Thank you very much; I am privileged to be here today. You know I love Congressman Chaffetz toilet story. I like to think we all have a similar problem; there’s this great big toilet back in DC and it won’t flush. (Applause)
Back in 1998, my wife and I found ourselves coming home from DC after internships at the White House and the Supreme Court, and we knew at that time we needed to get active in politics. So the very next year in 1999; we made a phone call to the Republican Party and we said, “How do we attend our mass meetings?” And they said, call this person, and so we did. We called him and a few days later we went to his house and we picked up a manila envelope; in order to host a caucus, because nobody wanted to do it. My wife and I hosted that mass meeting. My wife became the precinct chair, I think, I became the vice chair, she became the secretary, we both became state delegates and we both became county delegates. Now as you can imagine, it wasn’t because we were popular, it was because we were the only two people there. (Laughter)
Now within a year of that in 2000 I had decided. Well, I have been a Vice Chair, I have been a delegate, it’s time to run for congress! So my wife and I set about learning about what it would take to run for congress. Well fortunately someone approached me and said, “Now look, we have got a legislative seat in need of a candidate would you be willing to run?” and I said, “Sure.” I decided to run for the state legislature.
My wife and I spent the next year or our life campaigning as hard as we could and (pause) Sorry, my wife is far more composed than I am she should be speaking. By September of 2000, I walked in (pause) to that chamber, I stood on that dais before a man named Marty Stephens and I took an oath (pause) in which I swore to defend the constitution of the United States of America. (Applause)
As you can probably tell; that moment had a profound influence on my life. I made a commitment at that time that I would do that at the expense of my reputation at the expense at any money I did have. And I committed to serve the very best I could. I served for four years and left to go to law school after having a little boy who sits right over there. When I came back I thought perhaps I was done. But, my time in politics although a very good experience; has been in large part a great disappointment. I have seen that our parties, that our government is filled with patronage and filled with power mongering. That is in direct contradiction and in diametric opposition to what our constitution and our founding fathers intended. When they wrote that constitution, James Madison stated, that there was intent to create a labyrinthine structure that would prevent the aggregation of all branches of government and power into the hands of any one particular faction. And yet what do our parties seek to do? They seek to control, they seek to aggregate power, they have set themselves in direct opposition to the Constitution of the United States of America. (Hear a man shout, “Here, Here” Applause)
Now we all know that is wrong. The Constitution provides the means which a person is invited to transcend and rise above patronage, partisanship and power mongering, it is the oath of office. It is an oath by which we swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It is not a partisan document. It is not intended to benefit any one person or one party over another.
Now they are not going to do this on their own, the parties, our congressmen, our senators. You must compel them to do it. You must bind them down with the chains of the Constitution. Now we don’t have a lot of time left to do it. I think it is pretty clear that our Constitution sits upon a precipice and we have a decision to make. Will we let it go the way of so many other governments so many other forms that have been written to try and instill freedom with in the hearts and culture of people or will we bear it away? That is a decision we must make. I believe that we have an opportunity. I believe that we can say from here on out. As Utah goes, so goes the Nation. That is the opportunity you have.
March twenty-third is the night that, that small and peaceful grassroots revolution can begin. You need to be at your mass meeting. You need to become a delegate. No matter what party you go for, you need to be a delegate. If you do I believe we can change the very nature of politics in this nation and we can do it right her and we start with you. I hope that today you leave here with a firm commitment to run to become a delegate no matter what it takes. Ask your family to help you ask them to sacrifice with you and I believe together we will make it possible if not to save the heart of this nation, to at least preserve our state as a shining example of how Constitutional government should be upheld and maintained.
Thank you so much for being here today.
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