With the recent news that Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee for Senate in Nevada who is running on a platform of tearing down big government, actually receives government health care benefits through her husband’s pension as a former federal employee, let’s take a look at some of her best anti-government lines.
It is, of course, quite interesting that a candidate who so strongly opposes the federal government receives compensation from them. So let’s keep in mind some of these really, really anti-government positions she has taken.
⢠Angle has previously criticized unemployment benefits, saying that “We really have spoiled our citizenry,” and also, “they want to be dependent on the government.”
⢠Her declaration that extending unemployment benefits “really doesn’t benefit anyone.”
⢠She has also said of Social Security: “My grandfather wouldn’t even take his Social Security check because he said he was not up for welfare.”
⢠She has praised Chile as a model for privatizing Social Security. Of course, there are two political problems here: The Chilean system was enacted by the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Furthermore, it is based around an individual mandate very much like the new health care reform law — requiring individual workers to put money into private pension systems.
⢠She has floated the idea of privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs. Would a privatized V.A. system still guarantee particular benefits to veterans, like prescription drugs? “No, not if you’re working towards a privatized system.”
⢠She objected to the federal government sending money to the states to pay teachers and prevent layoffs — calling it part of a money-laundering enterprise to send union dues to the Democrats: “The emergency is only in Harry Reid’s mind. As Michele [Bachmann] put it so succinctly, this is an emergency for the Democrats, a way to solidify the base, if you will, with our taxpayer dollars.”
⢠Back in 1993, she wrote a forceful letter to Harry Reid’s Senate office: “The answer to this mess is clear. STOP FUNDING THE WASTEFUL SOCIAL AND ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS.”
⢠And of course, there is her all-time golden oldie of anti-government sentiment. “You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason, and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said, it’s good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.”
Angle has since backed away from that one, saying she was “speaking broadly.”
