Likely GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday dismissed Democratic, Big Government pushes for a new minimum wage, and instead called for giving state and local governments the power to help Americans reach their “maximum wage.”
In the first of a planned series of web issue videos, Huckabee said federal programs have trapped Americans in poverty and have to be junked.
“I’m not a Republican because I grew up rich. I’m a Republican because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me,” said Huckabee, who grew up in Hope, Ark., just like former President Bill Clinton.
The video features an unemployed Texas woman who believes that the federal government has hurt her chances for work.
Huckabee responds, “Instead of fighting over the minimum wage, why don’t we focus on solutions that help every American earn his or her maximum wage.” It didn’t provide any details on what he would change, however.
He concludes: “One thing that has to happen in America is moving the power away from Washington, where people are so disconnected from the way that so many ordinary Americans live. It’s a disaster. Power needs to be local and limited, because the closer government is to the people, the more accountable it is to the people who are being governed. Washington is out of control. It’s time to return power to state and local governments, break the cycle of poverty and government dependency, and quit apologizing for being America.”
In most presidential polls, Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate, is among the top tier of hopefuls.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
