ever had they can take us past the tipping point, after which more people are takers rather than makers—more people are living off the state than are living independent of it. I believe they think the orientation of the country will turn and become a left-of-center country. This is an investment in their future. They’re going to take some short-term losses but they will come back because they are completing the vision they have for this country.
KM: They think if they make government so large and the debt so big it will be impossible to reverse it.
PR: The American government, in their minds, isn’t nearly as big as it ought to be compared to our Western European counterparts. We’re historically at 20 percent of GDP. They think we ought to go to 30 percent of GDP for the federal government. You add in state and local government and you’re at 50 percent of GDP and that’s where Europe is.
EC: This time in the minority has given us all a chance to remember why we came here. It’s given us the chance—especially in comparison with what the Democrats are doing—to see what has worked in this country, which is entrepreneurship, free markets, and a level playing field. We need to refocus our party toward the future and the young people. It’s up to us to provide them with more opportunity. I hear it again and again when I go home. Right now kids are getting out of college and they’re not finding jobs. So if we reclaim the majority in November, we must, first of all, tell the public what they can expect from us. And we also have to realize that this isn’t going to be a one- or two-year process. We have got to rebuild the public’s trust through taking concrete steps to get our fiscal house in order. We have to show that we get it. Clearly the other side has demonstrated that they don’t get where the public is. We’ve got to reconnect and inspire people.
PR: The American people still love the American idea. And the American idea is at risk today. So in this election and in the 2012 election we have to give the American people a very clear agenda based upon our actions and our principles. We have to give them a very clear choice.
KM: That’s why I think the time is right. You value things the most when you lose them. Who would have thought America could be going the way it’s going now? With government taking over businesses? With government taking over health care? We’ve always believed in freedom as a country but now we’re starting to understand that we have to fight for it.
PR: If we get this majority, we have to build on it. We have to go to the American people with an agreement. We’ve got to show how we can restore this country’s greatness by reasserting and reapplying its principles.
EC: What we have to do is lay out an agenda toward which we can lead the people and they’ll come along and back us. People get that there is unsustainable spending going on; that we’re spending money we don’t have right now. But I don’t think most people wake up in the morning and think about our entitlement programs crashing. We have to be able to connect that circumstance with their everyday lives. That has to be the impetus for us to begin to devolve power back to the states.
KM: It’s unshackling the grip that Washington has on so much of our lives.
EC: Right, but we’re going to have to be able to go to the people and demonstrate how that helps them. Like in the area of education. Joe Pitts [R-PA] has a program he’s worked on for years that’s all about dollars in the schools and dollars in the classrooms, not dollars to the unions and the bureaucracy. We have to go to parents and say we are about letting the local schools get more dollars and that means don’t let the dollars be trapped here in Washington. Same thing with transportation.
PR: People think that their country is slipping away from them. They think that their future is not going to be as bright. So they’re ready to embrace a
KM: They think if they make government so large and the debt so big it will be impossible to reverse it.
PR: The American government, in their minds, isn’t nearly as big as it ought to be compared to our Western European counterparts. We’re historically at 20 percent of GDP. They think we ought to go to 30 percent of GDP for the federal government. You add in state and local government and you’re at 50 percent of GDP and that’s where Europe is.
EC: This time in the minority has given us all a chance to remember why we came here. It’s given us the chance—especially in comparison with what the Democrats are doing—to see what has worked in this country, which is entrepreneurship, free markets, and a level playing field. We need to refocus our party toward the future and the young people. It’s up to us to provide them with more opportunity. I hear it again and again when I go home. Right now kids are getting out of college and they’re not finding jobs. So if we reclaim the majority in November, we must, first of all, tell the public what they can expect from us. And we also have to realize that this isn’t going to be a one- or two-year process. We have got to rebuild the public’s trust through taking concrete steps to get our fiscal house in order. We have to show that we get it. Clearly the other side has demonstrated that they don’t get where the public is. We’ve got to reconnect and inspire people.
PR: The American people still love the American idea. And the American idea is at risk today. So in this election and in the 2012 election we have to give the American people a very clear agenda based upon our actions and our principles. We have to give them a very clear choice.
KM: That’s why I think the time is right. You value things the most when you lose them. Who would have thought America could be going the way it’s going now? With government taking over businesses? With government taking over health care? We’ve always believed in freedom as a country but now we’re starting to understand that we have to fight for it.
PR: If we get this majority, we have to build on it. We have to go to the American people with an agreement. We’ve got to show how we can restore this country’s greatness by reasserting and reapplying its principles.
EC: What we have to do is lay out an agenda toward which we can lead the people and they’ll come along and back us. People get that there is unsustainable spending going on; that we’re spending money we don’t have right now. But I don’t think most people wake up in the morning and think about our entitlement programs crashing. We have to be able to connect that circumstance with their everyday lives. That has to be the impetus for us to begin to devolve power back to the states.
KM: It’s unshackling the grip that Washington has on so much of our lives.
EC: Right, but we’re going to have to be able to go to the people and demonstrate how that helps them. Like in the area of education. Joe Pitts [R-PA] has a program he’s worked on for years that’s all about dollars in the schools and dollars in the classrooms, not dollars to the unions and the bureaucracy. We have to go to parents and say we are about letting the local schools get more dollars and that means don’t let the dollars be trapped here in Washington. Same thing with transportation.
PR: People think that their country is slipping away from them. They think that their future is not going to be as bright. So they’re ready to embrace a
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