian Nuclear deal that doesnt stop iran from becoming a nuclear power. It greases the skids so they can become a nuclear power. [applause] if this deal goes through, iran will get over a hundred billion dollars, and it will flow into the coffers of hamas and hezbollah and other terrorist groups that hate the United States and hate israel. There is no more important issue facing us from a National Security standpoint. My friends let me leave you on a positive note. I am absolutely convinced. Look, the times are dark. Theres a lot of really bad things happening. But i believe there is still a silent majority out there represented by you today. People like you are all over this great country. There are people like this in israel. There are still people like this in europe. If israel and the United States stand together, if christians and jews will make common cause, i believe that next year and five years and a hundred years from now the stars and stripes will still fly over washington, d. C. The capital of a free and prosperous United States, and the star of david will still fly over jerusalem. The United Capital of the nation of israel, may it be so, god bless you, never, never never give up. Thank you very much. [applause] please welcome president and chairman of iowa conservatives against gambling expansion, sarah bowman and founder and c. E. O. Of the Freedom Foundation of minnesota Annette Meeks. Good afternoon. I hope youre all having a wonderful day. Were thankful to be a sponsor of such an important event. Id like to personally thank bob and the rest of the Family Leader Organization for hosting this terrific opportunity for iowans to hear from national leaders. My name is sarah bowman. Im the president and chairman of iowa conservatives against gambling expansion. Im the wife of an iraq war vet. My husband, david. [applause] im a mother of four wonderful boys all under the age of 9. And we have a baby due just before the iowa caucuses. [applause] im a life long iowan daughter of mike and Sherry Bowman from glidden, iowa, and we still have our farm in our family. After working beside many of you in iowa politics, i became concerned about what was happening in our state. Frankly, i saw what compulsive gambling was doing to our state, our culture, and how it was affecting my neighbors. After doing some research on my own, i decided to do something about it last june. I started the iowa conservatives against gambling expansion. This was to bring the issue of gambling expansion to iowans. Were a grass roots volunteer organization, and while we dont have the big money that the big casinos have, we have to be vocal in our opposition, saying enough is enough. [applause] we have to make stopping gambling expansion an issue in this campaign. As you walked in the auditorium today, im sure you saw our table. Since the iowa caucus is blessed to be the first in the nation to voice our support for the eventual gop nominee can we set an example by talking about social and cultural issues like gambling that have a corrosive effect on our state and our citizens . Okay. I dont know how many are out there, but you guys have these signs . All right. Okay. Lets show our candidates that we will ask them when theyre in ames, dubuque, council bluffs, or even glidden, were going to ask them about their position on expanding gambling. All right. Can i get everybody to hold their signs up . Ill take a Group Picture from the podium. You got your sign . Excellent. Lets show the nation that iowa citizens are saying enough is enough and that were going to be all over the state for the next seven months asking them how they feel about that. Be sure to visit our Facebook Page and show your support. Thank you for supporting us, for supporting values, and most of all, for supporting our childrens future. Please visit our table in the lobby and please keep your signs up and welcome Annette Meeks, my mentor, and founder of minnesota citizens against gambling expansion. [applause] good afternoon and thank you, sarah. As she said, my name is Annette Meeks and i am one of the founders along with my husband, who is here today, of citizens against gambling expansion. We got involved in this in minnesota, our home about two decades ago. I want to visit with you today about what this means and why its so important for those of you who are blessed to have a voice in the president ial nominating process. The rapid expansion of gambling in our country is unprecedented. When i was a child growing up every year i could count on an annual sermon at Bethel Baptist church on the evils of gambling. I dont know about you but i dont hear those sermons much anymore. I dont hear them anywhere. I dont hear many people even talking about the corrosive effect gambling has on our society and our culture but when i grew up vegas was a destination. It was the only place you could go in the United States to cast a legal wager. Now we have 48 states where you can legally gamble but you can gamble a lot and people are doing so. Frankly, just about every state legislature spends its days figuring out ways they can get you to wager and gamble more. Why is this an important moral issue for you to consider and bring up to our president ial aspirants . We need to talk about this because of its corrupt and corrosive influence in our society. There are no other words for it. Over half a trillion dollars are wagered annually in the United States on legal gambling. They even use our christian holidays to promote lottery games, things i never thought would happen in my lifetime. And the get rich quick schemes, i cant even begin to tell you what that means to a country that was based on thrift, hard work, and teaching the values of charity. Now we have ads bombarding us at just about every intersection and television ad, telling us how to get rich quick. And it doesnt involve any of those eternal American Values at all. But the cost to society and the cost to the families are great. If we dont bring it up believe me. No one else will. The most important job you have in ywra coming up next winter is to select our likely president ial nominee. I take this job very seriously as a republican delegate in my home state and i hope you do, too. And the issue before next year is one i never even thought about when i was a child sitting in Bethel Baptist Church Hearing those sermons about the evils of gambling. Of course the reason i had never heard about them is because al gore hadnt invented the internet yet. But had al gore invented the internet wed have heard of the evils of Online Gambling. This is going to be a huge issue coming up before our congress, and our next president will likely play an Important Role in determining whether or not we take every smartphone in america and turn it into a legal casino, meaning a dorm room, or your family room, can be a place where your people can literally lose millions of dollars. People of faith like every one of us in this room must raise this question to our candidates. Will you legalize Online Gambling . It is a very important question and one that frankly not many people know about and, honestly, one thats a little difficult to talk about. When i was growing up the illinois lottery had a billboard that said, dont forget to play today. And there is implication from that billboard is if you play the lottery today you could win. Since that time illinois gambling has proliferated to a level i couldnt even have imagined turning neighborhood taverns and restaurants into casinos and, of course, river boat gambling. Ill never forget the story about a teacher in collinsville illinois, four miles from where i grew up, who taught me the most sad and poignant lesson about what gambling and the price our society pays. She was a teacher. After school she could go down to the river boat, gamble away, and it probably was innocent fun for her at first until she got addicted. Then she continued to go each and every day. Gambling away their life savings, gambling away their mortgage payment. She would get home before her husband got home from work and gather the bank statements, gather the notices from the bank, and ultimately gathering up the foreclosure notices for their home. On the day that their home in collinsville, illinois was to be sold at auction, under foreclosure from the sheriff, she drove to a nearby parking lot and committed suicide leaving her children and her husband wondering what had happened. What happened to her is what happens to millions of americans all across our country anonymously every day. They gamble away their future. Were here to tell our candidates were going to ask you about this issue. Were going to hold you accountable to this issue. We want to know where you stand. Because, frankly, as sarah said, enough is enough. Ill leave you with this thought. When we select our candidates shouldnt we really look at i hope you will join us in our efforts here today. We have been covering the family leadership summit in ames, iowa today. A number of republican president ial candidates have been speaking. We have temporarily lost our audio connection. We hope to resume in a few minutes. Until then, a portion of todays washington journal, where we talked about the president ial race. Daniel halper, the editor for the online newspaper. The huge republican field creates opportunity as well as volatility says the New York Times this morning. Its totally unpredictable. Its good. The democratic side is a snooze fest a bit. Everybody can think that maybe al gore or john kerry will jump in and oppose hillary in the end but we can pretty much assume that hillary will be the nominee. Whether the party is able to harvest that towards a victory is far more complex. It does provide a lot of upsides but obviously a lot of downsides as well. Upsides being the Republican Party can grow, get new ideas have great exchanges, open their tent and bring a bunch more people in. Downsides being when you have such a widespread field, winning a field like that doesnt take that many votes by comparison to a smaller field. You can maybe win the iowa caucus with 15 or 20 of the vote. That is very plausible. You can win the New Hampshire primary with maybe 15 or 20 of the vote. That also suggest that we can have a very long republican primary, possibly even going to the convention. Thats not necessarily a bad thing either. It could be a good thing to have a robust debate that engages far more voters and americans than on the other side where there is obviously going to be less of a debate. Some are saying taking that primary process all the way to the convention would be problematic. The Convention Committee is freaking out about the prospects of Something Like that. I disagree. Its possible that that is the case but it is also possible that you have a scenario in which there is a very robust debate. It doesnt drag up the worst elements of the party. But its robust and exciting. I think the key is whether the candidates can capture that, whether they are able to do that. Its not necessarily an easy task, but its possible. People on the republican side seem to be captured by donald trump. When you have such a huge field, one person being different than the rest of the field is able to garner a lot of attention. Thats ok. Its no big deal. It may stay but it probably wont. His support will probably dissipate a little bit. Thats something that seems to be annoying the Republican National committee. Its not such a bad thing. It is much better to have a lot of people engaged in the process, excited about it. I think they are meddling their meddling is bad. Its not a good way of doing business from their perspective. There was a report that the Republican National committee called donald trump. That just helps him. If the establishment is saying to tone it down, that is so good for him. They dont know what they are doing. As a republican, that might be a bit of a concern. I think an organic product that process is very good. Let things go where they might and dont try to be meddlesome or controlling. You think because he talks about immigration a lot that that solidifies immigration as a key point of discussion in 2016 . The thing is that somebody else wins, they have defeated that donald trump wing of the party. The flipside being that it shows some elements that may not appeal to certain segments of voters, but it also could show a healthy fight that could occur if the winner is able to lay claim to these voters and say that element of the party is not the whole representative. Its not necessarily as bad as these people freaking out about it seemed to think it is. We are hearing from republicans only in this segment. Who do you like for 2016 . You have heard some names being mentioned. You can add your own to the list. Is there a front runner in your mind . The polls are saying jeb bush and donald trump. There is an argument to be made that trump is helping jeb bush he is taking votes from other people who are antiestablishment and solidifying them around him. We will see whether that holds. Jeb bush has a ton of money obviously and he has great name recognition. 114 million raised i think. It is a huge advantage. Its not everything. I would say there are front runners. If jeb bush is polling at Something Like 15 and 12 spots down they are pulling at 1. 5 or 2 , the difference is only 13 . That is not a huge percentage in politics. Things can change rather quickly. Grammar, remember, donald trump wasnt in our psyche a few months ago and now he is. We leave this recorded portion of washington journal to return to the live coverage. They dont call these people bigots anymore. Understanding came because tolerance used to mean you believe one way, i believe the opposite, lets go play golf. Now tolerance has morphed. You have to accept your values as every bit as important as my values. To see that connection where bob has a couple bible phrases, one is speak truth and love, and the other one, always consider other people more important than yourself. We in this conservative community have a way of being inappropriate in terms of how we treat people who are of a different sexual orientation. The reality is, we dont have any choice. Jesus mandates that we love others, everybody. I think the more we can do that [applause] one other example how we are coming together, the biggest threat we face in the next 20 years is a very amorphous concept. One day its isis then its al qaeda, then bo boko haram. Lets connect the dots. I maintain that world war iii started on 9 11. That was our generations pearl harbor. We are at war with the global jihad movement. It connects all of them together. When you talk about who is our enemy, it is the war on terror. Who came up with that . Terror is a technique not an enemy. If we can use the correct terminology, its funny how language works. Language is important. You have probably seen evidence of that today. There are these two baptist pastor sitting on their Churchy Church lawn. The signs say the end is near. There comes a sports car whipping down the road. All of a sudden you hear a crash and a splash. And one pastor says, maybe we should have put the bridge is out. [laughter] let me tell you the most amazing way our god is bringing us together. Charleston. How many people were killed nine . The victims re;alatives said to the shooter, i forgive you. The power of that forgiveness has stunned the world. All over the world, people are saying how is this possible . Those of us who have asked the lord to begin transforming our lives know exactly why it is possible. This is a basic message that jesus taught, forgive seven times, no, seven times 70. Whites across the world who embrace the judeochristian values are understanding that this is the future of our country. We must resuscitate those values that made our country so great. What about the other values we have in those teachings of jesus . Always consider other people more important than yourself. Remember what Franklin Delano roosevelt said in 1943 . We cannot take into account the progress we made as a nation without giving due credit to the role the bible have played in the formation of our republic. 13 years later, harry truman, in this great country of ours, it has been proven the fundamental unity between democracy and christianity. Another democrat, john f. Kennedy, ask not what your country can do for you that what you can do for your country. A clear manifestation of jesuss encouragement to us when he says that he who tries to save his life will lose it but he who is willing to lose his life for others will gain life. We are designed to be a channel of gods love for others, to be his hands and feet in a hurting world and to be a blessing for everyone he puts in our path. How can you not be joyful during the day when you have that purpose in life that maybe young people have no clue why they are here. A young fellow picked me up and helped me go to a gas station. After i took them back, i said you are a good samaritan. He had no clue. The jews and the samaritans do not like each other. But the samaritan see the injured jew on the side of the road, picks them up, take them to the end and gives them more money. Thats the classic christian story that we are our brothers keeper. If we look at the little parable of the businessmen and god on top of this hill looking over the dump outside of nairobi and seeing kids digging through the trash for food and the businessman says to god, how can you allow that to happen . And god says, how can you . He wants to partner with us to provide all these solutions. The pastor goes out to the farmer and looks over the fence and says, its just unbelievable how your fences are all straight, your barn is painted your fields are green. You and the lord have done a wonderful job. The old farmer says yeah . You shouldve seen when the lord had it by himself. [laughter] god needs us as a partner to provide these solutions and he is ready to help us and join with us so we can make that happen. Lets never forget charleston and what that means in terms of so many other manifestations. The fruits of spirit our peace patience, kindness, joy, and selfcontrol. I started to scratch my head. I woke up and said no longer can i say to my wife, you make me angry. Because then she is in control. I decided that nobody can say anything that will make me angry or offend me. I was giving this message to a group of Tea Party Leaders in texas one time and a guy in the back says, you are a liberal. I went to katrina to help with some financial encouragement and try to inspire the people. Its 10 years ago and i remember it as if it happened yesterday. A charming woman showed me her house. Half was on one side of the road and the other half was on the other side. All of her belongings and furniture and clothing were sopping wet and destroyed. She said to me, i lost everything i had but my joy. These kinds of messages are available to our country and to the world, but you and i have to do something about promoting it because the other side is more aggressive with promoting their ideas than we are with promoting ours. We saw a saudi prince just promote pledge money to increase islamic law in america. We are going to take we have the opportunity through the love we display for others to live out what jesus asked us to do. Whatever is good whatever is true, whatever is right, noble deserving of praise, dwell on these things. We have our marching orders for us. We are ready to go. Its just how intense we want to be about it. I hope you will be excited about that intensity. Consider all joy, my brother when every adversity enters your life because it will build your endurance. I ripped out my achilles tendon and it was painful, but suddenly because i knew that scripture, i could they ok, what is god going to do with this. I pictured all the wonderful caregivers who would meet my needs and get me back on my feet and i could see evidence of their hearts. That happened to me 10 years ago. I had been whining and bitter and angry. I am very grateful to speak to this audience. I think i am preaching to the choir, at least, i hope i am. I want to close with the importance of teamwork by telling a story of a young fellow who runs his sports car into a ditch in texas after rains. He gets stuck. He commences a farmer to bring his horse to pull him out. He loops the horse onto the car but nothing happens. Why do you have to call the horse for names before he will do anything . Homer is blind. If you thought he wasnt pulling anything he wouldnt give a dang. Remember when you are in a tight spot and you need to share that face with another person faith with another person who is hurting, maybe its a smile or a cup of coffee. We know what our mission is. To be a channel of his love to others, to be his hands and feet in a hurting world, and to be a blessing to every person who he puts in your path. God bless you, god bless our lord, and god bless america. [applause] i just love that guy and i love his spirit and i love his support of the leadership. Give another round of applause. What a great message. [laughter] it would not be a leadership summit if we didnt have one variation to our schedule. It always involves a plane. Rick perry is not here yet, but he is going to be here soon. What we are going to do is take an afternoon break and when we come back at 4 13, you guys are bible scholars. Here is one thing. Because of cspan coverage and the internet coverage, this leadership summit is the number one trending twitter feed right now throughout the entire country. [applause] i would like to have you keep that going. To keep that going, it is fls2015. When you get back at 4 13, we are going to have perry, graham, jindal santorum, and walker. We are going to have a blast. Come back. [applause] our live road to the white house coverage here on cspan. We are live in ames, iowa with the family leadership summit. A number of president ial candidates making remarks. Still more to come. A little bit of an early break here because rick perry is not yet they are ready to speak. He is expected to speak shortly after the break and then we also will hear from senator lindsey graham, governor bobby jindal, former senator Rick Santorum and wisconsin Governor Scott walker. Earlier today, donald trump made some news with his appearance, making comments about john mccain and his record as a pow whether or not he was a hero or not. A number of the other candidates commenting about Donald Trumps remarks. Rick perry tweeting that donald trump, comments make him on said be commanderinchief. Bobby jindal tweets that after donald trump spends six years in a pow camp, he can weigh in on john mccains service. Lindsey graham tweeted that if there was ever any evidence that donald trump should not be commanderinchief, this stupid statement should end all doubt. These tweets from republican president ial candidates we are still to hear from today. What were they tweeting about . Donald trump and his remarks earlier today at the leadership summit. We will show you those comments now as he was interviewed by frank want, the republican pollster earlier today. Lundt welcome to iowa and to the 2015 family leadership summit. Businessman and entrepreneur donald trump. [applause] mr. Trump thank you. Look at that. Frank we always begin with an audience question for each candidate. How many of you believe that the vast majority in Washington Play by their own set of roles and dont tell the truth . Raise your hand. Does anyone trust anyone in washington . Second question, this is appropriate to you. What is more important to the next president political experience or business experience . Razor hand if you think political. Who says business experience raise your hand. I think both. I need to ask you. The most important attributes of a successful workforce is their education and training great it is a major issue out there and they know how focused you are on getting the best employees. Common core has been very controversial. The president had to step back on it. What should the next president do with common core and with education so that you can hire the employees you want to hire . Mr. Trump , gore have to be ended. It is a disaster common core has to be ended. It is a disaster. [applause] it is a way of taking care of people in washington that frankly i dont even think they give a damn about education half of them. I will use that word because people want to hear the truth. [applause] exactly what frank said is whats wrong with our country. We are so politically correct that we can move anymore. [applause] cant move anymore. We have to be able to express ourselves. Frank but dont we go too far . Dont you think you went too far with what you said about mexicans coming across the border . Mr. Trump not at all. [applause] i am so proud of the fact that i got a dialogue started on illegal immigration. [applause] people in the media, they were very rough on me that first week and then many of them have now apologize to me. It turned out i was right. Beautiful kate in San Francisco was shot by an illegal. Mexico kept pushing him back because they didnt want him. Now everybody says that trump was right. I took a lot of abuse. I had disloyal people like macys thing that donald, you are a little controversial, we are going to have to drop you. What does that matter to me . [applause] i never liked them that much because they were made in china so it never mattered that much. [laughter] frank they obviously appreciated. But referring to people as racists, to john mccain a war hero, 5. 5 years as a pow, you call him a dummy. Is that appropriate . Mr. Trump you have to let me speak. You interrupt all the time. [laughter] i know him too well, thats the problem. I am in phoenix. We have a meeting that is going to have 500 people. At the biltmore hotel. We get a call from the hotel its turmoil. Thousands and thousands of people are showing up three or four days before hand. They are pitching tents. The hotel says they can handle it. We move it to the convention center. We have 15,000 people. The biggest one ever. Bigger than bernie sanders. Everybody knows it. A Beautiful Day with incredible people that were wonderful great americans. John mccain goes, oh boy, trump makes my life difficult. He had 15,000 crazies show up. I said, they werent crazy. They were great americans. If you had seen these people, i know what crazy is. These were crazies. So he insulted me and insulted everybody in that room. I said, somebody should run against john mccain. I raised a Million Dollars for him. I supported him. He lost and let us down. So i never liked him as much after that because i dont like losers. Frank hes a war hero. Mr. Trump hes a war hero because he was captured. He is a war hero because he was captured. I dont like people who were captured. He said some very bad things about a lot of people. What i said is that john mccain i disagree with him. And very important like, i speak the truth, he graduated last in his class at annapolis. I said, nobody knows that. He was upset. You are not supposed to say that somebody graduated last or second to last because you are supposed to be like frank says very nice. I want to make America Great again. We dont want to listen to his stuff with being politically correct and everything. We have a lot of work to do. The other day, Hillary Clinton got up and said she didnt like mr. Trumps tone. We have christians having their heads cut off in the middle east. We have people dying all over the border where i was 100 right. We have all this Medieval Times and she says i didnt like his tone. Jeb bush said that as well. What does that have to do with tone . We want results. We dont want tone. [applause] frank use the word christian. Have you ever asked god for forgiveness . Mr. Trump thats a tough question. I am a religious person. People are so shocked when they find this out. I am protestant. I am presbyterian. I go to church and i love god and i love my church. Everybody has heard of Norman Vincent peele, he was my pastor. He would give a sermon, i am telling you, i still remove her his sermons. It was unbelievable. He would bring reallife situations into the sermon. You could listen to him all day long. When you left the church, you were disappointed it was over. He was the greatest guy. Then he passed away. He wrote the power of positive thinking. Frank but have you ever asked god for forgiveness . [laughter] mr. Trump im not sure i have. I just go and try to do a better job from there. I dont think so. If i do something wrong, i think i just try to make it right. I dont bring god into that picture. When we go to church and when i drink my little wine which is about the only wine i drink, i guess thats a form of asking for forgiveness. I do that as often as possible because i feel cleansed. To me, thats important. In terms of officially, i could say absolutely. I dont think in terms of that. I think in terms of lets go on and lets make it right. [applause] mr. Trump. Respectfully, we were member the 1992 election, ross perot lost is that election. Would you go on record today saying that you will not run as a thirdparty candidate . Mr. Trump no. This country has great potential. Its not going to have that potential because we are being drained by incompetent leaders. With the iran deal, we didnt get our four hostages. Yesterday, secretary kerry said very strongly, we didnt want to bring up the hostages, we didnt want to complicate our deal. We want our hostages back, how is that complicating the deal . He didnt want to talk about the money or the hostages. It was Just Announced that iran got one of their leading Nuclear Scientist back as part of the deal. It just cannot this morning. Iran, in addition to making an unbelievable deal that will make them one of the great powers, perhaps more powerful than the United States, because today its about the weapons, we are giving them billions and billions of dollars that we shouldnt beginning them. We didnt get our hostages back which is terrible. We didnt want to complicate the negotiation. When obama was asked that question the other day the anger in his face at being asked that question. He said we didnt want to complicate the negotiation. Iran just got their big scientist back and we just found out about it this morning. I think we are run by a group of incompetent people and they are destroying our country. [applause] can i say one other thing . Nobody deals with politicians more than i do. I have contributed to everybody. A did whatever i said. They did whatever i said. I was a businessman, why wouldnt i . I dont have to agree with them. Hillary and bill clinton were at my wedding. It was very nice. Frank i want to know, which wedding . [laughter] mr. Trump the last one. As a businessman, you have other things to do. I am very proud of the work. No politicians, in my opinion they talk about the moon and the sun. I watch them. People want jobs. No politician is going to get this country back. I am sort of a politician because i have been dealing with them all my life. If you can win and make a lot of money, you are not very good. Id. Think anybody has dealt with them any better than me. Politicians are controlled by the people who gave the money. They are lobbyists and donors. [applause] i will tell you that they are totally controlled. When bush has to make a decision , can you imagine this guy negotiating against china . We have no chance. Who would you rather have negotiating against china . Bush or trump . Frank this is a summit as opposed to a political effort. You can afford the lawyers against the irs. I cannot. Mr. Trump i know. You talked about your faith earlier and i was wondering how your faith and your family growing up have influenced how you raise your children. Mr. Trump it has had a big influence. I have five wonderful children. I knock on wood. More than any question, i get questions similar to that. My children have done well. Eve anke is a great person ivanka is a great person. My three oldest children have done well, they have gone into business and have never been in trouble. More than any other question, i get, how did you raise your kids . Through the church. Where i grew up, we have a First Presbyterian church in queens. Thats where i went to church and sunday school and bible class. It was a very important element. The other important element was that from the time they were two years old, i would say no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. I remember ivanka looking at me once telling me that i was driving her crazy. She was two years old, she didnt know what drugs were. I see so many children grow up and they get under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Their parents are successful people. The kid is brilliant. They have no chance. Once they are under the influence of the drugs and alcohol, life is too tough, they are not going to make it. I was very strong with my children. Frank did you use to have dinner with your kids most nights . Mr. Trump yes almost always. I was always available to my children. I could be in the middle of the biggest most important deal. If ivanka called me right now, i would say, byebye, frank. Maybe not, i would ask her for 10 minutes. I was a great father. I was a better father than i was a husband. The reason was i was a worker. They were very good women. I was always working. I was creating jobs, building jobs, doing everything. I was working and it was very hard for a woman. I blame myself, not anybody else. It was a work thing, not a bad thing. It was very hard for anybody to compete against the work. That was not good. I have learned that. Frank no one in this room will be able to live in your shoes. What advice you have to try to prioritize your career and family echoed what is the best way to get that right . Mr. Trump i know all of the very successful people in the world, most of them. They buy apartments from me. I sold an apartment to a chinese person i love china. I just like that their leaders are so much smarter than our leaders. I love mexico, i respect mexico, i love the mexican people. I just dont like that the mexican leaders are ripping off our country because they are smarter and more cunning than our leaders and negotiators. Between the trade and the border, they are killing us. Frank you are press conferences would take forever. [laughter] mr. Trump i am trying to get out the point. Career and family. I was going to say, i found that the happiest people are the people that have good families. I know the richest people in the world, the toughest people in the world, people who are rude and you wouldnt like them. Great negotiators, great business people, but not nice people and not the happiest people. They are very rich smart. Donald trump from earlier today at the family leadership summit in ames, iowa. We will break away from this recorded portion of the event to return to our live coverage in ames, iowa, our road to the white house coverage continues. Another republican president ial candidate, rick perry, the former Texas Governor expected to speak shortly. You are supporting the booths and the sponsors and everything out there. Find your seat, get ready to listen to the voice of god which is our friend peter tien. Its not an easy job. We will get started with the final session. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back and welcome to iowa and the 2015 family leadership summit, former Texas Governor rick perry. [applause] mr. Perry do you want me on the left or the right . I normally dont like to be on the left. [laughter] frank we always begin with a question from the audience. If there was to be an investment , which profession would they invest in the most . Teachers, who have the responsibility of educating our children teaching them to read and write and act properly. The second would be our nurses, who help us stay well and get us well if we are sick. The third would be our veterans who defend this country. [applause] im sorry, parents are not getting a tax break tonight. Who would use teachers applaud. Choose teachers, applaud. [applause] who would choose nurses applaud. [applause] and who would choose veterans . [applause] what is your reaction to that . Mr. Perry i would like to add my voice to that. Keeping in mind that i am married to a nurse. [laughter] and a really good one. If you dont first keep this country free, if you dont first have the investment in the men and women who are willing to hold their hands up and say here i am, send me, you will never have the dollars to hire a teacher, you will never have the dollars to hire a nurse. I just want to take a moment. Driving back in here today from the airport, i left my grandchildren to come specially to be here with you all. Before the night is up, lord willing, i will be back with them. Driving back in here i heard something that was as disturbing to me as i have heard in this entire process of running for the presidency of the United States. There was an individual who sat upon this stage earlier today who doesnt understand or dont care doesnt care about people who serve this country. To discharge a legitimate American Hero like john mccain. You may disagree with his politics and thats fine. But dont question the men and women of the military who sacrificed and sometimes pay a huge price for our safety and our freedom and our economics. [applause] as an individual who has worn the uniform of this country, i was highly offended what donald trump said about john mccain and his years of sacrifice in a dirty, dingy terrible prison in north vietnam. Donald trump owes every American Veteran and in particular john mccain an apology. [applause] to finish that thought, i think it makes iowans very wise in being able to identify that without a Strong Military without our ability to defend and protect these values of the six ordinary country we live in, that america is lost. I want to say thank you to everyone of you who has worn the uniform of this country, that are wearing it today, or those of you who have helped to raise great and extraordinary patriots. Thank you for your gift to this country. [applause] frank governor, this is a policy discussion rather than a political discussion and im going to come right up to the line. I hope i dont cross it. If donald trump does not apologize to john mccain, do you feel that that disqualifies him as a legitimate president ial candidate . Mr. Perry and as the commanderinchief in this country, in one word, yes. [applause] frank as governor of texas, you had the tremendous challenge both financially and politically, of defending a border and you were very critical of the president in how he handled it. What does the next president have to do . Its the question more people have asked about than any other in this forum. What does the next president have to do to ensure that the promises that have been made about Border Security actually happen and for you as the governor, you wanted the power to make those decisions on the border. Should the next president give those governors the power or is it the responsibility of washington to secure the border in texas, arizona, new mexico, and california . Mr. Perry it is obviously the latter. Our constitution understanding the constitution is really important. I am sure the current resident of the white house, as a constitutional law professor has studied the constitution. For whatever reason if he doesnt want to follow it, thats another issue. The constitution enumerates those powers that are to be given to the federal government. One of those is to stand a Strong Military and another one is to secure our border. Wouldnt it be awesome if the federal government just got those two things right . And left Everything Else to the states like the 10th amendment tell them to do, to have those powers not delegated to the federal government by the constitution or reserves for the states or the individuals . The 10th amendment really matters. I understand how to deal with the border. I have been dealing with it for 14 years. The last seven or eight years in particular, we have had extraordinary challenges great challenges. When the president came to dallas, after a short conversation on that ramp at that airport in dallas, i realized the president was not going to engage in his constitutional duty. I told him, if you dont secure the border, taxes will. Texas will. Thats exactly what we did. I asked for volunteers of our Texas National guard. We had over 2000 that volunteered. We sent a thousand to be force multipliers on that Southern Region of the border along with our texas ranger recon teams. They were literally in the river in boats. We had a 74 decrease in the number of apprehensions in that Southern Region of the border by november. I dont consider that to be a failure, but its a failure of the federal government when a state has to go and do the federal governments responsibility. I want to share with you one thing. If you elect me your president and the will to secure the border with mexico and the United States will reside in the white house. [applause] let me just share with you frank what he means to say is that whoever gets elected president this is not an advocacy. This is a discussion of policy so that the family leader doesnt get into trouble. Mr. Perry oh. [laughter] let me share with you how to secure the border. There was all of this rhetoric that gets thrown out, we will just go build a wall from here to there. I know about securing the border. You have to have personnel and you have to have personnel in the right places. Our president didnt even know that the Border Patrol is 45 or 50 miles away from the border in many places. We need those individuals to be on the border, in the river in many cases, in a prevention per prevention position. You put the personnel on the border, you have the strategic fencing in the metropolitan areas. Whats really missing today is the aviation asset. Flying 24 7, looking down with our technology, analyzing what is going on on that border. When you see activities that are clearly illegal or suspicious, you have Quick Response teams that go to that border. That is how you do it. [applause] frank we are going to go to the audience for questions. Hello, i am tracy. I have a question regarding obamacare. We obviously all know that it has not been good for our country. As a Small Business owner, it has been a disaster for my company and it cost us a lot of problems. I hear over and over that we are expecting that whoever becomes president is going to repeal it. I want to ask the question that this train has been loaded so heavily and it is going down the hill so fast that its difficult to stop it. Is it really possible to repeal it once we have so many people working in those jobs, we have people doing things that are difficult to just stop . Mr. Perry the simple answer is yes here it what do you replace it with is the more appropriate question. Its one that the Republican Party must be able to lay out a cogent and thoughtful approach. I will suggest that it goes back to, it is not the federal governments responsibility to be delivering health care in this country. [applause] it is not the federal governments responsibility to be directing the states cur riculum on education policy. It is one of the reasons i am against common core. [applause] i will suggest you it is not the federal governments responsibility to be telling the governor of iowa and the legislature here how to build transportation infrastructure. A clearly goes back to my belief that the 10th amendment means what it says. It is the states responsibility to find out ways to deliver health care. I know that the states will come up with a way to more effectively deliver health care. One of the reasons we didnt expand medicaid in the state of texas is because the president himself even said this is a broken system in 2009 and i agree with him. Why in the world what i want my home state to engage in the expansion of a system that is already broken . We know from studies that have been done there is no difference in results between people who have medicaid and those who dont. The issue for me is that you let the states come up with it. They will come up with different ideas that will help. They will come up with a broad menu of ideas about how to deliver health care. I trust these states. We know that we can deliver health care more efficiently effectively. That is the real answer for this. There is no onesizefitsall approach to this. We need to respect that. We need to stand up and be very open about it. The states are where this Health Care Innovation is going to come from. Louis brandeis said the states are supposed to be the laboratories of democracy. The states are supposed to go out there and experiment, come up with novel ideas about how to deliver this government that their people want. Folks in connecticut and folks in iowa and folks in new mexico are going to have different ideas about how to do all that. States are supposed to experiment. He said, from time to time, a state will fail. Their citizens will be impacted negatively from it. When i heard that, i always think about colorado. [laughter] but i will defend colorados right to be wrong. I think thats the real issue there. Let the states have this opportunity to come up with the ways to deliver health care. You repeal it and then you allow the states to reform it the way they best see fit. I will suggest that not only will americans be healthier they will be better served and at the end of the day, they will be happier. [applause] went to a question over here. Hello, i work here in ames. I am a gay man. The reason i came today was to, was in the hopes of getting a better understanding of why people have different views of mine, they have those views. Some a question is as a person who could potentially be elected into office who is responsible for representing all americans how can a person who would push an agenda that would deny me and tens of millions of other american citizens their right to pursue happiness . In addition, what do you as a leader of conservatives, what is your fear or what do you see the risk could be in allowing equal opportunities to gain legal status . Mr. Perry therell be issues that we do not agree upon all across the country. There always have been. I am pretty much on the record about my beliefs about marriage being between one man and woman. [applause] i agree with those four justices on the Supreme Court who were on the losing side of that argument. That brings us to two issues. One of them is, i believe with all my heart, as i have talked about the 10th amendment that those decisions should be made at the state. I think that is the appropriate place for them to be made. Here is what i want you to think about today, all of us, whether we agree with this issue or not the next president of the u. S. Very possibly could click pick three Supreme Court justices in their term of office. Those of Supreme Court justices could be there for the next 3050 years. It is really important for us to think about republicans have not done a good job of putting justices on the Supreme Court within the last 30 years. If you go back and look at those courts whether it was kennedy, whether it was roberts and as a governor of texas for 14 years i had the great honor and privilege to a point six of our nine appoint six of our nine chief justices. I dont think we can take a chance of having individuals being put on our court that do not understand the clear role of being a Supreme Court justice. It is not to come up with ways to redefine definitions, it is not for them to legislate from that court, it is to be a judge. [applause] [applause] i will wrap it up, george will wrote a column this week that i recommend. He wrote about Justice John Roberts and justice john willett who is on the texas Supreme Court. And about the clear difference in these two individuals understanding the judicial supremacy and i want to remind you, i appointed john willet the texas record. I have a question for you. Every person gets one question. He didnt answer my question. We will have a followup. How can you ensure equal protection, i understand the policy, but this is not just about sexual choice or gender or age or race, it is all of it, how do we ensure that every american has equal production. Equal protection . I gave a speech a week ago where i talk about race poverty, the 14th amendment, and the 10th amendment. It is important for us to get back to understanding that that 14th amendment, all people are created equal, and that they truly are and that we respect that. Being able to put men and women on the court, again, this goes back to truly having conservatives on this theme court. Men and women who understand that our founding fathers, that constitution and that bill of rights, that was extraordinary work. So you have support that will protect our basic rights . Each one of us has a rule, the legislative branch the executive branch, and the courts have a role, they are different but they are there to ensure that the people are protected, that equal rights are protected and that our courts do not need to be in the business about being confused in the legislative branch. We need a president that understands that you need it to work with the u. S. Congress and that this unilaterally going it alone is not good for the future of this country. President obama today [applause] i think he puts america in jeopardy, when he cannot get it done with congress, he just says come i will go it alone and i do not think that that is good for america or bodes well for the world. [applause] as a way to wrap this up, somebody will take the oath of office, that individual can do something within the first few hours. What should be the very First Executive action, or the very first decision, or the very first, that new president should do on january 20 200017. Mr. Perry there are things that the person will say, it is that time the president should be laying out a decision, giving hope to the people of this country, hope for their grandchildren. That starts with an inaugural address that is positive, that lays out the vision of both economically and military giving hope that we will live in a country that we are economically secure and that we are secure in our safety. One of the first things i would do as president , is the gate the gate negate this deal with iran and send a message that america will be there with our allies and we will do everything we can to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. [applause] frank ladies and jenna governor rick. Thats ladies ladies and gentlemen, governor rick perry. Mr. Perry thank you. I think based on the conversation we just had, our next guest is that he would come to the stage. I have gotten to know the dean of the school of government at liberty university, one of our partners here for the leadership summit. One of the things that he has a heart for is the conversation that just took place, what does it mean to live in a constitutional republic, what it means to be a patriot, what it means to preserve and maintain our godgiven rights and liberties for this and future generations, that is what sean will focus on now. Please welcome, sean akers. [applause] [applause] very few times have i gotten a warm welcome like we have here. I am originally from louisiana. For the past 10 years, i have in in virginia at the university. We landed yesterday and i stepped off and nothing says a louisiana hello like 100 degree weather. Thank you, iowa. I appreciate being at home. So many of you have been by the table and have to say, another first. I was standing out there and this wonderful lady walked up and she said, we love liberty we love liberty. I knew that she met both the school and institution. She named her dog liberty. I just thought, i hope that you do not kick him when the bill comes in. You guys are wonderful. There is a reason i what is blessed. I have listened to the questions today, it is clear to me that when we think back at how the nation was near its founding when people cared summit about the nation they might do something crazy like that spend there one day off sitting in an auditorium listening to political speeches. It is encouraging to see you here today. What i get to do, and this is a lot of fun for me, the politics is great. But the leadership, the statesmanship, that is extremely special. We get the chance every year, to visit with countless people who think they might want to study government, they might want to go into government for a living, and others who want to discuss government. Lots of them, because of where we come from, lots of them are christians. I get to questions over and over again, in churches and in people who are interested in government, repeatedly, and that is this should christians be involved in politics . And the second, is there really any hope for america . These are serious questions and it is easy to answer them and move on, but what i thought it would do is spend a few minutes looking more closely at them because sometimes there is more information in the answer than just the answer itself. I will start with this. I am a lawyer by trade, we like to play logic games. We will tackle the first question. We will approach it like a logic game. The vast majority of christians in the u. S. Except accept that the bible is the true word of god. Next, if that is true, if jeremiah says listen, you were formed in your mothers womb and that god knew you before you were formed, he had a plan and a hope and destiny for you before you were even conceived, this is amazing. If we accept that as true we are getting someplace. There is another interesting place in scripture where a jewish man was in a pagan society. This was daniel. He is having to give advice because he is good at his job. He makes a profound statement. He says that god lives lifts up kings and dethroned them at will. That he puts sovereigns in their seat. Hold onto that one for a second. One interesting question that we have with new students especially Young Students and in a lot of churches, that i always enjoy listening to is this they ask, who is the sovereign of the United States. And we get all kinds of answers. Some people say, the president is the sovereign. Other people say that congress is. And others say that we are a nation of laws, the laws are the sovereign. It is not a trick question. It is really not. Read the preamble to the constitution. It does not say, i the president , it does not say we the congress, and it does not say we the judiciary, it says, we the people. Ok, that is something. We will add all of those together. If you accept the bible as true and it says that knew you before god knew you before you were born, new you, and that he puts up sovereigns, and that you are the sovereign of the United States, that means that god did not just choose you, he chose you for a time such as this. That is amazing. To have prechosen you to exist right now to set as sits as a sovereigns of this nation. There are some problems with that. One of them is that many would look and say, why would god choose to put meat at the time when it is a past time to describe how great the National Debt is . Why would god choose me to sit in that seat, when we feel like the traditional values are under attack . Why would god choose me, when it appears that Foreign Policy has reached powder cake keg state . I will tell you. When you look back at the bible david became king before because he defeated goliath. There is tremendous opportunity for those who have faith. If that is true, if god had a plan for you, why is it so difficult custo . Part of that is just life. But part of it we can find in this, we are told that we perish for lack of vision. My father was a pastor and i remember sitting in church as he would tell the story of this noble and mighty brown bear that was trapped and put into a small underfunded zoo. He could not be trained because he was wild. He stayed in a 12 foot cage and all he could do was march forward and back. He was abused and he marched 12 feet forward and 12 feet back for years. That was all the liberty he had, until one day a wealthy businessman and outdoorsman goes there and sees the bear and he is flabbergasted. He gets with the bear. He has him tranquilized and taken out far too bear paradise. He unloads him and climbs to the top of the hill and he is waiting to see this majestic bees take his place beast take his place as king of his domain. And then his heart is broken as he looks through the binoculars and sees the bear do the only thing he knows how to do. He starts to pace, 12 foot forward and 12 foot back. The bear is harassing perishing for lack of vision. He has all the skills and instincts, everything he needs all the space, but he is perishing for lack of vision. I do not know, it is a long story, but i will deal with how i do not know how we got from a place where we had a constitution that we read to protect godgiven rights, to one that takes them away. Lets walk through a couple of points i would love for you to be able to walk away with, the nature of the constitution, itself. We read it today to create rights. The founders read in the other way. They had arguments over including the bill of rights in it, because they knew something that we have forgotten. The constitution was not a letter written by the government, giving limited powers to the people, it was written by the people giving limited powers to the government. [applause] First Citizens this these founders knew things were incredibly important. I will cover free speech first but the second was freedom of religion. We often think that free speech is important because it is godgiven and you do not have the right to stop me from saying what i want to say. That is true, but that is not what the founders found important. It is more about understanding that we are a constitutional republic. It works in a very particular way. Free speech plays an incredible role. Speeches like water. One dropped and nobody really listens. A tsunami and people pay attention. The power of free speech is in this, when you show up you had all day today people so up here they were introducing themselves and they were there for you to evaluate them. The moment you make a decision on who you will vote for, you have accomplished something, but that is only scratching the surface of what the founders built in. The real power is being able to persuade others to vote with you. Every time that you see a law that limits free speech, you should ask yourself who the winners and losers are, because the row question is how you can because the real question is how you can persuade others. And the second, the freedom of religion. John adams told a group of officers in the massachusetts militia that our constitution was made for a moral and religious people. He said, it was an adequate to the government of any other. We can live under a four page because we govern ourselves. The only way we govern ourselves is to have a sense of morality, in his opinion, comes from religion. We have had several people who have studied that one one of the things that tocqueville said when he came to the u. S. , he was astonished, because he said that we fight over everything. We argue over everything. The one thing that seems to be consistent in what was his chin rowdy. Everywhere you go, people agree what is right and wrong. That is how we literally govern ourselves from the inside. Pastors, it is you who give structure to those who self govern, who make liberty possible and free speech is the way that we express that pulling each other a long. If you take those things in conduction and whether that brings hope, i see hope every single day. I wonder how many of you are raising your sons and daughters to be the next davids and daniels and josephs and esters. How many of you will step up to the plate and persuade each other to take action. The whole world looks to america to see which way it will go. All of america looks to iowa to see which way it will go. I hope that all of iowa looks right here today to you to see which way should go. Thank you, douglas you all. God bless you all. [applause] [applause] welcome to the leadership summit, United States senator, lindsey graham. [applause] [applause] mr. Graham more roads for iowa. We need more roads, you cannot get from South Carolina to hear. Here. It is worth the travel though, because there are nice people. Frank i have never had someone walked out and take a shot at a state before. I am the idiot who does that. Here is a question, it is serious. What is the balance between results and principles, because we had a long conversation about this, let me thank you all for being quick with your questions, insightful with your approach, and for being engaged. I hear that people are tuning in and they appreciate what you are saying, you should be proud of yourselves. Mr. Graham here, here. Frank so the question is the balance of results and principles. Ronald reagan suggested if you can get 80 of what you are trying to do it is perfectly fine to compromise the other 20 on because you had to get something done. Others today believe that 80 is not enough, that we should be fighting, that we shouldnt compromise. Please give us an indication, do you prefer candidates who will provide at about 80 and get things done, or do you want to fight for the 95100 and not give in, at all. He prefers the 80 candidate . [applause] [applause] frank i need to correct that the 80 leader. The prefers the 100 leader who prefers a 100 leader . [applause] [applause] frank this is something the next leader will face. When will you not compromise when will you go to the wall what are those topics where the next president should say there are no other alternatives . Mr. Graham i will not compromise when fighting against radical islam, because he did nothing for second place. [applause] mr. Graham we are in a religious war, they would kill everybody in this room if they could. Frank how many think that we are in a religious war . [applause] mr. Graham so i would never compromise National Security, without that Everything Else is just talk. I would never come from eyes the American Dream, because without that we are just another nation. What is the American Dream . Picking your own leader, criticizing your government, raising your children the way that you would like. Working hard and making something of yourself, that is worth dying for. We are as a nation better get our act together quickly, for the coming greeks, somebody better do something about it grief, somebody better do something about it. [applause] [applause] mr. Graham for the 100 out there, how do you how about Social Security, how many of you want to be a scary Social Security . What would i do to save Social Security, whatever it took. When i was younger, my mother died, then my father died, we owned a restaurant and a pool room. My mother had hodgkins disease. If it were not from a and and uncle helping the raise my sister if it was not for my family and friends and faith, i would not be sitting here today. Without Social Security to help my family because my sister was a minor im 60 years old, im not married, i do not have any kids. What would i do to s