Republicans have a vision of a bustling American economy in which a thousand Horatio Alger stories come true every day.

Our vision is that of the American Dream, the dream of limitless possibilities … of a bright future, in which government stays out of the way of the innovation and productivity of the hardest working people in the world.

Our vision is that of an ownership society, one in which the American people have control over their own future.

We don’t believe government can deliver that vision.

We believe the American people can.

That is why our Party and our President cut taxes for all Americans.
And we have been proven right.

Five years of strong economic growth …

More than 7.8 million jobs have been created in this tax cut economy…

Wages are up 1.3 percent in the last year alone ...

We cut taxes and got out of the American people’s way, and all over America, they are doing what they do best: working hard and achieving their dreams.

And yet our Party understands that we can and must do more to make sure our economic strength and freedom continue in the years and generations to come.

We must continue to keep taxes low, and roll back regulations that stifle entrepreneurs.

We must continue to tear down the roadblocks to home ownership for all Americans.

We must continue to expand choice in education and in health care.

We must continue to ask the question our Party has always asked: Who has the knowledge, and who has the right, to make decisions about your life: you, or the government?

We know the answer to that question, and we know that a future with more power in the hands of Americans, and less in the hands of Washington, will be a future in which our economic strength and freedom will continue to grow unabated and unchallenged.

Our opponents have a very different view.

They see dark days ahead. They see only government as the only source of help.

They see an America in which everyone is pitted against everyone else, where no one can get richer unless someone else gets poorer.

Just yesterday, they presented a budget, and that’s why I was late last night for dinner, I had to vote no on this. But this budget perfectly corresponds to their vision … a budget that includes 2.9 trillion in spending, and 400 billion dollars in tax hikes.

Our vision is brighter.

Our vision is of a nation in which dreams are being achieved every single day – and will continue to be, as long as we remember the true engine of our economy and our success: the American people.

Our vision of freedom at home doesn’t end there.

Our Party has another vision as well.

Of all the choices we just talked about, of all the freedoms we value, one towers above all the others: freedom of self-government, enshrined in our Constitution and strengthened every time one of us enters the voting booth to fulfill our sacred duty to ourselves and to our democracy.

Our Party is dedicated to protecting that freedom … which is why our Party believes in a restrained judiciary that leaves the legislating to legislators who are elected by the people.

It brings to mind a little story I want to share with you:

Early one Saturday morning, a few years ago when I was trying to make a decision about what course our future would take we were stuggling on whether I would run for the US Senate or not and on this early Saturday morning at about six AM Kitty woke me up. She had been up already for a couple of hours and she had a yellow pad in her hand and she said: “I’ve made a decision you’ve got to run for the Senate because there’s going to be a vacancy in the Supreme Court during the next term and the president is going to appoint someone to that bench and you need to be there to be a vote to support the president and to confirm the nomination of a conservative justice to our supreme court.”

So you know we put aside a lot of personal plans and perhaps even some personal desires, went back to Florida, began to campaign and the people of Florida rewarded me by honoring me as their senator.

And four weeks ago, I had the satisfaction of picking up the phone about 9:30 in the morning and saying “Kitty we made a difference, because by what we did, we were able to confirm Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, and as of today there isn’t any longer Constitutional right in America to a partial-birth abortion.” Isn’t that great.

It was an abhorrent practice, but it was also more than that. It was something that the American people through the legislative process had decided was not acceptable in our society, and wasn’t it great that we were able to then see that go to the supreme court and the Spureme Court honor the will of the people and not try to supplant their thinking, their legislating for what the people thought.

This is a victory for our vision of democracy, a vision that says that we have the right – and the responsibility – to make our own decisions in a free society.

And now we have go to fight to preserve that vision.

It is our duty to decide who will nominate the next justice to the Supreme Court.

It is our duty to choose whether we want a President who will nominate judges who will make laws … or a President who will nominate judges who will have what Chief Justice Roberts has called “the humility” to understand the role of the judiciary in our democracy.

From strength abroad … to prosperity at home … to the preservation of our democracy … there is one Party that has an optimistic view of the future.

One Party that is using its historic principles to find solutions to today’s – and tomorrow’s – problems.

My friends, there is no other than that party to be the Republican Party.

I was reminded of that recently, when I had the opportunity to take my young son Andrew to the Reagan Library out in California. It’s a beautiful setting, it looks over a valley. You saw the pictures if you saw the funeral on TV, or you might have been there yourself.

But while I was there, I couldn’t help but remind me of the greatness of that man and the greatness of what he brought to America ... his boundless optimism and his belief in the good of the man as well as the good of this nation.

His accomplishments didn’t just transform America during his term, but reverberated throughout the world, and still benefit so many even today.

Our nation is stronger today because of his vision.

Our world is brighter today because of his dreams.

Now, those visions and dreams are ours.

Our beliefs haven’t changed.

And our determination to face our challenges is as strong now as it has ever been.

So now it is our duty.

Now we will carry the Republican mantle.

And now we will look forward with hope and optimism … and dedicate ourselves to continuing to build an America in which every man, woman and child still dreams the heroic dreams of Ronald Reagan.

So thank you for having me this morning, God bless you all as you go forward to do the work of our party. Thank you.