Posted on 06/07/2006 2:39:31 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Transcript of Alan Keyes' remarks at Minuteman fence groundbreaking
To President Bush: 'We don't trust you'
June 7, 2006
RenewAmerica staff
At the May 27 groundbreaking of the new Minuteman fence to be constructed on private land along America's southern border, about 300 Minutemen and several dignitaries met to officially launch the privately-funded undertaking.
Among those attending were Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leader Chris Simcox, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, Arizona governor candidate Don Goldwater, and Alan Keyes
Dr. Keyes delivered the keynote speech.
Below is the text of Dr. Keyes' remarks on this historic occasion.
ALAN KEYES: Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless you all. We always say that. But there are times, I think, when we ought to stand back and realize that the truth of the matter is that sometimes when we say, "God bless you," what we're really saying is you are a blessing from God.
And right now as America faces what I think is the greatest crisis of our institution in its history, across the board, one of the most important examples of that crisis is right here. When a country loses the will to defend its borders, when a country loses the will to assert its identity, when a country loses the will to stand in defense of its way of life, that country is doomed. And I think all of us have to be fearful, if you listen to what's coming out of Washington and coming from our president, and so forth, that we are hearing the confirming echoes of that doom coming down the corridors of our present and the future that we should be leaving our children and our grandchildren.
Now, I'm here to tell you right now that however we may sometimes feel discouraged, that however we may sometimes think that there is no hope, you need to remember that when we pray to God for a blessing, you have come forward to be the answer. You have come forward to be the defenders.
[cheer, applause]
You have come forward to be the examples of the American spirit that built this country and will defend its future.
And we also have to be clear about something else, because part of me feels like, as you very well know, we shouldn't be here at all, the truth of the matter. After all, we go through the motions every few years, we send folks off to Washington, D.C., we elect them to the House, we elect the Senate. What is their first duty? To listen to them these days, you'd think that their first duty would be to serve the money bags who put money into their political coffers
[applause]
To listen to them talk today, you would think their first duty was to respond to the needs and wishes of all those folks throughout the world who wish that they were in America. But that's not their first duty.
The oath that they swear, every single one of them, is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
[applause]
And that Constitution is not the work of foreign governments, it is not the work of foreign people, it is the work of the people of the United States. It is to us that they owe their allegiance.
[applause]
We are left to our obvious conclusion, if, as the president himself said
[laughter]
Now, this is very good, don't you think? This is like the fellow who is hired to guard your property telling you that you don't have any security!
I'm thinking to myself, "Well, Mr. President, you've been at work for six years now. I'd like to know what you've been doing with all that time!"
He tells us now that he's going to get to work, that he's going to do the job that he should have been doing all along. And what's even more appalling is that after September 11th, you would have thought it would have been fairly clear
[applause]
And they acknowledge hundreds of folks coming across every day, and we're supposed to believe that in the midst of all those people, they are just wonderfully innocent, hopeful immigrants coming across to seek a better life.
I think that in the midst of a lot of those people, there would have to be a few of those folks who are coming across to take our lives, not to seek a better life for themselves!
So, what do we do? Well, what we are told we ought to do, given the Senate's bill, is we ought to deal with the problem of all of the illegal folks who have come
[cheer, applause]
And everything else they offer us, as [Rep.] Steve King was just telling us
[laughter]
Well, we're taking care of having to deal with the problem of millions of people who have come into this country as a result of the dereliction of duty of these political elites. And they wish us to accept what they told us in '86 and '94 and every time they turned around: "Trust us! Trust us! Trust us!" I think we need to send them a good, clear, strong message: "We don't trust you anymore!"
[applause]
And I want to say it outright. I'm a Republican, . . . but it's about time that we look G.W. Bush in the eye and tell him, "We don't trust you, either!"
[applause]
Not on this issue! Not now!
What we need, in order to restore our trust is not your promises, not your talk, not your 614 pages of legislation you don't intend to enforce. What we need now, as the only thing that we will accept, is results that finally get this border back under control of the American people, where it belongs!
[applause]
Here's why you give me particular hope. You give me particular hope, because I look back at the history of the country, and though they tend to forget it, America wasn't built by the government. The government was built by the people.
We do remember that, don't we?
Before it extended its reach, people had to reach out. They had to explore, they had to clear, they had to build, sometimes they had to fight and struggle and give their lives. We stand on ground that was not first claimed by the American government, it was first claimed by the courage, the ingenuity, the perseverance of the American people.
[applause]
And as it was claimed in the first place, so it must be defended now
You're here to remind folks who think that every time an American steps forward to take the initiative now, they should be told to wait for the government to act, wait for the government handout, wait for the government research, wait for the government to do it
[applause]
And though we all may have very good reason, given the record over the last several decades, to not trust the political elites, somebody explain to me why it is that any of them would look at the American people, and when we step forward and say we want to help in our own defense
I think it's about time that they acted like the people who built this country in the first place, people who aren't willing to trust the government first, not when we can trust to our own courage, to our own work, to our own discipline, to our own character.
[applause]
I want to tell you, Chris [Simcox], given the things that I've seen you've been doing for Americans everywhere
[applause]
[unintelligible] that's what these [unintelligible] of defense symbolize. They try to pretend that it's some kind of barrier, that it's against somebody who is in Mexico or anywhere else in the world. That's not true. We are acting for our people, we are acting for our country, we are acting for our children, we are acting for our posterity.
We are doing what Americans have always done, and in doing so, I don't think we deserve the distrust and fear of our leaders. We deserve not only their understanding and their support, we deserve that they will fall in line, as they have had to do before, and accept the leadership of the American people.
[applause]
I just want to tell you that I have been both moved and proud to be able to work in any capacity at all to help the folks who are organizing this great effort, to take the lead and to reassert the spirit of our country.
They are doing so, I think, with an admirable sense that what they're doing is not only on behalf of just themselves or their region or their states or their own ambition. It's on behalf of all of us. This is why I am reminded of what it means to be a people who not only share a common identity, but who will serve our common good and work to a common purpose.
I sometimes have to fear, when I look at what our politicians do, that some of them have entirely forgotten that at the end of the day, that's what citizenship is about. That's what their job is about. It's not everybody for themselves, grabbing what little piece of the pie we can. It's everybody showing a willingness, yes, to take care of ourselves, while we take care of the business of our communities, and our families, and our country. And that's what you exemplify. The true spirit of American self-government.
So, what we're doing here is not just building a fence. We are rebuilding a character. We are redefining a people. We are reminding ourselves and the people of our country and people all over the world that the American people have made a difference. Because, though we come from every voice and color and creed and kind, we stand together now on a common creed of self-government and liberty that has allowed us to make the difference.
[applause]
And the good spirit and the good example
[applause]
But we know that everyday, in politics today, that they may think it's all right to serve their special interest and their ethnic masters, and all of this, we are going to insist once again on a politics that serves our nation, that serves our people, that serves our principles, that serves our future. We will take nothing less.
[applause]
It's a great beginning. . . . I am reminded that it's only a beginning. But Aristotle said, with some wisdom, I think, that "The beginning is more than half the whole." What he meant by that, I think, is quite clearly demonstrated. To finish the job, you must have the whole commitment, heart, and faith that will get the job done. With your courage over the last several years, you have shown that whole
And I believe that it is one of those sacred moments that God will bless. So, I say it again: God bless you. But I say, as well, may God continue to bless all of us in this country for the work that you have done, for the things that you will achieve. I don't know what you're getting at the moment, but I'm sure of this: in the fullness of time there will come those Americans who will know what liberty means, because you have fought the good fight
God bless you.
[applause]
Are you kidding? Bush is the one who is pushing this through!!!
Bush is sounding downright Clintonian with his "Depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is". Oops. I mean it depends on what the meaning of the word Amnesty is.
RamS
Hillary stayed up late last night updating the 4% into her '08 election map.
What "drives me crazy" are people who completely IGNORE the posting rules; which you did by not having the courtesy of pinging me to a post about me, to a third party. This IS against FR's rules and you've been here long enough to know that.
No flames. I agree with you, in fact.
My own idea of how to deal with a Billbray is quite different from theirs, and I've said so to them in person. Repeatedly.
I think that when a RINO like him gets nominated, conservatives should simply apply their resources of time, energy, money and activism elsewhere.
Let the RINOs fend for themselves. That's exactly what they do to us, so in this case, turn-about is definitely fair play.
One caveat: If I lived in that district, I could not have voted for Billbray anyway. I don't vote for pro-aborts, ever, much less board members of the "Log Cabin Republicans". Nope.
And HIS plan is the bill written by Kennedy and McCain ?
He may be wrong BUT that doesn't translate to what you are implying.
What exactly do you think I was implying ?
It is now in the hands of Congress and there will or will not be a final immigration bill. Keyes, Tancredo, the Minutemen and Buchannan are hoping for NO bill as can be seen by their actions because it is now becoming a money making endeavor.
One would think that if the Senate version of the legislation was passed, this issue would jump from being a hot issue to being THE hot issue. Anti-illegal immigration candidates could fill their coffers by promising to 'roll back' the 'senate travesty'.
Yeah, maybe you better quit calling base GOP voters names.
So. You are implying that Bilbray is gay because he sits on a advisory committee, and stating that he is pro-abortion. Do you have anything to back that up?
APPLAUSE!!!
(Standing O)
Great Speech....Alan Keyes is awesome!
Doesn't explain Chris's sticky fingers either...
Neither the Senate or the House bill will be passed as is. Pence has suggested a good compromise bill but Tancredo has completely rejected it and called Pence, a conservative whose shoes Tancredo is not fit to shire a sell-out. That is proof that Tancredo wants the issue not a solution. The Minutemen endorsed an independent over a Republican that agrees with them 100%. That is proof they want the issue not a solution. Keyes has been working in the background with the minutemen and the constitution party and now feels he can come out from under his rock and play cowboy on the border in preparations for the 2008 season so he wants the issue to stay alive instead of a solution. The only nutcase not accounted for yet is PJB and he will show up sooner or later.
Well you are about as "base" as they come.
You're misinformed. "Reparations" was never a campaign issue for Keyes. It was a media issue, which they brought up early on in the campaign. When asked by a reporter, Keyes didn't voice support for slavery reparations--that is, PAYMENT from one party to another for injustice. He instead suggested that a more equitable way to deal with the issue would be to grant income tax freedom in lieu of payment.
Walter Williams had a similar position, only he suggested granting federal land. Neither man could be considered advocates for Jesse Jackson-style reparations, by any stretch of the imagination.
As for illegal immigration not being an issue for Keyes in 2004, after only a few minutes of digging, I found this:
save the border bump
Uh... I thought that was the topic of this thread.
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