Alan Keyes
June 21, 1996

[Introduction by Kay Bailey Hutchison. Some of the introduction was cut off the tape]

Hutchison: . . . He went to High school right here in San Antonio. He served President Reagan as Assistant Secretary of State and as Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council.

Alan has defended our party and the principles that bind us together on national television programs and with his own radio show, "The Alan Keyes Show--America's Wake Up Call."

He has worked to restore our nation to a firm financial footing as president of Citizen's Against Government Waste. He initiated National Taxpayer Action Day.

What I really remember about Alan when he ran for President, he brought the house down time after time and he did it by staying on the issues that he believes in and articulating his principles. And when he was denied a place on a television debate, every other Republican candidate for President said, "Alan Keyes should be right here." We stood with him.

And most important of all, Alan is leading a charge for the return of morality in America. All of us remember his thrilling speech to the national convention in 1992. Alan is here with us now, and I also want to tell you if you don't get enough today, he is going to speak at 7 o'clock in front of the Alamo, also. Please give a great Texas welcome to a San Antonio resident . . . a great American . . . Alan Keyes.

[long ovation]

Alan Keyes: Thank you . . .

I gotta tell you . . . I must say . . . I guess I shouldn't be surprised but it sounds like this convention is in the hands of the PEOPLE. [applause] And I'm not surprised because that's exactly where we mean for this country to be when the November election is over--back in the hands of its people. [applause]

And we know what that is going to require. It's going to require several things. First of all, it's going to require that we reclaim the White House from Bill Clinton. But I'm not going to dwell on that for too long, because in spite of all the media hype--and they have been hyping it for some time now, trying to convince us that Bill Clinton is somehow out there living and breathing--I frankly don't think he is any more politically alive today than he was in 1994 when even his own party people didn't want to have anything to do with him. The media can hype it all they like. The American people in their majority did not elect Bill Clinton in 1992 and they will not re-elect him in 1996. [applause]

And I don't know what some folks are relying on to achieve that result. I, myself, can say what I have said for months. And what I believe to be true. I don't think we are going to defeat Bill Clinton because of his economic policies. I don't think we are going to defeat him because of his foreign policies. I'll tell you, he deserves to be defeated on both counts. But I believe that most Americans, when they see the policies that he has pursued--catering to those that wish to destroy America's values and destroy America's families--know that we can't send back to the White House the most anti-moral, anti-family president in the history of this country. [applause]

I never thought when I was coming of age right here in San Antonio . . . I can remember, it was still common political parlance to say that there were three things that as a political person, you could always speak about without controversy: mom, the flag, and apple pie. Now I don't know about the other two, but we have for the first time in American history an administration that has actually denigrated motherhood--that sent a delegation to the women's conference that actually stood with those who questioned whether motherhood is part of a woman's vocation. Well I'll tell you something, if he doesn't realize that it is, the presidency should be no part of his vocation. Get him out of office. [applause]

Now I know all of this unanimity is probably surprising the folks from the media who are here. Now I don't want to give you the impression that they are listening to any part of this speech, because I know . . . [applause] My experience during the campaign suggests that when I walk onto the podium, they walk out of the room. But that is neither here nor there. It's possible, though, that they heard some rumors that there were going to be Republicans in here drawing each other's blood and beating each other up, and that's the one thing you can be sure of--they'll ignore us when we talk about the right approaches to welfare that reduce dependency and actually restore the strength of family life. They don't want to hear about it!

They don't want to hear about it when we talk about lowering taxes, and lowering regulation to return the strength of this economy to the hands and creativity of its people. They don't want to hear about it.

But if they, for once, get the word that we're going to be in here drawing blood and spilling Republican blood and destroying Republican principles, they'll be right there to watch. Well, I've got news for them. I don't know where they have gotten the idea that this party is divided on the key issues that face us. I don't know where they get it. I know there are those that have tried to go around the country telling me, telling others that the Republican party is deeply divided on the great issues of principle--including the issue that some people say we shouldn't mention, that I will mention everywhere, all the time, no matter what: the great and important and key issue of the abortion tragedy. [applause]

Well I got news for them. I went all over all over this country--I went to Republican gatherings, large and small, to state conventions, to meetings, to caucuses, to Presidency III. Everywhere. And I looked out over crowds like this. And I know that some of those people in those crowds weren't wearing Keyes buttons, I understand that. But I also know this: regardless of what buttons they were wearing--regardless of whether they said Dole, or Keyes, or Buchanan, or Alexander--when I stood up to defend the truth that this party must not depart from the principles on which it was founded, that we must stand for justice today as we stood for justice in the 19th century, that we must demand respect for the rights of ALL human beings regardless of their color, their race, their creed or their position in the womb, EVERY Republican stood on their feet because that is the Republican creed. That is the American way. [standing ovation]

This party, I believe . . . I believe that contrary to that media belief--I won't even call it a belief, it's actually their hope, you know. I think there are a lot of Republicans that have the common sense to understand the truth.

We stand before each other and the American people foursquare for returning the power of our people to the hands of our people. Cut back the size of Washington government; reclaim control over our resources; reduce the tax burden on the American people; reduce the regulatory burden to return control to the people who ought to, in the small and medium and large business enterprises of this country, control its economic future. We know we stand for that.

But we also know that you cannot return power to the people unless you respect the strength of character needed for them to use that power rightly.

There is no contradiction whatsoever between the economic agenda, the fiscal agenda, and the moral and social agenda of the Republican Party.

Strong character and self-government go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin. They are two parts of the same heart. And they are both of them united in the Republican creed.

And that's why I believe that contrary to what some of the folks in the media believe, we're not only going to go forward in November and exemplify the unity of the Republican party. We are going to stand in stark contrast to the Democrats, who for decades now have represented the politics of division setting race against race, and gender against gender, and group against group. We do not believe that this can be a house divided.

And we will call upon the American people to remember what Lincoln spoke of when he addressed a July 4th crowd in 1858, I think it was. And he pointed to the fact that on July 4th celebrations, we come together--and in those days they commemorated the great work of the American Revolution. They looked back to the great deeds of the patriots, and he asked the question. He said, "Well, how can it be that those people who have just come here and have no ancestors who fought in the Revolution--how can it be that they will feel part of this great celebration?"

And then he said, "Well, they will not just look back at the deeds of that Revolution, they will go back and they will read the great principles for the sake of which it is fought." And he was alluding to that great Declaration, which says that all men are created equal, and endowed--not by Constitutions, or Declarations, or Congresses, or Presidents, or Supreme Courts--but by the power of Almighty God with their unalienable rights. [applause] And he said, "They shall read that document, and they will know that they are blood of our blood."

And I say to you here and now that it is those great principles that take us all--the most diverse people ever assembled on the face of the earth, of every race, and every creed, and every color, and every kind--and unite us into one great nation under God. For the blood that runs in our veins is not just the rich warm physical blood, it is the blood of moral principle, the blood of moral truth, and we will not surrender it. [applause]

And in that spirit, I at least know that I stand before you right now a committed Republican. I know that there are some people who speculate about this and that and the other thing, and talk about leaving this party. I am not going to leave this party. I'm going fight to make sure this party stands with its principles, and I will stand with you in that battle. [applause]

And when we go to our convention in August, we are going to show the media, and we are going to show the American people just what unity means. And we're not going to do it just as a party for partisan reasons so we can go and win office. We are going to do it on the right grounds, I believe. Because I gotta tell you, I am not a Republican for the sake of some party label. I am not a Republican for the sake of some power and profit.

I am a Republican because throughout my lifetime, the Republican party has stood strong for American values, and American decency, and American principles when it was popular and when it was not. That is the heritage on which we were founded. It is the heritage with which we shall triumph in the fall. [applause]

And we shall call this people, this great American people, to a unity more important than party unity. A unity that transcends even our character as a great American people.

Well you know, we have stood since this country began for a hope that is not just an American hope. It is not a black hope, or a white hope, or an Italian hope, or a Polish hope, or a Jewish hope, or a Muslim hope. We stand for that hope which is the hope of all mankind--the hope that we can realize what was the true gift of our Creator, life and dignity; hearts disciplined with respect for His law, living in freedom because we have the character to respect His truth.

I know there are those who would like to banish that recognition from our politics. They accuse people like me of bringing religion into politics and so forth and so on. I'm sorry. I haven't brought religion into politics. I came into American public life, and I found the name of God written large on our founding documents--the foundation stones of this nations life. [standing ovation]

And I know in my heart that, for all that they say, I know that we need to address the great problems of the day--what we do with the money and the budgets and so forth and so on. But you and I both know the truth: that our streets are filled with violence, and our schools live now under the shadow of fear. It is because our families are failing--and our families are failing because our moral heart is being corrupted away from those values of selflessness, and respect for responsibility and obligation, that are indeed the heart of family life.

But we can call this nation back to a future of strong families and real self-government if we are willing, with courage, to remind the American people that this republic and its people shall stand in freedom as long as we fear not to go down on our knees before Almighty God and in respect of His authority and truth. [applause]

And with that on our hearts, I believe we shall speak to and unite the great and decent heart of the American people--speaking from the heart of American principle to the heart of Americans everywhere that message which as Americans we share: that we move forward into the 21st century rededicating ourselves to those propositions of justice and equality for all. ALL. Regardless of color and race. ALL. Born and unborn. ALL HUMAN BEINGS. That we shall stand under that banner reclaiming the power that is ours, to self-government that is ours, and the destiny that we shall hold up as an example for all the earth.

Thank you very much.

[standing ovation]