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Land of God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy
00:04:48
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| And this is one of the great moments of my life. | |
| I've interviewed Ronald Reagan and other great presidents and men like Billy Graham. | |
| But today, one of my great moments of my, do I have a career, my ministry, I want you to welcome one of the most awesome human beings, I think, on planet Earth, Governor Mike Huckabee with us today. | |
| Oh, come here! | |
| It's so good to have you down here. | |
| Captain. | |
| Can I shake your hand again? | |
| What a wonderful group of people and a great welcome. | |
| Thank you. | |
| Honored to be here. | |
| We're sort of in the hills here, Governor. | |
| So after reading your book, I think maybe you might feel at home here. | |
| I feel very much at home here. | |
| I love these people. | |
| I love this part of the world. | |
| This is America. | |
| This is America. | |
| This is a beautiful, hardback edition. | |
| It's gorgeous. | |
| But it's more beautiful what's in it. | |
| This is what America was, America is today, and what America could be again. | |
| That's right. | |
| It's true. | |
| Well, you know, Jim, a lot of people are going to see the title, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, and they're going to say, oh, a recipe book. | |
| Yeah. | |
| Or a book about hunting and how to cook the things you killed when you went hunting. | |
| But really, the title is to get your attention. | |
| But here's, it's a phrase that I have used when I've tried to explain to people in New York that I've worked with every week for the past six years. | |
| And I would say to them, you know, those of you who live in New York, as well as people who live in Hollywood or Washington, live in these bubbles, these bubbles of influence. | |
| And in those three bubbles, people set the table of culture in America for fashion, finance, politics, government, music, entertainment, movies, everything. | |
| But the people who are setting the table of the culture for America are living a very different life in a very different world in bubbles that are totally different than the land we live in, which I call the land of God, guns, grits, and gravy, where it is not that unusual that a person would go to church, say a prayer before a meal, talk to his or her children about Jesus. | |
| That's right. | |
| Those are things that we grow up doing here. | |
| We grew up owning guns. | |
| Not everybody necessarily has a gun. | |
| I'm not going to ask the audience how many people out here are carrying guns. | |
| But you understand, I grew up. | |
| 99% are. | |
| I always say, don't come to the hills and think you're going to steal food or anything else. | |
| Yeah. | |
| Because they still have their guns, and they're not going to give them up. | |
| Well, when I tell people that I have a... | |
| But when I tell people in New York that I've owned guns since I was five years old, that I have a concealed carry permit, that my wife does, they look at me like they're ready to jump onto the table. | |
| And I say, don't be afraid. | |
| It's a way we grew up. | |
| And anyway, all of that is to say that we live in the land, the flyover country, as it's often called. | |
| It is the land of God, guns, grits, and gravy. | |
| It's not necessarily southern. | |
| It could be Midwestern. | |
| It could be even up in the western parts of the United States. | |
| It's that area of America away from those two coasts of the left and the right of the American map and from many of the urban areas in between where people live very differently, where when you're seeing a funeral procession and you see the lights of the cars, you pull over to the side and you respectfully wait. | |
| Yes. | |
| You don't say, get out of my way, I'm in a hurry. | |
| You recognize this is just how we live. | |
| And so what I want the book to do, and I'm so grateful for your affirmation of it, is to say to all the people who live in the land of God, guns, grits, and gravy, you're not crazy. | |
| You're living a life that is okay. | |
| And it is a culture that we want to pass on to our children and to our grandchildren. | |
| And it's also to say to those people living in the bubbles that those of us who live out here among the good old boys, because I consider myself a good old boy, I don't care. | |
| The term redneck to me is a term of endearment. | |
| I am not insulted by that. | |