The unions say 'last hired - first fired,', we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.

• I hate big government, but I really hate a government that doesn't work. So when 'they say we either have to raise taxes or cut core services,' it's actually a 'false choice.'
• But I don't want massive layoffs of anyone - public or private. We are planning on shrinking government through attrition and reform, not through random pink slips.
• One of those promises was to limit the size of government and to have the government serve the people - and not the other way around.
• I promised to empower the taxpayer - instead of a handful of big government union bosses.
• I believe that smaller government is better government. But I also believe that in the areas where government does play a legitimate role, we should demand that it is done better.
• We are the ones looking out for the middle class. Who do think pays for the endless expansion of government? Its middle class taxpayers. Our reforms protect middle class taxpayers.
• More people on unemployment benefits is not success in America, fewer people on not because we kicked them off but because they have been able to get a job in the private sector, because government got out of the way.
• I think most people believe success in government is how many fewer people are in government, not because you kick them off of benefits like unemployment but they've been able to control their own destiny because private sector employers have created more jobs.
• People create jobs, not the government.
• What has made America amazing has been the fact that throughout our history, throughout the more than 200 years of our history, there have been men and women of courage who stood up and decided it was more important to look out for the future of their children and their grandchildren than their own political futures.