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Jeff Flake on Principles & ValuesRepublican Representative (AZ-6); Senate challenger |
Said Flake: "We're begging him: 'Don't go down this road. Don't create a constitutional crisis. Don't force the Congress to take the only remedy that Congress can take. To remind the president of that is the best way to keep him from going down that road. To fire Mueller without cause, I don't know if there is any other remedy left to the legislative branch."
Rep. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R-FL): Very few women are running on the Republican Party ticket for office. Far greater numbers of women are identifying themselves as being in the Democratic Party. I don't see that we really have a recruiting program that's active to get minorities involved in our party.
FLAKE: I agree with Ileana in terms of where the Republican Party is going and the danger. Every presidential election cycle, we are, as a country, 2% less white. You know, voters of color, it's changing that way. And I don't think that we've made enough of an effort, as Republicans, to appeal across the broader electorate. And then with young people as well. Given some of the position and the behavior that the president has exhibited, I think it makes it very difficult for young people to identify with the Republican Party. They've been walking away from the party in general.
FLAKE: What I'm trying to say is, you can talk about crowd size and this is pretty innocuous if there's a falsehood. But when you reflexively refer to the press as "the enemy of the people" or "fake news," that has real damage to our standing in the world. Under Stalin, and today, you have authoritarians across the world using the term "fake news" to justify cracking down on their opposition or staunch legitimate debate.
FLAKE: I felt that, just like Goldwater had felt in his time, 56 years ago, when he wrote the original "Conscience of a Conservative," that the party had lost its way. Similarly today, the party's lost its way. We have given into nativism and protectionism. If we're going to be a governing party in the future, and a majority party, we have got to go back to traditional conservatism, limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility. Those are the principles that made us who we are.
Q: You write in the book: "It is not enough to be conservative anymore. You have to be vicious." What do you mean?
FLAKE: We have seen, unfortunately, too many examples of elected officials referring to opponents in ways that you would have never done before, ascribing the worst motives to your opponents and assuming that other Americans are the enemy. And that is just not the way it used to be. And I don't think it can be that way in the future.
FLAKE: One, it has to start with demeanor. We have to model behavior that we would be proud that our kids are watching, because [otherwise] we're not going to tackle the big issues. In the book, I talk about when our chief military officials, General Mattis, also Bob Gates, when he was still in position, were asked what the biggest problems were, they didn't talk about North Korea or Iran or the Middle East. They said the lack of civility and the lack of people getting along here in Congress, and that turning inward. We are the biggest problem here. And until we fix that, until we recognize that we have got to get together, whether it's on health care or taxes, if we want to move ahead on those issues and have something that the president can sign, I would submit we better start looking across the aisle and saying, "How can we do this together?"
Everyone in the RLC joined for their own reasons, but it can be presumed that they all would agree that in many races the GOP is the best way to go in order to actually get a libertarian elected. It can also be said that the LP runs educational campaigns, where the goal is not actually electing someone, but educating the public about the libertarian philosophy. We are interested in getting someone who holds the libertarian philosophy elected.
The GOP controls the Senate by just one vote. Even with today’s margin, the GOP doesn’t have effective control of the agenda as the Democrats use the filibuster to kill pro-growth reform or crucial judicial appointments. The next Senate could confirm two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
If the Republicans do manage to pick up a few extra seats in the Senate, there could also be an ideological shift toward pro-growth issues. Right now, the balance of power is in the hands of the RINO Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. With a seat pick-up for the GOP, plus the addition of GOP superstars, Olympia and Arlen would no longer be deciding votes. We could move away from watered-down Republicanism toward a genuine pro-growth agenda.
Members of the Club are economic conservatives, like-minded political contributors who are frustrated with the ideological drift of both parties today. Club members have a shared goal of contributing to and electing more Reaganites to Congress who are willing to stand for the issues like: cutting taxes, controlling federal spending, personal accounts for Social Security, ending the death tax, eliminating the capital gains tax, fundamental tax reform, providing true school choice and minimizing government's role in our daily lives.
The stakes are mighty high in the Senate elections. That’s why we’re providing you now with our outlook for every competitive Senate race and a list of our top tier choices. The “A” List Candidates make this list because their races are competitive and they are the very best on economic issues. The “B” List Candidates are all in hotly contested races too, but they are not as rock solid on economic growth issues.
