One of the greatest titles in the world is parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to have parents to call mom and dad.
The hope and change the Democrats had in mind was nothing more than a retread of the failed and discredited socialist policies that have been the enemy of freedom for centuries all over the world. I fear America is teetering towards tyranny.
I play the guitar a little bit.
The message is pretty clear: Americans are sick and tired of the doubletalk coming out of Washington, of us going home and saying we're conservative and then coming up here and voting for 10,000 earmarks. We can't fool America anymore; the media is too good. They're reporting what we're really doing.
Since the dawn of time, traditional marriage - the union between one man and one woman - has been the building block of civilization, and at no point in our nation's history has that foundation been under more severe attack than now.
I believed the only thing that could turn around this government spending and mounting debt would be if the people rose up.
So, the point I'm making is, we are not going to cut spending in Washington if we think it's the job of every congressman and senator is to pave local parking lots and build local sewer plants. These parochial interests are getting in the way of the national interests.
Ideas are more powerful than people.
The Democrats have essentially decided to move more toward central power, control of just about every aspect of our culture and economy.
The Tea Party doesn't like politicians.
Well, we lost a lot of our independence already. We are dependent on China for credit. We are dependent on Middle Eastern countries for energy supplies. And many Americans are dependent on the government for their income, health care, education of their children, food stamps.
It doesn't make sense to have to do the wrong thing in order to do the right thing.
I'm not a kingmaker.
I like to be a strategic policy guy.
We know from our own history that democratic institutions take decades to mature, and we know from past conflicts that freedom is not free.
I'm never going to rule anything out in life, because most of what I'm doing now, I never intended to do.
I'm humbled to follow in the footsteps of Ed Feulner, who built the most important conservative institution in the nation. He has been a friend and mentor for years and I am honored to carry on his legacy of fighting for freedom.
I don't have many litmus tests, but this is one: Any candidate who doesn't understand that we need to balance the budget should not be president of the United States.
It has always been my plan not to serve more than two terms.
Motorists who want to save money on gas will demand and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. We should not limit their freedom with more government regulations.
