Michelle, talks about u. S. Innovation. Her book is, who built that . Young Americas Foundation hosted the event at the reagan ranch at the Reagan Ranch Center in santa barbara, california. It is my privilege to introduce to you today our future speaker and share a few reflections on my experience with Young America foundation. Welcome to those watching on cspan. Young America Foundation is committed to educating and inspiring increasing Young Americans across our nation. With individual freedom, Strong National defense, free enterprise, traditional values. For students, conferences like the one we are attending today is one of Young America foundations primary means of it inspiring the next generation of leaders. As mr. Larson mentioned, it is my first time here at the reagan ranch. About four years ago when i attended my First High School conference. That is when my passion for freedom was ignited. I heard about the miracle of america. A proud and exceptional country. Founded on the protection on human kinds and liberties. A country who offers her people the opportunity to pursue and achieve heroic dreams. I realize as per accident reagan told us, it is time for us to realize we are too great a nation to limit our self to small dreams. We are not doomed to inevitable decline. I do not believe that they will fall on no matter what we do. I do believe in a fatal fall on us if we do nothing. His call to action inspired me to take action in my own community for the future of my country. I am working closely with the foundation to found another chapter in the next school year [applause]. I wanted to share the briefly some of the things i have learned at Young America that inspire me the most. America stands proudly upon the foundation of a rich western heritage. Stretching as far back from the Roman Republic from the second and third century bc. In the roman athens and those who came after were magnificent. They lack the fundamental aspect , this critical puzzle pieces of freedom of opportunity afforded by the free market system of capitalism. No other economic arrangement in Human History has been so capable of creating so much wealth and opportunity for so many people. President Ronald Reagan understood this. The free market principles were critical components of americas greatest. He reminded us, only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding Economic Policy and benefiting from their success, only then can society remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Our speaker this afternoon certainly understands this. She is living evidence that the American Dream is alive and well. The daughter filipino immigrants, michelle is one of the foremost thinkers. She is an author, an author, a syndicated columnist, blogger, and entrepreneur. She has 20 Years Experience in political journalism. She began her career with the l. A. Daily news. In 1995, she was named warren brooks fellows at the Competitive Enterprise Institute at washington d. C. As an entrepreneur she has built three successful website, her own personal website, hot air, and twitchy. Youll know her for her numerous media appearances the from fox news and msnbc and cspan. She is a frequent speaker on College Campuses havent spoken to audiences at their coos, marquette, university of texas, and south dakota state university. She has authored five books, one of which the culture of corruption was ranked number one New York Times bestseller. Her most recent book, who built that, Inspiring Stories of americas entrepreneurs. Those whose ideas and inventions conceive here in basements, garages, backyards became corporations, and play millions of americans and people around the world. And improve the standard of living for the entire world. One of my favorite was the miracle of americans. Its a story of tony. He was a croatian immigrant from a poor island in the dramatic c. He was born close to the end of world war ii. He came to america thank invented the maglite torch. Her conviction in her belief in freedom resound in all that she does. She is a shining example of patriotism to americans everywhere. Please remain welcoming her to the stage. [applause]. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lets get started. This is amazing. I cannot tell you how at home i feel here. How perfect a set innocence. I cannot think of a better place i also much too young Americas Foundation and the reagan ranch. These are two of the finest, liberty promoting organizations we have in america. I want to thank everyone who works for that organization. Ron and michelle who have been friends for so long. Andrew, and each and every one of you who has done your part to support the work that they do. Thank you. Give yourself a hand. [applause]. I also want to give a shout out to cspan a book tv who are here, over the course of my quartercentury career as an out of the closet, conservative journalist, cspan has covered many of the events that i have done over the years. They welcomed me from washington journal last week and it is always an incredible ride to get phone calls from cspan listeners and to get that no holds bar, fully transparent discussion that so many say that they support. This book, who built that, was, with a very special journey for me. As i write in the introduction of the book, most most people know me as that angry brown lady on the tv said who is always yelling. So i vowed, when i launch this book that i was going to put on the happy, smiling face. But inevitably then of course, on cable tv they were going to put me get some meathead from the left and there i go again. Im sure some of you saw me last week on some of the shows. I think, when you are in this business and especially when you cancer in your College Campuses representing the voice of freedom, freemarket capitalism, the best found in constitutional principles that we all it here too, you have to pick and choose your battles. It also pens him a time, manner, and, and place on how you present yourself. The full picture of who we are and that is what reagan did. He was a happy or year. When he needed to reprimand the berkeley children, many of whom were 16, and 70 years old he knew how to turn it on. Yet, he remained such a beacon for people across class lines, across color lines. He gave people a reason to aspire. That overused words these days, hope. Hope rests in the principle of the promise of social nobility that we are not all delegated to one rung of the ladder. So when i heard this, you did not built this, it still feel so raw. Doesnt it . I thought, this is it. Weve one, we have clinched it, can you believe this guy getting up and openly denigrating americas makers, builders, and achievers. How did he get away with that . And then he did. And did that not feel like it would just add me in the heart. What is going on, what is going on here . What do we fail to do . To connect the dots to people so they can see that he was not merely saying that we have help along the way, thats an innocuous treatment. Of course we all do, we all we all stand on the shoulders of our Founding Fathers. Lets thank them. But no, thats thats not what he was saying. So in the book i excerpt the full context of the passage of those remarks, which the contacts was very important. Why was he saying what he was saying in this crusading force, on business owners, on selfmade, independent entrepreneurs. Before he coined that phrase you didnt build that, he had the stripping hostility for people who, rightly believed that it was their own initiative that yes, they worked harder, yes they were smarter. I was horrified when he said they think they are so smart, they think they work harder, but what was more or find was the arousing applause. So, i completely go to the fact that when i started the book, i was angry. But as i embarked on research for the book, and i took this incredible journey through american history, i ended up with the biggest, confuse grin on my face. You should have seen my entire family. Every time i discovered some new facts, new on song entrepreneur, they had to hear every last detail. So, my kids kids got to see a very different side of me. Not just angry, cable tv lady. But nerd mom. There she goes she goes again talking about a bottlecap. Stop her. But the fact is, i have always been somewhat of a breast entree frustrated tinkerer. The soda bottles submarine that sank, the marshmallow shooter that has marshmallows stuck in the pvc piping, a weber grill i tried to modify and i almost since my eyebrows off. I thought really, who better to write about the successes than someone who is such a want to be. Such a little failure. Of course that is somewhat of a cliche now that when people talk about successful entrepreneurs they always mention failure which is such a huge and radiant motivator for them to continue. There were so many statements even just in the last couple of weeks that have emphasized and underscored some of the things i talk about in the introduction to the book. It is really my personal manifesto against this mouth shaming agenda. The open open denigration that we here not only in statements like you didnt build that but other statements. For obama. At one point when he was lobbying he said, you have earned enough money. Because he is a decider. How about biden who has said that every great idea of the 19th, 20th, 21st century is the result of government division. How about mr. Bernie sanders, he handed it to me on a silver platter this week, kicking off his campaign, speaking to financial journalist john harwood and he says, one of the core problems with america is that there are 23 types of deodorants on our store shelves in 18 types of sneakers. Because consumers have so many choices it is these selfish people who are either consuming all of these innumerable products, and all of the people who are employed manufacturing that there are the cause of childhood hunger in america. So next time youre doing this, hunger is your fault. [laughter] by the way, i need someone to go to the bathroom really quickly before a forget and get me a role roll of toilet paper. Can someone do that . Just go grab a roll of toilet paper. I will get back to that in a second. So this is perfect, and everything will be safe at work. So here we have Bernie Sanders who, by the way who are some of his biggest donors in france . Ben and jerry from ben jerrys ice cream. And how many flavors of ice today sell . [laughter] i propose that Bernie Sanders first asks as theoretical presidency that ben jerrys only be allowed to sell one flavor of ice cream, venezuela vanilla. [laughter] could this be more perfect . The idea that somehow we should be punished because we have a myriad of choices. Guess what Bernie Sanders . You can buy my book at walmart, cosco, barnes noble, and other places in God Bless America for it. [applause]. There is my toilet paper. How many types of toilet paper are on the shelf at safeway . We can quilted, to plaque, three ply, foreplay, scented or unscented. Its not thanks to the federal department of innovation that we have toilet paper in venezuela and the soviet union dont. Because there could be no government executive order that created a single roll of toilet paper. Many of you, because you have parents and committed teachers, and homeschoolers who understand that education is a failure if you do not have an appreciation of basic free market, economic values. Many of you are familiar with the iconic essay by leonard reed, called i pencil. Yes . Raise your hand. I think this should be mandatory. If i had a common core curriculum, i pencil would be taught in second grade or first grade. This was the way of illustrating the miracle of millions of voluntary exchanges that go on in our country every day. Also around the world where they can. Of all the cooperation that goes on without any centralized topdown hand coordinating it. The engines, the fuel for producing something as simple as a pencil comes from allowing people to pursue their self interest. It is the same thing with toilet paper which is why one of the chapters i wrote is i toilet paper. And boy was was it fun to write in the voice of a roll of toilet paper. What i found was, it was such a joy to take a break from the dearly daily wear and taher of the tv world where there so Much Negative to just be able to breathe in this incredible legacy. The history of toilet paper can be traced back to our Founding Fathers. Many of them who were private, venture capitalists in the paper mills across pennsylvania. Benjamin franklin was one of them. Toilet paper owners never thought that we have them to thank for the comfort of this. They were just trying to put food on the table and make a living and yes make a profit. They said it with a happy smile on their face. These days, do you hear people as is with the profanity, or pixelation like a cartoon . We cant make a profit. Then of course theres a wreaking hypocrisy of obama going after private venture capitalists. Just a few weeks ago at Georgetown University at a poverty summit, im sure you all saw this, wrote a piece about this in usa today, he denigrated, he picked at random of course the top 25 Hedge Fund Managers in america to denigrate. He called them quote, societies lottery winners. As if their success, their achievement, the Creative Capital that they had, the decision decision that they made to invest another private businesses were somehow distributed like a powerball drawing. Some people get lucky and everybody else does not. Theyre stuck in relegated to those positions for life. Nonsense. Not only is this nonsense, that only is it seething class warfare, it is anti american. Because it is looking at everything this country represented in the past ny we have have been such a success for so long. This man is ignorant of history. People like him, these capitalists need to be called out. That is why i dedicated who built that to president barack obama [applause]. So this is going to be showing tell. But before i get to some of these really cool things, by the way, i i have a whole bag of these bottle caps so kids if you want to have before you leave come up to me and i will give you some of them. But i do want to talk about Ronald Reagan and how he affected my life and what he meant to my family and me. So i have told a lot of students i speak to across the country, i do not always have this big mouth, i i know you are so shocked. [laughter] it was always incredibly difficult for me as a child to get up in front of an audience, believe it or not. I feel my seventh grade speech class. Ill never forget it because it had reagan tied to it. We are told to write about anything we wanted to write about and speak for three minutes. I had always been a very indepth writer. If it was something i could commit to paper, i would get an a. But having to deliver its i wrote my speech in 1982 about a government official, a Civil Servant named lenny who dived into the potomac, there is a plane crash, i dont remember that airline. Air florida thank you. Like the geriatric memory bank, thank you. [laughter] this was an ordinary guy who did an extra and everything. He saved several passenger lives in the icy potomac. I wrote a great speech about this because what president reagan did was launch the ongoing tradition of honoring an ordinary american who did externa things during the state of the union. That tradition continues today. So i got my paper written, got up to the podium, i failed. I went home to my mom, i cried and thank god i had not just a tiger mom, but a Mountain Lion mom who is completely unsympathetic. She said words that ring true today and so many contexts, im sure many of these students had missed numbers like this. She said if if you dont speak for yourself, no one will. Thats how i felt on my college campus. I went to Overland College its like the miserably of the midwest. I went to a school where the lack of intellectual diversity on campus was not ashamed, it was something youre proud of. At some point you realize that the selfanointed progressives who claim your mind because of your chromosomal makeup, right gals . They just assume that you belong to them and a lot of the racial grievance mongers, somehow they should claim every last minority on campus and on the inner city by virtue your skin color or ethnicity. That source of entitlement that they have needs to be pushed back against by people with an alternative view. Of what constitutes hope and change. [applause]. When i wrote this book i didnt just want to write it for folks who hear me on tv, truth what i have to say and thats why im so glad book tv is here to reach out to a wider audience. In particular i wanted to make sure young people heard this message, because we have a huge problem, if only we had fulfilled reagans vision eliminated the federal department of education, we would not have as many problems as we have at the elementary and secondary level. We have the common core invitation, not just of english, math, and dont get me started on common core math, or maybe you do. Its also history. Is the progressive architects of things like common core, no child left behind, outcomebased education, whatever else there has been that came before. These monstrosities are always morphing like transformers. There are now revamping the u. S. History standards, they have even more of an overt, marxist, socialist, anti capitalist thing to them. All the more reason to make sure there are alternative curriculums. Alternative voices that we have yes representatives not only at College Campuses but reaching out to me of High School Programs here which are so vitally important. Its important to tell compelling stories and narratives. Thats what the last two insufferable terms of this administration has taught us. The man in chief and the white house is an expert storyteller or false, tall tales. One of the tall tales he is always talking about is the idea, as he mentioned that we, the makers, builders, creators, Wealth Generators of america, oh him. We all because we would not be able to do what we do without their roads, their bridges, without government investments. This is why i chose to highlight who are the ones who built the Brooklyn Bridge . Showing tell item number one. This this is a letter opener that i acquired that was forged from its really cool and i got it from tsa believe it or not. [laughter] the story of Public Infrastructure in america is not a story of how government built these things for us, its about how countless numbers of private capitalists are able to pursue profits from the selves and their families. Build businesses that lasted for generations, not not because they cared more about the people. Theres one thing that Young Conservatives can do to help educate your peers, its to peers this bubble, this idea that we selfish, profitseeking do not care. The people who claim to care the most in washington are the people who have cosmo suffering in america. Stop caring for me. Get. Get out of my life, but out of my business. Because when people are free to pursue profits and businesses, it was trenton makes the worlds pics. It turns on its head this idea that the re distributors of wealth, the people who take other peoples money are responsible for what Wealth Generators and capitalists make. Government takes, capitalists make. This story of john rolling is one of the American Dream. If you dig deep, if you look at what was responsible for bridge being erected, its not bureaucrats, who is the secretary of the department . I dont know, some hack getting paid off. Thats just how government is. When you dig deep into the story you find a man who is dissatisfied with layers of government bureaucracy in his home country. John robin was a Civil Engineer in the province of west delia witches formally prussia. He had this grand vision of building extension bridges but the bureaucrats who oversaw his work cannot envision what he was designing. We always hear about vision, obama who is the blind us man in washington d. C. , he always talks about vision. Whats vision . You cant envision yourself out of a paper bag. But i quoted from roeblings diary, he told his son, Washington Roebling who had to finish building the Brooklyn Bridge because John Roebling literally worked himself to death. He had been standing on a piling overlooking part of the construction and there is a fairy that ran over his foot. He died as a result of that accident. Washington roebling and his wife oversaw the completion of that bridge which mark there 132 anniversary this week. I love the serendipity of the so many connections i made in the book. One of the things that naturally happen, didnt plan it which i think is a good metaphor for how the free market work. When you embark on some journey musically to end up . Catalyst catalyst takes risk. They accept the responsibility for the failures and they deserve every last bit of credit for their success. [applause]. A lot of people ask me, how did you pick, how did you decide who to highlight . It was sort of tugging on a string, realizing the connection between what seemed to be very random and disconnected that i found most miraculous. I talk about this idea of the miracle of the mundane. In the internet age of course, my 14yearold in 11 yearolds are not impressed, they really think im so weird. Look at this, isnt it so amazing, to understand what it took to come up with a design as simple as this. To realize the impact that William Painter, who founded and patented the crown cork, a bottlecap today. To realize the impact it had not only in soda bottles but on the entire beverage packing industry . Its amazing. And i know, i sound like a fool, geek, but whatever this is a joy, this is the optimism were trying to spread. You get up there on the podium and youre about to launch another campaign or your tv, and someone fed them in their teleprompter, do they really feel it in the bones . Can they really they really tell you how incredible it is . One of the stories i write about in, who built that, is how William Painter who spent his entire life, this dude did not rest. Theyd never take vacations, they dont want to. They dont want to waste a second that they have on american soil because they have visited. They want to continue perfecting their ideas. One of the incredible things about the tinker per new words that i talk about is they do not just patent one or two things, but hundreds of things and then they inspired other people to do the same thing. So William Painter hired a guy named king gillette, he traveled up and down the east coast convincing people about the miracle of the bottlecap. And other products too. He was a representative in england as well. He came from a family of inventors and was a frustrated inventor himself. William painter took him under his wing and said just keep tinkering, you will come up with something. William painter died before he was able to see king camp gillette patent the gillette razor. And these two Companies Continue to exist today. It is part of an 9 billion, when i said i say it with a smile on like that guy. Thats amazing, that is nothing to be ashamed of. So the incredible circle of creativity and entrepreneurship, overlapping, this is exactly what leonard reed was talking about or the roll of toilet paper like i was talking about. People do not need to claim themselves the doors of good to do good. The progressives have it upside down about the American Dream. Its not the people who dedicate their lives to working in government to do good for other people that benefit us the most. As the people who are allowed to pursue their own selfinterest in their own way, and make them much money as they decide to mike and higher who they want to hire, and pay them what they want to pay. Those are the engines of progress and innovation and america. One of the things i got to do which was so amazing was visit anthony. I really have to tell you, this man was such an inspiration to me. He is in ontario, california where they employ 800 American Workers. He is 84 years old, he gets up every day at five or 6 00 a. M. , the last one to clock out at the end of the day. He continues to innovate, continues to file patents. He came here penniless, he taught himself english from a dictionary. He failed many times that other endeavors before he finally arrived in california. The slogan there its city of achievements. He he literally started out in the garage people. A lot of it talkshow host are mad that i have them say tinker printers like entrepreneurs. Made a beautiful utilitarian, i can use this as a little weapon, source it has to be shorter than me. [laughter] he actually is grab it to me which is really cool was a really cool thing for me. He started out in the garage and was just one of those people who should theres many of you and i dont mean to be gender discriminatory, their dad, uncle, brother, grandfather, always tinkering around in the garage fixing something. Talking with someone earlier at one of the receptions about how it bugs me and it bugged me with my own kids because sorry jesse, can you talk, has been first second. I had to make him go on an rv trip to know how to do the hookup because he never got his hands dirty. Theres a mentality among my generation, well i dont know how to change a windshield wiper, i will have someone else do it. We are not the fixit generation. The idea of storing this and among young people is very important, theres a lot of promise and that now. We have a Resurgence Movement of makers. Does any of you read make magazine . Theyre using little bits to do electronic circuits and robots, the last chapter of the book talks about many young people who are developing the next generation of prosthetics in this country. They are powering them with legos and prototyping them. That reminds me, obama was at one of the science fairs a few months ago. There was a group of girl scouts from the heartland, gross out trooper who had come up with a lego power device. Obama gets there asking them about how they made it and really smart little girl said well we prototyped it first. What have you ever thought of . So, there is no teleprompter, so we get that trademark i know some of you in the room know what he said but prepare yourself. He said, healthcare. [laughter] he said that the only thing that would have made this a better killer viral video is if the girls got laughed in his face. Now, if my daughter had been a girl scout asking that question, yes. He said now i hope all the parents of those girl scouts went home and told their girls the rest of the story. He came up with healthcare, they dont make things they destroy things. The upshot of that though is that you have these kids there doing amazing things. Thats where i derive some sense of optimism about the future of this country. There still still are parents and grandparents out there teaching their kids to make things with their hands. I have been blessed and fortunate to be an internet entrepreneur. To be able to make a profit, profit, make a living and put food on the table with words, with bits and bytes, with my big mouth. It is not some sort of imperialism or whatever word they want to use to assert because we know from this journey through history that i have taken and that hopefully you are embarking are in your College Career somehow. Whether you have to supplement it out or not, this is uniquely american. Only in america has this been allowed to flourish in a way that it has nowhere else on the planet. That leads me to something i want to talk about which the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us which is under great threat. That is our unique patent system. Do we have any patent holders in the crowd . What did you patent . None on medical devices. [laughter] [inaudible] awesome [applause]. , how awesome is that perfect [applause]. I love it. Article one, section eight of the constitution says something incredible. The guarantees the right of inventors and authors to be able to profit from the fruits of their mind and the fruits of their labor. Nowhere else on the planet had this idea been in a founding document. Our finding fathers understood that it benefited the public good. This is a formulation that if you ordered it on msnbc, every head would explode. Private profit is a public good. It is in it of itself the ability to profit is a public good. Thats because of these founding principles of protecting intellectual private property. What happened was the development of the patent system over the years has enshrined this idea that the inventors were the first to invent and be able to benefit. Under obamas radical transformation of america, that very founding principle has once again, been turned on its head. I need drama mean when i talk about these people. Everything is upside down. In 2011, i have pain when i think about this, i was not paying attention, because patent laws is not one of those things you see on cable tv debated about. This is we are so busy putting out so many fires and fighting so many big battles, meanwhile theyre slipping under the table radical changes like this. What they did, what they adopted , unfortunately with some bipartisan support, bipartisan ship is such a pain. They turn to our patent system principle on their head, so rather than the first to invent, those who are rewarded now are the first to file. Now where did they get this idea . It was harmonization with the rest of the world. We note the rest of the world is upbeat in our butts on innovation for so long, right . Why is it that we have to now conform to International Standards that have proven to be less successful than our unique system . Its because anything that is unique to america is to progressive. It gets worse. That was not enough to file the socalled america invent act. Its opposite world. It is america want to invent act. Just last week in the next couple of weeks there will be a debate in the senate over more pieces of legislation to further codify these ideas. I have already heard from so many independent, Small Business people who are filing patents who are affirming what we are talking about, what ive written about and we have heard from many patent law scholars who have the head straight about this and understand the Constitutional Foundation for progress are. I have to redo read you this quote. This is the famous observation from not only the American Work ethic but in particular about an ovation he said, quote what most strikes me in the United States is not the extraordinary size of a few projects, it is countless numbers of small ones on quote Anthony Trollope said the great glory of americans is in their wondrous patent remedies of life. Its the small things, this is what i meant about the miracle the mundane, out there there right now are so many millions of these independent inventors and innovators. Theyre making things that are small, that cant taken for granted. Think that we mock. Andrew mentioned to me that he was a couple doors down from the guy who originated the selfie stick. Which i had my First Encounter within the overflow room. So, and Bernie Sanders world, who needs the selfie stick . Mr. Decider up me, doesnt that actually describe so many of these dogooders thing control freaks in washington . Why do you get to decide what i need. What i want. What i deserve. What i am entitled to. Why is it that i am the selfish one and you, the coarser, you the liberty inhibitor, are the doer of public good . It is opposite world. To be able to suppose this and do it with a happy smile on your face because we are the ones that are trying to lift people up, to achieve the American Dream that they are all paying lip service to. When i end up on cable tv, a lot of times if im doing a debate at the end of it people come up and they are very depressed. You look at the havoc that has been wrought across the american landscape. Not just over the last several years but decades. People are ready to give up and i understand that, it is hard to fight on a daily basis when you know where we have been, when you know what it has taken to get where we are, and when we see the road ahead. Like i said, i i drive so much inspiration from the people that i highlighted in the next generation of inventors, businesses and makers. There is another gross out troop that invented a lego powered prosthetic hand for a girl who is born with a congenital defect. These girls somehow understood the magic a patent. One one in the book. They were so proud, this means we have made it. Making it in america means being able to profit off of that. 84yearold anthony tells me, you are the sun filled cafeteria, this guy looks like a cross between mark twain and Albert Einstein with wild hair. He has this mechanics jacket, like fonzie. It says pony on there. This idea that ceos for these beans are just ripping the crap out of their employees, his employees are calling him by his first name, hugging hugging him on the factory floor. Despite the setbacks that he has had, the outsourcing that has been going on that he fought tooth and nail. The competition from china, 10m