Congressman Cawthorn has rocked the status quo in Washington, D.C. following his election to Congress in 2020. The left-wing media has launched every false attack and smear campaign imaginable to block Congressman Cawthorn’s status as a rising star in the Republican Party. He is the youngest Republican to ever be elected to the United States Congress, and currently the youngest member of Congress.
As of October 2021, Congressman Cawthorn has introduced more bills in the U.S. House than any other freshman member of Congress, solidifying his policy positions and defining his office’s legislative priorities. Following the presidential election in 2020, he helped lead the charge to protect election integrity and objected to the House’s certification of the presidential election results.
A government’s primary duty is to its citizens. The role of government begins with protecting the citizenry from harm and ends before those protections violate our liberties. Unfortunately, it seems that in modern America, our government has forsaken its most sacred duty.
It was Ronald Reagan who said that “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” Yet today our federal government overreaches its boundaries and teeters on the edge of tyranny. It seems as though those in Washington are more concerned with lining their own pocketbooks and pursuing political power than they are with providing for the prosperity of our people.
It is time that we as a nation stood up and said, “no more.” No more foreign policy decisions that sacrifice the needs of Americans without achieving any greater strategic benefit. No more corporate bailouts that place the needs of an elite ruling class over the needs of working Americans. No more bending the knee to China, Russia, and others on the global stage. Our citizens have had enough of bowing to the mob and kneeling to the left. It is time to stand up for our country.
We will stand for this nation and put America First by emphasizing our national interests in the following areas:
China: For the past four years our nation has stood up to China like never before. President Donald Trump emphasized American interests and refused to kneel to the Communist Party in Beijing. Our foreign policy progress is now at risk. Recent events have revealed that Chinese intelligence has infiltrated the highest levels of government. Congressmen and presidential nominees have been corrupted and influenced by Chinese foreign agents. We cannot risk losing all the ground we have gained in our battle against China. We must press forward with plans to bring back manufacturing jobs from China and place them back within NC-11. We must hold China accountable for its record of lies which resulted in a global pandemic, and most importantly, we must never kneel to Chinese business interests in the way that high-profile politicians have in the past.
The Economy: Prior to the mandated closure of our economy by far-left politicians, our nation was experiencing an economic upturn under the leadership of an economically focused Republican Administration. Job growth was on the rise, American jobs that had been lost overseas through failed trade deals were coming home. Our nation was on a path towards true economic prosperity. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the left saw a chance to stall out the American economy and attempted to hamstring small business owners across this country for political gain. Enough is enough. We understand this virus, a vaccine has arrived, and any further posturing by left-leaning leaders against opening our economy must be treated as a direct desire to punish American businesses. We must put the American worker first and we must implement jobs-focused regulatory reform without catering to corporate interests.
Immigration: We must emphasize the needs of the American people as our primary goal when it comes to immigration. We cannot place the needs of foreign nationals over those of American citizens. For too long, those on the left have advocated for higher privileges and benefits for illegal immigrants than for American citizens. Free healthcare, free college, zero taxes, and other left-wing policies subsidize the business of illegal border crossings and have no place in American domestic policy. Those who refuse to place our citizen’s interests first have no place representing the citizenry.
I am a firm believer in legal immigration. At the Republican National Convention, I spoke about retaking the Shining City on a Hill. Presidents from both parties, including Reagan and Kennedy, have used that image to describe America. Reagan said that city had to have walls but doors that will be open to people with the will and heart to come here legally. That’s why I would summarize my immigration position as “walls and doors.”
Walls:
Our immigration system is in crisis. Along with thousands of illegal immigrants flooding across the border, our nation also faces a looming threat from the illegal drug trade. A porous border is the first step towards losing the American dream, the very dream that motivates men, women, and children each year to enter this country legally. We need to secure our borders and we need the rule of law.
Human trafficking and enslavement are the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world. Here, in Western North Carolina, the cartels have a major influence on the drug trade. North Carolina ranks 16th for most kidnappings nationwide. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with border patrol agents, leaders of ICE, and border sheriffs. I sat with these modern American heroes and asked their opinion on the American border crisis. In Congress, I will fight tooth and nail to shine a light on the evil of modern-day slavery. Human trafficking must be stopped.
Doors:
America has always been a land of opportunity, and this nation continues to stand as a beacon of hope for millions around the globe. We lawfully admit over a million immigrants each year, which far exceeds other countries. I firmly advocate for legal immigration, and I believe that the American dream will always beckon to those who seek to come to the land of the free.
America's healthcare system is in desperate need of repair. Let me tell you how we can fix it. I believe you can not only keep your plan but pay less and have more choices with better benefits. To do that we need to modernize our health system so that all workers in our 21st century economy enjoy the benefits as those in traditional jobs. We turn patients into shoppers and equip them with buying. Reforms creates choices it doesn’t take them away.
Patient choice isn’t an option; it’s a right.
I know a fair amount about health care because I was paralyzed from the waist down in a serious car accident in 2014. I believe I’m alive today because we don’t have a single-payer system, which invariably rations care, limits choices and lowers quality.
The problem is not that the free market has failed in health care. The problem is that it has never really been tried. Again, the rules regulating health care were written in 1940’s. Since then, we’ve had third parties – insurance companies and government bureaucrats – standing between doctors and patients.
We need patient freedom, choice, competition and price transparency. That’s the best – and only – way to drive down costs.
The Cornerstone of Security:
The strength of our armed forces is the bedrock of U.S. national security. A robust and cutting edge fighting force not only assures America’s allies of our unwavering support, but also promotes peace and prosperity globally.
America’s military cannot afford to buckle in the face of many emerging geopolitical threats. Radical terrorism, nuclear proliferation and Russian aggression will face no check if this nation’s armed forces falter. I will make military strength a top congressional priority and seek to furnish our armed forces with the tools they need to effectively and safely promote peace and democracy on the global stage.
Peace Through Strength:
America’s military is a tool for peace. Our nation’s armed forces together represent one of the greatest diplomatic tools ever created.
Career politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden decry the size and strength of American military might. What they fail to understand is that rogue dictators and socialist leaders only understand one message, strength. And when the strongest military force ever created sits across from them at the negotiating table, they listen. If America were to become weak and allow its military to fall into disrepair, then nothing would stand between the western world and the wolves of fascism, socialism and marxism who lurk just beyond the light of freedom.
I am a pro-life advocate. Life begins at conception and the protection of life ought to begin at conception as well. The current system of infanticide can no longer be tolerated under any legal or scientific standard.
Babies born as early as 20 weeks gestational age have gone on to be healthy, normal children. But it is perfectly legal to have an on-demand abortion until 26 weeks gestational age. These children, who would be able to survive outside the womb, are being brutally murdered simply based upon their arbitrary location in their mother’s womb. This is not a right or left issue, this is an American Epidemic. The U.S. is 1 of only 7 countries worldwide that allow abortions after 20 weeks, and 75% of Americans want new limits on abortion.
From a legal perspective, Roe vs. Wade was based upon the belief that 26-week old babies, who could not survive outside the womb were not human. Current science disagrees even with the most die-hard abortion advocate. Late-term abortions do not protect someone’s rights, rather they strip the most innocent of us from the one right they possess, the right to life.
I will fight tirelessly to advocate for the rights of the unborn in the halls of the powerful. Their voices will not be silenced in Washington.
Balanced Budget:
I support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. But I’m not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the achievable. I am fighting for this goal on two tracks. While I’m fighting for a constitutional amendment, I’m working to modernize and fundamentally reform our three-letter agencies that control too much of our lives and our economy. We need to shift dollars and authority out of Washington, D.C. and relocate functions to states and regions. We need put agencies like the IRS, EPA, HHS and DOE in their place. They work for us. We don’t work for them.
We can balance the budget, downsize and reimagine federal agencies, keep taxes low, limit regulation, and turn the entire country into an Opportunity Zone that empowers local communities and entrepreneurs in western North Carolina and all over America.
Congressional Reform:
Modern Washington represents itself and special interests. It’s time for DC to represent us – We the People.
The left’s answer is to get money out of politics by forcing you (the taxpayer) to finance their campaigns. The only way to get money out of politics is by getting politicians out of our pockets. Special interests have taken over our capital because the left has taken a special interest in every sector of American life.
There is no quick fix to this problem. Real reform will require hard work and a battle, but our future is worth saving. I am fighting every day to restore our founders’ vision of limited government and force the federal government to live within its means. The best and only way to drain the swamp is to reapply the Constitution’s enumerated powers that limit the federal government’s role and power over our lives.
As Tom Coburn, who led the successful campaign to end earmarks, or pork-barrel spending, once said, the perfect political moment for change in Washington is always a mirage that is just beyond the horizon of the next election. For my generation, and for all Americans, the perfect political moment is now.
Our focus for long-term reform must be Congressional Term Limits. Career politicians pose a threat to the future of America, and term limits are the solution.