DeMint Jumping to Heritage Means Conservatives Assist In Their Own Political Deaths

December 10, 2012

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – I would ask those that think DeMint’s departure to the Heritage Foundation is such a great idea, I would ask those people: If it’s a good idea, what do you expect to gain from that? Maybe we should all just move to Washington. Maybe we should all found our own think tanks and all participate and chip in on growing the State. Just imagine all the great we can do. I don’t see any upside to this for us. The only upside is if you are a State grower. If you’re into the growth of the State, this is fantastic news. If you’re into micromanaging the growth of the State to the benefit of people that call themselves conservatives and have a lot of money and want access to the power so the rules can be written in their favor, then I suppose this is a good idea. Check out the rest in today’s transcript…

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

AG: I thought it was, maybe cowardly is not the right word, but a little disingenuous of Sarah Palin to step down midterm of her governorship. I think it’s hard to say anything other than Senator DeMint, you’re two years into a six-year term. It’s fine if you want to step down and take the Heritage spot after the term is over, but you’re a third into your second term. You had a huge impact with guys like Tunney, Lee, Rand. You are having an impact. Why are you doing this? I’m a little disappointed.

Mike: I’ll tell you what bothers me about it. He’s two years into a six-year Senate term. He was on yesterday with teen Wolf Blitzer on CNN. I never once heard the people — here’s what I never once heard: “the people of South Carolina.” I didn’t hear the entire interview. Perhaps Blitzer asked him this. You in South Carolina elected him. You sent him to the United States Senate to represent your interests. In Federalist Paper No. 46, James Madison famously said the House of Representatives will represent the people in their political capacity and the United States Senate will represent the states in theirs. Of course, the 17th Amendment pretty much destroyed that, as did Lincoln’s War of Aggression and war against state sovereignty. Still, the senators are supposed to represent their entire state not just their district. To bail on that awesome of a responsibility — in my opinion, I share yours, it is troubling you would use your position or station in life as a United States Senator to gain access to what is going to be a very cushy, very well-paid, extraordinarily well-paid job in Washington, DC kind of working in the private sector but not really.

Folks, this is the revolving door I tell you about all the time. I should just get out of the radio business and I should buy me one of those costume crystal ball setups, get me a round table with a red tablecloth on it, some gold fringe, and just become Mike the Predictor. I grow weary of being correct. What we were correct about in this instance is that the political class runs and swims in the same circles as the lobbying class, the think tank class. This is what is just really distressing to me, because this just proves the point that they’re all in on it. If you’re inside the ten-mile square, you are in on it. This just adds fuel to the fire. There are some, of course, on the right wing that are [mocking] “Look at all the great things Senator DeMint can do for us. He can be a great ambassador for conservatism now. We’re really gonna get the word out now.” How’s that working out for you?

Here’s a question for you: Has the government grown or has it contracted since the creation and the foundation of the Heritage Foundation? The inescapable conclusion is that it has grown, and it will continue to grow. Now it just grows with conservatives chipping in ideas on how best to do it. Folks, this is the event horizon. If this doesn’t wake up granny and spank her on the Tea Party fanny, I have no clue as to what will. The gist of one of the big stories I saw about it is that this will lead to a fundraising bonanza for the Heritage Foundation because all the little Tea Party ladies and gentlemen out there will go, [mocking] “Senator DeMint is now one of us. Let me send my $50 in.” Conservatives are now going to pay – I suppose there’s another way to look at this, and I try to look at all things objectively and critically. The other way to look at this is if you’re not at the table then you’re on the menu. If we don’t have conservatives think tanks to combat the liberal think tanks, everything goes to hell in the proverbial handbasket. It doesn’t have to go to hell in the proverbial handbasket if we constrict it and get it back down to scale, which seems to me ought to be the goal of the conservative movement.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I have always told you since I got religion in 2007, as I have told you as I spend my days studying and lamenting, the conservative movement today doesn’t conserve anything. It now is a willing and active participant in the growth of the State. We use the word government. We’re all for limited government. We use it way too flippantly and way too carelessly. We should start using the word State or The State. The conservative movement now, writ large, is nothing more than a movement that contributes ideas and resources, both human and financial, to the growth of the State. That is a sad and sorry state of affairs.

I would ask those that think DeMint’s departure to the Heritage Foundation is such a great idea, I would ask those people: If it’s a good idea, what do you expect to gain from that? Maybe we should all just move to Washington. Maybe we should all found our own think tanks and all participate and chip in on growing the State. Just imagine all the great we can do. AG, I don’t see any upside to this for us. The only upside is if you are a State grower. If you’re into the growth of the State, this is fantastic news. If you’re into micromanaging the growth of the State to the benefit of people that call themselves conservatives and have a lot of money and want access to the power so the rules can be written in their favor, then I suppose this is a good idea.

Here’s a great point for you, Andrew. President Obama brought this up during the debates. Whose idea was it to have a mandatory fee and a mandatory purchase rule for health insurance? Whose idea was that?

AG: It was Heritage.

Mike: Conservatives are now actively participating in that in which they claim to despise.

End Mike Church Show Transcript