Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina is a shining example of the fact that, contrary to what Barack Obama says, everyone has had the opportunity to make it in America. Everyone has had a fair shot to get their ‘fair share’. It’s only a matter of whether or now and how they choose to take advantage of the opportunity to pursue and obtain the American dream.

Scott opened up his remarks at CPAC this year with one simple question. “How many of you like me believe in the future of America?”

The crowd showed their answer to the question with loud applause. Scott continued saying because he believes in the future of America, his opportunity agenda focuses on people and not big government.

Because I believe in the future of America, my opportunity agenda focuses on the people and not big government.

America is about Americans and self-determination. We are not about the government. The greatest asset we have cannot be found in Washington, DC. Not in Obama’s executive orders do we find the greatness of America. We find them in the wisdom of our founding fathers and the pages of our Constitution. The success of our economy is seen in the size of our ideas, not the size of our tax bills. We need to cut our taxes, not raise them.

Greatness is created in relationships when people pool their resources together and start small business, in garages, coffee shops and at kitchen tables.

Senator Scott then shared his personal experience of going from a troubled kid struggling in school, in fact failing miserable, to being one who worked hard to achieve. He owes a lot of who he is to his mentor who showed him that a life of poverty did not have to be his destiny.

I view waffle fries as freedom fries because that’s how I met my mentor. 

I was losing my way. I had flunked out of high school as a freshman. John Moniz came along at just the right time. That Citadel graduate taught me that you can think your way out of poverty. He taught me if you want to escape poverty, an education can get you out of it.

It taught me that kids, not unions, should be the focus of our education. Parents, not bureaucrats in Washington, should decide the path of their child’s education. When the parents have a choice, the kids have a chance.

We need to set free all the potential for all the kids in our country through school choice.

Scott believes that school choice should include a dual track educational program to address the needs and dreams of those kids who may not wan to go to college. Learning a trade or skill of some sort would give them the chance to ‘earn while they learn’. Doing so will help address the vacancy of what Scott said are 4 million jobs unoccupied due to a lack of people with the skills necessary to fill them.

In closing, Scott gave a nod to the people giving them the credit for making the difference in Washington.

You are the backbone of the conservative movement and men and women like myself stand on your shoulders.

WATCH the full video of Tim Scott’s speech at CPAC 2014. Click on image below to view Tim’s speech.

About Jennifer Burke

Jennifer Burke became politically active for the first time at the Porkulus Tea Party in Seattle in February 2009. She was a speaker at the Seattle Tax Day Tea Party at Westlake Center on April 15, 2010, was featured in a popular Tea Party video, Proud to be a Teabagger , that has gone viral on YouTube and many top conservative blogs, and was a speaker at the WA 4 WI rally in support of Scott Walker. View all Posts by Jennifer