Coburn discussed the economy at the beginning and went on to talk about spending as the cause of our problems coupled with excessive taxes. This is something I have been talking about for years now and as a business owner, I know first-hand how difficult excessive taxation can be to the bottom line.
Responding to a question from the audience concerning what the “Republicans” were going to do when they take back Congress this November to fix some of the problems we’re facing, he said he thought that was a faulty assumption and that he was not so sure the Republicans would have control come next session. Furthermore, he said that politicians (Republicans and Democrats) make a lot of promises, but when they get to Washington, they forget about those promises and worry about getting reelected.
Someone asked him about the war and referenced both Afghanistan and Iraq. Coburn said that they are two separate issues and that it seems the President has said we will be out of Iraq in 2011. He described Afghanistan as needed linking it to Al Qaeda saying we need to go to the source. The questioner argued that none of our recent terrorists have been from Afghanistan to which Coburn replied that they might not be “from there” but that they likely trained there and that the leaders are hiding out there. He pointed out how Afghanistan borders Pakistan and other pivotal terrorist nations.
When asked about Immigration Coburn stated that “the glue that holds us together is the Rule of Law” (RoL). He went on to say that when we disregard the RoL, we dismantle the confidence of the RoL. He clearly stated that in order to control immigration we have to secure the borders (again, something I have argued from the beginning of this campaign), when he was asked if he would support a law similar to Mexico’s immigration law he emphatically said he would. He felt amnesty was wrong for any reason and that both President Obama and President Bush had failed and refused to secure our borders had allowed the problem to become intensified. He felt Arizona should be allowed to do what they needed to protect their state and that the federal government needs to enforce the laws it has. He went on to say that the Balkanization of America should not be allowed to happen and that America is not about a race or an ethnicity – it’s about the RoL.
When speaking of the serious issues facing our nation, specifically the economy he said that the problem is the politicians in DC. That nearly 70% of those in Congress have never done anything but work in politics and have no real experience. Going on to say that career politicians are killing our country. Coburn described how he is a citizen first and a legislator second, that those in DC often have no clue what the real world issues are. Does this sound familiar? Coburn described, in these short sentences, the problems that I will repair when elected to Congress. Most of the candidates for Oklahoma’s 5th District are emblematic of the problems Coburn describes. There is no question that we have more career politicians than we know what to do with and now, they are trying to paint themselves as “businessmen” but we all know that they can’t fool us with their slick rhetoric.
When speaking about the budget and pay raises in DC he said Congress last had a raise in 2008 but that they should be given NO new raises or cost of living adjustments until they fix the problems and have a balanced budget. He said that the average government employee’s salary is one and a half times that of the average household income for Oklahomans.Coburn said that he supports the concept that ONLY those who can vote for you should be able to donate to a campaign (which is what I have done with my campaign and will continue to do).
