U.S. Senator Ron Johnson speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
President Barack Obama’s ambition is to turn the United States into a government-controlled society, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson claimed in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.
“President Obama just doesn’t understand the private sector,” he said on Friday. “All he understands is government, so he looks for government solutions.
“His path is toward a government-controlled society.”
Johnson, a tea-party backed businessman who unseated three-term liberal icon Russ Feingold in 2010, said conservatives will play a huge role in the 2012 elections.
“The vision of our founding fathers is for citizen legislators, people who had a full career, raised a family possibly, to bring a lifetime of experience and step up to the plate to serve your nation for a while and then go home,” he told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Chicago.
“It’s a lot easier to do when you have limited government. Unfortunately we’ve broken the bonds of our constitutional limits. But I think that’s still what we need if we’re ever going to get limited government back.
“So I think it’s important that first of all you have people that do have lifetime experience but also experience in the private sector. That’s one of the huge problems I see in Washington. There’s so little of that, particularly in this administration.
“One thing about conservatives: We may have differences on some of the smaller issues but we are totally united on the big issues. We are totally united on the goal to make sure President Obama is a one-term president.”
And that means supporting Mitt Romney, a candidate who was viewed with suspicion by many on the right during the GOP primaries. But Johnson is adamant that the former Massachusetts governor will make a far better president than Obama. “He actually has experience in the private sector, respects it, has a little bit of optimism,” he said.
Johnson, who sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said recent security leaks, allegedly from within the White House, have been designed to make Obama “seem like a strong leader.”
“It’s incredibly dangerous,” he said. “I’ve watched this from afar without a great deal of information but I’m asking people who are more knowledgeable, is there something different about these leaks? And I think the level, where they’re coming out of, is significantly different and it can do real damage.
“We are under the threat of Islamic terrorism. Part of the problem with all the drone strikes is we are not getting intelligence. We’re just killing people, we’re not capturing them. Part of the reason we’re doing that is we don’t have a detention policy.
"Heap on top of that this administration selectively leaking information to make President Obama seem like a strong leader and we are compromising our intelligence sources even further.”
He said the leaks are "certainly" putting U.S. intelligence sources at risk.
With the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obamacare due to be handed down within days, Johnson said: “The one message for sure is that no matter what happens, if it is not fully repealed, Republicans across the board, in both the House and Senate, are dedicated to total repeal. We need patient-centered, free market-based care.
“We’ll take a look at tort reform, at the real drivers of cost. Those are the types of solution we’ll be putting forward.
“One of the things you won’t see out of Republicans is a 2,700-page bill with to date another 12,300 pages of rules and regulations on top of that.
“I recognize the assault that Obamacare represents to our freedom.”
Tuesday’s win by Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election in Johnson’s home state was so important that, he said, he has never been more proud to be from Wisconsin.
“It’s obviously huge for Wisconsin, but I honestly think it’s bigger for the nation,” he says.
“In Wisconsin we had governor, a lieutenant governor, members of our legislature, that first of all had the courage to acknowledge the problem — the first step to fixing it. And then they took the steps to actually solve the problem, under truly repugnant levels of intimidation.
“The signal that it sends to other elected officials is, if you have the courage, if you show leadership to start solving the problem, you’ll be rewarded.
“I’ve always been proud to be from Wisconsin. I was never more proud than on Tuesday evening, and more proud of the voters for confirming and supporting Gov. Walker and the legislators. It’s hugely important for America.
“You hear about trillions of [corporate] dollars sitting on the sidelines because of the high level of uncertainty and lack of confidence,” he added.
“In Wisconsin Scott Walker came into office and said we’re open for business.
"Wouldn’t that be wonderful in America if we had a leader who said America’s open for business? Rather than punish success, vilify success, we’re actually going to encourage businesses to expand, to employ more people. I think we could really turn the economy around quickly.”
Read more on Newsmax.com: Sen. Johnson: Obama's Goal for US is 'Government-Controlled Society'
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