Sen. Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair Soapbox

well thank you very very much thank you for that very generous introduction thank you everyone for coming out and and taking some time from the fantastic state fair and

is really hard to screw up meat on a stick and I'll tell you it is fantastic the American gothic sculpture was breathtaking and

I'm looking forward to haven't seen yet the butter cow but I'm looking forward to afternoon to see in the butter cow you know you look at all of these fantastic

foods and it reminds you of a new diet that's really quite popular in Washington nowadays called

the Obama die it works very very well you just let Putin eat your lunch everyday you know I want to come to you today with

a word of encouragement and hope and optimism we are living in a time of extraordinary challenges we're

living at a time of urgency the most frequent thing I hear is I travel the state of Texas I travel the country is

men and women who come up to me they put their hand on my shoulder and they say Ted I'm scared I'm scared that we're bankrupting our country I'm scared that our constitutional liberties are being taken away I'm

across this country people are waking up thank you Sir you have a lovely day all across this country people

are waking up and and they're waken up to bring America back to the principles we have been founded on there is a better way then

the path where on there is a way to come back and revive American exceptionalism Rhys store

the American dream and I'm gonna tell you three things I think all of us need to get behind to bring back the American dream number

one we need to champion jobs and growth and opportunity we are trapped right now and what I call the great stagnation for

nineteen seventy eight and I'll tell you the people who are hurting the most in the Obama economy are the most vulnerable among us they're

young people they're Hispanic their African Americans their single moms couple of months ago I was in Nebraska

at a big rally about a thousand people out in in north Platte Nebraska and a single mom came up to me young woman and she hugged my neck she

said ten I've got six kids at home my husband I mean he won't pay child and I'm working right now five jobs none of them are even thirty hours a week because

the threshold for obamacare is thirty hours a week thank you Sir Brigitte you're exercising your first amendment rights god

bless you Sir she said I've got five jobs I'm struggling to keep food on the backs of my you can't close on the backs of my kids and I never ever ever have time to see my kids people

are hurting right now and we need to get back to an environment where the economy is booming were small businesses are growing more opportunity is

me I think about the story of my dad fifty seven years ago my father fled Cuba my dad had been in prison he'd been tortured as a teenager in Cuba and

he fled Batista he came to Texas in nineteen fifty seven couldn't speak English he was eighteen and

he had a hundred dollar sewn into his underwear Jackie I don't advise carry money in your underwear but he got shop washing

dishes make it fifty cents an hour and he worked full time he paid his way through school and went on to start a small business and

to work for the American dream now my dad has been my hero my entire life but you know what I find most incredible about his story how