Last weekend, Republican Party presidential hopefuls flocked to Rep. Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit — if there’s “freedom” in the name, it has to be right, good and conservative — to court the first-in-the-nation caucus state. I found many aspects of this forum, as well as some positions of the GOP hopefuls in general, worrying.
The first cause of my concern is completely founded: It seems as though when one or two are gathered in the name of conservative politics and Ronald Reagan, the most bizarro conservatives are in their midst. And any time Republican politicians have to vie for the approval of Steve King — the same congressman who thinks illegal immigrants are drug-smugglers and have calves the size of cantaloupes — it’s bound to be deeply troubling.
The usual conservatives exited the right-wing clown car in cartoonish fashion. The former governor of Alaska gave what can only be described as the most Palin-esque sound bite: “It is good that we have a deep bench and its primary competition that will surface the candidate who’s up to the task and unify and this person has to because knowing what the media will do throughout all of 2016 to all of us it’s going to take more than a village to beat Hillary.”
Donald Trump — angry, presumably because we haven’t been talking about him enough lately — addressed the crowd and blasted Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. Carly Fiorina, the enigmatic former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and GOP diversity improver, offered the most pointed criticism of Hillary Clinton and a lofty defense of pro-life-ism.
And let’s not forget Dr. Ben Carson. The neurosurgeon’s rise on the right has left him dazed, confused and hapless. Carson believes that the Veterans Affairs scandal was “a gift from God,” compared the U.S. to Nazi Germany and encouraged everyone to read the 1958 book “The Naked Communist” because of its relevance to today’s political events. I expect more good things to come from him.
To some extent, we can tolerate and expect these people to say nutty things. What we should not tolerate are serious Republican politicians saying nutty things. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal still believes that there are “no-go zones” — densely Muslim-populated areas where non-Muslims won’t enter. Even though it’s not true. Completely not true. This worries me.
What also worries me are all the things I liked about the Freedom Summit. I liked that Rick Santorum believes the Republican Party should strive to become the party of the worker once again. He believes that “the biggest reason for income inequality is the breakdown of the family.” Santorum is cognizant of income inequality and is addressing the reality of the breakdown of the family. I wouldn’t necessarily lump the two together, but I like the effort.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also made some good news. The governor defended his immigration policies as state executive: “When a kid comes to his country, and…he had no choice in it — his parents came illegally…That kid is in our school from kindergarten through the 12th grade. He graduates as valedictorian because he’s a smart kid and he works his rear end off… The question is: Is he better off going to college and becoming a neurosurgeon or a banker or whatever he might become, and becoming a taxpayer, and in the process having to apply for and achieve citizenship, or should we make him pick tomatoes? I think it’s better if he goes to college and becomes a citizen.”
I like his stance because it’s practical, looks to the future and addresses an area where the GOP shows a little weakness.
Santorum and Huckabee’s positions actually look appealing. I know, there’s a lot to be worried about on the right.
Michael Beato is a UF economics junior. His column appears on Thursdays.
