The Freedom Agenda
Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government
by Mike Lee


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book is about how Mike Lee, and by extension how the Tea Party, would like to reduce federal spending and federal debt. Mike Lee was elected in Utah by a surging Tea Party in a Republican primary against an establishment incumbent, Bob Bennett. But the book doesn't mention the Tea Party by name -- just by concept. The book has four parts:

While that's a consistent theoretical framework, Sen. Lee addresses a "straw man" throughout the book. Lee repeats--often--that defense spending is constitutional because it's enumerated on the constitution and fulfills the pre-New Deal core responsibility test above. But that's a "straw man" because no one asks, "Is Department of Defense spending Constitutional?" The relevant question is instead, "Is Department of Defense spending too much?" Defense spending is the largest discretionary item in the budget -- 18% -- and the only way to balance the budget without cutting defense is to cut out just about all entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. That's what Sen. Lee means by the third criterion above: ALL entitlements must go.

That's the key distinction between libertarian Republicans (like Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Ron Paul) and GOP budget-cutters (like Sen. Lee and Ronald Reagan). Libertarians want to cut the budget and cut spending by cutting everything, including defense, to cut the size of government entirely. The rest of the GOP budget-cutters want to INCREASE defense spending and cut everything else. That REALLY means, shift resources from entitlements to defense. That's the subtext of Sen. Lee's outline above, and readers should be clear that that's what he's really proposing.

-- Jesse Gordon, OnTheIssues editor-in-chief, July 2012

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     Barack Obama: OpEd: Undermined message of restraint with new "investments".     Chris Christie: Erased $11B in budget deficit via spending cuts.     Mike Lee: Our economy cannot survive this ruinous level of debt.     Mike Lee: Congress wants praise; incapable of fiscal responsibility.     Mike Lee: Balanced Budget Amendment with supermajority to circumvent.

Crime     Mike Lee: My old-fashioned Judeo-Christian tenet: stealing is wrong.

Government Reform     Clarence Thomas: Regulating commerce does not encompass 50 states' laws.     Clarence Thomas: If Congress could regulate all commerce, why enumerate?     Mike Lee: Antidote to federal "mission creep" is enumerated powers.     Mike Lee: Constitution says Congress is not about making life better.     Mike Lee: Citizens need to hold elected representatives accountable.     Mike Lee: Make "no" the default vote on all spending measures.     Mike Lee: Always ask, should program be federal or state?     Milton Friedman: Problem is concentrated benefits & dispersed costs.

Gun Control     Clarence Thomas: Interpreting Commerce Clause to ban guns is unconstitutional.     William Rehnquist: Can't use Commerce Clause to criminalize guns.

Health Care     Barack Obama: OpEd: No authority to micromanage citizens' healthcare.

Principles & Values     Mike Lee: Article I Society: message of constitutional limitations.

Tax Reform     Mike Lee: Taxes are necessary but inherently impinge on liberty.

Welfare & Poverty     Mike Lee: Social programs "crowd out" church & charitable giving.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Barack Obama Chris Christie Clarence Thomas Mike Lee Milton Friedman William Rehnquist

The above quotations are from The Freedom Agenda
Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government
by Mike Lee.

Books about the Tea Party Movement: America the Beautiful, by Dr. Ben Carson, 2012 The Second American Revolution, by the Tea Party Patriots, 2012 The Remaking of Republican Conservatism, by Theda Skocpol & Vanessa Williamson, 2012 An American Son, by Marco Rubio, 2012 The Rise of Marco Rubio, by Manuel Rogi-Franzia, 2012 The Tea Party: A Brief History, by Ronald Formisano, 2012 Michele Bachmann: Why She Will Win, by Ron Paul Jones, 2011 Core of Conviction, by Rep. Michele Bachmann, 2011 Take the Risk, by Dr. Ben Carson, 2007 The FairTax Book, by Rep. John Linder, 2006 Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto, by Rep. Dick Armey Troublemaker, by Christine O`Donnell The Tea Party Goes to Washington, by Sen. Rand Paul The Freedom Agenda, by Sen. Mike Lee Now Or Never, by Sen. Jim DeMint

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