I would set aside all these budget cuts that are going to devastate the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the N.S.A. Sequestration, cuts, are not only gutting the military, they're gutting the F.B.I. So if I were president, I would set these cuts aside. I would reinstate the N.S.A. program as robust as possible within the constitutional limits.

Are you so afraid that you are willing to trade your freedom for security?

Well, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances.

The only way to save Social Security is to raise the retirement age.

Big and oppressive government has long been the enemy of freedom, something black Americans know all too well.

We have 11 million people said to be in our country illegally. Forty percent of them are said to have overstayed their visa. Do we know where they are?

I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what - I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy.