Posted on 07/13/2014 10:01:13 AM PDT by PoloSec
Sen. Lee recently sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to discuss the rise of the Tea Party faction in Congress (of which he is a leader), why the GOP is failing to connect with millennials, and the role of religion in politics.
Originally published on July 11, 2014:
"We've had a 75 or 80 year run with some really aggressive progressive policies," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). "They haven't worked. They have enhanced America's opportunity deficit, and the American people want a more conservative government."
In 2010, Lee launched a successful primary challenge to three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett and went on to win the general election with 61 percent of the vote. Lee credits hotly contested primary elections not just with his own career but with keeping the Republican Party accountable to its constituents and the values it claims to hold.
"In order for the Republican Party, or any political party for that matter, to be able to lay any claim to be a party of principle, there needs to be a robust debate within that party. And for that to occur I think primary elections will always need to happen," Lee tells Reason TV's Nick Gillespie. Lee talks about the rise of the Tea Party faction in Congress (of which he is a leader), why the GOP is failing to connect with millennials, and the role of religion in politics. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Lee says his Mormon faith shapes his views on the proper role of government, but adds:
"As a voter what I look for is whether somebody shares my view of government and its proper role. That person may or may not share my faith; that person may or may not have any faith. I’m hiring them not to be my minister. I’m hiring them to represent me in government. I want to know what they think the proper role of government is."
But the government doesn’t.
He’ll have to make a case as to why the wishes of the American people matter.
I am not exaggerating
Have to disagree. Americans say they want less government and more conservative government, but they really don’t. If they did, we would have it by now. If you think Americans really want less government, go to the most conservative politician you can find and ask him about voting against pork for his state? Not likely.
Typical of Leftist publications an underlying agenda exists for this article. REASON wants YOU to know Mike Lee is NOT only a Republican, but a TEA Party, Mormon Republican Devil.
NOW YOU KNOW.
Disagree.
Americans are used to this and it is shoveled at them at a rate similar to what is going on at the Texas Mexico border.
If they knew what less government looked like it would be different.
Americans have not changed, the culture has
Exactly. No one cares one wit what the American people want. They have no representatives.
Mike Lee is great, but he is wrong: the American people do NOT want a more “conservative” government. In fact, they want expanded liberalism.
If voters had REAL conservatives (an overused word that almost means nothing now, I prefer “Constitutionalist”) to vote for, AND there was no voter fraud, you’d find that the majority of US actual citizens DO want smaller and more Constitutional government.
Sadly, the R party is ruled by big government liberal money and power grubbers, and the voting process is rotten almost everywhere. But with fighters like McDaniel and others, things may change.
I hope you are right, but I don’t think human nature has changed. People respond to the promise of a free lunch and find ways to justify their picking the pockets of their fellow citizens. This has been going on for a long time, at least since FDR.
As an example, Sen. Inhofe is considered to be a true conservative, but when he campaigns, he always brings up all he has done for OK (pork). When the military wanted to shut down production of some cannon that is partly manufactured in some little town in OK, Inhofe immediately leapt to the defense of this “necessary” piece of equipment.
Walter Williams said that when people ask him why he doesn’t run for office, he asks them how far they think he would get if he told people he would not vote for any “goodies” for his constituents.
Actually Senator, what we want is a government that serves the people according to the Constitution, does it’s assigned duty of national defense and stays the hell out of everything else.
That’s the challenge
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