Days before the 1983 gubernatorial election in Louisiana, Democrat Edwin Edwards infamously declared that “the only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”

Edwards was elected governor that year — demonstrating the low bar Democrats must hurdle to hold public office in the Bayou State.

Edwards may have been a scoundrel (not to mention a convicted felon) but at least he didn’t slander our Founding Fathers or the Declaration of Independence.

Rep. Barbara Norton managed to do both during a bizarre May 25th rant on the floor of the Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane, as they say in Cajun Country.

“All men are not created equal,” the Gentle Lady from Shreveport ranted. “We’re teaching them a lie.”

Rep. Norton was fired up hotter than a bottle of Tabasco from Avery Island.

Lawmakers had been asked to consider a bill authored by Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges that would have required children in grades four, five and six to recite portions of the Declaration of Independence.

“I want students to understand that the Declaration of Independence is the cornerstone of our republic — and what gives us liberty,” Rep. Hodges told me. “I want them to not just memorize it but to understand what that document did — it changed the course of history.”

A noble cause indeed — to teach young Americans that they live in a most exceptional nation.

“It’s important that we fight for these values,” she told me. “The future of our republic depends on the next generation — whether or not they are prepared for citizenship.”

And as my Fox News colleague Jesse Watters demonstrates on a weekly basis in his “Watter’s World” segment, our public school system is doing a subpar job of teaching kids what it means to be an American.

“The Left is pushing against this very hard, trying to rewrite history,” she said. “Instead of believing that America is an exceptional nation – there are some radicals who want to rewrite history and teach our children the opposite of what is truth.”

And that brings me back to Rep. Norton railing on about the Declaration of Independence.

“We’re teaching them a lie,” she declared.

“When I think back in 1776 July 4th, African Americans were slaves, and for you to bring a bill to request that our children will recite the Declaration — I think it’s a little bit unfair to us to ask those children to recite something that is not true,” she said.

House Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger III (another Democrat) took issue with the “All men are created equal” portion and said it needed to be taught with historical context.

“Men and women were not seen as equals at that time nor were blacks considered to be men that were equal to others,” he said during a committee hearing.

Rep. Hodges was dumbfounded by the hostility.

“I feel sadness that that level of hatred was displayed against the Founding Fathers and the documents that give us the ability as women and black people and Caucasians to run for office,” she said. “The lack of understanding to me is saddening and frightening.”

Hodges ended up pulling her bill under pressure from lawmakers and a mountain of amendments.

Democrats don’t believe we should teach young Americans that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. And they sure don’t want them to pursue happiness.

That, boys and girls, is what we call a self-evident truth.