...You know when I thought about what I wanted to talk to you about tonight, it occurred to me I think it's important we focus on the most dangerous, the most destructive part of President Obama's legacy, what troubles me most about what he's leaving behind for our country.

Now this is a tough, a tough list to choose from; there's a lot that this president's doing that worries me.  This is a president that's leaving us—that's already incurred, and now he's run up the debt to over $17 trillion.  He has put Obamacare, he's put bureaucrats between us and our physicians.  This is a president that's made a mess out of our foreign policy, he's raising taxes, and through the EPA he's trying to strangle our economy and making energy more expensive.  He's done so many negative things in our country.  So many of those things can be undone, but one of the things that concerns me the most is this president's relentless efforts to redefine the American Dream.

You listen to his speeches, you watch his actions.  It seems to me this president, when you listen to him talk about the American Dream, I hear this president talk about class warfare;  I hear this president talk about dividing us by race, by age, by gender, by geography; I hear this president talk about the equality of outcomes, not the equality of opportunity; I hear this president talk about a bigger, more expensive, more expansive, more intrusive federal government; I hear this president talk about managing the slow decline of this once great country, this once great economy.  When I hear this president speak, when I see his policies, it seems to me he wants to make us look more and more like the countries in Europe.  I don't know about you, but that's not the American Dream my parents taught me about.

Growing up—growing up my parents taught me the American Dream is a dream where the circumstances of a child's birth doesn't determine his outcome as an adult.  They taught me an America where we are forever young, where our best days are always ahead of us.  They taught me about an America where we are guaranteed equality of opportunity, where if you work hard, if you get a great education, you can do even better than your parents.  Indeed how many parents have told their children you can be the first in our family to get an education, you can be the first in our family to go and start a business, you can be the first in our family to become a doctor, a lawyer, a farmer, an accountant, whatever you dream of becoming.  How many moms and dads have told their little children anybody can grow up to become President of the United States.  Now unfortunately we learned how true that was in 2012 and 2008. 

You know Mark Twain said the older we get, the smarter our parents become.  I don't know about you, but I'm turning in more and more every day, I'm turning in more and more into my parents.  And it worries me greatly.  I sound more and more like my dad when I talk to my kids.  I say things—I don't know if you ever say thing like this to your children—I say things to my kids like, if your friends were to jump off a bridge would you jump off a bridge?  I have no idea what it means, but my dad said it to me, and I say it to my kids.  My dad used to also say, and I've begun to say this to my kids well you don't live in a democracy as long as live under my roof; you're going to follow my rules as long you live in my house.  But one of the things my dad would always tell my brother and me growing up, he said sons, I'm not giving you a famous last name, I'm not giving you an inheritance, but every day you should get on your knees and thank Almighty God you were blessed to be born in the greatest country in the history of the world, the United States of America.

Now I want to talk about the American Dream and what we can do to restore the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.  I want to start with why it's so personally important to me.  You see my parents, they've lived the American Dream.  My dad's one of nine children; he literally grew up in a house without running water, without electricity, the first and the only one in the family to get past the 5th grade.  I know because we heard these stories every single day growing up.  You try to get an allowance from a father like that.  He wanted to charge me room and board; he said I'm going to deduct what you eat out of your allowance.  But here's the amazing thing.  My dad, he grows up, he gets an education, he marries my mom, and then nearly 50 years ago they come half way across the world to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in search of the American Dream.

Now I will say this, I was going to talk about this later—I will say this—they came to this country legally.  On Monday I went down to the border, went down to the Rio Grande, went down to the Texas border with Mexico.  While I was there with Texas Public Safety [I] saw three different groups coming across the border in broad daylight.  I've got a very simple message for the president of the United States.  We don't need a comprehensive bill, we don't need another 1000-page bill.  He simply needs to man up, he needs to secure the border and he needs to get it done today, no more excuses, no more delays.

But going back to my parents' story, my parents come half way across the world, and I want you to think about something.  There's no internet; it's expensive to make long distance phone calls; they've never visited Baton Rouge, Louisiana; they've never even met anybody who's visited Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  They can't ask somebody so what is the food like, what are the people like, what are the temperatures?  They've never been there.  But they know in their bones, if we can get there, and if we work hard, we can create even more opportunities for our children and our grandchildren.  They came to get the American Dream.  They came—  My mom enrolled at LSU.  My dad was living with her in married student housing.  They had very little money in their pockets, so he was looking for a job.

Didn't know what to do, he opened up the yellow pages, started calling company after company after company.  I don't know if it toke him a month, I don't know if it took him a week, I don't know if it took him hours; I don't know how long it took, but he called company after company.  Now my dad's got an accent.  Not like me; Southerners we don't have an accent, that's just how normal people talk.  That's not what I mean.  He's got an accent.  So I don't know how many companies he called, I don't know how many people hung up on him, but he finally gets a guy from a railroad company who hasn't even met him that says to him, you can start Monday morning.  So taken by his enthusiasm, his energy, his desire to work, he says you can start Monday.  I love what my dad says to his new boss, hasn't even met him yet.  He says, well that's great.  He says now look, I don't have a car, I don't have a driver's license; you're going to have to pick me up on the way to work Monday morning.  His new boss was so taken by him, he did that.

Six month later I was born at Women's Hospital, the same hospital where two of our children would be later born.  I was what you'd politely call a pre-existing condition.  Now there was no Obamacare or anything; all that meant was my parents' insurance didn't cover me and didn't cover my birth.  What I love is what happened next.  Because my dad, he went to the doctor, and he shook hands with the doctor and he made a promise.  He said every month I'm going to send you a check until I pay this bill in full.  There was no paperwork; there was no government program, no contract.  Just two men shaking hands in a hospital.  And that's the way things used to be done.  Now I don't know if that would work today.  I asked my dad, I said how do you pay for a baby on lay-away?  I mean if you miss a payment can they take the baby back.  What do they do?  I mean.  He told me, don't worry, son, you're paid for; they're not taking you back.  Now the amazing thing when my two kids were born there, two of our kids, we had great insurance, it took me hours to fill out the paperwork. 

By the way, our third child, that was the one born at home.  I won't go through all that, I'll just tell you two things out of that story.  One, to every man in the audience you need to turn around, you need to thank your wife.  There's a reason the good Lord doesn't let men have babies.  Dumbest thing I ever heard was a week later in church a guy said the same thing happened to me—  'Cause we didn't plan on this.  My wife said, if the good Lord didn't intend me to do this in the hospital he wouldn't have created all those good drugs; I wasn't meant to be delivering this baby on the bathroom floor.  A man, a week later in church said to me the same thing happened to me.  I said what are you talking about?  He said I had me a kidney stone; it's exactly the same thing.  I said, I wouldn't tell my wife that. 

The other thing I'll tell you, the last thing I'll tell you about that experience was that I've been married to my wonderful bride for 17 years this October.  That was the one and only time I've ever lied to my wife.  After the baby was born—you know there's a reason, there's a reason the nurse washes off the baby in the hospital before they give you the baby.  It's not, the babies don't come out pink like they do on TV and the movies, they don't come out all wrapped up in a blanket.  So my wife asked me well what does he look like?  If I was honest, I would have said he doesn't look like he's done; let's put him back in there for a little longer.  What I was honestly thinking was he look like your side of the family; he doesn't look like my side of the family.  Instead I said he's a beautiful healthy baby boy, ten fingers, ten toes.  I gave her our son. 

I'll tell you one thing though.  We've had two other children before; this was our third child.  I fell in love with my wife all over again that first moment when she held our son for the first time.  She forgot her pain, she forgot the discomfort, she forgot for a moment that she was on the bathroom floor.  Just watching mom and child, what an amazing ability to witness the miracle of birth right there.  Now I have no desire to witness it again in that way, but—

Going back to the American Dream, I want to talk about what we can do and what we must to fight to restore the American Dream not only for that little baby boy but for all our children and grandchildren.  The reality is this.  I could talk about a lot of things we've done in Louisiana.  We've cut our state budget 26-percent; we have cut 28,000 state government jobs, the largest income tax cut in our state's history, a rapidly growing private sector economy, more people working than ever before earning the highest ever income.  We're consistently ranked the most pro-life state in the country.  We passed our own Second Amendment protections in our state constitution.  There are all kinds of things I'd like to talk to you about about what we have done in Louisiana.

But the one thing I want to spend my time today talking about is what we've done on education reform.  Because if we are honest and we believe that every child should have the chance to pursue the American Dream, we've got to fight to make sure that every child, every son or daughter has the chance to get a great education.  Now we've done several things in Louisiana about putting great teachers in our classrooms, paying them to be there, and reforming education.  One of the most important things we have done is we have said we're going to allow the dollar to follow the child rather than forcing the child to follow the dollars. 

Now what does that mean?  That means that we trust parents to be the first and best educators of their children.  No two children learn exactly alike.  Some kids will be better off home schooled, some kids will be better off in public schools, some kids will be better off in parochial schools, charter schools, Christian schools, online programs, dual enrollment programs.  The bottom line s no two children are exactly alike.  And so what we've done in Louisiana and New Orleans, we've got 90-percent of our kids in charter schools, doubling the percentage doing reading and math on grade level after five years.  Across the state we've done a statewide scholarship program.  Now the scholarship program grows by double digits every year.  We spend on average about 60-percent of what we'd otherwise spend on these students, saving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.  93-percent of the parents are satisfied.  I can give you statistics all day.

I want you to hear the story of just one mom.  I was visiting with a mom over in New Orleans East; she was coming and telling me her story.  She was nervous.  I was visiting her school , and you could tell she was nervous about coming to talk to me.  I took her aside so we could talk alone.  She brought her daughter.  I'd taken my picture with her daughter.  This was her story.  She said when my mom had me, she got pregnant as a teenager and went on welfare.  She said when I had my daughter, I was a teenager, and I went on welfare.  And she said my daughter is now in this school.  She said I'm working three jobs so she can say in your program, in this scholarship program.  She said governor this is the first time my daughter has ever brought home homework, the first time she's every worn a uniform to school, the first time there's been pen and paper in her classroom, the first time there were bathroom supplies in the bathroom, the first time she's even thinking about going somewhere after she completes her education and continuing her education and getting a job.  She said I don't want my daughter to make the mistakes that I made and that my mom made. 

To me that's the American Dream.  Wanting our children to be able to get an education, to work hard, to do better than we have done.  That's why I was so offended when the teacher unions, when they came out against this program, one of them actually had the audacity to say parents don't have a clue when it comes to making choices for their kids.  I met with a group of moms the next day that said we make choices for or kids every day; we know their needs better than the bureaucrats in Baton Rouge or Washington, DC.  That's why I was so personally offended when not only the Department of Justice, but Eric Holder and President Obama's administration took us to federal court to try to stop this program. 

I literally went and said to the—  I went to DC, went to the National Press Club and I invited the president himself to come meet with those moms.  I invited Eric Holder to come meet with those moms to explain why their children shouldn't have the chance to get a great education.  I went there and said this lawsuit is cynical, it is immoral, it is hypocritical.  I don't think I'm getting invited to the Obama White House for Christmas by the way.  This is cynical.  These children have one chance to grow up.  It is immoral, immoral to use the very laws designed to protect them to keep them trapped in failing schools.  It is hypocritical because there's no chance, there is no chance that either Eric Holder or President Obama would send their children to the same failing schools they're sending these kids back into.  They would choose to send their kids to better schools.  I'm glad they have that chance; I just want the same opportunity for every child in Louisiana and all across this entire country to get a great education.  Now we vowed to fight this thing all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.  The good news, the good news is we won in federal court.

But what I want to talk to you about today is how in the world did we get to the point where the federal government feels like it has the power to stop, stop parents from choosing to give their kids a better education? 

And by the way, when we're talking about federal overreach in education, you may have seen this last week I issued an executive order to get Louisiana out of Common Core when they sued us to make us stay in it, we went to federal court, state court.  We've said Common Core is a violation of the federal law—I also think it's a violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.  We sent a message to the Department of Edcuation— the federal government has no right, no role, no influence in setting the curriculum, deciding what is taught in classrooms in Louisiana.  They should have no role deciding what is taught in classrooms across the entire country.  The federal government needs to get out of our classrooms.  [biggest applause of speech]

But how did we get to the point where the federal government even thinks it has that power?  Remember what the union official said.  Parents don't' have a clue.  There's a pattern here.  When you've got a federal government, you've got an administration, they don't think we're smart enough, the left doesn't think we're smart enough to decide whether we want to drink a Big Gulp or not.  They don't think we're smart enough to pick the right schools for our children.  They don't think we're smart enough to have our Second Amendment rights, our First Amendment rights; they don't think we're smart enough to buy or own health insurance, to make decisions for ourselves. 

Remember when Bill Clinton famously said the era of big government was over?  Never has somebody been so wrong about something so important in our modern political history.  I actually agree with David Axelrod about something.  I was shocked to find out he and I actually agree on something.  He was defending the president after one of the many, many scandals.  There are so many it's hard to keep track of all of them.  This was his defense of the president.  He said the government is so vast, so expansive, there's no way the president could have known, could have been responsible for what was going on.  That's exactly the problem.  Our government has gotten so vast, so expansive, so intrusive—

If I could go back in time, if I were standing in front of you years ago before President Obama took office and said would you really believe our federal government would run up $17 trillion of debt?  We wouldn't believe that. 

We never would have thought. if I stood here years ago and said would you really believe that the federal government used the IRS to go after conservative groups, we wouldn't believe that.

If I was up here years ago and said would you believe the Department of Justice would get guns into the hands of the Mexican drug cartel in Fast and Furious, even while the fight the rights of law abiding American citizen to have guns, we wouldn't believe that.

If I could go back in time and tell you that we were going to lose—our ambassador was going to be killed in Libya and that they were going to blame it on a YouTube video, we wouldn't believe that. 

If I'd go back in time and said that then Secretary Clinton would get so exasperated in being questioned about this, she would say what difference does it make, we wouldn't believe that.

If I could go back in time and say that the administration was going to create an expensive new entitlement program to interfere with our health care at a time when we can't afford the programs we've got, we wouldn't believe that. 

And you look at the continued assaults on our liberties and our freedoms, perhaps one of the greatest and most threatening is the unprecedented assault on our religious liberty right here in the United States of America.  I don't know about you but I was so gratified, so glad to see the Supreme Court rule that the Green family in the Hobby Lobby case doesn't have to pay more than a million dollars a day simply because they don't want to spend their own money buying abortifacients for their employees because the federal government told them they had to.  My only question is this.  Why was that a 5-4 ruling?  Why wasn't that a 9-0 ruling affirming religious liberty in America?

You look at the assault on religious liberty that's going on in our country today.  When you hear the president and you hear Secretary, then Secretary Clinton, former Secretary Clinton talking about the freedom of worship, that's not religious liberty.  What they mean is you're allowed to believe what you want for an hour or two on Sunday and Wednesday and that's it.  That's not religious liberty; that's not what the Founding Fathers intended.  There is no freedom of speech, there is no right of association without religious liberty.  Our rights are predicated on the rights built into the First Amendment. 

Indeed when you look at this administration's assault on religious liberty, it makes me wonder.  We keep talking about this president being such a smart man and a constitutional scholar.  It makes me wonder.  I'm not generally, look I'm not in favor of lawsuits, but I actually have found a lawsuit I would recommend.  I think the president should sue Harvard Law School to get his tuition money back.  It'd be nice if our constitutional scholar would actually read the constitution.  I'm not sure what he learned in three years there. 

You may have noticed during the whole Duck Dynasty flap that the governor of Louisiana was one of their first and loudest defenders immediately when the left came after them.  Let me tell you why I did that.  You may think it's because they're friends, and they are.  You may think it's because they film their show in Louisiana, and they do.  You may think it's because my boys love the show, and by the way isn't it great to have a show you can actually watch with your family without being embarrassed with what they say and do?  No, I stood up, I stood up for Phil because I am tired of the left.  They say that they're for tolerance, they say they are for diversity, they say they respect other people.  The problem is, they're for tolerance unless you happen to disagree with them. 

It's no coincidence that the bulk of these attacks happen to be on evangelical Christians who share our views, our values, our beliefs.  It was so jarring for me.  You may have heard the president several weeks ago, a few months ago speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast.  He spoke eloquently about the need to defend the rights of Christians being persecuted overseas, and by the way that's a shooting war overseas.  It's not the same as the silent war on religious liberty here; that's a shooting war where Christians are being killed for their beliefs.  But it was so jarring to hear him speak so eloquently about what was going on and ignoring the Grand Canyon sized gap between what he was saying and what his administration is doing right here at home.  Maybe you didn't hear the speech.  If I could just summarize it for you, the president basically said this: If you like your religious liberty— you can keep your religious liberty.

You know as I close, it makes me wonder  You look at the foreign policy mess, you look at the domestic policy mess.  I'll just spend a couple of seconds about what's going on overseas.  Our president's apparently adopted a new catch and release policy towards terrorists.  And this is amazing me.  I want to make sure we're on the same page.  I want to ask you jut three simple questions.  I want to hear your answer to these. 

First, do you think the president of the United States should be negotiating with terrorists?  [Audience: "No!"]

Do you think the president of the United States should have the power to decide when he wants to obey and when he wants to break the laws and Constitution of the United States?
[Audience: "No!"]

And, then finally do you think this president of the United States, do you think this administration is doing enough to support our most important, our most stable, our longest ally in the Middle East, the people of Israel.  Do you think he's doing enough to support them in their war against the terrorist group Hamas?  [Audience: "No!"]

You know all of this leads me to wonder this, and this is truly a difficult question.  I really I struggle with this; I've wondered.  Are we witnessing right now in front of our very eyes the most liberal, ideologically extreme administration of our entire lifetimes in the White House?  [Audience: "Yes!"]  Or—  Are we witnessing the most incompetent administration in the White House in our lifetimes?  [Audience reaction]  I've wondered long and hard,  which is it?  Is this the most ideologically extreme or the most incompetent.  The best answer I could come up with is what Secretary Clinton said.  What difference does it make?

I'll close with this observation however.  Our best days are indeed ahead of us.  Our Founding Fathers were right.  They knew the genius of America is not in our government, it is not in those pretty buildings in Washington, DC; it is in the free people.  And they entrusted that freedom in our founding documents.  Our 40th president reminded us this.  He said every generation has to renew those principles of freedom for themselves.  It is now that time for us in Iowa, in Louisiana and America we've got a message to President Obama and the liberals in Washington, DC.  There's a rebellion brewing amongst these United States of America.  The people have had enough and we are ready to take our country back.  We don't need incremental change; we need big change in our nation's capital.  They'd better get out of the way. 

God bless you and God bless these United States of America.  Thank y'all very much.  Thank y'all very much.  Thank you guys.