"I wish to thank the members of the Richmond Kentucky 912 Club for their warm reception.
It must seem like everything that you thought you could rely upon; the steadfastness of our system of limited constitutional government, the willingness of those we elect to debate, compromise, and deliberate in the best interests of this country, and the certainty that those hard won liberties which many in this room fought to preserve, all seem to be under threat. But this is the reality of America in the year 2012.
At a time of massive job losses, a crumbling economy and an off the rails financial sector, those we elected and sent to Washington to address this country's problems, decided not to work together but to obstruct one another and play a sad but all too often seen game that places the platitudes of party above that of service to country.
A great compromise allowed those assembled in Philadelphia, to leave there with a constituion that could be ratified by enough states to bring this great republic into being. The problems they faced were daunting, but good men can always summon the goodwill, and the good sense to do good, and they did, and the American Republic was born.
But there came along an 'obstructionist' who together with an activist court destroyed the constitutional protection of property and privacy in this country. They split that great compromise asunder and slavery which was to have ended in 1808 went on for another 55 years until the Emancipation Proclamation, and 57 years until the 13th amendment.
And today, we have a chief executive who celebrates the Jacksonian era, and a Congress that embraces the obstructionist platform, while jobs remain few and far between, the economy is still in need of repair and our financial sector languishes aimlessly.
We remember the election in 1960, and many of you were children at that time, went to your grandfathers because the talk, the issue at the time, was can or should we elect a Catholic president. And, you asked your grandfather, what is a Catholic? And somehow he tried to tell you that a Catholic listens to the Pope in a far away Rome and people are concerned that he will listen to the Pope over his responsibility to the US Constitution. But the American people saw fit to elect Kennedy and the nation did not become a colony of the Vatican.
In 2008 there came an opportunity to break through another barrier, but this time it was not religion but race. And your grandchildren came to you and asked what will happen if we elect a person of African origin to the presidency. With all that happened to them won't they take this as an opportunity to seek revenge. But the American people saw fit to overcome that fear and there are no concentration camps for the descendants of slave owners in this country.
And now, your grandchildren come to you and ask you, what is a Mormon? And, you try and tell them but it is a difficult question to answer. But these are the your loved ones and you know they will carry the words you say to them well into their adulthoods, and you struggle to answer them.
You tell them that although the framers of the constitution were religious men themselves, they declared that ... no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
And, somehow you tell your grandchildren that what is important ultimately is an oath and a creed. The important thing is that a person seeking the presidency, can honestly and without mental reservation, swear or affirm, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. And, accept without reservation that this is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
And, may Providence continue to guide this great nation."