Check out this video of Rep. Allen West (R-FL) questioning the Obama administration’s decision to force bidders on federal contracts to disclose their political contributions before the contracts are awarded.(H/T Right Scoop)
Wow… this is what a President looks like. He’s confident because he knows what he is talking about.
My favorite Congresswoman stole the spotlight in Iowa when she lectured for the Family Leader Presidential Lecture Series. She’s back to the passionate arm-waving that I always liked so much.
Bachmann started her speech sharing her testimony saying she understood the Gospel for the first time at age 16 after growing up in a Lutheran Church and then she gave her life to Christ. She said that it “changed her life forever.” She said she had a hunger for the Word after then, and explained that the Holy Spirit “lifted the veil” from her eyes so she was then able to understand it. She participated in YoungLife and another Bible study when in high school. That first year in Christ was, Bachmann said, “was the defining year of my life.”
In college she participated the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at her school, and cited Francis Schaffer’s film, How Now Shall We Live, made an impact on how she lives out her faith. During law school at Oral Roberts University Law School she did advocacy for better homeschooling laws. She and her husband, Marcus, homeschooled their five children in their early years. She got involved in public schools as they did foster care for 23 kids since they were not allowed by Minnesota law to put those kids in private school or to home school them.
She noted a change in public schools where “knowledge, facts, and information” were taking a back seat to indoctrination. She noted the 2000 Goals to Work standard implemented in the public schools that was a federal program implemented in all 50 states. She advocated for its repeal in Minnesota – the first state to do so. She said later this is where she got her start in politics.
She highlighted her prolife advocacy in the Minnesota Legislature – a requirement to fund prolife groups if they were going to fund Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to know act.
[…]On marriage, she commended Iowans for booting the three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for retention last fall. She said that Minnesota could possibly vote in favor of a Marriage Amendment now that Republicans She noted that Congress can limit the subject matter jurisdiction for Article Three courts federally denying them an opportunity to rule on marriage. “This is the first time in recorded history that we have seen marriage in society defined as anything other than between one man and one woman.”
[…]On life she said that she and her husband has done more than just talk about life, but have tried to live it out through being sidewalk counselors and taking unwed mothers into their home. Quoting Francis Schaeffer she, “life is the watershed issue of our time.” Bachman proclaimed her commitment to life, “I will not give up until we give life the position it deserves in the United States and is protected from conception until natural death.”
She explained how taxes has impacted the family where in the 1950s would pay approximately 5% of their income to taxes. She said now some families can pay up to 50% which explains why we have fewer one income families. She noted the spending which has fueled anti-family tax policy. She said the first thing on the House’s pro-family agenda was to rein in spending. Regarding education reform, she noted how the Supreme Court has recently ruled that tax credits for private religious schools is constitutional. She also said that she’d abolish the Federal Department of Education. She also called for the abolishment of the United States Tax Code.
[Note: commenter Francine notes that Michele says that this is the first time that marriage has been redefined to not be between men and women – the summary is in error about what she said]
She ends the speech with her concern for the fact that over 40% of children are beig born without a mother and father in the home, and she blames bad fiscal policies for this injustice. She makes the connection between left-wing fiscal policies and social breakdown. It’s so important that social conservatives understand that big government, high taxes, excessive regulation and massive spending are major causes of virtually all of our social problems. The breakdown of the family is what makes soul-destroying secularism possible.
There was also a press conference after the speech.
During the press conference that was held after Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s speech in Pella, IA for The FAMiLY Leader’s Presidential Lecture Series, she was asked to elaborate on the bill in Minnesota she helped to get passed that allowed funding for prolife organizations basically putting them on the same footing as Planned Parenthood. During her answer she mentioned that she said that she introduced a similar bill in Congress.
She was also asked about what programs would she be open to abolishing other than the Federal Department of Education. She listed the Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce as ones that have been discussed in Congress. She said “anywhere we can abolish we might as well cut back and abolish.” Saying in particular that our private sector has the capability to handle our energy needs. She was asked about her disappointment with the House budget deal and where she would like the House leadership to put up a fight. Bachmann said, “defunding Obamacare, this will change our country forever.” She noted later that some may not be willing to take on budget battles in the future, she said that we have to… she said, “we have to change course.”
I have been pushing Michele Bachmann on this blog since the beginning two years ago, because she represents what I consider to be an ideal Christian woman. She is everything that I have ever hoped a Christian woman could be in my wildest, wildest dreams. I could not give any politician a more ringing endorsement. I hope with all my heart that she will some day be President of the United States.
She explained how taxes has impacted the family where in the 1950s would pay approximately 5% of their income to taxes. She said now some families can pay up to 50% which explains why we have fewer one income families. She noted the spending which has fueled anti-family tax policy. She said the first thing on the House’s pro-family agenda was to rein in spending. Regarding education reform, she noted how the Supreme Court has recently ruled that tax credits for private religious schools is constitutional. She also said that she’d abolish the Federal Department of Education. She also called for the abolishment of the United States Tax Code.
First pillar: Effective and efficient conservative government.
He quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Most bad government results from too much government”), which is why next week Congress will cut 100 billion dollars of spending off of the federal budget.
Making people more dependent on the government has to end, so hard decisions must be made. “We cannot continue on with the policies of behavior modification through excessive taxation and over burdensome regulation…and that’s why we’re going to be cutting from the EPA.” (wild cheering)
If health care is so great, then someone explain to me why over 200 Democrat political groups are going to the President and asking for waivers.” Here was a great quote: “I say this to the President: The good things in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: closing the doughnut hole, making sure that we take care of people with the preexisting conditions, keeping our young kids on our insurance, I can probably fit that in five to ten pages. It’s the other two thousand four hundred ninety pages with eleven new taxes, a hundred fifty nine new government agencies and beauracracies, and sixteen thousand new IRS agents, that the United States of America does not want!” (standing ovation)
He mentioned the financial meltdown in 2008 and blamed it (rightfully so) on government interference with the private sector.
He talked about reforming the individual tax code, cutting the corporate business tax rate from 35% down to 20%, eliminating capital gains taxes and dividends taxes, capping federal spending at 18-20%, developing a balanced budget amendment, and eliminating “redundant, failed, and duplicitious federal government programs and agencies.”
Second pillar: Peace through vigilance, through resolve, through strength.
He mentioned the famous Edmund Burke quote, one of my personal favorites: “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
He quoted Sun Tzu: “To know your enemy, and to know yourself, and to know the terrain or the environment, in countless battles, you will always be victorious.”
And then he made the most important statement of the night: “Peace begins with courageous leaders who are willing to identify and define our enemy, and their objectives, because political correctness has no place in our national security strategy.” (the crowd screamed and another standing ovation ensued)
He said he was appalled that the Fort Hood shooting was treated like workplace violence.
He said “A new America, a secure America, means that we can ill afford to have a twenty-first century Sir Neville Chamberlain moment.”
He said “And yes, yes I do have a problem with granting American Constitutional rights to terrorists while we attempt to and have imprisoned our own warriors for killing terrorists.” (another standing ovation – there were so many during this speech)
Here’s another money quote: “The dawn of a new America means this: Secure our borders and enforce our laws. Recognize the emerging threats on the Korean peninsula. Recognize the threats that are coming out of South and Central America. And confront the radical Islamic non-state, non-uniformed belligerents who transit freely across borders, killing and promoting a seventh century ideology that is anathema to the values of America and to Western civilization.”
He said that we must never forget that Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East, and vowed that “I shall never let Israel down.”
Third and most important pillar: Never abandon our values.
“We must honor our language and realize that it is the most important, most basic and common bond which makes us an American.”
He said we shouldn’t allow multiculturalism to “grow on steroids” and make American culture subservient.
He said he doesn’t support late term abortion or abortion as birth control because he doesn’t believe that having a baby is punishment (reference to an Obamateurism).
He said “We must hold sacred the privilege of the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman.”
He said we had to reclaim our “Judeo-Christian faith heritage.” He quoted John Adams: “We have no government armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
He said “This is not about a separation of church and state. It is about making sure that we do not separate faith from the individual. You must never forget that the American motto is In God We Trust.” (standing ovation)
His next statement almost got a standing ovation from me: “We welcome the beliefs of others in America, but our coexistence must be based on a simple premise: when tolerance becomes a one-way street, it leads to cultural suicide. And American cultural values shall never be subjugated to any other as long as I have air in my lungs.”
His closing thoughts started with a quote from George Washington: “We are either a united people or we are not. If the former, let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.” He quoted Abraham Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” He discussed how he grew up in the Atlanta area and went into the military, and then ran for political office as a public service to all Americans. He said “This is what Abraham Lincoln said. ‘Be sure you put your feet in the right place. Then stand firm.’ So as you depart here today from this great hall, from this great gathering of conservatives, this is the commission that I send you out with: Stand firm, for this is the dawn of a new America. God bless you all, God bless America, steadfast and loyal. Thank you.”
And here’s Herman Cain’s speech:
Cain is probably running in 2012 and West will go in 2016 or 2020.
WINTERY KNIGHT 