This past Saturday, over 50 Republican women joined together with leaders and mentors for the 6th Annual Suzanne Curran Retreat in Staunton.
Named for the politically active Suzanne Curran, whose vision is to motivate, train and equip Virginia women to become an active force in the Virginia political arena, the retreat is a way to advance toward that goal.
Both Maryellen and Bob Goodlatte spoke, urging the government to use common sense reform and to stop trying to pass Cap & Trade because it would stifle businesses and raise fuel costs.
Congressman Goodlatte urged listeners to visit a new website, www.americaspeakingout.com to share ideas on how to improve the economy, vote on others’ ideas and generally speak their minds. The website was set up by the House Republicans as a way for Americans to have a say in how government should work.
Suzanne Curran arrived in one of her trademark handmade “wacky” outfits, causing the crowd to laugh in approval. She was covered head to toe in red, white and blue. She began by saying she is in favor of abolishing the Department of Education to save money and aggravation; she believes the states are better equipped to better manage their own students’ needs.
“To be an American is to not be enslaved,” shouted Curran. She urged everyone to read the Constitution, providing copies available for all in attendance, and the Federalist Papers, which were written to explain the Constitution to “the common man.”
Curran asked, “How much is one trillion dollars?” If a person spent $1 every second, all day, every day, it would take 31,709.8 years to spend one trillion dollars. “Right now we are heading toward a debt of 14 trillion dollars, something we can never comprehend, much less pay back,” said Curran.
Delegate Ben Cline spoke about the founding fathers and what they would think about the growth of government and the spending taking place today. He believes the founding fathers’ vision was to give more power to the states and the people, rather than the federal government. “We should take a look at Greece and Ireland today. That is us in a few years,” said Cline. “We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump and Howie Mandel to put their faces on lottery tickets, and that is one reason our state budget has doubled in only 10 years.”
Dr. Warren Grant talked abut the myths of the separation of church and state. He emphasized that religion is a unifying force in this nation. He said that in the last 60 years every value and belief our nation was founded upon has gone to the wind. Grant added, “94% of the Declaration of Independence ideas come from the Bible.”
Adnan Barqawi, a former Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets leader, and currently a teacher for Teach for America, spoke during the luncheon, focusing on personal responsibility and dedication to country. Barqawi was born in Kuwait to Palestinians; therefore he was considered a “man without a country.” He had to be educated in private schools since he was not a Kuwaiti, and eventually he decided to come to America to attend college.
He Googled colleges and liked the appearance of Virginia Tech in the photographs he found online, so he applied sight unseen. His second day at Virginia Tech he spied a cadet and asked the man what kind of beautiful uniform he was wearing. Hearing the cadet’s explanation, Adnan joined the Corps of Cadets the next day, eventually rising to a leadership position, later becoming the first foreigner to lead the corps. In April of 2009 he was sworn in as an American citizen, “the most defining moment of my life.”
“I do not call myself an Arab-American or a Middle Eastern-American, but an American,” he said. “There is room but for one flag, and that is the American flag. There is room but for one language, and that is the English language,” he said to a standing ovation.
He now teaches in a small Arkansas town where 98% of the residents are on welfare. He calls the welfare system in America “cancerous” and ill-conceived. He said that 100% of the girls in high school have at least one child, because having children means more welfare dollars in their pockets.
Over the last year he has tried to instill personal responsibility and hard work ethics in his students, and thanks to his efforts, the students’ test scores have improved from 38% to 92% passing. He praised the theme of the retreat; “One woman can change anything, many women can change everything” as broadening the Republican message to a wider audience.
Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, Pat Mullins, talked about specific statewide races this fall and the fact that it is imperative that Republicans win these seats so “we can take back control.” He predicted that due to the efforts of the Republican governor and his staff, Virginia would have a surplus of over 100 million dollars by the end of the year.
By Carla Bream [email protected]