Ted Cruz Delivered Powerful Speech in Philadelphia: America Is at a Point of Choosing (VIDEO)

Ted Cruz delivered a powerful speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday, April 19th.  While Donald Trump is eagerly dividing the GOP in order to hand the Presidency to Hillary, Cruz has been uniting the party and the entire nation.

You can watch his Reaganesque speech here:

There is some great commentary on this speech from Townhall:

In New York, Trump won fewer votes than Cruz did in Wisconsin, even if he got 89 delegates to Wisconsin’s 36. Cruz raked in 1.2 million votes in Texas, while Trump pulled only half a million in his home state. In the General, Cruz would carry Texas; Trump would be skunked in New York by the Democrats.

Comparisons matter. Cruz received 13,000 more votes in Wisconsin than Trump did in his hometown primary. Cruz won in Utah by nine points more than Trump did in his home state.

Cruz received almost 382,000 more votes in Texas than all the votes cast in New York. And where does all this leave Trump? He must still do what is nearly impossible on his record – he must win 64 percent of pledged delegates left, having won only 49 percent of the pledged to date. The climb is steep, and getting steeper.

And that is why the Cruz speech in Philadelphia, on April 19th, matters. As Trump toasted himself, Ted Cruz spoke with resonance, as if he knows something about the future – sees something others do not. He took the audience somewhere else, up a notch, to a mountain view. He spoke of an intergenerational time of “choosing” – not between politicians, but between alternative futures. Refreshingly, he offered perspective, something badly needed right now. Like a real President, Cruz offered hope and inspiration, with context and without superficiality, hyperbole or inaccuracy. He reminded us that we are on a “journey,” and that we are all Americans, not just party members.

Cruz spoke of America’s past, of what we have done and how we did it, reminding us of principles we all share – all of us. For the second time in as many weeks, he hit a high-water mark, capturing the best of who we are, recounting two centuries of achievement. He was neither didactic nor partisan. He honored John F. Kennedy’s vision and youthful inspiration, even as he credited Ronald Reagan’s courage. Mostly, he honored us – average Americans.

He reminded us of historic challenges we have locked arms to overcome, impossible missions envisioned and made real – from our Founders’ constitutional foresight to manned flight, from twice saving Europe to putting a man on the moon, from dreaming impossible dreams to daring to pull them off. Simple stuff, but compelling in a time of doubt, well worth remembering. He reminded us that Americans have common respect and uncommon resolve, our Nation’s strength. And he credited the individual, not government. “We are great, because we are good.” That is who we are.

In a season often marred by bombast and boasting, he demurred. Instead, he invited us to a perch above this messy political season, to a view over the horizon. Americans are strongest when we “rally around a set of principles, larger than issues that divide us.” We have “passionate disputes,” but with respect as “between the Founding Fathers.” At our best, we “concentrate on what we have in common, not what divides us.” To a one, we love our “families, work ethic, dreams and building them; we have charity and willingness to sacrifice for those in need.” This is who we are.

At a time, we must again see clearly who we are, decide who we will be. We must understand the moment in which we live, and “chart a new journey forward.” The path will not be charted by a politician, but by individual Americans. “We must concentrate on what we have in common,” to “take another giant leap forward for Mankind.” This step centers on freedom, as it always has. Whether we are intent on “vanquishing ISIS” or preserving “rule of law,” we must see ourselves as “One People,” and resolve to act as one. Why? Because “when Americans come together and speak with conviction, it changes the world.”

Heady stuff, and daring at a time of gamesmanship. But Cruz spoke with sincerity, and left the room hopeful. And the data may abide Cruz. This is the way we define ourselves, the kind of inspiration we seek to reaffirm who we are, at intergenerational inflection points. This is the stuff of leadership, not cocky boasting or self-adulation. The speech was another notch in his belt, forceful and inclusive, purposeful and high minded. It was far from the claptrap of petty politics.

What does it mean? Who can say for sure? One thing is clear: With or without the data, Cruz is right. We are at a “point of choosing” – between alternate futures, one of hope and promise, the other of brash battles, minutia and a new definition of ourselves that is hard to recognize. We are not happy to see ourselves as criminals, socialists or self-aggrandizing fops. We are not happy to be less than we can be, and we know the day is coming when we must choose. What we crave a future true to our past.

The Cruz speech also held a kicker. On the “journey” ahead, he prepared us to be “less talk, more action.” And affirmed that we Americans will “be who we were destined to be …,” if we only say we “will.” He said: “Here is the truth: You do not need me or any other politician … But we all need us, need ‘We the People’ …” We need each other, now more than ever. How true. Because, right again, our greatness is rooted in our goodness.

Here is the transcript of this speech from Ted Cruz:

I am so excited to share with you what America has learned over the past few months.

And it has nothing to do with a politician tonight winning his home state.

It has everything to do with what we’ve seen in the towns and faces that have been weathered with trouble, joblessness, and fear. It is what we learned looking at the factories that have been shuttered and the hearts that are closing.

We have learned that America is at a point of choosing.

The media will say it is about choosing a president. But it really isn’t.

Our real choice is personal, and every generation must make the same choice.

Will we continue to live in the past with what we know no longer works, or will we move forward to a new and better place?

The people in state after state have made it clear. They cry out for a new path.

This is the year of the outsider. I am an outsider, Bernie Sanders is an outsider.

Both with the same diagnosis, but both with very different paths to healing.

Millions of Americans have chosen one of these outsiders. Our campaigns don’t find our fuel in bundlers and special interests, but rather directly from the people. The wide-eyed youth of any age that haven’t given up on the hope that tomorrow can and will be better.

Ronald Reagan and Jack Kennedy were outsiders.

They both represented a whole new vision and vibrancy. A new generation of ideas. Jack Kennedy looked forward instead of back to the first half century of world war. He knew that America could dream and build if we were set free. Not tanks for war, but rockets for exploration.

Reagan looked out – to us – the most powerful force for innovation that the world has ever known:

There we found the new tech pioneers like Bill Gates and a young Steve Jobs. They had vision and the freedom to build a new world that that at the time only THEY saw and because they were free. They challenged the way and changed the way all of us live, work, and interact.

Now it is our turn.

This generation must first look inward to see who we really are, after years of being beaten down.

Years of being told we couldn’t, shouldn’t, or wouldn’t. This generation needs to answer a new set of questions. Can we? Should we? Will we? Are we still those people? Those dreamers and doers? Are America’s greatest generations in our past? Or are our best days yet ahead? We must unite the Republican Party because doing so is the first step toward uniting all Americans.

The question is not whether all Americans can or will agree on a majority of issues all of the time. The question is whether a majority of Americans are hungry to rally around a set of principles larger than any single issue that a politician may use to divide us.

Tonight, I’m speaking to you from Philadelphia. It’s natural, when we talk about our Nation’s earliest days, that we focus our attention on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And we can learn a great deal about a path forward by focusing on the passionate disputes and disagreements among our founding fathers — differences that were put aside only because of the weight and consequence of the foundational principles they sought to proclaim and the price to be paid if they failed to rise to the task.

Today, as Republicans, we agree on a lot. And sure, areas of lesser agreement exist as well. But on the fundamental question: are we satisfied with the current direction of our country; we speak with one voice.

I call on you, as JFK did in the 60’s. And as Reagan did in the 80’s. To chart a new American journey forward. One that isn’t led by me or anyone in Washington, but by you. And millions of others just like you.

One where we still have differences, yet we choose to concentrate on what we have in common.

One that lifts others up and believes in the rights, responsibilities, goodness, and strength of all mankind.

We have so much that binds us together: our families, our work ethic, our ability to dream and build unlike any people in history. But most of all our charity, our love for our fellow men and women and our willingness to sacrifice for those in need.

Let us unite…on the things that have always made us great. We are great because we are good. Because over and over again we have chosen courage in the moments of crisis; freedom in the face of compromise; and hope in the face of challenges that everyone told us could not be overcome.

Our sitting president ran on a slogan that should have been a great first step…It promised us, “yes we can.”

Now is the time to take that slogan and put it into action.

“Yes we can” was a recognition of the hope that we can and should recover. The problem was that Barack Obama’s prescriptions only led to more elitist control from Washington. Less freedom for the People.

But now is the time, as Americans, to once again reclaim that hope. To take another giant leap for mankind. To speak the words with all the power and might that we can muster and use the words that have changed the world time and again:

The words that the slaves yearned to hear from the American people and Abraham Lincoln when they cried out for freedom. The words, that Europe and Britain heard when they cried out for help defeating totalitarian evil in the 1940’s. The words that led two men in North Carolina to be the first in flight. And half a century later the first man to reach the moon. And decades later, two men in their garage to come up with Apple. They are the words that will repair our tattered spirit, lift up our economy and those who are barely making it, they are the words that will vanquish the evil of ISIS. and return the rule of law.

They are the words that when Americans come together and say with conviction – they change the world.

They are the vision of this campaign:

Not yes we can, but now: Yes we will.
We will restore our spirit;
We will free our minds and imagination;
We will create a new and better world;
We will bring back jobs, freedom, and security;
We will find new ways to ignite an energy revolution with more jobs and greater choices;
We will defeat the evil of Islamists and ISIS;
We will live as neighbors, friends, and family in peace once again;
We will heal the sick, feed the poor, and defend the defenseless;
We will restore our rightful place in the world.

We will do what Americans do best.

We will live for others – we will change the world through the hope of freedom’s enduring promise. And our unrelenting spirit.

You can be empowered, and in a digital age it is all the easier for your voice to be heard. Your choices to govern your work, your education, your future. If only Washington will get out of the way.

Join me on this journey of less talk and more action because I know you. You may have been knocked down, but America has always been best when she is lying down with her back on the mat and the crowd has given the final count. It is time for us to get up, shake it off and be who we were destined to be.

Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

Here is the truth: You don’t need me or any politician.

But we do need each other, all of us, coming together as one, as We the People, because not only do we say – yes WE can, beginning here and now we pledge to each and every one of us, yes we will.

And now my friends, onward to victory.

Well done, Senator Cruz, well done.

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