At Freedomfest – Marco Rubio: “America’s Dream: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone”. This was written down as he spoke this evening.

There he is, right there, on stage. He’s just like his pictures, young and apple cheeked. He is telling his life story. The American dream is about happiness and fulfilment as you define it. And why is it possible? Because the US is founded on spiritual principles, where the rights come from the creator. The only power we give to the government is the power to protect those rights.

I love the system of free enterprise, he says. It is the only governing principle that allows success. I can become better off without someone else becoming worse off. His dad used to say that he had a job because someone else took the risk to open the business to employ him.

Two major changes. First, economy is becoming global. Now even America cannot get away with higher taxes and increased regs. Must work at being competitive whereas in the past no one was in their zone.

Second is improved technology. Ten years ago if I told you I was going “to google” you you would have been offended. Tech changes coming at a rapid rate.

We must become more competitive. Must fix the tax code. Tax reform is critical to become more globally competitive. We must also reduce regulations. Regs are used by established firms to prevent new firms from taking their place. He got rid of the taxi opposition in Florida to Uber! Regulatory reform is critical if we are going to be competitive.

Big on privatisation.

Need more skills. Four year degrees is the way to education at the moment. Higher ed is controlled by a cartel. Only unis can give degrees and the universities have created this monopoly for themselves. And loans are so expensive. We don’t teach welding and plumbing. We don’t teach people to do that any more.

We have single mothers working for $11 an hour who cannot educate their way up. MOOC should be coming. We need to open higher ed to competition. If you know something, you should get credit for it and then education will fill the gaps. What matters is what you know and not where you learned it.

There are things about other countries we might admire but America is the greatest. The 21st century is made for America. Big government is a disastrous idea for the 21st century. It is free enterprise that is the future. The world is going in our direction, so why would we go in theirs.

America owes me nothing. I owe America everything. My dad had to work for a living. He made sure that the life he could not have would be available to his son. That is the American dream. Whether we remain a special country will depend on whether the journey from poverty to wealth can be opened to more.

We can leave our children as the richest country that has ever been but the work is in front of us.

God Bless America!