>> in a few moments, our coverage of the polk county republican fund-raiser, including remarks from the rick perry, ron paul, and thaddeus mccotter. and about 40 minutes, at a forum on jobs and social justice hosted by afl-cio. ♪

>> texas gov. rick perry says president obama may have inherited that the economy, but has made it worse. he spoke at the polk county republican party fund-raiser over the weekend. he was introduced by simon conway, who presented him with a holster. later, we will hear from other gop presidential candidate.

the entire event is about 45 minutes. ♪ [applause] >> good afternoon. >> i know this is on usual. you will understand and a minutes. before we get going, i have to do something. if you'll just bear with me for a moment, i would appreciate it. i made a promise to one of our veterans. in addition to being a veteran, he tells me he is a servant of god. he is also a craftsman. he wrote to me this take andy

told me that he wanted to attend today, but he does not doubt very much these days. this is what he said. gov. rick perry has got my attention with some of his comments. by the way, governor, this is iowa. i do not know if i am going to support him yet, but i wanted to give him some encouragement as he goes out there on the campaign trail. please give him this 1911 handcart -- hand carved holster for me. which i'm about to do. he was a very famous texas lawmen. governor, from one great veteran to another, that is for you. [applause]

>> thank you very much. it is named after the year that it was first made by colts. this as -- this is the centennial year for the 1911. there is a little bit of history for you. perfect. i appreciate that coming from an individual to serve our country. i want to take a moment. i learned to drive on a john deere. it is made right up here in iowa. god bless john deere. they have helped feed the world. we just need a little rain down in texas so we can do our part. the farmers in iowa are doing theirs. god bless them.

it is good to be here. it does not make any difference to me whether you were talking -- i feel right at home when you're talking about paupers. -- peppers. it is an honor to be here. it was 12 days ago when i was here. the fare was wide open and there were 100,000 people. there are still a lot of folks here. i love this state and it makes me feel at home. you all lead the nation and the production of corn and soybeans. you are an impressive number two in wind energy production. the reason we are number when -- the reason why we are number one is because we have more space.

i'm not bragging. i get it. crying up on a cotton farm -- growing up on a cotton farm, i know the value of hard work. that is what is reflected here in the state by your citizens. i do not think anyone demonstrate it any better than the folks of by what. -- iowa. as the governor of the state to is going through a very hard drought, just as you well work devastated by floods in years past. the outpouring of support from this tiny little town. they have really touched a lot of parts in texas.

farmers and church leaders, they have organized the transportation of hay down to texas to give to some cattle ranchers. it did not take a government bureaucrat to make that happen. just generous hearts of people. i want to say thank you to iowa to help you have sent to texas. [applause] just because you have a good crop going, it does not mean that there are not some violence -- iowans that are struggling. since the stimulus package was passed.

$5,600 -- 56 manufacturing jobs. -- 5600 manufacturing jobs. that is a testament to the widespread misery created by this administration. the state known for feeding the world's has so many residents dependent on government just to pay for their food. the obama administration official, former governor of iowa, he recently referred to food stamps as an economic stimulus. food stamps are not the solution. they are a symptom of the problem that too many people are without work. food stamps did not stimulate the economy. they stimulate government dependents. most americans do not yearn to

be dependent on government subsidies. they want economic freedom. economic freedom comes from work and wages, not welfare. since the time i was old enough to drive the tractor, i knew that the american way was not about empowering government, it was about empowering people. that is the american way. [applause] leaders see it differently, though. to be fair, president obama did inherit a bad economy. to this fall, he made it worse. he delivered a trickle down bureaucracy, spending close to $800 million of stimulus that trickled down for the bureaucracy to handpicked industries to create temporary jobs. instead of eliminating our

economic crisis, he worse in debt. instead of addressing the debt, he exploited it. he promised lower employment at this particular point in his presidency. one in six work-eligible americans cannot find a full- time job. that is not an economic recovery, mr. president. that is an economic disaster. [applause] it is time for change. i am not talking about the rhetoric of change, i am talking about the record of change. i have that record. if you look at the state of texas, we are where we are by keeping taxes low, cutting spending, making sure that regulations are fair and stopping frivolous lawsuits. we just passed a loser pays program in the state of texas to add to our substantial tort

reform. our economy is responsible for 40% of all the jobs created in america since june of 2009. think about that. 40% of all the jobs created were in one state. some would say, you have been creating jobs for 20 years. that is true. as paul harvey might say, let's get to the rest of the story. the rest of the story is this. under the two governors before jobs.xas didn't create the entire nation was creating jobs in the 1990's. since i've become governor, texas has created more than 1 million jobs while the rest of the country lost 2.5 million. the difference is, we were not

writing an american wave of prosperity. we were swimming against the current. the point is not to brag. the point is to say, as a nation, we can, we must do better. when i am president, we will. [applause] it is up to this generation of americans to stand for freedom. to send a message to washington, d.c. that we are taking our future back from the grips of the central planners who are controlling our health care, spending our treasure, downgrading our future, and micromanaging our lives. we have had enough. it is time to limit and simplify taxes. we have to stop spending money that we do not have. we have to repeal this president's misguided one size fits all health care plan. [applause]

we will create jobs. we will educate and innovate in science and technology and engineering to create the jobs and the progress that is needed to get america working again. i promise you this. i will work every day to make washington d.c., as inconsequential in your life as i can. i promise you that. i believe in america. i believe in her promise. i believe her best days are still in front of us. i believe our children are still yet to write the great story about this country. with your help on the courage of the american people, we will get our country working again. god bless you. thank you for being with us today. [applause]

♪ ♪ >> polk county also heard from

ron paul. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. it is so nice to see this large crowd. such a friendly crowd. i am delighted to be here. it was mentioned, there you go, that is a little better. it was mentioned a minute ago by simon and about 40% of the american people are not paying taxes. nearly half of the people are not paying income taxes. we are halfway there, that was my response. that has been one of my goals. i am pretty old-fashioned on some of the things, like the constitution. if we had people in washington that only voted for bills that were constitutionally correct, we would not need -- we would

not need an income tax. you do not need all of that money. we would not be the policeman of the world. that is my ideal. that is my goal. i do not talk a lot about flat taxes and sales taxes and the different ways. i want a flat tax, but i want it very flat. not only getting rid of the income tax, but our goal should be even more easily achievable. i do not think we should have an inheritance tax on all. we should repeal that. [applause] our problem is government is too big. as government gets bigger, your personal liberties are diminished. there is no way that you can escape it. if you deliver to the government the responsibility to take care of the economy and to be the policeman of the world, you cannot do that without high taxation.

taxation is a symptom of what the people's appetite is for government. for us to change what is happening in washington, the people have to change their appetite for government. if you believe in the entitlement system and you believe that we have to be in 130 countries and fight endless wars, you have to have high taxation. taxes are so high that it does not even pay the bills. we live within our means, then we borrow, then we cannot borrow any more. what we do? we invent this really ridiculous idea, but we are short money, select print it. this is why the federal reserve system and the monetary system has to be addressed if you want to address the subject of big government. my position is loud and clear. we do not need a federal reserve system. we need a gold standard for our money. [applause]

if we have a government that honored that, government would be limited in size because if the federal reserve could not print money, interest rates would go up and congress would have to cut back spending. it would be self regulating. unfortunately, we do not have that. we left the gold standard in 1971. if you look at any economic charge from 1971 on, economic growth has been diminished, deficits each year are huge, the entitlement system is bigger than ever. it is a result of no restraints. the appetite for spending is endless. unfortunately, we as members of congress, have been rewarded for it because -- guess what, we live in a different world today.

it is a different world for everybody is challenging the entitlement system. i challenge the entitlement system, on principle. i did not believe entitlements are right and we have to get back to understanding what our rights are. you have a right to your life, your liberty. people who claim they are entitled to something does not mean they have a right to what you earn. [applause] i have talked a lot about foreign policy. i will not talk so much about it tonight. foreign policy is very important. there is a lot of spending an aunt. there are some basic principles that we should adhere to. i resent the fact that we go to war without your permission. the constitution is clear. we go to war with a declaration.

the congress gets behind it and the people get behind it. you know with the enemy is. you get it over with and you do not drag it out for tender 20 years. -- tan or 20 years. [applause] the other thing i resent is the method that we go to war. we did not even ask the congress anymore. we ask the united nations. and then we get a resolution. then we go to nato and nato organizes. we become marching troops for nato. i do not believe that we should be in the united nations. [applause] we have been careless with that for a long time, ever since world war ii. this libya is an affront to our dignity. we went to war there with the

president flaunting and saying, i do not need to talk to you. not even a token resolution. the congress has not stood up to the president. the president goes to war and says, no big deal. i get my orders from nato. if we knew and understand -- understood what national sovereignty meant, we would not succumb to this. we would not allow this to happen. we would act within the confines of the constitution. i blame the lack of respect for the constitution on almost everything. getting back to a dignified economy and common-sense, while we just obey the constitution once again? that would solve some of our problems.

-- that would solve so many of our problems. the things that we are not allowed to do is express -- and they are expressed in the ninth and 10th amendments. those powers and rights of a given to the government, if they are not given to the government, bear left to the states. the state's need to express their cells and to say that they have a response -- their cells and to said they have a responsibility. we should not be a reference to the federal government all the time. what about education? how long have we been deferring to the federal government about education? did we amend the constitution? we just started doing it. we should say something. we do not need a department of

education. we need to take care of our schools by ourselves. [applause] we have a lot of problems. i have a lot of goals. some people said they are idealistic. if you do not have ideals, you are not going to go very far. the most responsible thing would be for parents to be responsible for the education in the local communities. that is what should be done. [applause] we really do not need a department of education. if you are looking for places to cut, we could start with the department of education and a few other departments that we do not need. [applause] when you look at these problems, it is always good to be able to opt out of the system. if you cannot change it, the monetary system is a mess,

people should have the right to opt out. today, if you use gold and silver as legal tender, the federal government can accuse you of terrorism and counterfeiting. the counterfeiters are all the federal reserve. [applause] i would like to legalize your constitutional right to use gold and silver as money. if you like the paper money, keep using it. if you think that you should use honest money, use gold and silver. you can do that for education as well. we have a monstrosity of a bureaucracy controlling education at the federal level. we always have to argue the case for opting out. that means we should never allow government to encroach upon your rights to do home schooling and private schooling. [applause]

in medicine, yes, i would like to opt out of obama-care. i would like to get rid of the obama-care. you ought to be able to opt out of the whole system. put our money in and pay our own bills and get our tax deduction and by a major medical policy and what the government stay out of our lives? [applause] i would like to see the day it when the government stays out of relies and out of our wallets. we would all be better off if we had a government like that. we are in big trouble right now. financial trouble. it was predictable. the austrian free-market economists had predicted this for a long time. timing is something harder to predict. if you print a lot of money, the

value of that currency is going to go down. it is going down more rapidly than it has in many years. the real danger that we face today is the fact that we could have runaway inflation. yes, the entitlements will not be paid and there will be anger and demonstrations on the street. on the way inflation is very dangerous. that is a political crisis. when you have chaos, what happens is people are too anxious. i have come to the conclusion that sacrificing your liberty to be more safe does not work. he sacrificed it, but you are never more safe. we need to protect our liberties. that is what our goal should be. [applause]

one of the responsibilities of the federal government, one of the major responsibilities is national defence. given us a sound currency and an economic system that provides the opportunity and a chance free to take care of yourself. we need to reemphasize this like we have never emphasized it before. we have to know what we believe them. we cannot say, we want a little bit of freedom here and think that is gone to work. we have to know what our goal is. the purpose of all political action should be the protection of liberty. not for running your life, not for running the economy. a president or a congress does not know how to run the economy. they do not know how you should spend your money. they do not know what your spiritual values are. the government should not be involved in that. the sooner we learned that lesson, the faster we can shrink this budget. if we get into a situation where

there is chaos, i am afraid to many people say, we want order. the best quarter in a free society, and the only way you can be protected, is not by having more police them. not by having more federal agents with guns. you need a firm understanding and a conviction on how the second amendment works to protect you in a physical manner. [applause] a lot of people are discouraged and die at discouraging news for you, generally. but there is a lot of good news out there. a lot of people are paying attention to what this country is all about. what made us great, what made us a prosperous? by taxation is wrong. people are thinking about it. the young people are talking about this and very interested.

understanding why we should not have a federal reserve system and why the constitution is so important. that is where i get my encouragement. i believe that people are thinking this way because now it is down to only 17% that believe our federal government is acting within the confines of what they're permitted to do. the very large majority are disgusted with it and they are looking for answers. we tested them for a couple of hundred years. for the last 80 years, we have allowed it to slip. we have lost our determination to study and understand how free markets work. people give us a bad rap. we did a bad rap because they say we do not care. we do not have any compassion, we do not care about our fellow man. the truth is, if you are truly the truth is, if you are truly