You don't go into politics unless you want to win.
The Democrats promised equalizing outcomes through unlimited federal assistance while Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible - the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets.
Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies - where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.
My grandfather would live to see his children become doctors and ministers, accounts and professors.
Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a gross violation of that nation's sovereignty and an affront to the international community.
If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn't have expected to be shot.
To understand how Republicans lost the African American vote, we must first understand how we won the African American vote.
What ObamaCare did was take some of the things we did for the poor and expanded the government to basically the whole marketplace.
Foreign aid is not something the vast majority of Americans support, but definitely not conservatives.
We should not have drug laws or a court system that disproportionately punishes the black community.
I think the key to getting rid of illegal immigration, no matter where its coming from, is that you need to have a good legal apparatus for immigration.
If you refuse to acknowledge that there is any waste that can be culled from the military budget, you are a big-government conservative, and you cannot lay claim to balancing the budget.
I can use most of the tools that every American teenager can master. Maybe not all of them.
I think what happened during the Great Depression was that African Americans understood that Republicans championed citizenship and voting rights but they became impatient for economic emancipation.
If our freedom is taken, the American dream will wither and die.
I believe that most police are conscientious and want only to provide safety for us.
The Constitution's pretty clear. The Federalist papers are pretty clear... They very specifically delegated the power to declare war to Congress. They wanted this to be a congressional decision; they did not want war to be engaged in by the executive without approval of Congress.
You can't promulgate injustice without consequences.
Conservatives have always wanted border security before we had immigration reform.
The Republican Party is an empty vessel unless we imbue it with values.
The Supreme Court must strike down the government's illegal spying program as a violation of our Fourth Amendment right to privacy.
My dad was one of only four congressmen who supported Reagan.
Was anybody else bothered by the sight of mine-resistant vehicles and guns pointed at unarmed men in Ferguson?
When you look at statistics for the white community alone, you see that we've become two separate worlds in which the successful are educated and wait to have children until they are married, and those in poverty are primarily those without higher education and with children outside of marriage.
I don't think you should have everybody's information from their bank. There should be some process: accusations and proof that you've committed a crime.
I grew up in a family that despised not only communism but collectivism, socialism, and any 'ism' that deprived the individual of his or her natural rights.
Throughout the 1970s, '80s and '90s, federal mandatory minimum laws were implemented that forced judges to deliver sentences far lengthier than they would have if allowed to use their own discretion. The result has been decades of damage, particularly to young people.
In some communities, I show up, and they say, 'Well, we haven't seen our Democrat congressman in 10 years.'
I think if you're forthright and answer a lot of questions, sometimes you'll get people who won't let you answer the questions, and that makes for a difficult answer.
I think that ISIS is a threat to our embassy, to our consulate, as well as potentially to the American people.
The great and abiding lesson of American history, particularly the cold war, is that the engine of capitalism, the individual, is mightier than any collective.
Really, having a gun registry and having to rely on the government to keep it secret, the government isn't so great at keeping confidences.
Some people say I chastise the Republican Party too much.
