Rep. McCotter tells Midwest peers: Start acting like Republicans

INDIANAPOLIS -- Making an unabashed case for "American exceptionalism," Michigan Representative Thad McCotter told a gathering of Midwestern Republicans that their party's congressional members must re-embrace bedrock Republican principles of limited government, lower taxes and expanding liberty.

Calling Democrats "the party of redistribution, regulation and retreat," McCotter said Republicans in Congress must "remember that they are Republicans and act like it." The Livonia Republican, who chairs the House Republican Policy Committee, spoke to activists from a dozen states on the final day of the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference here.
Comparing Americans today to those who suffered the Great Depression and won World War II, McCotter said the United States today faces similarly daunting challenges -- and unlike that previous generation, faces those challenges simultaneously.

The "greatest generation," McCotter said, faced the Depression, World War II, the rise of the Soviet Union and the need to extend civil rights to all Americans regardless of race. Today's challenges, he said, are globalization, the fight against extremist terrorism, the rise of "a communist Chinese super-state" and the question of whether "moral relativism and violent secularism" will undermine America's moral order.

"I believe, like previous generations, we will meet these challenges and overcome them," he said, encouraging Republican activists

He had tough words for China, saying during a question-and-answer session that "I don't think the communist Chinese are fooling anybody except the people making millions of dollars there."
And he got laughter and applause when answering a question about immigration policy. Calling illegal immigration a threat to U.S. sovereignty and the rights of American citizens, McCotter said, "The good news is that your House Republicans are very strong on this issue. Talk to your senators."

You can reach Gordon Trowbridge at (202) 662-8738 or gtrowbridge@detnews.com.