Notable Speeches

The cultural ideology of "wokeism" isn't new. It has a pedigree traceable to philosophers of previous centuries, including René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Jacques Derrida. In this address, Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, one of America's most influential religious leaders, describes how the ideas of such philosophers have formed the foundations of "critical theory" and "woke" ideology. Bishop Barron serves the diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and founded Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. He delivered this address on June 21, 2023, at a conference sponsored by the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich.

This episode features the second inaugural address of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, delivered outdoors to a crowd of several thousand gathered at the Florida State Capital Building in Tallahassee on Jan. 3, 2023. After narrowly winning the governor's seat in 2018, he won a resounding re-election victory in 2022. Although Gov. DeSantis (R) has not announced any intention to run for president in 2024, many political observers speculate that he will do so. Mr. DeSantis, a Florida native, is a Navy veteran, a former federal prosecutor, and a former Congressman. A transcript of his second inaugural address is available here.

Viktor Orbán, Europe's longest-serving Prime Minister, visited the U.S. in early August to speak at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Dallas, Texas. He said Western civilization, which defeated the enemies of freedom in the past, is now "at war with itself." But "we Hungarians know how to defeat the enemies of freedom on the political battlefield." Mr. Orbán described several policies his government has implemented, including a successful border-protection system, tax laws that reward marriage and larger families, and a law-and-order approach to public safety that has made Hungary "the safest country in Europe." If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

In July, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito spoke at a Religious Liberty Summit hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School's Religious Liberty Initiative. "We can't lightly assume that the religious liberty enjoyed today in the United States, in Europe, and in many other places will always endure," he said at the Summit's evening gala on July 21. "Religious liberty is fragile, and religious intolerance and persecution have been recurring features of human history." The 2022 Religious Liberty Summit was held in Rome, Italy, where Notre Dame has one of its overseas campuses. The gala event took place at Rome's centuries-old Palazzo Colonna. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

This episode features an address by Dr. Kristen Collier, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and director of the school's Program on Health, Spirituality & Religion.  She spoke on July 24, 2022, at Michigan Medicine's annual White Coat Ceremony welcoming new med students Dr. Collier's address generated controversy, not because of her remarks but because of her views on abortion. She is pro-life. Some students walked out rather than listen to her remarks. This podcast presents her speech in full. She spoke about the need for physicians to focus on patients as human beings, not simply as "cases." If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

On March 24, 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressed the National Conservatism Conference meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Speaking via video, Mr. Morawiecki urged support for Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion and he said "we must rebuild the Western world worthy of Ukraine's heroism." "Ukrainians have resurrected the idea that freedom and independence are values worth living and even dying for," he said. Mateusz Morawiecki has been the Prime Minister of Poland since 2017. He is a member of the Law and Justice party. Early in this address, he mentions his recent visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, together with his Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, Slovenia's Prime MinisterJanez Janša, and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

Outspoken freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been a lightning rod for criticism in the press and on social media. In a Feb. 25, 2022, address to the America First Political Action Conference, she articulated and defended her views on a range of issues, including the responsibility Christians have to "stand up for the unborn" and to resist social experimentation in the area of human sexuality.  She also spoke about combating illegal immigration, warned of the dangers posed by current U.S. energy policy, and criticized "identity politics."  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

"It is our job to stop giving ear to political arsonists who would burn down our institutions and intensify our divisions," said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) in a Senate floor speech on Jan. 13, 2022.  He spoke during a debate on eliminating the filibuster, a long-standing Senate rule designed to prevent highly controversial bills from being passed on slim majorities. "Getting rid of the filibuster means you don't have to try to talk to people on the other side of the aisle," he said. Sen. Sasse criticized the "disastrous leadership" of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and he accused President Joe Biden of "violating the Ninth Commandment" by suggesting that those who disagree with his legislative aim of "federalizing elections" are bigots and racists. The president, Sasse said, has "surrender[ed] to the angriest voices on social media." Sen. Ben Sasse's remarks have been abridged slightly for this podcast. A complete transcript of his speech is at https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=CEF0C9C2-7399-4B2D-A1D8-C3C6DFCE3586

Our most-listened-to podcast of 2021 featured a speech from 1865: President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Many historians consider it to be one of the best inaugural speeches in U.S. history. The speech was delivered five weeks before the end of the U.S. Civil War and six weeks before Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. Portions of the address are etched in stone in the Lincoln Memorial. The recording used on this podcast, by Lincoln impersonator Walter Trumbull, attempts to re-create what the speech likely would have sounded like, as Mr. Lincoln spoke to a large outdoor crowd without amplification. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

This week, we are re-posting our Top 5 programs of 2021 — those that garnered the most "listens." The second-most-listened-to program featured a speech that continues to be a focus of interest months later: President Donald Trump's speech to a massive "Save America" rally near the White House on January 6. In that address, Mr. Trump vigorously disputed that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.  He urged the crowd to "peacefully and patriotically" support the U.S. senators who had pledged to object to accepting disputed electoral votes. Mr. Trump also presented a rundown of voting irregularities in swing states that Mr. Biden claimed by narrow margins. The Trump speech occurred not long before several hundred protesters breached the U.S. Capitol building. Congressional Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, later alleged — in an article of impeachment — that Mr. Trump used his address to incite the crowd to "interfere with [Congress’s] solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election." The U.S. Senate acquitted Mr. Trump. This podcast features Mr. Trump's entire address at the January 6 rally, save for the first few seconds when his microphone wasn't working. A transcript of his remarks is at https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6 If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

This week, we are re-posting our most-listened-to podcasts of 2021. Today, our third-most-popular program, featuring an address by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Speaking at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Hawley said conservatives are "facing a fight for the republic itself." He warned that an alliance of "radical liberals" and large corporations "want[s] to run this country, and if we don't do something, they are going to."  Sen. Hawley, a former state attorney general, called for federal action to "break those corporations up and cut them down to size." A transcript of his speech is at https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/josh-hawley-2021-cpac-speech-transcript-february-26 If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

During this final week of the year, we are re-posting our five most-popular podcasts of 2021. Our fourth most-listened-to episode featured a speech by Flordia Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), delivered July 14, 2021, at an event sponsored by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. Mr. DeSantis talked about his conservative approach to governing and his willingness to push back against critics and naysayers. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

This week, we are re-posting our five most-listened-to podcasts of 2021. We begin with the fifth most-popular program, which featured an address by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. On September 16, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government. In his remarks, he described the U.S. Declaration of Independence as America's "national North Star." "While we have failed the...ideals of the Declaration time and again, I know of no time when [those] ideals have failed us," he said. The Declaration reflects the noble understanding of the justice of the Creator...and the enlightened belief that nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on and degraded."  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

Paul Harvey was one of America's most popular radio personalities for more than half a century. Millions tuned in for his daily broadcast via ABC Radio, Paul Harvey News and Comment. On his Christmas program each year, Mr. Harvey would tell a modern-day parable, "The Man and the Birds." The version here is from Dec. 25, 2004.  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com. Merry Christmas!

Speaking via video link to the Congress of Catholics and Public Life in Madrid, Spain, Archbishop Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, described recent "social justice" movements as "political religions" that offer a different "story of salvation" than the Christian faith. "Whatever we call these movements — 'social justice,' 'wokeness,' 'identity politics,' 'intersectionality,' 'successor ideology' — they claim to offer what religion provides," the archbishop noted. Regrettably, "these strictly secular movements are causing new forms of social division, discrimination, intolerance, and injustice," he said. Archbishop Gomez spoke in Spanish. An English transcript of his remarks is at https://archbishopgomez.org/blog/reflections-on-the-church-and-americas-new-religions José Gomez was born in Mexico and educated in Mexico and Spain. He has served as the Archbishop of Los Angeles since 2011 and was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2019. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

This edition of the Notable Speeches podcast features U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley's October 31 keynote address at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Fla. "America needs good men," the Missouri Republican said. "We need men who will shoulder responsibility, men who will start and provide for families, men who will enter the covenant of marriage and then honor it."   He decried leftist attacks on "toxic masculinity" and argued that decades of "government policy has helped destroy the kind of economy that gave meaning to generations of men."  The text of Sen. Hawley's remarks is available at https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senator-hawley-delivers-national-conservatism-keynote-lefts-attack-men-america  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

Russian President spoke at the annual meeting of the Moscow-based Valdai Discussion Club. The four-day gathering, held in the Russian resort city of Sochi, focused on the theme, "Global Shake-Up in the 21st Century: The Individual, Values, and the State." In his remarks, Mr. Putin talked about challenges common to nations worldwide — including the coronavirus pandemic, social discontent, and ethical considerations related to new technologies. He also spoke about the "re-alignment of the balance of power" between nations and the challenges of fostering a "stable world order."  Mr. Putin emphasized the "importance of a solid support [from national governments] in the sphere of morals, ethics, and values." He criticized so-called woke progressives in the United States and Europe, saying their "fight for equality and against discrimination has turned into aggressive dogmatism bordering on absurdity." He derided "cancel culture" and the "demand to give up the traditional notions of mother, father, family and even gender." Vladimir Putin delivered his remarks in Russian. This Notable Speeches podcast features an English translation. His address, which ran 35 minutes, has been abridged for this podcast. An English transcript of Mr. Putin's entire remarks, including a post-speech question-and-answer session, is available at https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/vladimir-putin-meets-with-members-of-the-valdai-discussion-club-transcript-of-the-18th-plenary-session/

On Oct. 1, 2021, author, columnist, and editor Sohrab Ahmari spoke at a symposium in Warsaw, Poland, titled "The Place of Truth in the Age of Cancel Culture."  The event, sponsored by the Polish university Collegium Intermarium, featured speakers from the U.S., France, Poland, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Sweden, and Italy. The venue was the lecture hall at Warsaw's National Institute of Culture and Rural Heritage. Mr. Ahmari, the op-ed page editor for The New York Post, is the author of From Fire, by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith (Ignatius Press, 2019) and The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos (Convergent Books, 2021). If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

Speaking to European political, religious, and corporate leaders meeting in Hungary, former U.S. Vice President said that helping to "preserve the strength of the family" was their "most important task." Mr. Pence spoke last month at the 4th Demographic Summit in Budapest, along with leaders from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, and other nations. "For our civilization to prosper, if we're to pass on the rights and the freedoms and the values that we cherish to the next generation, our highest priority must be to preserve, renew, and strengthen the families upon which our nations and our civilizations have been built," he said. The late September summit took place at Budapest's Várkert Bazár (Castle Garden Bazaar), an exhibition and meeting center built in the 1870s and 80s and renovated in 2013.  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.

On September 16, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government. In his remarks, he described the U.S. Declaration of Independence as America's "national North Star." "While we have failed the...ideals of the Declaration time and again, I know of no time when [those] ideals have failed us," he said. The Declaration reflects the noble understanding of the justice of the Creator...and the enlightened belief that nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on and degraded."  If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespeeches.com.