NEW YORK – Wednesday's theme at the Republican National Convention was "Land of Opportunity." FOXNews.com asked prominent convention-goers what that phrase means to them.
Sen. Kit Bond, Mo.: "One of the things I've spent a lot of time on is creating business in the private sector. When George Bush recommended, and we adopted, tax relief that puts money back in the pockets of small businesses, we expected they would grow and invest and hire more workers. We did and they have, and we believe this is the basis of a sustained rally of the economy over the near, foreseeable future and this is a tremendous opportunity.
"We need to get training for our workers, unfortunately, (Senator) Tom Daschle (search) is filibustering our Workforce Investment Act (search) as he is filibustering other things that we need to take away the heavy government burdens."
Sen. Bob Bennett, Utah: "I think if you are planning to start a business — and most of the jobs in America comes from small business, not from the Fortune 500 — then you want a Republican administration, and a Republican position in respect to taxes, otherwise you are going to have real problems."
Phil Kent, author of "The Dark Side of Liberalism": "I think the GOP is properly emphasizing an opportunity society, and I think (in) the GOP, all voices are emphasizing that we have the most generous legal immigrations policy in the world, and to come here is the dream of everyone. Arnold Schwarzenegger (search) last night at the convention said it best, that we are a lamp for the whole world. We are a beacon in terms of opportunity. We're talking about home ownership being up as you well know, all these other economic indicators to keep our economic engine strong. So there are many talking points at the Republican convention that can reach out to the middle."
Joel Mowbray, National Review Online contributor: "America has always rolled out the red carpet for people all over the entire world — give us your tired, give us your sick, give us your hungry — and we continue to do that this day. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having high levels of immigration and having people come here through a safe and secure process. The only problem is keeping out the bad guys. And if we can do that, great. You can be both the land of opportunity and have secure borders."
Former Rep. Bob Barr, Ga.: "I think it means that you don't have the government placing impediments to realizing your potential. Yet more and more of what we have seen with both Democratic and Republican administrations are more and more impediments being placed in the way — more government, less opportunity. What I hope we get back to is more opportunity, less government, because the two are contradictory."
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