The Hound's Tale

Newt Gingrich Speaks at Gulfport High School

Tuesday, May 01, 2012 By Shelby Ramirez

Friday, March 9th, I was “flyin’ solo” because Katherine could not go. I left school about halfway through fourth block to drive out to Gulfport High School so that I would be on time to see former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speak. I arrived about fifteen minutes early. I could not find a press section, but I did find a spot open on the second row. I had plenty of time to get to know the people around me, all of whom seemed excited by the fact that a younger person was in attendance. I noticed that besides the students in the band and bleachers on stage, I seemed to be the youngest person in the audience. About an hour later the introductions began, before Newt walked onto the stage, a prayer was said and the pledge was recited, then his wife introduced him, assuring the audience that: “the only enemy at this point is Obama and we are committed to removing him.” Once Newt was on stage, he promptly apologized for being late explaining that he and his team had been given and took advantage of the opportunity to film a video on drilling which can be found on his website: newt.org. Newt’s speech was kind of like listening to a teacher’s lecture, probably because he used to be a teacher. Newt started off by saying that people should: “spend more time looking at the Founding Fathers.” He proceeded to describe the system of American Exceptionalism that started with the Founding Fathers and how truth is: “Not a philosophy or ideology, but trying to figure out how people govern self.” He continued by explaing the social contract theory behind the Constitution and that: “The government is supposed to be our servant.” Newt pointed out the many promises of the Constitution and then contrasted them with Obama’s European style central government. The bulk of Newt’s speech though, was about energy and how to make America energy independent. He cited North Dakota as an example, explaining how there is an estimated one trillion four billion barrels worth of oil and how because of the drilling, North Dakota’s unemployment rate is at 3.5 percent, far better than the national average. Newt called Obama the “best food stamp president in American history” quipping that: “There are no silver bullets, that is true, but there is a presidential pen.” Newt’s plan would be to reopen the Louisiana and Texas part of the Gulf of Mexico, start construction on the Keystone Pipeline, and open Arkansas for drilling; which he said would create over eight million barrels of oil a year. Newt stated that this increase in oil would drop gas prices according to the law of supply and demand. Newt said that: “The time has now come for us to focus on American issues.” Newt urged that people need to become active citizens. He closed his speech by asking people to raise awareness and tweet his hashtag #250gas and to also see the video on his website. After his speech I did get to ask Newt why he thought young people should vote, he replied, “because it affect the whole rest of their life.”