GOP hopefuls praise, woo home school families in Des Moines appearance

DES MOINES - The debate over religious liberty in Indiana spilled over into Iowa Thursday as four presidential hopefuls pledged to defend the rights of parents who home-school their children to worship as they choose and educate their children as they wish.

Religious liberty is the 'civil rights issue of the 21st century,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told nearly 1,000 people at a forum hosted by the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators - NICHE - at a Des Moines hotel as part of its eighth annual Capitol Day.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal expressed alarm over the assault on religious liberty and said it's time to remind 'elites” that American did not create religious liberty, but 'religious liberty created America.”

Cruz, Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to win the backing of the home school association, which has become something of a force in Iowa Republican precinct caucus campaigns.

Part of that is simply numbers. There are more than 25,000 Iowans who are home schooled - roughly 6 percent of Iowa's school-age population 'and they are generally civic-minded, involved in their communities and the most likely to vote,” said Jamie Johnson, an Iowan and senior director of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's RickPAC. They typically 'like limited government and believe in personal empowerment and traditional education.”

All of the hopefuls stressed their respect for and connection to home schooling. Jindal and Huckabee touted their state legislation supporting home schooling. Santorum noted 'it's great to be here with fellow home school moms and dads.”

He implored the parents to trust their judgment in choosing a president just as they trust themselves to make the best decisions about educating their children.

'Do not defer to the experts,” he said.

Home schooling isn't easy, Huckabee said. He hopes there are enough Americans 'who have the same conviction to make the sacrifice for the country that you are willing to make for your children.”

However, he worried that too many people will not make that choice.

There are 80 million self-identified evangelicals, but only half are registered to vote and only half vote in a presidential election.

'I worry there's not the passion, the interest, and the commitment that is needed to get our country back where it needs to be,” Huckabee said. 'You represent that passion.”

Jindal warned that winning the 2016 presidential race is not optional - 'not because we are Republicans, not because we are conservatives, but because it is the future of our country that is at stake.”

'I don't think we are beyond the tipping point, but I think it's only four more years of this president's policies, whether it is Hillary Clinton or whoever, we will get to that point,” he said.

Cruz drew a parallel between President Jimmy Carter and President Barack Obama - 'same failed economic policies, same misery, stagnation and malaise.” The solution is another 'Reagan revolution” by Republicans, Christian conservatives .and conservative Democrats.

'That's what it's going to take to turn this country around,” he said.

Earlier, at an energy forum at the World Food Prize in downtown Des Moines hosted by InsideSources and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Perry said America's energy potential from traditional sources as well as newly tapped shale oil fields and renewable sources such as wind are 'almost limitless.”

North America, Perry said, has more known oil and natural gas reserves than Saudi Arabia and Russia and he'd rather rely on those resources than Russian, Middle East. and Venezuelan oil.

'If energy is going to be used as a weapon, I say American must have the largest arsenal,” Perry said.

Santorum and Jindal also spoke at that forum.