VP Mike Pence Lays Out Three-Pillared 'Freedom Agenda’ Ahead of Midterms
Former Vice President and founder of Advancing American Freedom Mike Pence announced his three-pillared “freedom agenda” for conservative leaders ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Pence’s plan has three pillars: American Opportunity, American Leadership, and American Culture. These pillars focus on America’s economic opportunity, strength abroad, and traditional values.
Under the American Opportunity pillar, Pence calls for, among other things, reestablishing America’s energy independence and dominance, fostering a thriving free-market economy, simplifying the tax code, and reigning in massive government spending by empowering federalism.
The opportunity pillar also calls for reforming big tech and providing them the same legal liability framework as traditional print and broadcast media companies. The plan reads:
The American free enterprise system is the most powerful economic engine in the history of mankind. No other system has created more wealth, lifted more people out of poverty, or improved mankindʼs quality of life to a greater degree. To restore American freedom and greatness, the free market must be unleashed from the shackles of high taxes, overregulation, and big-government socialism.
Under American Leadership, Pence calls on America to confront the Chinese Communist Party, forge a new Middle East by standing with Israel, and stand strong against Russian and Iranian aggression.
“American Freedom means peace at home and stability abroad. While America must never go ‘abroad, in search of monsters to destroy,’ in the words of John Quincy Adams, we must promote freedom through the power of our example and stand faithfully with our allies in defense of our common values and interests,” the freedom agenda says.
Finally, the American Culture pillar calls for policies that would promote patriotic education, secure our southern border, end illegal immigration, defend the second amendment, and protect women’s sports.
On culture, the plan says:
Americans are proud of our culture and believe that it is worth protecting for future generations. As Americans, we believe that every human being is created in the image of God, and we are endowed by our Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To secure life, the sanctity of human life must be restored to the center of American law. To secure liberty, patriotic education must replace political indoctrination in our public schools. To secure happiness, every American, in every city, should feel safe in his or her home, at work, and on the street.
During a conference call with reporters, Pence told Breitbart News that providing a plan for American voters ahead of the midterms is as important as being “loyal opposition” to President Joe Biden’s administration.
Pence said:
In 2022, I believe that it will be important for us not merely to be the loyal opposition, but in a very real sense, I think it’s imperative that the conservative movement rally around a bold, optimistic agenda that’s informed by everything that we have learned in this movement, from the days of the Reagan-Bush administration, all the way through the Trump-Pence administration. And that was the genesis of the Freedom Agenda.
Pence developed his plan over the last six months with input from some of America’s most well-known conservatives, including former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow, and former Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James. Pence said:
What we did over the last six months was really challenge the members of our advisory board to come to us and help us lay out that clear and compelling vision informed by the experience of the conservative movement over the last five decades. And I believe as you as you peruse the freedom agenda today, you’ll see it really is an effort to put [it] in one place.
Pence said his Freedom Agenda was created with the successes of conservative former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump in mind. “What we’ve sought to do in the Freedom Agenda is put all of those in one place for people who cherish freedom and who cherish that movement to be able to go in and reflect on the priorities that we have at home and abroad,” Pence said.
Pence also said that “elections are about the future,” and he believes Democrats “would love nothing more for conservatives than to talk about the past.”
“I think it’s equally important that we focus on where conservatives. at every level. whether it’s an active citizen or whether it be people in public life, can carry the country and I think by relentlessly focusing on the future,” he added.
Pence’s Freedom Agenda is now the third Republican agenda proposal laid out for voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) recently announced his 11-point broad vision for Republicans if and when they regain control of Congress. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also announced his “Commitment to America,” which will be rolled out by House Republicans over the course of this year.
Although former Vice President Pence, Sen. Scott, and House GOP Leader McCarthy laid out their Republican vision, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is opposed to the idea of providing voters an agenda ahead of the midterms. Instead, McConnell sees the midterms as a referendum on Biden.
When reporters asked McConnell what Republicans would do with a majority in Congress, he said, “I’ll let you know when we take it back.”
“This midterm election will be a report card on the performance of this entire Democratic government: the president, the House and the Senate,” McConnell added.
When asked why he felt the Republican Party needed another policy agenda, Advancing American Freedom executive director Marc Short said this:
I would simply say that we hope that this plan informs other plans. It’s not meant to be the one and only – I think that they’ve mentioned before. The Vice President, when he was in leadership, believed in the importance of putting forward an agenda for the American people. I do think that he’s in a unique position. And that when he was in leadership, he recognized that he was somebody that was responsible as well for other House Republicans at that time and their future prospects.
Short also emphasized the agenda’s nonpartisan nature, as Advancing American Freedom is a 501(c)4 “social welfare organization.” He said:
We are a 501 C(4) organization not a political organization. So it’s not just for Republicans, I get the nature of who the vice president is, what we stand for. But it’s not meant to be explicitly that, it’s meant to say, these are the policies that we believe brought prosperity to America, and we believe these are the prominent policies that should be embraced across the spectrum, and so we hope that others will adopt pieces of it.
When asked why he disagrees with McConnell’s stance against offering voters an agenda, Short noted that McConnell’s view is different and comes from a Congressional leadership standpoint:
I’m not so sure McConnell has discouraged outside agendas. I think there’s a difference when, you know, he’s basically, I think looking to say that the election should be referendum on Biden and the Democrats and so there’s a difference when elected members are putting forward things that speak for all the other members of that body.
Short also pointed to the second page of the Freedom Agenda, which quotes Proverbs 29:18 and says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
During the conference call, Pence also referenced that scripture and said it helped inspire him to develop his agenda.
“At our retreat at Jackson Hole last year, we gathered together with supporters when we first minted this proposal, and I said then, one of my favorite Bible verses is a proverb that says without a vision, the people perish,” Pence said.
“And I truly believe as important as it is for us to criticize and to confront and to be the loyal opposition, It’s absolutely of equal importance that we offer a positive, compelling vision built on our highest ideals.”
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