Gov. Kristi Noem's Speech at Mount Rushmore 7-3-2020

Thank you, Secretary Bernhardt, and thanks to your entire team. This was no small feat, pulling off this evening's events, and you guys were just absolute rock stars in helping us get it accomplished. It is so good to be with all of you tonight. I just appreciate you coming and helping us celebrate our Independence Day. We have been working since before I was even sworn in as governor to get to this night tonight. In fact, when we had the ticket system set up, we had over 125,000 people sign up in a three-day period to get to be one of the 7,500 people that are sitting here tonight in these seats for this celebration. Congratulations to all of you that are here in place. Whether you're visiting one of our largest cities or smaller towns, South Dakota is a close-knit nature of our communities. Tonight, if you look to your left, if you look to your right, you're going to see that this crowd isn't just from South Dakota, but it's from everywhere across this nation. We just appreciate you coming, and we know that this is a celebration. Across America these last several weeks, we have been witnessing a very troubling situation unfold. In real time, we are watching an organized, coordinated campaign to remove and eliminate all references to our nation's founding and many other points in our history. Rather than looking to the past to help improve our future, some are trying to wipe away the lessons of history, lessons that we should be teaching to our children and to our grandchildren. This approach focuses exclusively on our forefathers' flaws, but it fails to capitalize on the opportunity to learn from their virtues. Make no mistake, this is being done deliberately to discredit America's founding principles by discrediting the individuals who formed them, so that America can be remade into a different political image. Tonight, I want to invite you all and those around the country watching. The founding generation has important things to tell us about America's past, its present, and its future. Remember, our independence was the result of many stars aligning, including a unique assembly of powerful writers, gifted thinkers, and tremendous generals. And don't forget, they were supported by a simple citizen army that defeated the world's most powerful empire. Against all odds and incredible struggle, we can find examples of perseverance, dedication, and commitment to certain fundamental truths. These men did not stage a revolt against the Kingdom of Great Britain for personal gain or for personal power. They did it because they knew they had to, in order to defend their rights to live, work, and worship as they saw fit. Following the British defeat, we could have had a king, but instead, we had a man who walked away from his position as Commander-in-Chief, and then he also walked away from the presidency. These examples, like so many others, rarely make the cut when looking back on their lives, but they undoubtedly serve as an illustration of all that Americans should emulate. Towards this effort, the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives and their sacred honor. The Declaration is arguably one of the most important statements of purpose ever written, not just because it serves as a justification for our independence to the entire world, but also because it has led to our prosperity and inspired many other nations and peoples to seek freedom. These words are not remembered nearly enough today. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Let us never forget, especially today, that our government has the power that it does because the people have consented to it. We have consented specifically to a government that will serve all of us equally, and that it will protect and uphold the fundamental rights enumerated by our Constitution. It is our duty to renew our commitment to these ideals and to pass them on to those who come after us. These ideals cannot be dismissed as the irrelevant opinions of flawed men. Our Founders had their flaws, certainly, but to use those flaws to condemn their ideals is unjust and self-defeating. How many of us have lived up to our own ideals? Without the words, the ideals, and the sacrifices of these few, the world would not have a ringing example of true freedom. We can speak and write, worship, work, defend ourselves, and even protest as we see fit because of these men and their ideals. To attempt to cancel the founding generation is an attempt to cancel our own freedoms. The rich and beautiful lands on which many of us live and in which we are now standing today are the result of men and women searching for more. At times, especially today, it seems like we are often paralyzed by the present and we are defeatist about the future. Our country was founded by dissidents and people seeking to make a better life for themselves and for their children. People all over the world continue to flock to America today. The simple reason is that it is our commitment to the ideals that were laid out by our forefathers. The struggle to maintain the Union was about the proposition that America must live up to the principles articulated in the Declaration. And America's rebirth allowed a fuller realization of the fundamental purposes of government articulated in the Declaration. In 1862, a simple question was put before Congress. Can we do better? Our choice was clear. We could either nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope on earth. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just. A way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud. The men and women who built this country envisioned an America that would project a positive influence throughout the world. To spread the values of the rule of law, optimism, and liberty to places that had not known them. They also took on the mission of protecting the natural wonders of the West, something all of us sitting here tonight can be thankful for. In particular, I think many of us, especially those of us that are on the political front lines, would be wise to remember. It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with the cold and timid souls who neither knew victory or defeat. Boy, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more appropriate quote to guide leaders today. Leadership requires wisdom, a will to act, and the confidence to stand up for what's right. Our love for America and our commitment to stand for the principles that make America unique deserves to be applauded. We honor these men and women for their contributions, their leadership, all the positive things that they represent, the things that make America unique, and call us to live up to our promises. This Independence Day, let us be grateful that we have such words and such examples to follow, and that others were willing to sacrifice so much to create a land in which liberty and law can be protected. Let us not destroy history. Let us learn from it by preserving and imitating what is good about it. We are all committed to a country where any person, regardless of their standing at birth, can make anything of themselves. This applied to me. I was just a farm kid. Now I'm the first female governor of South Dakota. But it applies to everyone else, too. Let us, like our founding fathers, pledge our own lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor to the cause of liberty and self-government, so that we may continue to have the freedom to follow our conscience, to build our lives, and to live in peace. Now I want to introduce someone who understands precisely what it means to brave the dangers of the arena. Someone who strives valiantly, who knows great enthusiasms, who spends himself in a worthy cause, and who has firmly and repeatedly stated his commitment to place Americans, American liberty, American safety, and the American Constitution before anything else. I am talking, I am talking, of course, about President Donald Trump. Mr. President, Mr. President, welcome to South Dakota, and thank you. Thank you for your efforts to bring this beautiful celebration of American independence, history, and liberty to fruition. Thank you for your efforts to remind the American people that they provide the consent of the governed, on which the legitimate government depends. Ladies and gentlemen, President Donald Trump.