“What is it about American culture that has led us to
become the most powerful nation in the history of the world? We
believe in hard work and education. We love opportunity: almost
all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came
here for opportunity—opportunity is in our DNA. Americans love
God, and those who don’t have faith, typically believe in
something greater than themselves—a “Purpose Driven Life.”
And we sacrifice everything we have, even our lives, for our
families, our freedoms and our country. The values and beliefs of
the free American people are the source of our nation’s
strength and they always will be!
The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare
programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that
battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals haven’t given
up. At every turn, they try to substitute government largesse for
individual responsibility. They fight to strip work requirements
from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to remove more
and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever.
Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity.
Dependency is a culture-killing drug—we have got to fight it
like the poison it is!”
January 7, 2008: Romney speaking at
the Conservative Political Action Conference in New Hampshire
“Well, my system is primarily based on trying to create
jobs, not handing out cash to individuals. I do lower the lowest
income tax bracket from 10 percent to 7.5 percent. And that
helps, of course, people at the low economic level.
But also for individuals 65 and older, the fact that they're not
going to be paying any Social Security or Medicare taxes anymore,
no more payroll taxes, means that that's going to be a break for
them.
But the heart of what I'm doing is trying to get businesses to
become more active, buying capital equipment, trying to get
businesses to grow in this country and to create more jobs,
because the best, obviously, the best antidote to having an
economic slowdown is growth in the business sector, creating
jobs, putting more people at work and, of course, that generates
more income for everybody…
…
Well, it's jobs. It's focused on jobs. And certainly, what you
want to do is provide the incentives to help companies to be
creating new jobs. I think the number of 50 million strikes a
little high. But for those that are not paying any taxes at all,
simply writing a check doesn't seem to me to be the right course
to follow.”
January 20, 2008: Interview on FoxNews
Sunday
“I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not
concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it
needs repair, I will fix it. I'm not concerned about the very
rich. They're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart
of America, the 90 percent, 99 percent of Americans who right now
are struggling. And I will continue to that mistake across the
nation…
… Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad. I said I'm not
concerned about the very poor that have the safety net, but if it
has holes in it, I will repair them…
… You've got to take the whole sentence, all right, as opposed
to saying, and then change it just a little bit, because then it
sounds very different. I've said throughout the campaign my
focus, my concern, my energy is going to be devoted to helping
middle income people, all right? We have a safety net for the
poor in, and if there are holes in it, I will work to repair
that. And if there are people that are falling through the cracks
I want to fix that.”
February 1, 2012: Romney, in an
interview with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien
• Mike Huckabee has strongly reiterated that good and actual
leadership is the one which recognizes the after-affect of
political decisions on the man on the street like the waiter who
waits at the tables, the man who collects the garbage, the driver
of the truck and the laborer who shifts freight.
• Discussing about the First Amendment, Mike Huckabee is of the
opinion that the main intention of the Amendment was to encourage
the voices of faith instead of being prohibitive and restrictive.
He has stated that although the First Amendment is often used
illegitimately to shut out the voices of faith, the expression of
faith does not come under the Government's jurisdiction or
responsibility.
• Mike Huckabee has expressed support for continuation of the
TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families which is a
state-based program to eradicate poverty. This stand has won him
appreciation of a number of state Governors who hold the opinion
that maintenance of flexibility and funding levels are crucial
for the success of the program.
• The reason for supporting TANF grants to states, according to
Mike Huckabee, is that it is due to these grants that a large
number of individuals have sought employment, families have
become self sufficient and there has been a rise in personal
responsibility.
• Mike Huckabee has proposed to increase the funding for Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program so that more number of
low-income households can be provided with energy efficient
improvements and adequate heating and cooling assistance.
