[music] thank you. Thank you, love you too. My husband is there to make him jealous now. You are saying that to him by the way. Absolutely. It is great to be at cpac. What a day you have had. Fantastic. And what a great conference it has been. Ive been watching to it on t. V. And listening to it on the radio. Hearing it filtered through the mainstream media. Even they are amazed by this and it is really because of you. And what a delight it is to be here with carly. Hi carly. How are you . Great. One of the best right here. Absolutely. [applause] over the past year have gotten kind of used to giving talks to groups of people who are enthusiastic, people trying to change the country and what a year it has been. A great time of satisfaction for everyone and celebration. Not to mention governorships, statehouses, ups and downs across the country. Heres my first question. What do we do now . We one, now what . Start with an easy one. You know, one of the things that i often said during the campaign is that i think, most people actually agree with this they just do not know yet. In some cases. [applause] is why i would go on to shows like the view. Not because that is necessarily an audience that agrees with our principles but because if you get it right down to the core of what we believe and what we are trying to accomplish, i think most people agree. Im going to answer your question. The other thing that i would say is most people are not like you. When i said i mean most people do not show up at Political Action conferences. Most people actually arent deeply political every single day. Theyre just trying to do the best they can every day. And i think that common Human Experience gives us a clue as to what we need to do. So what do we believe . We believe that no one of us is any better than the other one of us. That every life has value. And potential. And meaning. And that we therefore, have to lift everyone up with respect. And we also believe [applause] we believe people are not defined by the circumstances. Or their appearances. But we have to respect people who disagree with us. We believe that most problems are better solved by the people who are impacted by those problems. Communities, business, states. We also believe that you concentrate too much power too long and too few hands, no matter whose hands, power is going to be abused. A true conservative principal carly. Amazing. You know heres the big take away folks from what im hearing so far. Now that conservatives have one, we need to learn to persuade people who do not agree with us yet. How do you do that . I do a lot of speaking at conservative events of course. And you know, about, you know about a year ago starting at a very conservative event with people i really admire a lot. And i said if we want to persuade people, lets remember that people dont agree with this. Specifically progressives, liberals. They are not all stupid and evil. Right . Endlessly puts up her hand and she says actually, i think theyre stupid and evil. [laughter] wait so what was i thinking at that point . Number one, this is supposed to be the art of persuasion. Rights . None of you have ever been insulted into agreement by a liberal. Guaranteed. But here is what i was really thinking. So i grew up in Seattle Washington in a progressive family. Which is redundant. And when that lady, when she said that, i was thinking of my family and they are actually not stupid and they are not evil. Theyre not right on little political stuff in my view. But this is what i thought. And this is really my question for the victors. You. How many of you love someone with whom you disagree politically . That is like 100 percent. Thats right. When somebody on our side says of the other side is stupid and evil, think of your sisterinlaw. Think of your needs. Take it personally and that is the beginning of persuasion. Isnt it . That is a beginning of a when a winsome movement. anever read the story about how he came to believe what he believes. Read that sometime. Because he was just a guy living his life and he thought that he knew what he thought. And then life thats how i learned. I was out there doing my job living my life and i discovered over and over, while people that i maybe would have overlooked may have had a tremendous idea or maybe they have huge value in solving a problem. Or wow, you put too much angina hands of some bureaucrat somewhere. That power is going to be abused. You are talking about persuasion. It is so important. Look, lets face it a good fight is fun. Right . A good fight is fun. You guys know. I can land a punch. Okay . [applause] right . So it is fun to have a fight. It is really fun to have a fight when you win. But to the point, now that we have one, it is important that we bring people along. Why is that important . It is not just important philosophically. It is not just important that we persuaded as we actually believe that everyone has value. We want to lift everyone up regardless of their circumstances or their opinions. It is not just that. We have to persuade now for practical reasons. Heres the thing about change. And lets face it, we now have an opportunity, the administration, governors, statehouses all across the country have an opportunity for real change, important change. To hopefully take money and power outside of washington d. C. And return it to where it belongs. The communities, families and businesses and states. But heres the thing about change, no matter when it happens or how it happens, substantial change inspires, substantial resistance. It is the nature of change. And boy, is there substantial resistance out there. The thing is, the thing is unless change is accompanied by growing support, the substantial change is never sustained. And if you doubt that think about obamacare. Obamacare is a big substantial change and guess what triggered the democrats did not take time to build support. They never thought about building a Bipartisan Coalition and actually compromising and coming to a plan that people could support and so guess what . It was substantial change and it will not be sustained. Because that substantial change inspires substantial resistance. [applause] thank goodness. But we have to bring people along now. That the changes we all believe in will be sustained. This really, we are at this point in the conversation where we are talking about, you know started out with . One. The why of victory is a really interesting thing. You know, we are given victory because conservatives are giving victory is because conservatives did the work in a bunch of campaigns. It did the work to actually get people out to vote. That is fantastic. But then you have to ask yourself, why is that actually important . You know why, what was the message of people giving to every single activist in this room and every single conservative leader on this stage what is that all about . Right . And that is an important question, right . I think we know the answer. Each one of us knows the answer. We won because America Needs us. We are the stewards of what americans actually need. You know about one third of americans believe in the Free Enterprise system. It is a very dangerous situation. In this country. The Democratic Capitalism is the only system in Human History that has wiped out poverty among people by the billions. And every Single Person in this room knows that. [applause] but here is the threat my friends, one third of americans believe that the american Free Enterprise system is failing them. They believe the country is not going to provide a Better Future for their children. It is paradoxical isnt it . Its not like people voted for big majorities and state and local governments around the country and given the house and the senate and the republicans and the white house to a republican because its a Free Enterprise is just peachy. On the contrary. They are skeptical about how the system is going to work. And that means you know what they need . They need you. Because you understand the power of capitalism. You understand the power of American Leadership around the home. You get it. And so America Needs you to bring this country back in an aspirational way. And the people who need you the most are the people who are being left behind. A question for all of us, what are we going to do to turn a big election victory into a massive sweeping mandate for public good . We dont quite have the answer to that one yet. Right . We have to look into our hearts and have to hold our leaders accountable for that. So what do we do next carly . Class you know, one of the things you learn when you talk a lot of people is only was almost like when he said all politics is local. But in truth, all politics is personal. People make decisions based on what is going on in their personal lives. And sometimes i think that we talk in big ideas. Freemarket capitalism. Limited government. They are big ideas but they do not always land in somebodys life. Let me take a story. Of course he is absolutely right there is only one system in the world that has lifted billions and billions of people out of poverty. And now we put it in really personal terms. I was in new delhi, india a couple of years ago. I was chairman of an organization post opportunity international. The largest private Microfinance Organization in the world. Michael my cofinanciers giving these people support. I went to the top of a roof in the slums of new delhi. If you have never been there that is the grimmest place you will ever see. And i sat down on the top of that roof with 10 women. To whom we had given credit and training and tools to support. To talk with them. And i did not see desperation in their eyes, only that the circumstances were desperate. I so hope, focus, determination and pride. Because they were building a life of dignity and purpose. And they were entrepreneurs. They were premarket capitals. They did not know thats what they were. What they knew though was that first and foremost, somebody had said to them regardless of your circumstances, regardless of the desperation all around you, we see you. You have value. You have promised. You have potential. And with a helping hand which we all need and with someone to take a chance on you, which we all need. You can build a life of dignity and purpose and meeting. And they became entrepreneurs and the other colleagues and family members to work. That is freemarket capitalism. By the way, doctor of michael financement country. And instead of a web of entitlement [applause] instead of a web of entitlements, wrapped around peoples lives. And that is what we have done. We have woven peoples lives into the lives of entitlement that last for generations and instead of that, instead of Holding People back we should give people that helping hand. We should take a chance on them. But then we should give them not the money, but the tools, claiming it support and respect. Just then you can build a better life. You know it is funny how government [applause] you know, there is nobody in this room. Very few people in america. Doesnt matter what your ideology. He thinks that we should zero safety net. And we should throw granny out in the snow. When she is poor. Here is the problem. I think youre getting at carly and heres the problem we are all faced with in this country. We have a social safety net. We have Big Government programs that have rendered people useless. That have rendered them superfluous to our society. Isnt that what the safetynet does sometimes . [applause] and here is what we need to do. And here i think is the authentic moment of really utility for conservatives today. His what i think. I think here is why we are going to have political power. We understand by our ideology that the nature of dignity and purpose and meaning is not to be helped but to be needed. Thats right. You know it is the funniest thing when we travel all around the United States. And you. Guest people feeling really desperate and they are feeling really angry. And they are just fighting back. They feel that they are not needed and that is what we can rectify. Because the conservative philosophy compared to the liberal philosophy is all about making people needed. When we see a guy without a job, liberals will typically say we have to help that guy. We say, we need him to work. For this country. When you see somebody you know a family that has no father, you know the liberal way of looking that that typically this is a you know, what a shame. We have to help them. We say no, we need a father to be a father to his kids. We need him. We actually need every father in this country. Think about this [applause] this is really to make people needed, the essence of what it means to be prolife. Isnt it . [applause] i know all of you agree with me that every person is needed from conception until natural death. [applause] so, lets work our policies. Now that we have the leverage of power. Lets use it for good. Lets use the policy not to help people more but you need people more. Education that makes people necessary with vocational and Technical Training and apprenticeships in the country. Everything should work so that people have more jobs and so they are more necessary and community. Education policies that do not render people superfluous. That see people as an asset to society and not as a liability. That should be in my view, the conservative philosophy and not, every single one of us in this room, if we do this right, that will be our legacy together. And that will make America Great again. [applause] ill be back in the beginning, we said, most people are not political. They do not spend their days in conferences like this. Thank goodness you do. But most people trying to be the best they can with their life. And we also said at the beginning you know, most people actually agree with us. They just may not know it. And sometimes we use kind of big policy terms. See, i think the test for are we doing what we should be doing to make America Great again. I think the test is really simple. And i think the three things im about to say virtually everyone will agree with. And, they are just terms of our policy. Number one, every person, every life has value. [applause] purpose. Potential, meaning, we need every person to find the value and meaning in their life. Cannot be translated into policy . Absolutely. Second, can people solve the problems that impact them or not shared by the answer of course is yes they can. The reason we believe and decentralized decisionmaking and localized problemsolving is because it works better. We dont learn that in life. You dont have to be political to know that. And we lost a daughter to addiction. And i know that there are so many problems. So many programs that work. She treats the epidemic of addiction. But they dont start in washington d. C. Their starting communities. In the resources. The empowerment to make those programs work. So every person has value. People can solve the problems that impact them. So lets give them a helping hand, the opportunity and resources to solve those problems. And number three, you concentrate power, you abuse power. Bureaucracy concentrates power they abuse their power. Our founders wrote the constitution in large measure to prevent the concentration of power. So we have to be the people. That stands for the value of every life. The superiority of problems solved locally in communities and families and states and we have to be the people who stand up and say no, dont concentrate power. Release power. Disperse power. [applause] that is the aclass disperse power. Dont you love that where disperse power is an applause line . That is cool. Let me make one more point. All of you, love you all raise your hands raised how many of you love a liberal. Fantastic. We talked your liberal friends, and youre talking to them about your ideas. And they are very wrapped around the fact that republicans did really well in the last election. Theyre very worried about it. They worried about what is going on in washington d. C. Right now. Ask this question, who won the last School Board Election locally . And they will be like i dont know. Right . That matters more. Actually matters more. That is a conservative principle isnt it . But it is also a conservative principle for us. And i want to Say Something subversive because we are in washington d. C. And we are looking through a permanent political reality show of federal politics. Most of you do not live here. I live here. You dont have to. [laughter] let me tell you, you know what is going on locally is a much more important deal than what is going on here. So here is something we can really do to help this country together. Make washington less important and interesting. Make it less a part of everyday life. You know it has become this entertainment source for everybody to find out what is going on here. You know, the president of the United States over the past eight years was a celebrity, almost a king. And that was bad for this country. Lets not make the same mistake. Lets make this country local again. [applause] you know, i want us all to admire the people who are in power in washington. I really want that and i dont you do. But really, i think it would be great if we could so a week and say i dont know what the heck the president did this week. Wouldnt that be great . That would actually be conservative america. And maybe, just maybe we can do that together. What you think carly . I think thats a great idea. All politics is personal. All politics is personal. Politics is the art of persuasion. Most people agree with us they just do not know it yet. So lets not talk in policy speak. Lets just remember. Every person has value. It doesnt matter the circumstances. It doesnt matter their appearance, it doesnt matter their opinions. Every person has value and promise and potential. And people can solve the problems that impact them every day if given the opportunity to do so. Power concentrated is power abuse. Those are Pretty Simple tests. And my guess is, 80 to 85 or maybe 90 percent of the people you meet every day if you say those three things and they will say i agree with that. Hey, you i conservative. Thanks everybody, thanks for having us. [applause]