(CNSNews.com) - "I am so proud to be an American!" Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told a Republican fundraiser in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday. "So proud to be an American."
"I'm going to walk around a little bit, like a Southern preacher," he joked with his audience. "I will probably not take up an offering -- probably. You just never know what's going to happen.
"But I'll say one of the reasons why I'm so proud to be an American, because to know my story is to know that only is it possible for a kid raised in poverty in a single-parent household to one day have the possibility to run for the highest office in the greatest country on God's green earth. What an amazing country we have!"
Scott announced on Wednesday that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee.
Scott talked about his mother, who divorced when he was seven years old.
"I find myself as an optimist today because of the miserable beginnings I had,” he said, recounting his family's poverty, his "anger" and "disillusionment," and his multiple academic failures.
"I ended up failing four subjects my freshman year," Scott said. "Two subjects were world geography and civics. Civics is the study of politics. I did not do so well.
“After nearly nine years in Washington, I am not the only one failing civics in our nation's capital," he joked. There's a whole lot of people on the left that ain't got it figured out yet."
Scott said his mother, with the help of a stout switch applied to his backside, taught him two things: "Number one, there is dignity in all work. No matter what you do, if you do it with all you have, that is enough...in America, if you’re able-bodied, you work."
Scott said the second lesson his mother taught him was that "you have to take responsibility for yourself."
Scott said as he looks around the country today, "I see an administration that has lost their way."
He said Biden and the "radical left" have created a blueprint for "how to ruin America," and he recited a list of familiar problems facing the nation, including drugs, an open border, the elevation of victimhood, and an education system that is more about indoctrination.
"It is time for America to have a change of leadership," Scott said.
"The good news is, the American people are just fine. It's the American government that we have to fix."
“You see, we get to live where you want to live, love who you want to love, and do what you want to do. But are government keeps telling us that we are evil. There are people on the radical left that want us to doubt the very look of a person.
“But the truth is, every single generation we become a more perfect union. God has truly blessed the United States of America. Let us be a blessing to the good Lord and to each other."