Nicole Curtis

Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos, the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West.

These were born in Spain.

For the United States and Europe, we belong together.

America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before.

The man who settled and built the nation of my birth,

arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new.

We are part of one civilization, Western civilization.

We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry.

and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.

We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength.

This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame.

We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.

And this is why we do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it.

For we in America have no interest

in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West's managed decline.

We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history.

And I am here today to leave it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity, and that once again, we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends.