A couple weeks ago, Glenn started a movement…Operation Defeat Lindsey Graham. He offered airtime to any conservative candidate willing to run against Senator Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. In a state like South Carolina, there's no excuse to have a progressive Republican in office — it's a deeply conservative state.
Pat and Stu took the efforts to the next level when they had former Congressman Allen West on the Pat & Stu show. The duo went so far as to offer to buy him a home in South Carolina so that he would be eligible to run for Graham's Senate seat. Unfortunately, West didn't take the bate, however, there may be another possible option, South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright.
Glenn spoke to Lee on the radio program this morning to learn a little bit more about him as a candidate and a person.
During his conversation, Bright stated that he was a fan of the flat tax, including the one presented in Senator Rand Paul's budget proposal. He also shared that he is very religious and a proponent of a limited government — both qualities Glenn was happy to hear.
"I think government's way too much in our lives as it is, especially the federal government. And I think states have a lot of purview when it comes to instituting laws. But the federal government's powers are numbered obviously, and they have gone way outside their powers and they have neglected, the core of what they are supposed to do," Bright said. "They are not protecting our borders, they're not instituting sound foreign policy, they're not even taking care of our soldiers who go off and fight and come back without arms and legs and then we tell them they've got to wait nine months now on the disability claims instead of six. It's abhorrent the way we treat our veterans."
Stu took the reigns of the interview (…Glenn was likely off printing Lee Bright 2014 bumper stickers). Stu asked the state Senator to clarify what he means when he says he is very religious. There are a lot of politicians who like to use their faith as a weapon to tax the American people and build the welfare state.
Bright responded by explaining that those politicians are trying to make the state take the role of the church. It's the church's role to take care of those in need — not the state.
"The state is trying to take the place of God in our society, and that's where we've really gone awry," Bright responded. "I mean, we have to come together in our churches instead. I'm a Southern Baptist but a lot of our churches are focused on building bigger buildings and growing larger congregations and, the point ought to be being the, the arms of Christ and taking care of these people that are downtrodden. That's not the role of the state. All the state can do is take money from one group of folks, mismanage it tremendously and then give it to another."
All good answers from Glenn's point of view. Now what about gun control…where does Bright stand on that?
"I think gun control is really like people control. I mean, it's liberty control. If you can defend yourself, you have a lot less need for government," Bright stated.
Bright is actively taking actions in the state Senate to fight for the Constitutional Carry bill, which is basically a law that wouldn't make you go through the state to assert one of your constitutional rights.
Not surprisingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham isn't exactly "supportive" of the bill.
"Senator Bright, one of Lindsey Graham's nicknames is Lindsey Grahamnesty. What is your plan for immigration? Are you in favor of this comprehensive immigration reform thing?" Pat asked.
"No. You know, my thing is I don't want to get a permanent underclass and I think that's what Obama's goal is a permanent underclass, and he's going to get folks in here and sign them up for welfare and sign them up to vote and then he can, you know, use the product of the producers in order to buy votes and that's just not what I want to support," the Senator replied.
He did clarify that he is a supporter of immigration — he doesn't want the borders closed. Sen. Bright believes that America is the melting pot.
If all goes well for the state Senator, in a short 15 months, he'll be running against Lindsey Graham for the United States Sentate. However, the road ahead of him isn't an easy one.
"I think we're at the Battle of Trenton right now and we've got a choice, either we're going to have a nation or we're not," Sen. Bright told Glenn. "And if we don't, if we don't get behind Rand Paul and what he's trying to do and Ted, Ted Cruzes of the world, I don't think we can survive. I mean, we're at the tipping point and people have realized that they can vote away the possessions of others and they can, you know, even get a free cellphone. So I mean, we're at a point to where if we don't make our stand now, there will be nothing to stand for."
So far so good for Operation Defeat Lindsey Graham.
