I have great respect for my opponents in the race for U.S. Senate…but they are creatures of government."
Forth Worth Texas -- Saturday November 19 2011 Texas Federation of Republican Women Biennial Convention
Tom Leppert: Thank you and it is a real honor to be with you today.
Now some of you might be asking the question what in the world is this Leppert guy doing here?
He hasnt been in elected office for the last 15 years. He hasnt given hundreds or thousands of political speeches. He hasnt spent the last decade or two preparing himself to run for office. And he is certainly not the guy who is next on the list for the US Senate.
And thats exactly why Im running. You see what I have been doing is spending a career solving problems and creating jobs not making speeches about them.
Ive been one of those folks who has actually been out there doing it.
I want to ask you all a question: How many of you feel today that our country is on the right track?
Well I agree.
And the problem is not on Main Street or Wall Street. The problem is on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Today we have a President who talks about hope and change.
His change is moving away from the original principles of our founders and the Constitution. His change is turning a back to the fundamental Judeo-Christian principles that has been the base of the nation and the core of who we are. His change is abandoning the basic principles of free enterprise and entrepreneurship that have led to our strength and wealth.
But lets not fool ourselves: the problem is on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. No political party has a monopoly on the broken promises and lack of accountability weve been seeing for the past several decades.
We have a Congress that keeps talking about getting government out of the way and coming up with solutions.
And where are we as a nation?
We have amassed $15 trillion in debt.
But Im a businessman. I know that debt also includes future obligations you have no source to fund. By that measure the real debt is $75 trillion nearly $700000 per household. How many of your neighbors can handle that?
Today we have an unemployment rate of 9 percent.
That is a bad number but its not the right number.
The real number including the people that have given up is well over 16 percent.
Thats 30 million Americans.
How many of your friends are worried about their jobs?
But the reality is that all the professional politicians like do is talk. They like to give a speech say the right things and then declare victory. But theyve never cut a dollar of spending and theyve never created a job.
Let me be frank with you:
Simply giving a speech about creating jobs doesnt make you a job creator.
Giving a speech about the economy doesnt make you a businessman.
And giving a speech about changing the culture in Washington doesnt make you a reformer.
Dont you love those politicians and their seven-second sound bites…confusing platitudes and campaign slogans with real solutions?
I can tell you in business you cant survive on seven-second sound bites. But more importantly our country cant survive on seven-second sound bites either.
If were going to get our country back on track we need to start electing people who have actually walked the walk. Not politicians but real leaders.
I have great respect for my opponents in the race for U.S. Senate…but they are creatures of government.
You simply cant spend your career climbing the political ladder jumping from one office to the next and then tell us youre going to make a difference in Washington. It just doesnt work.
Its easy to say youre conservative. Its easy to read a political poll and tweak your rhetoric. Its easy to confuse your talking points with solutions.
But actually taking the initiative putting your neck on the line and getting something donethats something completely different.
Im Tom Leppert and Im running for US Senate because we cannot keep sending the same types of folks to Washington and expect different results.
If you feel the next guy on the list whos been on the political circuit the longest or someone who has worked in government all their life positioning themselves to be a career politician will make this country better…then Im probably not the guy for you.
I wasnt the next guy when I ran for mayor. But I was the guy who had a plan to fix a dysfunctional government and finally get some things done and we did just that.
The story is the same today.
Creating and providing opportunities is not simply an academic exercise to me. Ive been a leader in the private sector for over 25 years leading companies in five industries small medium size businesses all the way to large businesses … and Ive created thousands of jobs.
And I dont talk in seven-second sound bites. I might take a little bit longer but youre going to get give you real concrete and specific solutions to our problems.
I know the problems facing our economy. I know what the ludicrous tax regulatory and other policies do. And the reason I know is because I have the scars on my back.
Laura and I have been married for 26 years and weve raised three great kids.
I understand that if we dont see some real changes come from Washington were going to be the first generation in our nations history to pass on something lesser to our children. I know it because I see it in my childrens eyes.
And I also understand the importance of keeping the American Dream alive. I know because Ive lived it.
My dad died when I was very young and he left my mom deep in debt. My mother had to work to support me and she raised me by herself. She didnt have an education. She was employed as a secretary and she worked hard every single day and sacrificed every single day.
She taught me and instilled values: the power of faith the importance of hard work and the necessity of integrity and honesty.
I had my first job when I was only twelve and one of the more glamorous jobs I had in school was as a janitor at a medical center.
No one is ever going to tell me what its like to be a part of the American working-class.
I worked my way through college and later in life I was blessed with the opportunity to visit places and accomplished things that I never dreamed about as a young boy.
Our nation not too long ago was widely regarded as a country that had boundless opportunity.
But today too many people think our best days are behind us. Too many people have seen the nations moral go down.
We have professional politicians who run away from problems…problems like immigration and spending…because they think it might hurt their political careers.
And when they do they cost you and I more and more every single day.
But it doesnt have to be that way. Although our government is broken and our economy is stagnant the challenges we face are solvable given we choose leaders with the right experience and ideas.
This is not about problems this is about opportunities.
Our generation doesnt have to be the generation that presides over the decline of our nation but rather the generation that actually gets it right and preserves the American Dream.
But its going to take different leaders with new approaches. Its going to take people willing to give up their political careers and its going to take people who have experience creating jobs.
