reclamation of what made this country great. And if we get back into the majority we cannot fall from this fight. We can’t be intimidated. We can’t worry about the demagoguery and the negative ads we’re going to get.
KM: But you also have to create a system that allows your changes to endure. It goes back to what Eric said about education. The average salary in the Department of Education right down the street here is $103,000. That’s the average salary of the employee that works there. Wouldn’t that money be better spent in the classroom?
EC: You get a double benefit from ending that. If you’re going to keep dollars in the classrooms, not only are you benefiting the kids but you’re also reducing the size of Washington, which helps to get rid of the corruption and the cronyism and the self-perpetuating nature of power here.
KM: We have four million more government jobs in America than manufacturing jobs. That is an upside-down model.
PR: That’s right. People are getting a glimpse of what this country could become. They know that’s not who we are. They know that’s not reaching our potential. I think people are ready if we show them a party of leadership and of principle and an agenda that gets it.
KM: It has to be accountable.
PR: We have to give the American people a referendum. We will win this referendum if we have it now. If we wait and delay five or six years we will lose this referendum. The public is way ahead of the political class. They get that things are broken. They get that we’re spending their kids’ inheritance and mortgaging their future. They are ready to be talked to like adults and not like children. So, when they see the demagoguery that is directed toward people or ideas that are sincere and are real, it doesn’t work anymore. The Democrats are going to come at us with their old playbook. They’re going to tap into the emotions of fear, anger, and envy. But that’s not aspirational. That’s not hope and change, and I don’t think it’s going to work anymore.
EC: There is a test for us though. This country is changing demographically. This country is growing older and we’ve been in an entitlement mindset for a while. That’s what we’re going to change. We’re going to be about an opportunity future, not an entitlement future. That’s why it’s important that we go out and make the case to those nearing retirement that they’re not going to be denied what they have coming.
PR: But if we act now, it won’t be all root canal. This is growth, this is opportunity, this is hope. This is maintaining our commitments to those who are nearing retirement. If we act now, we can honor those commitments. If we don’t act, we won’t be able to.
PART ONE
CONGRESSMAN
ERIC CANTOR
CHAPTER ONE
A Party on the Bridge to Nowhere
A Jewish guy from Virginia, an Irish-Catholic from Wisconsin, and a California Baptist walk into Congress.…
It sounds like the beginning of an old joke, but we’d like to think it’s the start of something new.
Paul, Kevin, and I are, as Bill Murray famously said to his demoralized fellow recruits on graduation day in Stripes , “very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A.’” The three of us came to the United States House of Representatives from very different places. No one will ever mistake Janesville, Wisconsin (or Richmond, Virginia, for that matter), for Bakersfield, California. We also come from very different backgrounds. I pray on Saturday with a Southern accent. Paul and Kevin go to church on Sunday and talk to God without dropping their “gs.”
What we have in common is our love for this country and the principles that made it great. From our different vantage points, we’ve seen both parties abandon these principles and lead America down a perilous path. We’ve seen Republicans who claim to believe in limited government spend the taxpayers’ money like
KM: But you also have to create a system that allows your changes to endure. It goes back to what Eric said about education. The average salary in the Department of Education right down the street here is $103,000. That’s the average salary of the employee that works there. Wouldn’t that money be better spent in the classroom?
EC: You get a double benefit from ending that. If you’re going to keep dollars in the classrooms, not only are you benefiting the kids but you’re also reducing the size of Washington, which helps to get rid of the corruption and the cronyism and the self-perpetuating nature of power here.
KM: We have four million more government jobs in America than manufacturing jobs. That is an upside-down model.
PR: That’s right. People are getting a glimpse of what this country could become. They know that’s not who we are. They know that’s not reaching our potential. I think people are ready if we show them a party of leadership and of principle and an agenda that gets it.
KM: It has to be accountable.
PR: We have to give the American people a referendum. We will win this referendum if we have it now. If we wait and delay five or six years we will lose this referendum. The public is way ahead of the political class. They get that things are broken. They get that we’re spending their kids’ inheritance and mortgaging their future. They are ready to be talked to like adults and not like children. So, when they see the demagoguery that is directed toward people or ideas that are sincere and are real, it doesn’t work anymore. The Democrats are going to come at us with their old playbook. They’re going to tap into the emotions of fear, anger, and envy. But that’s not aspirational. That’s not hope and change, and I don’t think it’s going to work anymore.
EC: There is a test for us though. This country is changing demographically. This country is growing older and we’ve been in an entitlement mindset for a while. That’s what we’re going to change. We’re going to be about an opportunity future, not an entitlement future. That’s why it’s important that we go out and make the case to those nearing retirement that they’re not going to be denied what they have coming.
PR: But if we act now, it won’t be all root canal. This is growth, this is opportunity, this is hope. This is maintaining our commitments to those who are nearing retirement. If we act now, we can honor those commitments. If we don’t act, we won’t be able to.
PART ONE
CONGRESSMAN
ERIC CANTOR
CHAPTER ONE
A Party on the Bridge to Nowhere
A Jewish guy from Virginia, an Irish-Catholic from Wisconsin, and a California Baptist walk into Congress.…
It sounds like the beginning of an old joke, but we’d like to think it’s the start of something new.
Paul, Kevin, and I are, as Bill Murray famously said to his demoralized fellow recruits on graduation day in Stripes , “very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A.’” The three of us came to the United States House of Representatives from very different places. No one will ever mistake Janesville, Wisconsin (or Richmond, Virginia, for that matter), for Bakersfield, California. We also come from very different backgrounds. I pray on Saturday with a Southern accent. Paul and Kevin go to church on Sunday and talk to God without dropping their “gs.”
What we have in common is our love for this country and the principles that made it great. From our different vantage points, we’ve seen both parties abandon these principles and lead America down a perilous path. We’ve seen Republicans who claim to believe in limited government spend the taxpayers’ money like
Similar Books
Party at Castle Grof
Kira Morgana
Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
Rick Riordan, John Rocco
The No. 2 Global Detective
Toby Clements
The Velvet Room
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Junk Miles
Liz Reinhardt
Heirs of Acadia - 02 - The Innocent Libertine
T. Davis Bunn
Misfits, Inc.
Holly Copella
Release: New Adult Sport Romance (Fire and Ice)
Violet Vaughn
Beauty in Disguise
Mary Moore
Polio Wars
Naomi Rogers