During his travels in 1831, French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville, observed that America was an exceptional nation with a special role to play in history. Tocqueville wrote that, unlike in Europe, where social standing defined a citizen, America was a new republic where liberty, equality, individualism, and laissez-faire economics defined the “American Creed.”

Citizens United Productions will premiere a documentary film about American Exceptionalism, entitled “A City Upon A Hill,” hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich, this Friday, April 29 in Washington, D.C. “A City Upon A Hill” is written and directed by award-winning film maker, Kevin Knoblock (“Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny,” “Nine Days That Changed The World,” “America at Risk”).

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Throughout our history, the United States has risen to meet great challenges — sometimes out of necessity but often out of the determination to create a better future for the next generation. At the time of our founding, no other nation had adopted the radical ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. No other nation had declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” — rights that no king or government could take away.

“A City Upon A Hill” explores the concept of American Exceptionalism from its origin to the present day. What makes our Declaration of Independence and Constitution special? Why did George Washington relinquish power? How did we climb out of the Great Depression to become the world’s greatest economic power? Why did we lead the liberation of Europe during World War II? And why was it important to be the first to land on the moon? Learn the answers to these questions and more in “A City Upon A Hill.”

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The current economic crisis is not a failure of capitalism, but a failure of culture. Citizens United Productions’ film Generation Zero explores the cultural roots of the global financial meltdown – beginning with the narcissism of the 1960s which spread like a virus through the self-indulgent ’90s and exploded across the world in the present economic cataclysm.

Brought to you by award-winning writer and director Stephen Bannon, Generation Zero is the first film in the “Tea Party Trilogy,” which also includes Fire from the Heartland and Battle for America.  Featuring financial and cultural experts, authors, and pundits, including Lou Dobbs, Lawrence Kudlow, Tobin Smith, Victor Davis Hanson, Shelby Steele, Charles Krauthammer, Dick Morris, and Newt Gingrich, Generation Zero exposes the untold story of how the mindset of the Baby Boomers sowed the seeds of economic disaster that will be reaped by coming generations. Sean Hannity did an exclusive one hour special on Generation Zero, and the documentary has received extensive media acclaim. (more…)

President Ronald Reagan saw America as a special place, a shining city on a hill, and a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world. As 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of his birthday, celebrate the life that he led, the principles by which he lived, and the accomplishments that he achieved by purchasing Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny, hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich.

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Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny is a feature length documentary that focuses on the three pillars of the Reagan presidency: reviving the American economy, restoring America’s spirit, and challenging the oppression of the Soviet Union. Through interviews with historians, cabinet members, and world leaders, the film examines and celebrates the Great Communicator and his legacy.

Featuring exclusive interviews with former Presidents Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Lech Walesa of Poland, along with Reagan Cabinet and staff members including James Baker, Edwin Meese, Marlin Fitzwater, Richard Perle, William Bennett, and the late Jack Kemp, Rendezvous With Destiny is President Reagan’s story as told by the people who were with him on the front lines of the Reagan Revolution.

Citizens United Productions traveled across the United States and to historic locations in Europe to capture the sights and sounds that defined Ronald Reagan’s presidency. You’ll see exclusive interviews and footage of President Reagan’s greatest speeches, from his unforgettable “Tear Down This Wall” in Berlin, to the moving “Boys of Pointe Du Hoc” in France, to his stirring farewell address from the Oval Office. Shooting on location in four countries, Rendezvous With Destiny goes to unprecedented lengths to tell the remarkable tale of Ronald Reagan’s life.

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Last week at CPAC I ran into liberal Hollywood icon Richard Dreyfuss. The rumor around CPAC was that Dreyfuss had seen that shining city on the hill and was “turning conservative.”  I wondered if I would see him because I have enjoyed some of his movies.

The opportunity arose when we both finished interviews on radio row.  I approached Dreyfuss, put out my hand, and said “Hi, I am David Bossie, President of Citizens United.”  Dreyfuss’ eyes lit up like he just saw Jaws and he said, “You’re going to have a hard time getting into heaven if you believe in that sort of stuff.”  I was taken aback and asked, “Why?” Dreyfuss then went on a diatribe equating the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision to the Khmer Rouge.  He compared me to Pol Pot “stacking skulls” back at my office.  He actually used his hands to seemingly act out the stacking of skulls.  I replied by saying, “I thought you would have been supportive of my First Amendment Supreme Court case because you are in the business of supporting the First Amendment.”  He did not have a clear response and looked like a frustrated, institution-bound Dr. Leo Marvin from his Oscar-worthy performance in What About Bob?

For someone who was at CPAC to promote a civics and civility campaign, calling me one of the worst mass murderers in history strikes me as awfully hypocritical. But this is not the first time Dreyfuss has used extreme and offensive language to make a political point.  He once compared former Vice President Dick Cheney to Adolf Hitler and agreed with comments that wished Cheney dead (though later apologized). 

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The 38th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is being held this week from February 10 – 12, and I am proud to announce that Citizens United, the nation’s premier conservative filmmaker, will once again be sponsoring the CPAC Theater and Film Festival throughout the weekend.  The festival will showcase some of the best conservative films in the country from both Citizens United Productions and many other critically acclaimed filmmakers.

We have some exciting events planned for this year’s Film Festival at CPAC 2011!  Starting at 2pm on Thursday, February 10th, Newt and Callista Gingrich will introduce our film America at Risk: The War With No Name.  America at Risk, hosted by the Speaker and Mrs. Gingrich, takes an in-depth look at the war against radical Islam featuring exclusive interviews with some of the top national security experts in the world.  After the film, join us for a reception with Mr. and Mrs. Gingrich.

On Friday afternoon February 11th, we have a special event planned to honor conservative women.  Fire from the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman, will be screened at 1:30pm, featuring an introduction by co-star Rep. Michele Bachmann.  After the film, conservative icon and Fire from the Heartland co-star Phyllis Schlafly will deliver remarks to the audience.  This much anticipated speech will be followed by a panel discussion on the film, co-sponsored by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. 

Be sure to stick around Friday evening for our celebration of President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday beginning at 8pm!  This event, which is co-sponsored by Young America’s Foundation, will begin with their Ronald Reagan short film, Still Point in a Turning World. This will be followed by the presentation of President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday cake, made especially for this event by Carlo’s Bake Shop from the hit television show “Cake Boss”!  Then have your cake and eat it, too, while watching our unforgettable feature film Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny. Live introductions and remarks will be made by Governor George Allen.

In addition to these fantastic events, please see the complete Film Festival schedule below or view it online at CitizensUnited.org/CPAC!  All screenings are free of charge to CPAC attendees, and will be held in the Delaware Ballroom. 

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The Obama Administration is retreating in the Global War on Terror.  It uses euphemistic phrases like “Overseas Contingency Operation” and “man-caused disasters” and tries to attribute “a variety of reasons” to attacks by Islamic radicals.  But the truth is that America is still very much at war – a war many believe we are losing.

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President Obama thinks that apologies, bows, and capitulation will disarm our enemies, but this kind of posture only encourages those who see such displays as weakness.  With the Iranian regime on the path to developing nuclear weapons, the United States must show a position of strength.  We are dealing with people for whom not even mutually assured destruction is a deterrent, “it’s an inducement because that is what they’re hoping for,” as America At Risk cast member Bernard Lewis says.

How can we prevail when our Commander-in-Chief won’t even call out the enemy by name?  Citizens United’s latest documentary “America at Risk” attempts to answer that question.  Hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich, “America at Risk” features some of the top terrorism experts in the world including former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, and 1993 World Trade Center bombing prosecutor Andrew McCarthy.  (more…)

This article was co-authored by Stephen K. Bannon.

This week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released a report on President Obama’s 2011 budget that ought to shock every single American.  According to the CBO, the federal government’s debt, which was $56,000 per-household at the beginning of President Obama’s tenure one year ago, has risen to $72,000 per-household today, and is expected to skyrocket to $170,000 per-household by 2020.  Should the CBO’s estimates prove accurate, the federal debt would represent 90% of the Gross Domestic Product of the United States in less than 10 years. 

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For some incomprehensible reason, Washington politicians have their heads planted firmly in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the looming disaster.  Instead of addressing the problem, last week, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid looking on approvingly, President Obama signed a nearly $1 trillion health care bill into law.  We’ve gotten to a point that 65% of Americans believe that the federal debt is the greatest threat to America’s future. 

But we did not accumulate a $12 trillion dollar debt overnight. This is not a problem that can be laid solely at the Obama Administration’s feet, nor is it entirely the fault of the free spending Congress led by Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.  America’s problems go far deeper than the policies of one administration – they are a result of a systemic rot that has eaten away at the financial foundation of our economy for decades.  It is the class of elite incumbents – politicians, bankers, and academics alike – that were reared in the self-indulgent 1960’s and who came to power in the 1990’s that have led us to the brink.  (more…)

The abject failures and endemic corruption of the United Nations are issues that I’ve always tried to bring attention to, especially since there are so many blindly faithful UN promoters in the film industry.  In fact, the 2nd film that I ever made was Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 with the late Ron Silver, who continues to be a source of inspiration to me and so many others. 

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Today, President Obama arrives at the UN to continue his policy of appeasement in person.  He will become the first president in American history to chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, and despite the fact that he had full power over the agenda to be discussed, he decided to take the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs off the table.  (more…)

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will take the highly unusual step of convening a special session to rehear arguments in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  This case has enormous implications for all Americans, but those of us who are filmmakers who depend on the First Amendment should pay particularly close attention. 

On the last day of the June session, the Supreme Court unexpectedly decided to order a rehearing of our case in order to reexamine two cases that are the pillars of some of the more restrictive provisions of campaign finance law, and that, I believe, are unconstitutional infringements on the First Amendment.  (more…)

In 2004, coalition forces in Iraq launched Operation Phantom Fury, the battle for control of Fallujah. American troops battled through a city of enemy insurgents, fighting house to house and street to street to seize control of the most dangerous city in the world.

Narrated by Senator Fred D. Thompson, “Perfect Valor” is the story of the high price paid by US forces and the legacy of that campaign as seen through the eyes of the men and women who were there, risking their lives in service to their country.
 
We meet a Navy Cross recipient, recognized for extraordinary gallantry under fire during the assault on Fallujah. A true American hero still haunted by his experience in Iraq. We listen to the family of a fallen Marine as they tell the story of their sacrifice. We hear the harrowing tale of a battalion surgeon who risked his own life to move an aid station forward, into the middle of the fight – a decision that saved thirty lives. (more…)

It is unnecessary for me to tell any of you reading this that the left has a stranglehold over both Hollywood and the mainstream media.  It is axiomatic in today’s news world dominated by the likes of Keith Olbermann and The New York Times that the “news” is delivered to your doorstep with a leftward slant.  

What are less well understood, however, are the lengths to which the government has gone to protect the left’s monopoly during the last decade and the complicity of the news media in that endeavor.  The recent confrontation between General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt and an O’Reilly Factor producer at GE’s shareholder meeting highlighted the nexus between government and the left-leaning media for all to see. 

For decades, the major broadcasting corporations and newspapers were the gatekeepers of the national political discourse in this country because the enormous infrastructure costs associated with setting up a news organization and a distribution network were prohibitive.  If you were a candidate, incumbent, or someone with a cause, you had to go hat-in-hand to the editors of these organizations asking them to take an interest in you or your cause.  If they accepted you, national attention followed, but if you were rejected by the media elites, you languished in anonymity.  In the last five or ten years, however, the cost of entry declined precipitously due to the proliferation of the internet, and the old guard found its cherished position atop the hierarchy being threatened by smaller upstart organizations.  (more…)

We’ve all noticed that coverage of the war in Iraq has dropped off over the last year or so.  Ever since it became an incontrovertible truth that the Bush Surge worked, The New York Times and MSNBC seem to have decided that there wasn’t much worth covering anymore.   Clearly, editors sitting in glass towers in New York City believe that “stories” like Korans being flushed down a toilet sell far more magazines than non-fiction accounts of hope and change in Iraq stemming from the hard work of our armed forces.  Now that things are going better in Iraq and controversies are more difficult to create, it doesn’t merit the “coverage” it once did. 

This phenomenon, while unfortunate, is not the most egregious failure of the mainstream media in covering the war in Iraq.  Focused as they were for the last five years on finding (or inventing from whole cloth) reasons to blast President Bush for anything that happened in Iraq, the reporters tasked with covering the conflict missed some of the most incredible acts of courage and sacrifice that have ever been performed.  Four soldiers, sailors, and marines have posthumously been awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of courage performed in Iraq, but few of us could name one of them.  (more…)

If the government has its way, Eminem’s new single could land him in jail, Jon Stewart’s book, America, could have been banned, and advertising Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 on television or radio would have been a felony.  That’s what the government argued two weeks ago in my organization’s Supreme Court case against the Federal Election Commission, Citizens United v. FEC. In oral arguments before the nine justices of the Supreme Court, the Deputy Solicitor General of the United States asserted that the government had the constitutional authority to criminalize the production of any communication with corporate assistance (such as from a publishing house or a film studio) that advocates the election or defeat of a federal candidate near an election.

That is a stunning claim when you consider that the vast majority of film, music and books in this country is produced commercially, i.e., with corporate assistance.  Effectively, the government claims that the First Amendment, contrary to popular belief, does not confer an inviolable right to speak freely about our elected officials.  Instead, it is the government’s opinion that it is only by the grace and goodwill of Congress that we are permitted to commercially market books and movies that speak out for or against candidates for federal office.  (more…)