No Apology, by Gov. Mitt Romney (R, MA): on Principles & Values

Mitt Romney: Hard times made us the people we are today

I can remember only one time during my life when most Americans presumed that we didn't really have any great challenges. It was during the period that largely coincided with the Bill Clinton presidency. Bush & Reagan had pushed the Soviet Union to the wall and won. Here at home, there was talk of a "new economy" that sent the bulls running on Wall Street. In some ways, we advanced as a nation on these years. The Internet boomed, and the pockets of millions of Americans grew deeper. But did these years of ease make us stronger, more free or secure nation?

Mitt Romney: President should proudly defend US, not apologize for her

In a world composed of nations that are filled with rage and hate for the US, our president should proudly defend her rather than continually apologize for her.

I reject the view that America must decline. I believe in American exceptionalism. I am convinced that we can act together to strengthen the nation, to preserve our global leadership, and to protect freedom where it exits and promote it where it does not.

Mitt Romney: America is freedom and freedom must be strong

But there is much more that compels us to pursue a productivity and growth agendas--it is essential to preserve the America we know. For if Washington were to continue to depart from this strategy, acting in ways that depress productivity and growth, America would decline. We would be surpassed as the world's leader, and lament as freedom is stealthily stripped from our descendants and from our friends around the world. It was not for this that the Founding Fathers established the nation, nor for this that hundreds of thousands of our brave men and women shed their blood. America is freedom, and freedom must be strong.