Freedom Rally, Gwinnett County, GA, August 21, 2009
Thank you so very much. Are you having fun?
You know, I’ve been reading a lot about you lately…you un-American evil-mongers. You don’t look so scary to me. You’re polite, well-behaved, well-dressed, seemingly law-abiding citizens. (Laughter)
But you’re scaring the living daylights out of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the mainstream media. (Applause)
You know why? Because they thought we were finished. They wrote the obituary of the grassroots movement for faith and freedom. Well, I’ve got news for them. In the words of Mark Twain, the premature reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. (Cheers)
Beginning today, right here, right now, they are no longer running America and we are taking our country back.
Today we are launching in the state of Georgia the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a new grassroots venture that is changing America for the better.
After the 2008 elections, when our values took a tremendous loss at the polls, a number of people came to me and said, “Ralph, you have to do something.” I have to be honest with you: my first reaction was to say no.
Not because I did not think that something needed to be done, but because I knew that I was not worthy to lead it. I had failed and come up short in so many ways…as a husband, a father, a businessman, a believer and a person of faith. I did not consider myself to be role model for anyone.
But then I realized that God is not looking for perfect people. He’s looking for broken and repentant people. He’s not looking for the proud, the arrogant and the spiritually self-sufficient. He calls the humble, the contrite, the outcasts and those who are down on their luck. Those who for all their fears, failures, flaws, and foiables will say, “Here am I. Send me.”
So I answered that call and you answered that call. To rearrange our lives and give up our own interests and ambitions to do whatever is necessary to preserve America, the last, best hope for mankind.
Your opponents may smear you, calling you names like evil, angry mob, and fascistic.
But I’ve got news for them. We will not be intimidated, we will not be silent, and we will not go away. Our right to speak freely and petition our government has been purchased with the sacred blood of those who paid the ultimate price and bore the ultimate burden that we might be free. We do not take that freedom for granted. (Applause)
That is why we are launching the FAITH AND FREEDOM COALITION. Our goal is the build the strongest, most inclusive, and most effective grassroots organization in our nation’s history.
Our goals are within five years to have:
- 3 million members and supporters
- 3,000 local and online chapters
- 1 million volunteers
- A nationwide database of 10 million prequalified conservative voters
Our plan is simple. First, stop the extreme Obama agenda in its tracks beginning right now, right here, today. (Applause)
No more stimulus plans larded with waste, fraud and abuse.
No more of a pork-laden budget, filled with earmarks galore, that blows a $1.8 trillion hole in the deficit.
No more of a failed economic policy that has already cost 2.5 million Americans their jobs, with unemployment at 9.5 percent and rising.
Then there is Obama’s health care plan. (Boos) This health care plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will cost $1.6 trillion, raise taxes by $800 billion, cut Medicare by $500 billion, devastating our seniors, and ration care to children and the elderly.
No more of a foreign policy that apologizes to America’s enemies and coddles dictators while undermining our strongest allies, including Israel.
I would like to have a president who is as eloquent in defending America’s honor as he is apologizing for her alleged misdeeds.
Second, we will forward a bold, conservative reform agenda based on the principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes to create jobs and opportunity for all, and respect for the sanctity of marriage, life and the family.
In Ronald Reagan’s words, we will unfurl a banner of bold colors, not pale pastels, lifting a standard to which the faithful can repair. At the same time, we will build bridges to those who have not always felt welcome in our ranks: African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, young people, and women.
Ronald Reagan once said, “The sole purpose of America is to act as a refuge and an alternative to tyranny. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Let us restore that promise. Let us make America once again a refuge from tyranny and a beacon of hope for the entire world. Thank you and God bless you.
