Speech delivered by Siv Jensen at the "A Tribute to Ronald Reagan Dinner".

Friday August 27, 2010, Marriot Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Good evening freedom fighters,

It`s an honor to be here with you tonight.

Just before I left Norway for this trip I happened to find a book in my bookshelf with the title “From triumph to tragedy”.

The cover shows a cartoon picture of a man riding a horse, with a rifle in his hand.

A catastrophe for world peace. Mental laziness. A cynical player. A man who failed in his approach to the Soviet Union.

This is the description of Ronald Reagan by a Norwegian journalist in 1987. Sad but true…

In my view Ronald Reagan was the opposite of all this. Not only was Ronald Reagan a great leader for the United States, he was also a great global leader.

And I want you to know that not only me, but many other Norwegians got inspired by Reagan and still do today.

Ronald Reagan was a man of the people and a leader who stood up for the interests of the common man, for their right to live their lives without politicians on your back all the time.

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem is a famous quote from Reagan. I think this is truer than ever.

With the financial crisis, we are witnessing – not only here in the U.S., but in Norway and all over the world, politicians putting the blame on capitalism and the free market and demanding more regulation, more interference, more control.

The problem is that the financial crisis was not mainly a failure of capitalism and too little control. It was in a large degree caused by too much interference and wrong regulations.

I heard Dick Morris warn against your current administrations path towards rising taxes.

You know what? I think I know where your president got his inspiration from.

When he was presented the “well deserved” Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, he was very keen to learn about this.

I`m very sorry that he brought these ideas back with him.

The battle against big government is in essence about giving power back to the people. Limited government is also about respect. Respect for the decisions made by the people.

Once Ronald Reagan compared the government to a car and the people as the driver of the car. The people decides where to go, at what speed and when to put on the breaks. It is not the opposite.

History has shown that individuals make a difference and President Reagan was for sure one of those individuals who did. We need his ideas now more than ever, and we need it in Norway too.

The ideas of liberty must be preserved and put into practice – in the U.S. and in Norway.

I`m proud to declare myself as a Reaganite. And a Thatcherite.

Basically this means advocating the ideas that brings forward prosperity.

Victor Hugo once said that one resists the invasion of armies, one does not resist the invasion of ideas.

While your great president is gone, his ideas still lives and they`re getting stronger every day.

In my office I have a bust of Ronald Reagan. I have it behind my back. So when I work, he`s looking over my shoulders. I find that very inspiring.

Thank you so much for having me here.