By Verne Strickland / December 2, 2012
I asked conservative Republican David Rouzer of Johnston County this past week to join me at lunch so we could talk about politics and key issues. We broke bread at Elijah's Restaurant on the Riverwalk in Wilmington, and had this conversation:
After a vigorous effort, you came up
short in your challenge to Mike McIntyre, when it seemed that you were poised
to send him back to Lumberton. Please talk about the 2012 election in North
Carolina’s Seventh District.
It was a
very close race. As a matter of fact, if it had been any closer we would have
won. But campaigns are great experiences. I really enjoyed developing new
relationships with people here in Wilmington and across the district.
You gained a lot of public awareness
which could come in handy for you one day.
No doubt
about that. It may be a loss on a sheet of paper, but it was certainly a win in
many other respects. Like I said, we have elections every two years, so it won’t
be too long before I’ll have to be thinking about what’s next.
I’m made aware of your faith in God,
which is suggested frequently when you talk with me. Give me some more insight into this area of your life.
I think
there’s a bigger picture, and scripture says the Lord’s ways are not our ways,
so we don’t always understand the true meaning of events in our lives. It’s
easy to get frustrated and disappointed at times, so I have great faith that as
long as we individually do our best in all circumstances, that’s all the Lord
requires. The rest He’ll take care of.
What sort of future do you see for
our America?
We as
conservatives have to work harder and harder and harder to get our message out,
to help people understand why be believe as we do – in the free enterprise system,
in limited government. I’ll share this with you – not long after the election I
was having a conversation with our pollsters and they were saying that
nationally there were more folks out there who tend to believe it’s better to
have an equal outcome than to have an equal opportunity.
As
conservatives it’s incumbent to explain why equal opportunity is more valuable
than equal outcome. If you look at the history of the world, everywhere there
has been equal outcome, people have been equally poor and deprived. That’s short-sighted
in my opinion, and we don’t want that. We’ve got to have a real conversation in
this country about the role of government, and the value and advantages of free
enterprise, building a culture in government that is stable in its beliefs and
philosophy for the long term. We can do that and we must.
Conservatives
have sustained a lot of political and verbal assaults from the President, and
this has made me wonder what the true nature of this man really is. How are we
going to fend off these partisan attacks during his second term in office?
The House of
Representatives and John Boehner have a real chore on their hands, because they
are working with a Democrat-controlled Senate that doesn’t believe as we do,
and they’re working a Democrat-controlled White House that has the same
mindset. Thank goodness for the House of Representatives and John Boehner in
this process, because they’re the firewall. They are the only impediment to a
far-reaching liberal agenda. So we need to support them as best we can, and to
encourage them and help them keep up the fight.
What conservative victories stand out
in your mind from the national to the local level in this recent election?
There has
always been so much focus at the federal level. But the states in 2010 elected
a number of new Republican governors. Here in North Carolina in 2012 we won a
big victory when Pat McCrory was elected governor. He is our first Republican
governor since Jim Martin. The states are gaining the traction now to push back
with more assertiveness against the federal government. And under the
Constitution, they have that authority to resist and challenge against federal
power and actions.
Up to now,
the states have not been as proactive and they could and should in that role. I
think now the states will need to step up, and many of them have already begun
to do that – particularly in regards to Obamacare and the individual mandate,
pushing back against the overreach of the bureaucracy at the federal level. You
know, if the states of this country begin to ban together and stand up and say “no”,
there will be a profound impact that can turn this country around.
Well, thank you very much, and as you
go back home to Johnston County, don’t forget us down here on the coast, will
you?
No chance of
that. You know my family and I have a place at Kure Beach. For a long time I
came down here to get away from politics. Now I come down here to politic. It’s
always great to come down here to Wilmington. It’s a great part of our State,
and I’m certain I’ll be here quite often.
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