To Save America: Abolishing Obama's Socialist State and Restoring Our Unique American Way

by Newt Gingrich

  • Join your local American Solutions Real Change chapter.

  • Help organize and participate in a Solutions Day/ Town Hall program in your community.

  • Participate in our Small Business Program, the Jobs and Prosperity Task Force.

  • Provide financial support to continue developing proven solutions to the problems facing America.

  American Solutions is dedicated to advocating replacement solutions that work. Denouncing the Left’s failed programs and machine politics is important, but it is not enough. If you want to learn about practical alternatives like the ones presented in this book, visit the American Solutions website. It aims to convince you of one thing: there is a better way to create a better future for our children, our grandchildren, and our country.

  THE SOLUTIONS ACADEMY

  Turning America’s current problems into opportunities is the great challenge of our generation. While the frustration is with politics and the problems are with government, we need to focus on a deeper challenge that exists on four levels:

  • Intellectual

  • Cultural

  • Political

  • Governmental

  We first have to think through what has to be done.

  Then we have to learn to communicate our solutions so Americans will support them.

  Then we have to win the political struggle to defeat those in both parties who are stuck in old, obsolete, destructive patterns, and to elect people dedicated to the new thinking and new solutions.

  Finally, our new coalition of those committed to the right values, the right language, and the right solutions has to translate political victory into profound changes in government.

  There are no institutions that work on all four levels of the challenge. Many do a good job at one part or another, but no one puts it all together into one coherent approach.

  Until now. To address all four levels of the challenge, American Solutions is working to identify and promote positive solutions that can help create a better America, and to energetically oppose the bad policies that threaten our prosperity. It will take great effort and many citizen leaders to help people remember and understand what has made America great and what it will take to keep her great.

  That is where the Solutions Academy comes in.

  The Solutions Academy is an online learning and training center for elected officials, candidates, and citizen leaders. While equipping these individuals to more effectively lead, communicate, and persuade, the academy will also advise them how to take specific actions to support the adoption and implementation of policy solutions that will advance America’s safety, prosperity, and freedom.

  The Solutions Academy will offer individual lessons in subject areas such as the economy, energy, education, corruption, and core values and principles. In the energy section, for instance, you will find lessons on offshore drilling, nuclear power, renewable energy, and the dangers of a cap-and-trade energy tax, just to name a few. Each lesson will include a wide variety of compelling content in the form of video, audio, research, polling data, handouts, and recommended reading.

  In addition to the public policy lessons, the Solutions Academy will include lessons on running for office and leading in office that will teach skills such as effective communications, fundraising, social media, and grassroots organizing. Candidates will also be able to listen to podcasts to get advice from candidates and their senior advisors, such as Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his campaign chairman Ed Gillespie, on what made their campaign successful.

  In short, the Solutions Academy is a rich resource to help elected officials formulate legislative solutions, help candidates create campaign platforms, and help citizen leaders stay informed and get the tools to persuade their friends and family about the solutions to advance American prosperity and freedom.i

  Today, the marketplace of ideas is dominated by a left-wing media, academia, and pop culture that equip citizens, either directly or indirectly, with destructive training in bad ideas that run counter to classic and successful American values and principles.

  If we are to save America, we need a growing and active group of elected officials at every level of government, candidates for those offices, and citizen leaders who can persuasively communicate the values, principles, and solutions that will ensure a safe, prosperous, and free America.

  CONCLUSION

  Citizenship and Saving America

  “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” There is a reason our national anthem’s first verse ends with those words. The generations who created America fought terrible wars against overwhelming odds. They deeply believed freedom required bravery. Unless we were the home of the brave, we would not remain free.

  That principle is as true today as it was when Francis Scott Key wrote the words to “The Star Spangled Banner.” If the American people do not have the courage to work and fight for their freedom, they will not remain free. Bravery is not just a battlefield phenomenon.

  Bravery is a parent protesting a bad policy to her school board.

  Bravery is a student challenging his teachers when they propagandize factually incorrect accounts of U.S. history.

  Bravery is a politician fighting to reform a powerful bureaucracy.

  Bravery is a conservative faculty member risking the loss of tenure and even the loss of her job by standing firm for her beliefs.

  Bravery is a businessman risking an audit or worse by speaking out against government intrusion into the private sector.

  Bravery is a woman speaking up for life among feminists who will accuse her of being anti-woman.

  Bravery is parents deciding to homeschool their child.

  Bravery is an entrepreneur deciding to create jobs, not just have one.

  Bravery is a reporter ignoring the institutional bias of the mainstream media and insisting on writing the truth.

  Bravery is a citizen running for office and accepting all the indignities and frustrations of public life in order to improve his community.

  Bravery is a person calling into talk radio and telling the truth as he sees it, even if the host and the audience disagree.

  Bravery is crucial, but it is not enough to keep us free. We also need leadership. I’m not saying you have to run for Congress or some other public office (although that is always an option for every citizen). We can all display leadership in our everyday lives.

  You lead when you teach positive values to your children and grandchildren.

  You lead when you get engaged in civic organizations.

  You lead when you assume responsibilities in your religious organization.

  You lead when you work in nonprofit and charitable organizations to help people and communities in need.

  You lead when you get involved with your local government.

  You lead when you mobilize fellow citizens to gather at rallies, demonstrations, and events to voice your objections to government policy.

  With brave citizen leaders, the movement to save America will succeed.

  Don’t think you are powerless because you have no national audience. Politics is primarily local, and that’s where we need to focus in order to win—persuading one person at a time, one family at a time, and one community at a time that we have better solutions than the corrupt, collectivist policies now being decreed in Washington. That is how you can contribute to our common cause: be brave, be a leader, and never stop fighting for what’s right for America. Together we will bring about a new generation of freedom.

  Shortly before this book went to press, the House of Representatives passed the Left’s big-government health reform bill, which President Obama quickly signed into law. The vote was the culmination of a shocking series of bribes, thuggish tactics, and lies, all pursued in direct opposition to the clearly expressed wishes of the American people.

  The day after the vote could justifiably have been a miserable one for those Americans who spent the last year fighting against the go
vernment’s takeover of one-sixth of our economy. But it wasn’t. The Left’s unconscionable power grab simply strengthened their resolve. The spirit of the day was not resignation, but defiance. In op-ed columns and TV programs, in weblogs and Facebook pages, around water coolers and kitchen tables, the bill’s approval was met with one word: repeal.

  That day I wrote in my newsletter, “This is not the end of the fight. It is the beginning.” With its corrupt payoffs, legislative tricks, and blatant disregard for the will of the people, the secular-socialist machine has revealed its true nature. Now it’s up to us, the American people, to dismantle this machine.

  We have the energy and we have the determination to save America. November 2010 will be our first big chance to render judgment on the Left’s healthcare bill, and two years later we’ll have another opportunity. It’s easy to despair, but that energy is better put toward preparing for these elections, which will be the most consequential of our lifetime.

  We must speak out, organize, and never forget what’s at stake: our livelihood, our freedom, and our precious country.

  Acknowledgments

  This book is my personal testimony to where we are and what we must do. It is the culmination of fifty-one years of work going back to August 1958, after I watched French paratroopers kill the French Fourth Republic and bring General De Gaulle back to a temporary dictatorship to create a new government. That summer saw the first Berlin crisis with the Soviet Union, the revolution in Iraq, the United States Army (my father’s service) go into Lebanon, and a host of other crises that seemed capable of permanently changing our lives.

  For more than half a century, I have had an amazing number of friends, colleagues, mentors, and supporters. I hope each of them feels that part of our work together is in this book.

  Joe DeSantis has been an invaluable partner in developing To Save America. His deep patriotism, love of America, and commitment to intellectual honesty really helped strengthen and reinforce what we are trying to communicate about this great crisis. He is a mainstay of my intellectual and communications work, and this book reflects his hard work and commitment to helping save America.

  Brady Cassis is my research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and was vital to the successful completion of To Save America. Brady is a young, talented, former College Jeopardy contestant from Yale University who rapidly produced research backgrounders on numerous issues and helped to fact check the final manuscript. I have been working with Brady for less than a year, but have already come to rely on his speed, thoroughness, and professionalism. He led a team of mature and capable interns at AEI including Jay Lucas, Joe Leanza, Francis Baker, and Dave Rodriguez, who assisted him greatly.

  Of course, it goes without saying the book would have been incomplete without the efforts of my co-authors on several of the policy chapters in To Save America. Over my years in public life I have become known as an “ideas man.” I deliberately chose to highlight many co-authors in this book to illustrate that I have gained this reputation largely because I have made it a point to work with very smart people who are developing the policies and proposals that will one day help save America. The work of Peter Ferrara, Dan Varroney, Nancy Desmond, Jim Frogue, David Merritt, Terry Maple, Steve Everley, Fred Asbell, Lisa Graham Keegan, and Nancy Sinnott Dwight certainly fall into that category.

  Rick Tyler was not only my co-author on the religious liberty chapter; he is my long time spokesperson and founder of our new organization, Renewing American Leadership (ReAL). Rick’s dedication to helping save America and to preserving freedom through faith as central to American liberty is inspirational to all who know him.

  As always, I have relied on the advice of my dear friend Steve Hanser, who has been my mentor since my days at West Georgia College before I ran for Congress. He has always pushed me to think carefully and write clearly. He remains one of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable people I have been privileged to work with.

  Vince Haley has shown a remarkable range of intellectual capabilities in working with me first at the Center for Health Transformation, then at AEI, and now as policy director at American Solutions. While he was helping with To Save America, he was also helping write and develop our new movie, Nine Days that Changed the World, about Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Poland. He was also preparing the American Solutions Academy described in this book. He is a true polymath of amazing range and dedication. He was very helpful during the editing process in keeping the book’s intellectual coherence.

  At AEI, the generosity of Ken and Yvonne Hannan have enabled me to build a capable research team that quickly respond to a wide variety of requests for information at all hours of the night. This includes the aforementioned Brady Cassis as well as Emily Renwick, a bright, young researcher with a gift for economics, and Commander John Barrett, a Navy Fellow who works with me on national security issues and whose service to his country in Afghanistan showed amazing skill as a surface naval warrior.

  AEI is led by Arthur Brooks, a remarkable man who will release a new book in June called The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future. I recommend it highly as a companion piece for To Save America. AEI also employs a number of other experts who have been invaluable in the development of the ideas in this book, including Chris Demuth, David Gerson, Michael Novak, Steve Hayward, Mark McClellan, Kevin Hassett, Danielle Pletka, John Bolton, Salley Satel, Alex Pollock, Peter Wallison, Charles Murray, James Q. Wilson, Karlyn Bowman, and Michael Barone.

  Beyond AEI, a number of other scholars and experts were helpful in developing the ideas in this book. These include Herman Pirchner, Walter Isaacson, John Goodman, Cliff May, Grover Norquist, Ed Feulner (the remarkable leader of the Heritage Foundation), Dave Bossie of Citizens United, Craig Shirley (the eminent biographer of Ronald Reagan), Marc Rotterman, Brett Schaefer, David Barton, Attorney General Ed Meese, Andrew McCarthy, and Anne Bayefsky.

  Terry Balderson is our general advisor on research. Every day he sends me between 80 and 200 articles from around the world. His hard work has enabled me to remain briefed and up to date on a wide variety of topics. He is simply invaluable.

  Kathy Lubbers, my daughter, did a great job representing us in book negotiations. She leads a small but dedicated team at Gingrich Communications, including Matt Scofield and Robbie Gross, our web gurus behind Newt.org; Sylvia Garcia, who runs The Americano, a bilingual news and opinion site for Hispanics; and Michelle Selesky, our media booker and talk radio expert. Gingrich Communications interns Jaime Oliva, Stephen Cord, and Shannon Beattie also assisted in research for To Save America.

  Jackie Cushman, my younger daughter, has become quite a columnist in her own right, and I am proud to borrow some of her better phrases and to use her insights into how America is evolving.

  Marji Ross, president of Regnery Publishing, was a strong believer in this book from the very beginning and was enormously helpful in determining its optimum organization. Jack Langer, our editor, did an extraordinary job under a very tight deadline making the prose as clear and concise as possible. Jeff Carneal, the president of Eagle Publishing, has been a steadfast partner since we first published a book together in 2005, both in the growth and development of my newsletter, the “Newt Gingrich Letter,” and for To Save America.

  As always, Randy Evans and Stefan Passantino brought their considerable legal talents to bear. Randy is the general advisor and strategist for all my activities and his advice is invaluable across a wide range of topics and activities. Stefan is a leading expert on election law and has been counsel to our companies.

  Joe Gaylord was my partner in designing the 1994 Contract with America campaign. We worked together for twelve years (1982—1994) to help elect the first House Republican majority in forty years. As the head of American Solutions, Joe brings enormous strategic insight into what we must do to save America and was invaluable in thinking through the ideas in this book.

  Dan Var
roney and Becky Burkett are doing a great job leading American Solutions on a day to day basis and they helped clarify the ideas around which we must build a new positive majority for solving America’s challenges.

  Nancy Desmond’s leadership of the Center for Health Transformation has been decisive in creating a true collaboration of leaders dedicated to creating a twenty-first century personalized intelligent health system. She is an insightful and thoughtful leader on health and on every other issue we have worked on together. The Center continues to work to get us beyond the current mess in healthcare and to move toward a true transformation with better outcomes at lower costs.

  Writing a book while doing everything else we do would be impossible were it not for the leadership of Sonya Harrison and her scheduling team including Bess Kelly and Heather Favors. Without their hard work and Sonya’s leadership we would never be able to systematically focus on the many projects we undertake.

  Alicia Melvin has become a special assistant of enormous capability helping Callista and me achieve more than we ever could on our own.

  Finally, none of this would be possible without my wife, Callista. Her ongoing support and encouragement have been invaluable. With her own responsibilities at Gingrich Productions as a movie producer, co-host, narrator, writer, and photographer, she also spends hours each week as a singer, French hornist, and pianist. In addition, she continually helps me accomplish the key things that make projects like this possible. She has made my life a real joy.

  Notes

  Chapter 1

  1 Walt Bogdanich, “A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroads Retirees,” New York Times, September 20, 2008; available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/nyregion/21lirr.html?_r=1.