"Principled, Positive, and Proven"
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
Conservative Political Action Conference
February 26, 2015

Thank you very much.  It's a beautiful day in America.

For those of you I haven’t had a chance to meet yet: my name is Mike Lee. And I am not running for president.

Now I think I’m one of very few people who can say that today – and at least have any of you believe me in saying it.

But that’s exactly why I’m here. And I think it’s part of the reason why I was asked to speak at the very beginning of the program today.

As I see it, I have a different task up here than a lot of the other speakers today.

I’m here to talk very candidly with you – as one conservative not running for president to another conservative not running for president, and I'm here to talk about the immense task that lies before us over the next year or so.

Because you and I – we have a job to do.

I hope everyone here realizes that. Because over the next year and a half, everyone in this room, for every single one of us, it’s going to be our job very, very soon to choose the next President of the United States of America.

Now that's going to be our job, if, that is, we’re up to it.

So I’m asking you right now: what do you think? Are we up to it?! Are we as conservatives ready to pick the next great President of the United States?! Are you sure?!

I hope so. Because let’s be very, very honest here for a minute: in recent years we haven’t been. Since Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989, we’ve had six presidential elections. My party’s nominee – the Republican nominee – has lost the popular vote in five of those last six elections.

I’m here to tell you, if we don’t choose a serious, principled, proven conservative in 2016, that number is going to be six out of seven, and we can't let that happen.

Those are the stakes.

Now, for the conservatives running for president, the hardest part of their job will begin on January 20, 2017 – that sounds great by the way, doesn't it?  The hardest part of their job will begin the day they take the oath of office, the day they assume the presidency.

But for those of us conservatives who are not running for president, the hardest part of our job starts right now.

Now is the time, right now – before the campaign truly begins in earnest – for us to think, long and hard about the kind of candidate that we’re looking for, about the kind of candidate that we want, the kind of candidate that the country needs.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And if it’s alright, I’d like to tell you about the kind of leader that I’m looking for... and why I think you might look for him – or her – too, right along with me.

Principled, positive, and proven. It seems to me that conservatives need to be looking for these  characteristics in a candidate; looking for a candidate who is these three things – who is principled and positive and proven.

So let's go through each of these individually.

First, what does it mean to be principled?

Well I think that it means that you're being a conservative every day, not just during the campaign. Principled means, it means there are no “buts” in your conservative communication – as in, “I’m personally pro-life, but...” Or, “I want to repeal Obamacare, but...”

A principled conservative doesn’t hide behind talking points – he tells you what he thinks and he tells you why.

That’s not to say that we all have to agree on every issue because we don't and we won't. Serious conservatives disagree on issues all the time. And real conservatives don’t run from these disagreements – in fact we embrace them, we run toward them.

Speaking at this very conference in 1977, Ronald Reagan explained the importance of open, robust dialogue – not only as a way to purify the conservative movement, but more importantly as a way to expand it.

Here's what he said.  He said, [QUOTE] “If we truly believe in our principles, we should sit down and talk. Talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time if it means talking about the principles for the Republican Party. Conservatism is not a narrow ideology, nor is it the exclusive property of conservative activists.”

This is crucial for us to remember as we make our choices in 2016. Now very often, you can learn a lot more about a candidate when he disagrees with you than when he agrees.

When a principled conservative disagrees with you on an issue, he admits it, he admits it right up front, and he has an authentically conservative reason for doing so.

You see that’s how you can tell the difference between someone who's a conservative on the stump on the one hand, and on the other hand someone who is truly a conservative, in his head and in his heart all the time.

Okay, so that’s “principled.” We talked about what it means to be principled. Next, let's talk about what it means for a candidate to be positive.

A great man once said that a true soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front him but rather because he loves what’s behind him.

Conservatives need to hold to this exact same standard.

Because true conservatism isn’t just about the kind of government we don’t want; it’s about the kind of country we do want.

This has been true ever since America’s Founding. As much as we honor it, the Boston Tea Party was just a protest. Dramatic and inspirational and necessary, yes absolutely, but it was also inherently limited in its effect.

Today, the Boston Tea Party would be remembered at best as only a minor footnote in history if that very same generation of Americans, that same generation of Americans whos patriots boarded ships in Boston Harbor and seized tea, English tea, and cast it into the harbor in symbolic protest against the kind of big overtaxing, overregulating government in London they did not want – it would have been only a footnote in history if that same generation of Americans had not made their way to Philadelphia fourteen years later to write the Constitution, our 227-year old founding document.

Like our Founding patriots, the positive conservative I’m looking for can tell us more than about what he’s against. He will always tell us what he’s for.

He’s got a plan. He has specific political ideas about how to unite and grow our coalition, and he has specific policy ideas about how to reform our government.

Now he doesn’t hesitate to tell you, in specific and concrete terms, exactly what those ideas are. Specificity here is crucial, it's critical, it's essential. Generalizations and abstractions are the province of candidates who say one thing on the campaign trail, but do quite another thing once their in office.

So if conservatives truly want a government that is of, by, and for the people, we need to demand that our candidates tell us specifically how they'll fix our tax code, how they'll reform our broken health care and education systems, how they'll put an end to corporate welfare, like the Export-Import Bank and too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks. So we're looking here not just for platitudes, but for policies. Please join me in that effort to find that candidate.

Okay so we've covered what it means to be “principled,” we've covered what it means to be “positive.” Now finally, let's talk about what it means for a candidate to be proven.

Well to me, it means two things.

I’m looking for someone who has proven himself by winning big, difficult fights on election days. And then secondly I’m looking for someone who has won big, difficult fights after election day, while in office. We shouldn’t be looking for just one and rolling the dice on the other. That won't work. Conservatives must demand both: a candidate who has shown he can win elections, and later shown that he deserved to win those same elections.

In other words we want someone who has stood on principle when the going got tough, and someone who has the battle scars that prove it.

Yet we also wamt someone who has shown he can win broad mandates and build diverse coalitions to overcome entrenched interests... And not just the special interests in the other party, but those in his own party.

A conservative candidate who ignores moderates is as misguided as the moderate candidate who ignores conservatives. The candidate we all deserve, every one of us, can attract both
without alienating either.

Now right now, we don’t have any candidates yet, and everyone deserves an equal chance to meet that standard. But make no mistake: that should be the standard.

This leads me to my final point: Meeting that standard that I've described – principled, positive, and proven – isn’t just going to be up to the candidates themselves. It’s going to be up to us, every one of us and lots of other people all over the country.

Just as businesses in the free market follow consumer demand, political candidates take their cues from the voters. We have the power in this process – but only if we're willing to use it... only if we are willing to expect more of our would-be leaders, and only if we're willing to expect more out of ourselves.

We have a job to do. And that job is not to just find the guy who can shout “Freedom” the loudest, or tell the best Joe Biden jokes. By the way did you hear what Joe Biden said the other day... uh, never mind; it's too easy.

If that’s what conservatives reward, and if that's all they reward – in the next year and over the next two days here at CPAC – if that's what they reward with cheers and standing ovations and straw-poll votes, then that’s all that we as conservatives will ever get: Talking points, and platitudes, and empty promises.

But when conservatives elevate unserious presidential candidates, candidates who are not principled, positive, and proven, it’s not the media’s fault, it's not the Establishment’s fault... it’s our fault and we can't let that happen.

Republican presidential candidates in 2016 are only going to be as good as conservatives demand them to be in 2015, and that's why we're here today.

So let’s demand starting right here and right now that these candidates are going to be extraordinary. Not one candidate we will support will be anything short of that.

Imagine for a moment the impression this audience could leave a candidate if each of you refused to give a standing ovation to every trite one-liner, every empty platitude, or every hollow political slogan that you hear over the next day and a half, and yeah you will hear some of those.

Or imagine if no one in the conservative movement – not a single soul – donated a dime of their money or a moment of their time to any candidate who talks a big game about cutting big government, but never gets around to explaining how he would fix broken government.

I guarantee you every one of our serious presidential candidates would immediately run on a positive, innovative, and unapologetically conservative agenda.

They would run on an agenda that takes our timeless principles and applies them to the unique challenges of our time. An agenda that empowers the individuals, families, and communities that Washington’s corrupt nexus of big government, big business, and big special interests  leaves behind.

Imagine the conservative leader who would emerge from that campaign – what he could do to reunite our party, to reconnect it with the American people, and reform the government policies holding them back.

That’s a candidate and that's a campaign we can all look forward to.

More importantly... far more importantly: that’s the candidate and that's the campaign the American people have been waiting for.

It is the candidate Americans deserve, and the one conservatives can produce, if and only if we stay true to our own highest ideals.

That’s the candidate I’m looking for in 2016, and I’m here to ask for your help to find him. Thank you very much and may God bless the United States of America.

---

PREPARED REMARKS
For those of you I haven’t had a chance to meet yet: my name is Mike Lee. I’m from Utah. And I’m not running for president.

I’m one of the few people up here today who can say that – and have reporters actually believe me.

But that’s why I’m here. And it’s part of the reason I was asked to speak first today.

As I see it, I have a different task up here than a lot of the other speakers.

I’m here to talk candidly with you – one conservative not running for president to another – about the immense task before us.

Because you and I – we have a job to do.

I hope everyone here realizes that. Because over the next year and a half, everyone in this room: it’s going to be our job very soon to help choose the next President of the United States of America.

If, that is, we’re up to it.

So I’m asking you right now: what do you think? Are we up to it?! Are we conservatives ready to pick the next great President of the United States?! Are you sure?!

I sure hope so. Because let’s be very honest: in recent years we haven’t been. Since Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989, we’ve had six presidential elections. My party’s nominee – the Republican nominee – has lost the popular vote in five of those six elections.

And I’m here to tell you, if we don’t choose a serious, principled, proven conservative in 2016, that number is going to be six out of seven.

Those are the stakes.

Now, for the conservatives running for president, the hardest part of their job will begin on January 20, 2017 – when they hope to take the oath of office.

But for those of us conservatives who aren’t running, the hardest part of our job starts right now.

Now is the time – before the campaign truly begins – for us to think, long and hard, about the kind of candidate we’re looking for.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And if it’s alright, I’d like to tell you about the leader I’m looking for... and why I think you might look for him – or her – too.

It seems to me conservatives should be looking for a candidate who is three things: principled, positive, and proven.

First, what does it mean to be principled?

Principled means being a conservative every day, not just during the campaign. Principled means there are no “buts” – as in, “I’m personally pro-life, but...” Or, “I want to repeal Obamacare, but...”

A principled conservative doesn’t hide behind talking points – he tells you what he thinks and why.

That’s not to say we have to agree on every issue. Serious conservatives disagree on issues all the time. And real conservatives don’t run from these disagreements – we embrace them.

Speaking to this conference in 1977, Ronald Reagan explained the importance of open, robust
dialogue – not as a way to purify the conservative movement, but to expand it.

He said, [QUOTE] “If we truly believe in our principles, we should sit down and talk. Talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time if it means talking about the principles for the Republican Party. Conservatism is not a narrow ideology, nor is it the exclusive property of conservative activists.”

This is crucial for us to remember as we make our choices in 2016. Very often, you can learn a lot more about a candidate when he disagrees with you than when he agrees.

When the principled conservative disagrees with you on an issue, he admits it, and he has an authenticallyconservative reason for doing so.

That’s how you can tell the difference between someone who is a conservative on the stump – and someone who is truly a conservative, in his head and in his heart.

Ok... that’s “principled.” Next, what does it mean for a candidate to be positive?

A great man once said a true soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front him but because he loves what’s behind him.

Conservatives should hold to the same standard.

Because true conservatism isn’t just about the kind of government we don’t want; it’s about the kind of country we do want.

This has been true since America’s Founding. As much as we honor it, the original Boston Tea Party was just a protest. Dramatic and inspirational, yes, but inherently limited.

Today, the Boston Tea Party would only be a footnote in our history if that same generation of Americans didn’t make their way to Philadelphia fourteen years later to write the Constitution.
Like our Founding patriots, the positive conservative I’m looking for can tell us more than what he’s against. He will always tell us what he’s for.

He’s got a plan. He has specific political ideas about how to unite and grow our coalition, and specific policyideas to reform our government.

And he doesn’t hesitate to tell you, in specific and concrete terms, what those ideas are.
Specificity here is critical. Generalizations and abstractions are the province of candidates who say one thing on the campaign trail, but do another thing once in office.

If conservatives truly want a government of, by, and for the people, we need to demand that our candidates tell us specifically how they will fix our tax code, reform our broken health care and education systems, and put an end to corporate welfare, like the Export-Import Bank and too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks. Not justplatitudes, but policies.

Ok... that’s “principled” and “positive.” Now finally, what does it mean for a candidate to be proven?

To me, it means two things.

I’m looking for someone who has proven himself by winning big, difficult fights on election days. And I’m looking for someone who has won big, difficult fights after election day, while in office.
We shouldn’t be looking for just one and rolling the dice on the other. Conservatives should demand both: a candidate who has shown he can win elections, and later shown that he deserved to.

Someone who has stood on principle when the going got tough, and has the battle scars that prove it.

Yet also someone who has shown he can win broad mandates and build diverse coalitions to overcome entrenched interests... And not just the special interests in the other party, but those in his own.

The conservative candidate who ignores moderates is as misguided as the moderate candidate who ignores conservatives. The candidate we all deserve can attract both without alienating either.

Principled. Positive. Proven.

Right now, we don’t have any candidates yet, and everyone deserves an equal chance to meet that standard. But make no mistake: that should be the standard.

That leads me to my final point: Meeting that standard – principled, positive, and proven – isn’t just going to be up to the candidates themselves. It’s going to be up to us.

Just as businesses in the free market follow consumer demand, political candidates take their cues from the voters. We have the power in this process – but only if we are willing to use it... only if we are willing to expect more of our would-be leaders, and more of ourselves.

We have a job to do. And that job is not to find the guy who can shout “Freedom” the loudest, or tell the funniest Joe Biden jokes.

If that’s what conservatives reward – in the next year and over the next two days – with cheers and standing ovations and straw-poll votes, then that’s all conservatives will ever get: Talking points, and platitudes, and empty promises.

When conservatives elevate unserious presidential candidates, who are not principled, positive, and proven, it’s not the media’s fault, or the Establishment’s fault... it’s ours.

Republican presidential candidates in 2016 are only going to be as good as conservatives demand them to be in 2015.

So let’s demand that they be extraordinary.

Imagine for a moment the impression this audience could leave with a candidate if each of you refused to give a standing ovation to every trite one-liner, empty platitude, or hollow political slogan that you hear over the next day and a half.

Or imagine if no one in the conservative movement – not a single soul – donated a dime of their money or a moment of their time to any candidate who talks a big game about cutting big government, but never gets around to explaining how he would fix broken government.

I guarantee you every one of our serious presidential candidates would immediately run on a positive, innovative, and unapologetically conservative agenda.

An agenda that takes our timeless principles and applies them to the challenges of our time. An agenda that empowers the individuals, families, and communities that Washington’s corrupt nexus of big government, big business, and big special interests is leaving behind.

Imagine the conservative leader who would emerge from that campaign – what he could do to reunite our party, reconnect it with the American people, and reform the government policies holding them back.

That’s a candidate and a campaign we can all look forward to.

More importantly... far more importantly: that’s the candidate and the campaign the American people have been waiting for.

It is the candidate Americans deserve, and the one conservatives can produce, if we stay true to our ownhighest ideals.

That’s the candidate I’m looking for in 2016, and I’m asking for your help to find him.

For those of you I haven’t had a chance to meet yet: my name is Mike Lee. I’m from Utah. And I’m not running for president.

I’m one of the few people up here today who can say that – and have reporters actually believe me.

But that’s why I’m here. And it’s part of the reason I was asked to speak first today.

As I see it, I have a different task up here than a lot of the other speakers.

I’m here to talk candidly with you – one conservative not running for president to another – about the immense task before us.

Because you and I – we have a job to do.

I hope everyone here realizes that. Because over the next year and a half, everyone in this room: it’s going to be our job very soon to help choose the next President of the United States of America.

If, that is, we’re up to it.

So I’m asking you right now: what do you think? Are we up to it?! Are we conservatives ready to pick the next great President of the United States?! Are you sure?!

I sure hope so. Because let’s be very honest: in recent years we haven’t been. Since Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989, we’ve had six presidential elections. My party’s nominee – the Republican nominee – has lost the popular vote in five of those six elections.

And I’m here to tell you, if we don’t choose a serious, principled, proven conservative in 2016, that number is going to be six out of seven.

Those are the stakes.

Now, for the conservatives running for president, the hardest part of their job will begin on January 20, 2017 – when they hope to take the oath of office.

But for those of us conservatives who aren’t running, the hardest part of our job starts right now.

Now is the time – before the campaign truly begins – for us to think, long and hard, about the kind of candidate we’re looking for.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And if it’s alright, I’d like to tell you about the leader I’m looking for... and why I think you might look for him – or her – too.

It seems to me conservatives should be looking for a candidate who is three things: principled, positive, and proven.

First, what does it mean to be principled?

Principled means being a conservative every day, not just during the campaign. Principled means there are no “buts” – as in, “I’m personally pro-life, but...” Or, “I want to repeal Obamacare, but...”

A principled conservative doesn’t hide behind talking points – he tells you what he thinks and why.

That’s not to say we have to agree on every issue. Serious conservatives disagree on issues all the time. And real conservatives don’t run from these disagreements – we embrace them.

Speaking to this conference in 1977, Ronald Reagan explained the importance of open, robust
dialogue – not as a way to purify the conservative movement, but to expand it.

He said, [QUOTE] “If we truly believe in our principles, we should sit down and talk. Talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time if it means talking about the principles for the Republican Party. Conservatism is not a narrow ideology, nor is it the exclusive property of conservative activists.”

This is crucial for us to remember as we make our choices in 2016. Very often, you can learn a lot more about a candidate when he disagrees with you than when he agrees.

When the principled conservative disagrees with you on an issue, he admits it, and he has an authenticallyconservative reason for doing so.

That’s how you can tell the difference between someone who is a conservative on the stump – and someone who is truly a conservative, in his head and in his heart.

Ok... that’s “principled.” Next, what does it mean for a candidate to be positive?

A great man once said a true soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front him but because he loves what’s behind him.

Conservatives should hold to the same standard.

Because true conservatism isn’t just about the kind of government we don’t want; it’s about the kind of country we do want.

This has been true since America’s Founding. As much as we honor it, the original Boston Tea Party was just a protest. Dramatic and inspirational, yes, but inherently limited.

Today, the Boston Tea Party would only be a footnote in our history if that same generation of Americans didn’t make their way to Philadelphia fourteen years later to write the Constitution.
Like our Founding patriots, the positive conservative I’m looking for can tell us more than what he’s against. He will always tell us what he’s for.

He’s got a plan. He has specific political ideas about how to unite and grow our coalition, and specific policyideas to reform our government.

And he doesn’t hesitate to tell you, in specific and concrete terms, what those ideas are.
Specificity here is critical. Generalizations and abstractions are the province of candidates who say one thing on the campaign trail, but do another thing once in office.

If conservatives truly want a government of, by, and for the people, we need to demand that our candidates tell us specifically how they will fix our tax code, reform our broken health care and education systems, and put an end to corporate welfare, like the Export-Import Bank and too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks. Not justplatitudes, but policies.

Ok... that’s “principled” and “positive.” Now finally, what does it mean for a candidate to be proven?

To me, it means two things.

I’m looking for someone who has proven himself by winning big, difficult fights on election days. And I’m looking for someone who has won big, difficult fights after election day, while in office.
We shouldn’t be looking for just one and rolling the dice on the other. Conservatives should demand both: a candidate who has shown he can win elections, and later shown that he deserved to.

Someone who has stood on principle when the going got tough, and has the battle scars that prove it.

Yet also someone who has shown he can win broad mandates and build diverse coalitions to overcome entrenched interests... And not just the special interests in the other party, but those in his own.

The conservative candidate who ignores moderates is as misguided as the moderate candidate who ignores conservatives. The candidate we all deserve can attract both without alienating either.

Principled. Positive. Proven.

Right now, we don’t have any candidates yet, and everyone deserves an equal chance to meet that standard. But make no mistake: that should be the standard.

That leads me to my final point: Meeting that standard – principled, positive, and proven – isn’t just going to be up to the candidates themselves. It’s going to be up to us.

Just as businesses in the free market follow consumer demand, political candidates take their cues from the voters. We have the power in this process – but only if we are willing to use it... only if we are willing to expect more of our would-be leaders, and more of ourselves.

We have a job to do. And that job is not to find the guy who can shout “Freedom” the loudest, or tell the funniest Joe Biden jokes.

If that’s what conservatives reward – in the next year and over the next two days – with cheers and standing ovations and straw-poll votes, then that’s all conservatives will ever get: Talking points, and platitudes, and empty promises.

When conservatives elevate unserious presidential candidates, who are not principled, positive, and proven, it’s not the media’s fault, or the Establishment’s fault... it’s ours.

Republican presidential candidates in 2016 are only going to be as good as conservatives demand them to be in 2015.

So let’s demand that they be extraordinary.

Imagine for a moment the impression this audience could leave with a candidate if each of you refused to give a standing ovation to every trite one-liner, empty platitude, or hollow political slogan that you hear over the next day and a half.

Or imagine if no one in the conservative movement – not a single soul – donated a dime of their money or a moment of their time to any candidate who talks a big game about cutting big government, but never gets around to explaining how he would fix broken government.

I guarantee you every one of our serious presidential candidates would immediately run on a positive, innovative, and unapologetically conservative agenda.

An agenda that takes our timeless principles and applies them to the challenges of our time. An agenda that empowers the individuals, families, and communities that Washington’s corrupt nexus of big government, big business, and big special interests is leaving behind.

Imagine the conservative leader who would emerge from that campaign – what he could do to reunite our party, reconnect it with the American people, and reform the government policies holding them back.

That’s a candidate and a campaign we can all look forward to.

More importantly... far more importantly: that’s the candidate and the campaign the American people have been waiting for.

It is the candidate Americans deserve, and the one conservatives can produce, if we stay true to our ownhighest ideals.

That’s the candidate I’m looking for in 2016, and I’m asking for your help to find him.