Playing up his college basketball experience, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., offered the Tea Party Expresss response to President Barack Obamas State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Clawson took aim at Obamas finanical policies and offered a different vision for our nation.
Clawson spoke at the National Press Club on Tuesday night and insisted Obama was offering the same agenda he has been backing during his entire tenure in the White House.
President Obama just presented his proposals for America pretty much the same rhetoric weve heard for the past six years, Clawson said. Im not here to pick apart his ideas one by one but to offer a very different vision for our nation. Further burdening the American economy with even higher taxes is wrong. Just as more debt and more unfunded programs are wrong.
The Tea Party Express and I see an America where solutions rest not in big government but in personal liberties, in free enterprise, and in the opportunity for all to pursue their own American dream, regardless of race, creed, or conditions of birth, Clawson added. To restore our nation to greatness, we need to empower and enable individual achievement. We need to get past the idea that Washington can solve all of our problems. Government and decisions must move closer to home including more local and family choice on education and on health-care. Our vision is not based on wealth redistribution but on economic liberty, private enterprise, and wealth creation that benefits everyone. We believe that all Americans ultimately want the same things. We all want to achieve our own unique American dream. We want opportunity for all but favoritism for none!
Clawson, who was elected in a special election back in April, noted what prompted him to leave his business career and enter the political arena.
Just a year ago I was active in local politics because of my concerns about water resources in South Florida and preserving the Florida Everglades a real national treasure, Clawson said.I ran for Congress because I was deeply concerned about the direction of our great nation. I saw an America deeply divided bogged down in partisan bickering, with lobbyists and special interest groups lining their pockets at the expense of hard-working Americans.
Calling for a smaller federal government and more economic liberty and equal opportunity, Clawson pushed for free-market solutions and brought up his basketball career at Purdue University.
I played basketball at Purdue for Coach Gene Keady a mentor and a hero. I looked around that locker room and found a group of players from very different backgrounds," Clawson said. We came to Purdue with diverse racial, religious, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. But Coach Keady quickly taught us the profound meaning of the word team. In spite of our differences, he taught us to work together and to always put the team first. Thats how he got the best out of all of us. And I say thats exactly what we need to do in America today!
Washington could benefit from Coach Keadys advice, Clawson continued. Now of course the enormous challenges facing our country are far more complex than bringing a diverse basketball team together. But I say teamwork is essential in all walks of life. And I also say that liberty is the great equalizer.
Insisting economic liberty is the foundation of the American dream, Clawson warned about Obamas management of the economy, insisting it had sluggish growth last year. Clawson said the economy should grow by 5 percent a year and urged Congress to lower small business and corporate tax rates in half to 17.5 percent and take out the loopholes!
Clawson slammed the economic shackles of Obamacare" which, he said, makes us uncompetitive and has not let us keep our plans, as we were promised. The Florida congressman called for replacing Obamacare with a fair, patient-focused, market-based system." And no one should lose their health care.
Warning about rising debt and pushing back against more entitlements or more government handouts, Clawson called for passing the Keystone Pipeline and slammed Obamas executive action on immigration, demanding the border be secure.
Clawson walked a tightrope on foreign policy, calling for a muscular foreign policy but warning about bad wars without weighing in on which conflicts he included in that category.
We must unite against the global terrorist threat of radical Islam, Clawson said. We must not shy away from calling this threat by its name. We must join with our partners in Muslim nations, our friends in Israel, and a coalition of freedom-loving nations around the world. America must lead this coalition but we must end the disproportionate sacrifice of American blood and treasure. Our allies must step up and contribute more in this fight. And weve got to stop getting into bad wars. Too much dying!
Clawson was the fifth Republican to offer the tea party response to Obamas State of the Union. Then-U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., offered the first in 2011 followed in 2012 by businessman and former presidential candidate Herman Cain. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had his turn in 2013 followed by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, last year.
Earlier in the month, Clawson voted for Paul to be House speaker instead of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
