Interview with Huntsman

2/7/13 6:00pm

 

Thresher Editor in Chief Seth Brown sat down with former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman before his talk at the Baker Institute on Jan. 31 to ask him about how students should get politically involved, America's political future and the role of religion in politics. All quotes are direct.

Rice Thresher: What's the most effective way for college students and recent graduates to have a political impact?

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Jon Huntsman: Find an issue that you're passionate about, because politics is driven by passionate people. It's still a human endeavor - in these discussions of policy and budgets and numbers, you forget that at the end of the day, it's people who matter, and it's the passion that people have that drive the issues that ultimately gets things done. Find the issues about which you're passionate, and let that drive you to some level of political activism that suits whatever your philosophical outlook is.

RT: How did we get here, and how do we get to bipartisanship?

JH: There are all kinds of underlying reasons for being where we are, money in politics - too much of it; divided media, which is fueled by hyperpartisanship, which drives movement of content and ratings; districts, in the United States 70% of which are completely locked up in terms of predictability, Republican or Democrat, because of redistricting over the years; there are a lot of drivers that have brought us to where we are, a political divide. We need to pivot away from that by focusing the whole culture of Washington, not on partisanship but on problem solving. That has to be driven by the people of America. They have to insist that the people they elect and the people they support, regardless of their ideology ... everybody can come to the table with an underlying objective to solve problems and to move forward with the work of the people. ... Political cultures change all the time - movements come in and movements go out, and the next important movement has to be one that is based on the American people insisting on candidates and their elected representative officials really creating an environment of problem solving.

RT: At what point does that happen?

JH: As soon as the American people get frustrated enough with a do-nothing congress, that in three years can't even create a budget, say nothing of a balanced budget. ... At some point we'll reach a boiling point in terms of the level of frustration that the American people will have about the lack of preparedness for the 21st century. At some point, you have to do things to survive in the 21st century - you need an economy that works, you need a debt to GDP ratio that is survivable, you need to educate the next generation in ways that would suggest they can compete against our fiercest competition, you need infrastructure to get around on, you need to defend your interests internationally, and when you find that in all cases there's no strategy, there's no forward movement, there's just bickering and status quo politics, I think that results in people ultimately expressing a real level of frustration.

RT: Is there some way to escape the threat of partisanship permanently or is that something that's going to keep coming back to us?

JH: We'll always go through periods of partisanship, I think that's just built into the system, but it is also within our reach to be able to create a counter environment that speaks to problem solving and these cycles all are driven by the electorate, that, once frustrated enough, they take action. So, why did the Tea Party movement rise up? There was a level of frustration, primarily driven by debt, that got a lot of people, including a lot of folks that had never before been involved in politics, out to rallies, out to town hall meetings, and they started putting demands on the people who ran for office, and they sent a whole generation to congress whose focus was really debt and spending. That's got to be part of it, but now we reach a point where we've got to change the culture in Washington that really focuses more on problem solving. Whether you're Tea Party, whether you're a labor liberal, you can all come into the same room, you can check your egos at the door, and you can make decisions for the next generation and not for the next election. It's not that difficult, and the expectation would be they actually produce something at the end of the day. That means compromise has got to be seen as something other than treasonous. That's all part of the cultural shift.

RT: What do you believe the future holds for relative moderates in the Republican Party?

JH: I don't think it's as much about moderates as it is about problem solvers. Again, what has happened in congress - the mid part has been blown out because of the partisanship. You get fundraising capabilities that are heightened by partisanship, you get on the talk shows if you're more partisan, because there's more drama - you get newsworthy sound bites. People who are just talking about solutions - there's nothing sexy or dramatic about that, so you don't get sound bites. We have to incentivize problem solving. We have to incentivize getting the work of the people done. It's critically important to our future wellbeing. It doesn't produce sound bites that will make the headlines, but it's got to be part of our system, and we've got to focus as much on incentivizing good results and problem solving as anything else. It isn't about moderation. It's about an attitudinal change whether you're conservative or liberal, whether you're moderate, whether you're independent, Republican or Democrat, it speaks to picking up your responsibilities, representing your constituency and driving things toward problem solving, realizing that at the end of the day you've got to do something.

RT: Why should young people be interested in the Republican Party?

JH: Because the Republican Party has a proud heritage and a proud tradition that in some measures made us who we are today. It's the party of Lincoln, whose focus was the dignity of the individual, self-worth, equality under the law. That's one of our founding principles as a people, and we haven't always practiced it with a level of perfection, but it's also a part of who we are, and we ought to be standing up and representing that. Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican, and he believed in sending out a quiet deployment around the world protecting our interests. He believed in an environment that was worthy of passing on to the next generation, all based on Republican ideals and principles and conservation. Eisenhower was a Republican. He built the interstate. He built our infrastructure, without which we wouldn't be able to even begin to have the economy we do today. Reagan brought an end to the Cold War. Big thinking. He had the courage to sit down with the leader of the Soviet Union, round after round of negotiations and brought an end to the Cold War. These are big things. They have transformed the landscape, and they were done under Republican leadership. When you look at the party, you have to remember that we're drawing from 100 plus years of history, and results, and major visionary breakthroughs that have really made us better as a country. The party wasn't created in the year 2000. It goes back at least to 1856.

RT: What do you see as the political future of Texas?

JH: It will increasingly become a diverse and heterogeneous state. It will continue to be a haven for investment, which ought to be coupled with innovation, which will be lead by universities - you've got some of the great universities anywhere in the country in Texas. If you can maintain a sensible view of immigration, bringing in brainpower, dealing with the diversity that we are today, and giving everyone a sense of ownership in our future, if you can maintain the economic competitiveness that now seems to be pretty real in this state and ensure that the front end of it really does speak to innovation, the creation of new industries and the ideas of tomorrow, Texas will be in good shape.

RT: What should the role of religion in politics be?

JH: It doesn't talk much about it in the constitution, other than giving people freedom to do whatever they want. When the focus strays away from that which is completely necessary under the constitution - necessary to maintain our freedom, to protect our interests abroad, to ensure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for our citizens, then I think we're wasting our time. I think we have a lot of conversations in politics that go nowhere, that aren't absolutely germane to our core wellbeing as a people, and that really is ensuring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Beyond that, people make their own choices, one of which is religion.

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