Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) delivered the official Republican response to the President’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, pushing individual empowerment instead of increased government control.
While expressing confidence that both the President and Republicans want Americans to succeed, the Congresswoman pointed out that they have different solutions for making that happen. McMorris Rodgers concisely articulated the “more hopeful, Republican vision” for the country.
“It’s one that champions free markets — and trusts people to make their own decisions, not a government that decides for you,” she said. “It helps working families rise above the limits of poverty and protects our most vulnerable. And it’s one where Washington plays by the same rules that you do.”
McMorris Rodgers outlined the Republican plan in regard to both healthcare and education, noting that the GOP believes people should not be bound by the circumstances into which they were born, but should be able to become who they want to be. The Congresswoman took a swipe at President Barack Obama’s redistributionist tendencies.
“The President talks a lot about income inequality, but the real gap we face today is one of opportunity inequality,” she said. “And with this administration’s policies, that gap has become far too wide. We see this gap growing every single day.”
As examples of the widening opportunity gap, McMorris Rodgers referenced those unemployed and underemployed along with cost-prohibitive college tuition rates.
She criticized the President’s policies for making life more difficult, pointing to Obamacare as one example of that. Citing an example of a constituent facing skyrocketing insurance costs under Obamacare, McMorris Rodgers stated that Republicans don’t want to go back to the way things were, but that there needs to be a change from the current system.
“This law is not working,” the Congresswoman said. “Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government’s.”
Of particular interest, McMorris Rodgers’ claimed that the GOP has “plans to improve our education and training systems so you have the choice to determine where your kids go to school.” For millions of children currently trapped in failing government schools, the power to choose between both public and private education options could dramatically close the opportunity gap. Compared with top-down programs such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core, school vouchers enable individual choice and foster competition.
McMorris Rodgers reflected on her husband and three children throughout her speech, highlighting the personal nature of the American Dream.
“The President said many things tonight,” she said. “But now, we ask him to listen — to you — for the true state of the union lies in your heart and in your home.”
Such a conclusion proved consistent with her message of promoting individual responsibility and personal choice through a realignment of government power.
