Address
to the Iowa Republican Party Convention
Alan
Keyes
June 12, 1998
Thank you! Praise God.
Thank you.
To make sure that it does not go unnoted this evening, I just want to remind
everyone that Bill Clinton is a liar. [applause, cheering, whistling]
Now, we have to say that with a certain amount of ease; nobody disputes this
fact anymore. They only argue about whether the American people are willing
to approve of his lies. And I have heard all kinds of folks tell us that
these lies don't have consequences, and that we don't have to worry about
them.
I was thinking about that when I saw an interview with the Foreign Minister
from Pakistan, and when they asked him why it is that he hadn't heeded
President Clinton's call not engage in nuclear tests after the President had
promised that the United States would do certain things to help them address
their security. And the Pakistani Foreign Minister said what I think a lot of
Americans would be forced to say. He said that he didn't believe President
Clinton would keep his promises.
I think that all the folks who told us that it didn't matter that he had lied
to Hillary should realize that the folks in the Pakistani government
apparently thought that it did matter. And it ought to matter to us!
[applause, cheering, whistling]
It ought to matter to us, as well, when the President stands up, as he did
yesterday trying to justify his trip to Beijing, and gives the usual set of
platitudes about why it is that we should have closer relations with Red
China, and why it is that we should be able to trust the Chinese in spite of
all it appears that they have done.
Mr. Clinton actually thinks that the objection to his China trip is about
China. Mr. Clinton, I am not surprised that the Chinese plot to subvert
American politics. I am not surprised that the Chinese seek to develop their
military power in order to do us harm.
But I and all the American people are shocked at the appearance that you have
cooperated with them in this endeavor! [applause, cheering, whistling] That
you and your cronies have been willing to sell out American security!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the reason Clinton should stay
home is not just because we don't trust China; it's because we don't trust
HIM! [applause, cheering, whistling]
Bill Clinton represents the main problem we have in America today. As a
matter of fact, he represents several of the main problems we have in America
today. [laughter, applause] I understand very well now why he feels our pain
so well. It's because he's causing so many of them!
But let's look at the truth--and here comes the hard part. A gentleman behind
as I was coming up said that I shouldn't hurt y'all too much tonight, but
I've gotta tell ya, the truth sometimes hurts. And
I want to say a bit of truth that a lot of people might not want to hear.
Bill Clinton is not the only politician in America who is basing his approach
to the American people on manipulation and lies. The major problem we face in
our politics today is politicians who believe that it is more important to
win than to tell the truth--that it is more important to win than to stand for
truth before the American people! [applause, cheering]
And such politicians wear every label. They are Democrats, but they are also
Republicans. And it's time that, as Republicans, we stood up and told the
American people that--regardless of the party label--we will not stand with
those who will not speak truthfully to the American people. [applause,
cheering, whistling]
I was reminded of that the other day. Just yesterday the Congressional Budget
Office finally decided to 'fess up. We've had politicians, Republican and
Democrat, telling us that we have a surplus in the budget. We may have a
surplus in some future moment, but we don't have one this time. What we have
is a deficit, being masked by their continued raid on the Social Security
Trust Fund. It's time that all politicians in America stopped lying to the
American people. You haven't succeeded yet! And we will not give you credit
for something that hasn't been done. And that has to be true of Republicans
as well as Democrats. [applause, cheering, whistling]
But we talk a lot about America's problems. When I came before the people of
Iowa several years ago and said that the top priority of this nation's life
was to address the moral crisis that threatens our Republic, there was not a
single presidential candidate standing along with me who said the same thing.
I am glad to see that many of them have now picked up the same tune. They've
read the polls and they've talked to their consultants. But I think that we
need leadership that doesn't wait for the polls, and doesn't wait for the
consultants, that speaks the truth because it's good for America, and will
stand for truth no matter what the polls say, because it's good for America.
[applause, cheering, whistling]
And so let's stand for truth right now. We can stand before crowds like this
and everybody will put their hands together when we quote the great American
Declaration, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights." But let's get it straight. That is not a statement about
rights; it is a statement about God, and it's time we stopped being ashamed
of speaking His Name from public platforms in America! [applause, cheering,
whistling]
If God Almighty is the source of our rights, if His authority is what gives
us the right to lay claim to our liberty, then it is quite clear that an
issue like abortion is not just a political hot potato. It's not just a
question for situational ethics. It's not a question you decide by analyzing
the mother's circumstances and the child's state of development. It's a
question that was decided for us when this nation began. Our rights come from
the choice of God, not from our mother's choice. We have no right to take the
lives of unborn children in the womb. We will not restore America's
conscience until we bring abortion to an end in this country! [applause,
cheering, whistling]
And let us be clear that in stating that position of principle, we don't
reason our way to it in some abstract and obscure way. The principles are
clear and if we acknowledge God's authority by claiming the rights, we should
acknowledge His authority by refusing to abuse them in violation of His will.
But you know, I think that the agenda of moral restoration which is now on
everyone's mind is pretty straight-forward. We have three things we're gonna
have to do in this country.
First, we are going to have to regain control of ourselves. We are going to
have to get rid of all those voices that are telling us that we can indulge
every form of sexual license and indecency and still have strong families,
that we can turn our back on instances of lying and adultery in the White
House and still have children raised to respect decent family values. It's
not going to happen. And those people who have stood silently on the
sidelines and excused President Clinton's misdeeds in this regard--they may
talk a good game about family values, but they have done and are doing
nothing to help stop the murder of conscience represented by the Clinton
Administration. We have got to stop acting like we believe these things, and
start voting and working as if we believed them.
And I say that to all of you here. Some of you are as bad as those folks in
Congress--get up and talk a good game, and then when it comes time to vote,
vote for some squish who doesn't stand for the things we're supposed to
believe in [applause, cheering]. It's not my way. It's time we began to
reassert that control of ourselves based on our acknowledgment of God and our
acknowledgment that there can be no freedom without discipline and
responsibility.
But we also need to demand--and I use the word advisedly--control over our
schools, and our children's lives, and control over our money. And there's
only one way we are going to achieve that. We've got to take the schools back
from the politicians and bureaucrats, and that means that the money we spend
on education must follow the choice of parents, not the choice of educrats and bureaucrats and politicians. [applause,
cheering, whistling]
And it also means that if we're to regain control of our resources, I think
it's time we looked past the phony slogans. How many folks come forward and
say they want to abolish the tax code and abolish the IRS? Excuse me, my friends,
we're not going to abolish the IRS as long as we have a tax in place that has
to be enforced by means of that internal police.
There is a tax that has been fastened upon the American people that is
incompatible with our liberty. It is a chain fastened around the arms and
legs of our economic enterprise. It was introduced into this country by lying
politicians who told us that it would never affect more than 5-7% of our
people, never touch anyone but the wealthy. It has now become a ball and
chain around the neck of every American working individual. We cannot settle
for phony slogans to abolish the IRS and abolish the tax code. We must
abolish the income tax and return to the original Constitution on which this
country was founded. [applause, cheering, whistling]
I, for one, am not prepared any longer to settle for those who talk and
promise, and then get into office and don't do what they tell us they were
going to do. And yes, I am talking about some of those in the Republican
Congress.
We have a battle in front of us, and we have to stop shrinking from it. If we
want to offer the American people a choice with integrity, then as voters and
as leaders we are going to have to fight the battles that will establish that
integrity, and stop running from them. And I'll tell you one thing, I am
going to fight that battle.
Because it's not just a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, it's a
battle for the soul of this nation and for my children's future. No party
label is more important to me than that, and I WILL put loyalty to the truth
above loyalty to anything else, service to my God above service to everything
else, so that my country can survive according to His will.
When we are willing to make that kind of commitment, we will have set America
back on the path to its true restoration. We will know that we can enter the
21st century secure in the knowledge that this great Republic will not fail.
Not because of its economic strength, and not because of its military might.
But because the soul of its people has been restored to God, and in that
restoration the people have re-established the government of the people, by
the people, and for the people that is our birthright and should not perish
from this earth. [applause, cheering, whistling]
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