"Thomas Jefferson and I share a home in the Virginia piedmont - a land graced with God’s beauty and blessed with his legacy.

The home of a child born to a poor teenage mother with a high school education in the segregated south. His father was not around.

Most folks thought he had no future.

But the boy’s mother believed that where there is God there is hope. Where there is liberty, there is opportunity.

His mother knew that hard work and personal responsibility are the twin pillars of opportunity.

That’s why the boy went to work when he was only 12 – to help support his family.

His mother said “no” to welfare and worked three jobs. Yet, there were times when ends didn’t quite meet.

At night, as his family shared a bed for warmth, his mother offered the words that would impact the boy forever:

“Don’t curse the darkness, son. Light a candle.”

That young boy never forgot his mother’s words.

Tonight that young boy stands before you – representing the same seat held by Thomas Jefferson – in this great city where Mr. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence -- the creed that binds us together as Americans:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But opportunity and freedom are not perpetual guarantees.

Ask any parent. They’ll tell you that the American dream is embodied in the hope that their children will have more opportunities than they did.

In pursuing that dream –
Race and skin color don’t matter.
Economic station doesn’t matter.
National origin doesn’t matter.

What matters is the inner spirit of a child.

What matters is that every child, from every background, in every classroom in America is treated as an individual with a mind and a heart.

More than ever before, we need a president who has the vision, the compassion, and the experience to open these new opportunities to all our children.

We need a president who will lead the effort to end the destructive habit of categorizing children according to the color of their skin, family income, or national origin.

Low expectations and low standards may be the liberal prescription for America's poor and minority kids, but we know better.

This party of Lincoln and Reagan and Bush - this party of growth, opportunity, and progress – must be the flame for parents and children who, against all odds, still find the faith and courage to light a candle in the darkness.

Governor Bush knows that it’s time we find new and better ways to create opportunities for all Americans.

He knows that it is time we ensure that no child is left behind, so that tomorrow’s America is one of unlimited hope and boundless opportunities.

God bless you all, and may God bless America."

(Taken from http://avenue.org/acrc/paulspeech.html on August 25, 2000).