UPDATE: Many people have been asking about the schedule of the bus tour. The most current schedule can be found at http://www.valuesbus.com/
The United States is at a crossroads. Over the course of the next 10 months, Americans will watch as the future of our country is debated — state by state, county by county, and town by town. In the 2012 presidential election, voters will make a fundamental decision that will have vast implications for future generations and the very survival of the American dream.
That’s why today The Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council (FRC) are proud to embark on a bus tour designed to tell Americans about practical, conservative solutions to the most critical issues confronting the nation. With a banner proclaiming “Your Money, Your Values, Your Vote,” our Values Bus will roll into Charleston, South Carolina, this morning for our first event outside TD Arena at the College of Charleston. And we’ll be joined by a very special guest — South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. From there, the bus tour will roll on until the November 6 presidential election.
Along the way, Heritage will emphasize restoring fiscal responsibility through its Saving the American Dream plan, and FRC will stress critical values issues during our joint voter education and registration campaign.
Right now, our nation is on the wrong path. If nothing is done, our children and grandchildren will experience not liberty and prosperity, but more crushing debt, higher taxes, and job-killing regulations. Meanwhile, the values that Americans hold so dear–that form the bedrock of our civil society–are under a dangerous assault.
As a result, unlike any generation before us, we face the very real possibility that our grandchildren may be worse off than we are. This tour will set forth policies and ideas that turn America around on behalf of those future generations. And it will speak to the views held by millions of American voters who want to see a return to our country’s core values: restoring fiscal sanity, protecting marriage, safeguarding religious liberty and defending the rights of the unborn.
In order to tackle America’s fiscal crisis, Heritage has proposed a plan that would balance the budget within 10 years without raising taxes, reform our entitlement programs so they can provide for those who need it without bankrupting the future, reform our tax code to make it fairer and flatter, and encourage savings, repeal Obamacare, and fully fund a strong national defense to ensure America’s security as the Constitution requires.
FRC’s focus will be the importance of the family structure as well as protecting life and religious liberty. To make sure those who share in our values are also engaged in the political process, FRC will be concentrating on identifying grassroots activists and giving them the tools to register to vote their neighbors and friends.
In the months ahead, Heritage and FRC plan to take our bus tour to states across the country including stops in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. As our bus crosses thousands of miles, from east to west and north to south, we will bring our innovative ideas to an America in search of answers. But while some of our ideas might be new, the values we stand for are those already cherished by millions of Americans and that have been with us since the founding. And it is those values–and the American dream–that we must save for future generations.
Co-authored by Edwin Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, and Tony Perkins, president of The Family Research Council.
Click here to view the Values Bus Tour schedule.
Quick Hits:
- President Obama yesterday said “NO” to the Keystone XL pipeline, turning his back on as many as 179,000 jobs and over 700,000 barrels of oil per day. Read our analysis on The Foundry.
- In turning his back on Keystone XL, the President claimed that “domestic oil and natural gas production is up” under his Administration. What he didn’t say is that his Administration can’t actually take any credit for the increase.
- Under President Obama, oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago. Read more about the President’s failed energy strategy on The Foundry.
- The Washington Post weighed in on the President’s Keystone XL decision, saying that the “pipeline rejection is hard to accept” because, “on the substance, there should be no question.”
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing to review legislation that would restart the Keystone XL project, giving oversight responsibility to an agency that some say is less politically motivated than the White House.