U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., delivered a speech at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 2013 West Coast Retreat last week in Palos Verdes, Calif. The overarching theme was a call to decrease the role of government in Americans’ lives. He urged conservatives to keep the fight alive despite the “body-blow to freedom” delivered with President Barack Obama’s reelection.
Johnson also said the U.S. needs to, as a society, examine the “unintended consequences of all of our good intentions” in order to solve its problems. One particular consequence Johnson highlighted was out-of-wedlock birthrates.
“One of the first people I met on the campaign trail was a state senator,” Johnson said. ”His entire stump speech talked about a single mom working hard, who we have a great deal of sympathy for. She makes $15,000 part time; doesn’t pay tax, she gets the earned income tax credit. Then he totals up the dollar value for benefits. His figure came to about $51,000; I’ve kind of gone back and I calculated about $43,000. I asked my audience, now if she wants to increase her take-home pay, what does she do? She has another child out of wedlock, right? … If she wants to lose it all, she finds somebody to support her and she gets married.”
Senator Ron Johnson from DHFC on Vimeo.
You can read a transcript of the speech here.
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