That our rights do not come from , government, our rights do not come from laws, our rights do not come from leaders, our rights come from god. [applause] senator rubio our government does not exist to decide these rights, nor to grant them. Our government exists to protect them. That is why we have a constitution that limits the power of the government to a few specific things. We have abandoned that. We have abandoned it in both political parties. We have reached a moment in our history where we think every problem in america has to have a federal government solution. Every problem in america does not have to have a federal government solution. In fact, most problems in america do not have a federal government solution, as most problems are created by the government to begin with. [applause] senator rubio and, so, to move forward in a better direction, it does me be embracing a nd following the first amendment. It is not just the right to believe anything you want, but the right to live out the teachings of your faith in everything aspect of your life. Every single aspect of your life. It means understanding that the Second Amendment was not a nice suggestion, it is a constitutional right to protect yourself and your families from terrorists. [applause] senator rubio it means adhering to the 10th amendment, in which power is reserved for the states, not because we dont care about problems, but we know when the government tries to fix the problems, it often makes them worse, not better. Lets return power to the state. [applause] senator rubio conservatism means reembracing true Free Enterprise. Not because my parents are wealthy or i inherited millions of dollars, because i did not, but because i met people and shook the hands of people doing the jobs that my parents once did. [applause] senator rubio you know why they had a job . You know why my parents had a job . Because Free Enterprise works. Somebody created those jobs. With those jobs, they were able to raise their kids, buy a house, and have a future. Free enterprise is the only system where you can make poor people richer, and you dont have to make rich people poorer. [applause] senator rubio it means conservativism means a Strong National defense, not because we love war but because we love , peace. History has taught us that weakness invites violence, weakness invites war. [applause] senator rubio so, conservatism believes that the u. S. Military should always be the most powerful one on earth because the world is a safer place. It is a safer place when america Strongest Military in the world. Conservatives believe we stand by our allies, especially allies in israel. There are the only proamerican Free Enterprise democracy in the middle east. [applause] senator rubio conservatives believe we need to defeat radical islam, not because we want more, but because isis and other radical islamists are enemies of peace. That is why we need a president , under whom the best military in the world will destroy terrorists, and if we catch them alive, a president that will send these terrorists to where they belong, guantanamo bay, cuba. [applause] [cheering] senator rubio conservatives believe we take care of our veterans because we have a sacred obligation to take care of them, after they have taken care of us. It is something that is not happening now. [applause] senator rubio yes, conservatives believe in traditional values, not because we want to impose their views on anyone, but because to abandon those values would be to ignore our future. Americans are not the most generous people on earth because. Ur laws make us generous people do not contribute to charity in this country and record amounts because we have a tax break from it. We do so because this country has been shaped by judeochristian principles that teach us we have an obligation to care for one another. [applause] senator rubio we believe in traditional values because without them, without the belief in an allpowerful government, the very founding of this country was meaningless. It was founded on the principle that our rights come from god. If there is no god, where do our rights come from . Other than what the leaders decide they are. You do not understand america, aged not understand our history, if you dont understand the role the Faith Community has played in making us the greatest nation in history. [applause] senator rubio im preaching to the proverbial choir on this issue. Why . I think there is a growing amount of confusion about what conservatism is. It is time for us to understand that conservativism is not built on personalities. Conservatism is not something built on how angry you might seem from time to time. Conservatism is built on a set of principles and ideas that are our nation desperately needs. For over 200 years, this has been an exceptional country. I know this personally, as do many of you. For me, america is not just the country that i was born in, a it bitterly changed the history literally changed the history of my family. We have to believe what made that possible we have to remember, what made that possible was not by accident. It did not happen on its own. It happened because for over 200 years, generations before us did what needed to be done. For over two generations, americans before us confronted and solved problems. They embraced opportunity. Americans have never had it easy. This was a nation founded by declaring independence from the most harmful nation in the world. The 1960s were difficult to this country, the Civil Rights Movement divided us regionally, the vietnam war divided us generationally. Americans have never had it easy. But each generation before us confronted challenges and assault problems and that is why they left the country better off then before them. My fellow conservatives, the time has come for this generation to do its part. The moment has arrived for us to do our part now. The stakes could not be higher because the future of the greatest nation on earth is at stake. I want to speak specifically to the younger people here today. I know that times are difficult. I want you to know that i believe something with all my heart. I believe that all Young Americans are on the verge and have the chance to become the next greatest generation in american history. [applause] senator rubio i believe that the 21st century, the joint First Century is tailormade for america. There are now hundreds of millions of people in this planet that 100 years ago where ere starving. Now they want to trade with you, collaborate with you. These Young Americans are the greatest collaborators of all time, the most advanced americans. These Young Americans have the chance to fulfill an incredible destiny. We have to give them the chance. On the campaign trail, unless you are under 25, nobody knows how to use these phones. We have to give them that chance, but they will not have the chance if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is elected. [applause] senator rubio they wont have the chance if the conservative movement is hijacked by someone who is not a conservative. [cheering] [applause] senator rubio and so [cheering] senator rubio and so, im already over time, so let me close with this. I have to answer questions. Let me close with this. I know that all the news today sounds bad. The one thing that is always true is every generation believes the next generation is really messed up. I want you to believe, and know, i want you to know what history will say about you, about us, if we make the right choice now. It will say that this generation lived in a difficult time, the world was changing and we struggled to keep pace with it. It will say the truth, we almost got it wrong. After eight years of barack obama and one crazy election, we almost got it wrong, we came this close, but then we remembered who we were. We remembered what america was. We confronted our challenges and embraced opportunity. We did what needed to be done. We did what needed to be done. And our children became the most prosperous that ever lived. And because we did what we needed to be done the american , dream did not just survive, it reached more people and changed more lives. It became a new american century. The greatest era in our history. This is what we have the chance to do together, and the time to do it is now. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] senator rubio now, im going to answer some questions from a journalist that we respect very much. I look forward to answering the questions. [applause] rubio [cheering] senator rubio i dont want to get you sick. Thank you for that. Senator rubio hold on. Ms. Bash that never gets old, does it . Senator rubio my running mate, right here. [laughter] ms. Bash that was the first time ive ever been introduced by a president ial candidate. I have a whole list of questions. One think you were just talking me. T struck i came through the back, through the kitchen. That is how you address a lot of these events. For you, it is personal. Senator rubio for me, it is personal. My parents were incredibly successful people. The American Dream is not about how much money you make, or how many buildings have your name on it. [applause] the American Dream i was not talking about anybody in particular, i was just saying the American Dream is about achieving happiness. When you become a firefighter, police officer, teacher, nurse, you know you will not become a billionaire. What you want is what my parents achieved. What they achieved being a bartender at a hotel, and a maid , after arriving with nothing. The first words my dad learned, i need a job. My parents retired with dignity, and left all four children better off than themselves. [applause] senator rubio that is the American Dream. Ms. Bash i know you werent talking about any particular person. Senator rubio i probably was, but you know ms. Bash lets go there. Donald trump was supposed to be here this morning. He backed out. [booing] ms. Bash i sense that the crowd has an opinion on that, do you . Senator rubio this is the american conservative union, it is usually reserved for conservatives. [cheering] [applause] senator rubio look, either the ideas behind conservativism matter, or they do not. I believe they do. If they do not it is fine. It is not, vote for me because im angry and more overthetop i get that anger and frustration, i really do. Let me tell you something. I have said this before. It is not a coincidence that there is a plethora of young conservative leaders in this country, in their 40s and 50s myself, ted cruz, rand paul, susana martinez, why . [applause] senator rubio why are there so many Young Conservatives serving our country . Because we grew up in the era of reagan. Reagan looked and acted nothing like donald trump. [applause] senator rubio and look at the democrats. Who is the young upandcoming democrat . Bernie sanders. [laughter] ms. Bash i asked ted cruz about this as well. You are stepping up your rhetoric big time on donald trump, whether or not he is a conservative. Youre calling him a con artist and a fraud. If you believe those things, why did you wait until february 2016 to say so . Senator rubio a couple of reasons. I have been busy fighting off other people attacking me. That takes a little bit of time. I did not get into this to beat up on other candidates. I really didnt. If you had told me a year ago that the front runner in the campaign would be a supporter of planned parenthood, who says he does not stand with israel, who the healthports care, i would say, on what planet with that be the republican front runner . It has happened. We have to ask yourself, why have we allow that to happen . Ms. Bash why is that . People have voted for him. Senator rubio i dont mean to take you on this, but i want to be clear. I have been sitting here for five minutes, and the questions have all been about donald trump. That is the reason why. [cheering] [applause] ms. Bash that is fair, but he is the front runner. Ms. Bash that is fair, but he is the front runner. And you have been making your point about donald trump. Senator rubio even before he was the front runner, donald would offend someone personally, would make fun of a disabled reporter, or attack a woman journalist, and would dominate the news coverage. Of course he is going to get attention. Im not complaining about it. The reason were talking about is the other night at the debate, over half the questions i was asked were about my opinion of donald trump im running for president because i think the country needs to reembrace the constitution, reembrace Free Enterprise, and reembrace Strong National defense. [applause] ms. Bash we have some questions from twitter. Lisa asks this question, how are your children responding to your campaign . Do they understand how important and serious this is . Before you answer that, i want to put my mom hat on. You are the proud father of four. Im the mother of a fouryearold son. Im having a hard time letting him watch the news because things have gotten so vulgar, i dont want him to think it is ok to act like that. How do you feel as a father and a presence of candidate about how low things have gone . Senator rubio this is related to the real question. Im glad you asked. My kids are on the campaign trail with me a lot. Every day i woke up, i was glad they were there. Not just because they are my kids, but they remind me, this is what this is about. You are literally trying to decide what the country will look like when they are my age, a little younger. God has blessed my family. He has protected us. They have handled it extremely well. I do not think that we have had a negative moment on the campaign with them. But i believe that is because god has protected and shielded us. He has done that for us, and for others as well. [applause] senator rubio for me it is a , daily reminder that what we are fighting for is deciding what america will look like in 10 years. Yes, i dont want us to have a president that would constantly president that we would constantly have to be explaining to our kids, look that is what , the president did, but you should not. I dont want that. [applause] senator rubio we actually had a president like that not long ago. It was really bad. Ms. Bash i will leave that one alone. The rhetoric has been i understand you are saying that you are trying to answer him and some of the things he is saying, i cannot explain to my kids talking about hand and things like that [booing] senator rubio i will be more than happy to answer another donald trump question. Donald trump may have grown up the way he did, with a lot of money, and going to boarding school. Where i grew up, if someone is punching someone in the face, eventually someone will have to stand up and punch them back. [applause] ms. Bash i want to ask you another question from twitter. It is on the Supreme Court. Do you think president obama should appoint a justice to scotus . Senator rubio no, absolutely not. I agree with joe biden when he said in 1992, we should not be nominating justices in an election year. The Supreme Court can have a 8 justices. There is no magic number nine. And this president is completely unaccountable. He will be nominating someone for basically a lifetime appointment and we cannot hold , it against him. There will be an election in november. God willing, we will nominate and elect a conservative. That conservative will elect, i hope, someone more like Justice Scalia that the nominees we have scalia, then the kind of nominees we have gotten out of this president. [applause] ms. Bash you think all candidates now, republican and democrats, should pledge to not nominate a Supreme Court justice in the last year of their term . Senator rubio i would do that now. That has been the practice for the last 80 years in our country. It goes back to the point i made. This is a lifetime appointment. You cannot, unless this person who gets elected murder someone, it will be very difficult to remove them from the court. Bottom line, when the balance of the court is at stake barack obama will not be held accountable for it by the electorate. [applause] ms. Bash it is about something that donald trump said, but about an important issue, torture. You were standing next to him in the debate, when he reversed his opinion. He says, he understands the United States is bound by laws and treaties and will not allow officials to disobey those laws. What you think is the most important position of a president on the issue of torture . Senator rubio the most important issue the most important job of president is to be commander in chief. A commanderinchief will never ask the armed forces of the United States to do something that would violate the rules of war. But i want to be clear about interrogation. We have to understand, this is not about torture. No one is asking for torture. But you cannot use the same interrogation techniques on a terrorist than on the criminal. , when you are interrogating a criminal, you try to gather information to try them. When you are interrogating a terrorist, you are trying to prevent a future terrorist attack. And so, i dont talk about interrogation techniques. When you do talk about interrogation techniques, evadeists practice how to telling the truth. We are going to interrogate terrorists. Right now, that is not even an issue because president obama does not send them anywhere. He is releasing them from guantanamo. Who will be interrogate . When i president , they are going to guantanamo, and we will find out everything they know. Ms. Bash this is another twitter question. This is from steve. He wants to know, how will your faith figure into your presidency . Senator rubio my faith is the biggest influence on my life. [applause] senator rubio by the way, i think that is something that people should be proud of. Im a christian. I cannot impose my faith on anyone. My faith is the free gift of salvation. My faith teaches me this, in order to serve the lord, i have to serve others. Democrats would say, the only way to care about people is more government. I believe in Free Enterprise. And the reason why, i know that Free Enterprise allows people who are struggling to find a better