We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That all men are created equal. All men. It doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter if you're from Mexico or from the United States. All men are created equal.
Last night, the Constitution of the United States of America went on hiatus. I don't know if it ever comes back. But last night it was declared that we no longer have to live under the shadow of the Constitution.
OBAMA: If you've been in America for more than five years, if you have children who are American citizens or legal residents, if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you're willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you'll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation and come out of the shadows.
Well, we haven't had anybody in the fear of deportation for quite some time.
The problem with our nation right now is we don't even know who we are anymore. We're so busy lecturing other countries on exactly how to live their lives, and then listening to the lectures that are hypocritical from them as well. Mexico, telling us exactly what we should do on our border, yet that's exact opposite of what they do on their border.
Meanwhile, we're telling everybody how the banking system needs to work all around the world. We're telling them how to be free while we're cozying up to people like Saudi Arabia or China. We don't stand for anything. So we don't even know who we are anymore. We don't know where we got our laws.
Our laws come from some place. They come from God. We hold these truths to be self-evident. We don't even have to talk about them. We don't have to convince anybody. They're self-evident truths. That all men are created equal. Freedom is not just for Americans. It's for all men created equal and endowed by that creator with certain rights. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
They have a right to pursue happiness.
Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
That isn't a, oh, let me just cuddle everybody. That is a challenge to the rest of the world. What we have over here is so special, and we know it will set the whole world on fire in a good way. We know it will free millions and you can't get past your lumbering structures. You can't get past your lords and your ladies. You can't get past all the things that make you crippled nation and world. Those things. Corruption, kings, lawlessness. You tell others, you can't make it. You can't make it because you haven't passed this test. You haven't gone through this gate.
I met somebody yesterday. Wildly successful. He came in from Silicon Valley. He was standing in the audience. We did an audience show. He was sitting in the audience two days ago. I met him afterwards.
He said, I want to meet you. I wanted to see your operation. I'm so-and-so, and I work in this particular company out in Silicon Valley. His business partner was one of the founders of Facebook.
And so they're just sitting there. We're chatting.
And I said, so tell me about yourself because you look to be about 12.
And he said, yeah, I went to Stanford for a year and a half. And then I realized, this is a waste.
Yes, good. You don't need anyone to tell you -- I don't need that gate of yours anymore. I don't need that gate. I don't need that little piece of paper that hangs up on my wall. I'll be hired for my merit. I'll be hired because I've gone out and done something, not because I've gone and gotten a piece of paper from somebody for a bunch of memorization that means nothing. I'll do it myself.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. Somebody who says, I can do it. I just want a chance. Martin Luther King, that's what he was saying: Just give me a chance. Don't judge me on anything, except who I am as an individual. Just me on my character.
That's the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. Judge me on my character.
That is the meaning of the purple heart. Merit, merit, merit. What can you do?
Everybody is given life, and everybody is given a chance to do something. What is it you're going to do?
Well, I can't make it because I've had this problem or this problem. Everyone has problems.
Some, more than others. Some people are born into a lap of luxury. Some people are not. But those born in the lap of luxury. Nine out of ten times lose it all, including their soul because they've never had to work for anything. They've never had to do anything. They never have to struggle. Your struggles are a blessing.
All men are created equal. And our Statue of Liberty stands there with a worldwide beacon with a light in her hand. Come to our sunset washed gates. Come here to our gates. Come in. No matter what anyone tells you elsewhere. If you work hard, if you're smart, if you have a better idea, if you want to play by the rules, come here. And show the rest of the world what liberty does.
And if we really had a better understanding of what we're supposed to do, what we're supposed to be guarding, we would then encourage them, go back and now change your country. Go back now and take this information and spread it all throughout the globe.
Instead, what we do is we take our soldiers and we march them around the world and we say, we're right, and you'll do it this way. And we've grown arrogant and we have lost touch on even who we are. What is the law supposed to do? The law is supposed to praise those who do right. Praise and uphold and clear the path for those who are doing the right thing. And prosecute those who are doing wrong.
When that happens, everyone knows what the rules are. And you can make progress. Praise those who are doing right. Good job. How can I help you? How can I help you do more? How can I help you teach other people? What can I do to take some of these paths and straighten them out for you? Good job. You're making things better here for all people. Good job. You're playing by the rules.
And prosecuting those who don't. Can you imagine what your family would be like if your children, the good child in the family, the one that never has problems, always doing A's and everything else, can you imagine what your family would be like if you always prosecuted -- you said that one, you know what, you got an A, good, you're grounded. You're ground. Oh, you did an A, good. Well, you just don't have to study so much, do you, go out and mow the lawn. And the one sloughing off and doing nothing, always constantly in trouble, if you were coddled that person, what would your family be like? Is there a soul within the sound of my voice that thinks that's a good idea. No, of course, not because common sense says, eternal principles tell us that you praise those and help those who do right, and you prosecute those who do wrong.
The reason our country is in the trouble that we're in is because we are praising those who do wrong and prosecuting those who do right. You are punished for living a righteous life. You are -- if you believe in the Constitution, if you believe in God, you're an outcast in our society. We're not praising you. We're mocking you. We make you feel like an outcast. If you however believe in revolution, if you however believe in a you should march in the streets of Ferguson, well, he get a meeting with the president of the United States.
The rule of law is essential. If I take away and I do anything to hurt the rule of law, that I upset the balance of, praise those who do good, prosecute when who do wrong, if I upset the balance of that or indeed, as we have done, reversed that, what happens to your laws? What happens to the self-governance where people start to feel like suckers? And they're like, you know what, I won't play by these rules because everyone else gets ahead so I'm a sucker for doing and playing by the law. By doing right, I lose. We have taken the fundamental building block of America's belief that the good guys indeed in the end win. That's what makes us different. We like the underdog because we know the good guy, the guy who has just been in there plugging and he has everything against him, but he will live a right and righteous life, we know that guy wins in the end. Do we? Do we?
If you reverse the scale and say, prosecute those who do right and praise those who do wrong, the good guy doesn't win in the end. And so what happens to the rule of law? It completely degrades to the point of chaos. And once there is chaos, anyone, anyone that promises you, I will solve your problem, is embraced.
America, this has nothing to do with illegal immigration. This has nothing to do with this president. This has everything to do with, what kind of world do you want to live in? Do you want one that makes sense, is predictable, that praises those people who do right and punishes those people who do wrong. This has nothing to do with 5 million people. This has to do with the billions that live on earth. Because once we officially extinguish the rule of law, something that we can all believe in, something that we can all understand, not the 80,000 pages that are added every single year, the simple documents that say all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Once we take that simple idea and wash it out, how many billions of people will suffer?
The rule of law is essential. Because when there is chaos, the people will cry out for a strong man. With that being said, the rule of love is essential as well.
We must love others. And our love cannot stop at this border. We must be charitable. We must be kind. We must be loving. We must be patient. We must be tolerant, but not tolerant of those who break the law, but we must love them.
We have to be completely filled with love and completely filled with law. Now, only God can really do this right. 100 percent love, 100 percent law. That's justice.
How you do that in an earthly stance, I don't know. We can only do our best. And what our best requires is for us to be charitable, for us to go down and love the people who are coming across our border. It doesn't mean that we accept them here as citizens. We love them. We love them. We care for them. We listen to their plight. We hold them. We feed them. We send them home. But we love them.
Those who are in danger, we protect. But you cannot love somebody without law. You can't. Tell me how it would work out. If you weren't filled as a spouse with 100 percent love and 100 percent law in your own home, tell me how that would work out.
Honey, I love you. Okay, that marriage contract. I wasn't paying attention to that with Susan. But Susan -- you don't understand how hurt Susan is. You don't understand what was happening in Susan's life. Honey, I was just giving her a little love.
No. There's a marriage contract. There is the rule of law in our marriage, and I have to be filled 100 percent with the rule of law in my marriage and 100 percent with love, no matter what's happening. No matter what's happening in my wife's life or my life, it doesn't matter. The law stands.
At the same time it doesn't happen what's happening in my life, I must love my wife 100 percent of my being. And if those two things -- if they fall, there is no justice in your marriage. There is no justice in your family. And if those two things -- if we're not filled 100 percent with love and 100 percent with law, then there is no justice, and there is no United States of America. There is no promise -- we have extinguished -- imprisoned lightning. That torch that the Lady Liberty holds, we have extinguished it. In a nutshell, that is what happened last night.