country for generations. new wall street journal polls showing patriotism, religious faith, having children and hard work have declined in importance to americans. check this out, patriotism plummeted over the past 25 years. back in 1998, 70% of those surrendered ranked it as being very important to them. now just 38% feel that way. more than 60% said religion was important. today less than 40%. and family values like having children also have dropped sharply. in 1998, 59% of americans believed having children was very important. now just 30% do. the polls are not entirely surprising, we have seen the deterioration of america s core values. distortion of the american flag, as symbol of patriotism to one of oppression. kneeling for national anthem, that was applauded, pretty widely. the kneeling of a christian high school football coach in prayer on another football field, that got him fired. meanwhile children are being taught that america is systemically racist and for those
with no direct way to keep it from hitting the ground. by the way, it isn t falling, things are changing, the world is always changing. this climate is going to change. when you panic people you don t inspire them to change. you don t give them transition points. it s like don t use your gas stove, don t do this, don t do that, don t plug in your electric car, maybe give up my fossil fuel card. there has to be a transition point and a clarity and a calmness how we get to the next level. if anybody is causing a panic, it s your side of the aisle because you think we only have a few more years to live. i m old. i have many more i hope i ve lived 57, i ve been blessed. what i learned in those years is, when you panic you shorten your life span. so, let s just get it together. and don t accuse the other side because your side is monster big at doing this of causing the panic, of it s in five years, it s in 13 years. but we re right on this.
believe this is a place where only their willingness to work hard and to act with honor and integrity and ingenuity determines their success in life. then we ll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for the next government check. that s new jersey s governor chris christie. he s endorsed governor mitt romney for president. who knows, the two could be running against president obama in the fall if romney taps christie to be his vice presidential candidate. threats to hard work is hardly a new issue for president obama either. it was a central team in the kansas speech he used to lay out his economic agenda at the end of last year. listen. for most americans the basic bargain that made this country great has eroded. long before the recession hit, hard work topped paying off for too many people. fewer and fewer of the folks who contributed to the success of our economy actually benefited from that success. now, the president is referring to the wealthy when he
would never be able to take time off what i big project has to get done on deadline. funding the government, that s a big project with a very important deadline. and consider this. according to expedia.com, the average american worker gets 18 vacation days a year. 18. and they only use 14 of them. did i mention that since january congress has only been in session for 125 days? plus they divided 112th congress promises to be the least productive in recent memory. since january only 14 house measures have been signed into law by president obama. and look at this, had when democrats controlled the house last year from january to june, 466 bills and resolutions were passed. by comparison over the same time frame this year only 207 bills or resolutions got approval. they spent more time bickering than getting anything actually done. yet house lawmakers sure do get paid a lot. rank and file representatives earn $174,000 a year. the speaker of the house takes home $223,500. now, com