Todd Akin isn’t the only one urging the Republican Party to move even further to the right. In an interview with Policy Mic, Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum says the GOP should put more of an emphasis on social issues and look to conservative firebrands Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Mike Lee as their role models. She blamed Mitt Romney’s loss on a “tremendous” drop-off in white voters, even though according to exit poll data white voter turnout was about the same as the last presidential election and Romney out-performed John McCain among white voters.
Schlafly, who also revealed that she is writing a book entitled Who Killed the American Family?, called feminism “the most destructive element in our society” and claimed feminists would “really like to get rid of” all men, while insisting that the Constitution has never been a sexist document and people should “stop complaining” about a lack of female candidates for office.
She also made the absurd claim that the government didn’t play a role in fighting the Great Depression and that Mexican immigrants aren’t becoming Americans because they are too comfortable with the welfare state and not voting Republican. Schlafly called the Senate immigration reform bill “suicide for our country” and said Mexico will use it to take over US territory.
On the topic of gay rights, Schlafly said that she continues to oppose marriage equality despite having a gay son, but also seems to be under the impression that same-sex couples can already get married: “Any gay couple can get married— all they have to do is find a preacher or justice of the peace who will perform the ceremony. There’s no law against that.”
She maintained that gay rights advocates are really pushing “an interference with our free speech rights” and warned that “homosexuals are teaching their ideology in the schools, and kids are learning it.”
When asked if President Obama should be impeached, Schlafly claimed that the recent IRS controversy is far worse than Watergate, which she called “just an ordinary little break in to an office,” and added that Obama could also be impeached over his opposition to the Defense Of Marriage Act.
Sagar Jethani: Reflecting on Mitt Romney’s defeat in November, Senator Lindsey Graham said “If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts. We’re not losing 95% of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.” You disagree.
Phyllis Schlafly: Lindsey Graham is one of the establishment Republicans. They picked Romney, and they have to defend him. There were many, many things wrong with the election and the campaign in 2012. One of them was that establishment Republicans really don’t have a ground game. They really don’t know how to relate to grassroots Americans. Romney appealed to the people who are well-to-do and traditionally Republican, but there wasn’t any outreach from that. And the real block that he failed to get was the white voters — his drop-off from white voters was tremendous.
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Who represents the future of the GOP?
People like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee who are not establishment candidates.
What about Marco Rubio? Wasn’t he a grassroots candidate?
Originally, Marco Rubio was until he went over and joined the establishment and became their salesman for unlimited amnesty.
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Republicans are often criticized for wanting to dismantle the safety nets people depend on. Do you think the government has a role to play in helping those who struggle to get by?
I grew up during the Great Depression, and didn’t have any of these government handouts, and we grew up to be what was called the Greatest Generation. The idea of an enormous number of people getting food stamps? Nobody’s hungry in the United States. I think we need to build more self-reliance. We need to build the nuclear family, in which the father is the provider and the mother is a mother.
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You recently argued against amnesty for undocumented immigrants, saying it would be suicide for the Republican Party because they would all vote Democratic. You don’t think that Hispanics resonate with Republican values?
I don’t see any evidence that Hispanics resonate with Republican values. They have no experience or knowledge of the whole idea of limited government and keeping government out of our private lives. They come from a country where the government has to decide everything. I don’t know where you get the idea that the Mexicans coming in resonate with Republican values. They’re running an illegitimacy rate that is extremely high. I think it’s the highest of any ethnic group. We welcome people who want to be Americans. And then you hear many of them talk about wanting Mexico to reclaim several of our Southwestern states, because they think Mexico should really own some of those states. Well, that’s unacceptable. We don’t want people like that.
What do you make of the Gang of Eight’s bill on comprehensive immigration reform now making its way through Congress?
It is suicide for our country, and not just for the Republican Party.
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According to Gallup, the number of Americans who consider gay or lesbian relationships morally acceptable has shot up from 38% in 2002 to 54% today. Is it time for conservatives to get with the program and start supporting gay rights?
No, it certainly isn’t. The polls are very defective. If you look at the polls, most of them ask the question: Are you in favor of banning same-sex marriage? Now, we have no law that bans same-sex marriage. Any gay couple can get married— all they have to do is find a preacher or justice of the peace who will perform the ceremony. There’s no law against that. What they are demanding is that we respect them as being OK, and that’s an interference with our free speech rights. There’s no obligation that we have to respect something we think is morally wrong.
Republicans oppose gay marriage by a large margin, with only about 25% supporting it. But if you break down the results by age, you find that young Republicans are much more accepting of gay marriage, with about 40% supporting it.
What you say is certainly substantially true, but I think it’s a result of what they’re taught in the schools. They’ve been teaching in the schools that homosexuality is OK for years. So the kids who have been taught that have grown up, and they’ve been made to believe it. The homosexuals are teaching their ideology in the schools, and kids are learning it.
Your own son, John, is gay. What do you say to those who argue that your view on gay rights prevents people like him from enjoying the same rights that heterosexual Americans possess?
In the first place, I’d say it’s really none of their business. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. My son is very supportive of my work. In fact, he works for me in the Eagle Forum. He’s a fine, honorable man. It does not cause any problems in our family.
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You don’t think feminism has done some good in raising the status of women?
The feminist movement is the most destructive element in our society. It has done nothing but damage. It has not done anything good for women, whatsoever. The worst part of it is the attitude that breeds in young women in making them think that they are the victims of the oppressive patriarchy. That is so false. If you wake up in the morning thinking you’re a victim, you’re probably not going to be happy or accomplish anything.
Don’t women in this country still have a long way to go in terms of enjoying the same rights that men have held from the beginning?
American women are the most fortunate class of people who ever lived on the face of the earth. We should rejoice in the great, wonderful country we have. Women have always been in the Constitution. There is no sexist word in the Constitution. It is written for We, the people and every word in it is sex-neutral, like person, citizen, elector, and Senator. I don’t know what they’re complaining about. You can do whatever you want.
Yesterday, Chris Jankowski, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, said that it’s hard to recruit women to run for office because Republicans don’t value women as much as men.
What you said is ridiculous, and the guy who said it has been influenced by feminist propaganda. I can tell you why it’s hard to recruit women. I have run for office. I ran twice for Congress. Women don’t like to do what you have to do to get elected in the same proportion that men do. It’s just plain tough: eat all those bad chicken dinners, travel all the time, expose yourself to attack by the other side all the time. And if you get elected to Congress, you may live a couple of thousand miles away from home. There will never be a large proportion of women who choose that lifestyle as compared to men. So stop complaining.
You argue that radical feminists have pushed for easier divorce laws to destroy the traditional family unit.
Of course, radical feminists push for divorce. They think men are not necessary, and they’d really like to get rid of them. The easy divorce law should be called unilateral divorce: it means one spouse can break a contract, and get out of solemn promises made in public before witnesses without the consent of the other party — without any fault on the side of the other party. That is so contrary to American constitutional law. Our Constitution is supposed to uphold the sanctity of contracts, but it doesn’t.
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We’ve seen a few scandals unfold in the past couple of weeks — the IRS targeting conservative groups, and the Justice Department secretly monitoring private communications at the Associated Press, Fox, and other news organizations. Do you agree with Steve King and Michele Bachmann that these scandals are worse than Watergate?
Well, of course the IRS scandal is much worse than Watergate. Watergate was just an ordinary little break in to an office. The harassment by the IRS, particularly of those who use Tea Party or Patriot in their titles, is just a total outrage. These groups had every right to get their status approved in a couple of weeks. Instead, they were harassed for years.
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Do you agree with those on the right who say the recent scandals merit impeachment proceedings?
I think there are many reasons why Obama could be impeached, but I’m not leading that battle. I think the best way is for Congress to stand up and stop a lot of the mischief that he’s doing which may be illegal. The Constitution makes it the duty of the president to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. He’s got Eric Holder trying to overturn a law that was duly passed by overwhelming majorities in both houses and signed by Bill Clinton — namely, the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s not taking care to see that the laws are faithfully executed. That’s just one of his offenses.
