Elaine Beck 0:12
Hi, everyone, Elaine Beck here. And this is It’s Not About Us, we are on CPAC now and in many other places and you know, you can go to a ElaineBeck.com and see all the things that we’re working on, because we love you. And we love God. And we’re serving Him. So I have a special guest tonight. His name is Newt Gingrich, I bet you’ve heard that name before. Welcome!

Newt Gingrich 0:40
Good to be with you.

Elaine Beck 0:41
And so this is an amazing thing. We are at a wonderful, prestigious event tonight. And that gave me the opportunity to get to interview you that I never thought I would have. And so I’m very honored to have you on

Newt Gingrich 0:57
I’m glad to be with you.

Elaine Beck 0:58
Thank you. And we’ve been talking, we talked earlier this evening, a little bit about what’s happening in our country right now. And how every era is very important. And right now we’re going through some very difficult times. But I feel God in all of it, don’t you?

Newt Gingrich 1:17
I do. I think God has a purpose for America. And I think that we have to sometimes endure in order to get to the kind the promised land to use the classic language, and to be here at Mount Vernon, right and have the hallowed ground of George and Martha Washington and the feel of what led to freedom and the United States and the Constitution. I always find it a very emotional, and a very rewarding thing to come to Mount Vernon, I always recommend to people that it’s worth coming 20 miles outside Washington to get a feel for what the founding president lived and where he lived and what his life was like.

Elaine Beck 2:02
Well, you know, I have found myself several times already this evening, practically in tears, particularly when they were telling us in the library, about some of his writings and his heart. And the way he spoke not only of of his country, not only of the world that he took on, lovingly, and with God’s direction, but of his family and his love for his his lovely wife, Martha. And you know, their history. There’s so much there for people out there, to grab hold of. Wouldn’t this be the best time in the world, to reach out to some of the wonderful history of this country for especially the young people like Dr. Carson is doing to help them understand that there is freedom?

Newt Gingrich 2:52
I think what Dr. Garth has done is with Cornerstone is so important. You know, President Reagan, and his farewell address, said the thing that most worried him was that we were not teaching patriotism, we were not teaching American history, we were not really getting people to understand how this astonishing country came to be, and how our freedom came to be. And I think Dr. Carson has risen to the challenge. And I think with Cornerstone, I know because we work with him. He’s really reaching out to people. You know, my wife, Calista had written a series of books, right, which Alice, the elephant teaches, teaches three to six year olds, about American history. And so we had a really deep interest in this topic before. We saw what Dr. Carson was doing Cornerstone. But I think the effort to bring accurate honest American history back into the classroom, and to introduce young people to the extraordinary story of freedom, and how it came to be in America. I think it’s one of the most important things going on in the country today.

Elaine Beck 4:04
Yes, absolutely. And you know, I, you mentioning your wife and the lovely elephant. And there are so many other characters that have been used over the years for different things. I would love to see some books written though about Jack and Jill. Because they think they were the books when we went to school, and we were very young years ago. They were the they were the young couple, or the young, two young people, a boy and a girl that taught us how to go through things and just as simple as reading and all that. And I thought wouldn’t it be nice to bring them back to life and share them as a historical children of what it was like when we were young and to live in a very free country and to really understand that you love your country because is the greatest country on Earth.

Newt Gingrich 5:03
I think that’s right. And I think that, you know, if you have any doubt about that when you talk to first generation immigrants, who have come here voluntarily, because they want to be free, they want to pursue happiness. And I just talked to a gentleman whose grandmother came from Italy, and her and she had been named America. And when she was born by her parents, because their goal was for her to come to America. And so you, we forget that we really are a remarkable magnet, and a beacon for people who love freedom, and who want a better future. And when you watch the evening news, and you look at Beirut, and you look at Gaza, and you look at Ukraine, it’s a useful reminder, that to be in a country that is free, has the rule of law, has a constitution is an extraordinarily great thing. And something we should cherish and protect, and defend.

Elaine Beck 6:05
Absolutely put it so well, as always. I was teasing him earlier how I see him on TV all the time. But you know, I count on that. I count on that for the strength of the people in this country that has always been there fighting for it, and particularly our warriors that have gone and served all their lives in different, you know, in the Army and the Navy and the Air Force and the Marines, you know, just to honor them and to speak to someone like yourself, who was Speaker of the House, and has done so much for our country. Thank you.

Newt Gingrich 6:43
Thank you.

Elaine Beck 6:44
It means a lot. And it’s such an honor to have had you on my show. And I know our time is limited. So we’re gonna let you go. But thank you so much for sharing with us.

Newt Gingrich 6:55
It’s great to be with you.

Elaine Beck 6:56
God bless you.