Happy Constitution Day! An old Interview Proves Nothing Much Changes

Less than a year ago I interviewed Jack Hunter, formerly known as the Southern Avenger, who's moniker and Paulist associations recently earned him the disdain and rebuke of the Free Beacon and much of the pro-war Right and Establishment Republican Party, despite his success as a co-author of Rand Paul's book The Tea Party Goes to Washington.

In the interview we chatted about Continuing Resolutions, Debt Ceiling Negotiations, the various purity tests within the Liberty Movement, his status as an 'operative', and, sadly the trouble with mass shootings. The interview transcript is below along with a link to the entire radio show from December 16, 2012, from which the interview was excerpted.

The Valerie Sargent Martin Show w Jack Hunter/Tarrin Lupo, December 16, 2012 

Welcome back, everybody. It’s the Valerie Sargent Martin Show. Our number to call in is 347 324 3704. Or you can join us at the FreedomizerRadio.com chat room. On the line with me now we’ve got our guest for this hour pundit, writer, radio personality, Liberty Movement superstar Jack Hunter. Hi, Jack.

Jack Hunter [JH]: Good to be with you, Valerie. How are you?

VSM: I’m doing great. Thanks so much for joining me today. I’m thrilled to death to have you with me.

JH: I’m glad to be here. It’s been too long.

VSM: Well, all right. So I invited you on specifically to talk about Jim DeMint’s departure from the Senate because you are a South Carolinian.

JH: I am. I am sad to see Senator DeMint leaving the Senate. I am glad that he will be in charge of the Heritage Foundation, an organization which, for the good things it does on occasion, I think also is an Establishment defender, particularly during the Bush/Cheney era. I like the fact that a guy who’s moving more in the liberty direction on issues – that’s not to say he’s perfect, but he’s certainly veering more in that direction than the average Republican – will be in charge of an organization like that with an $80 million annual budget. That makes me very happy.

As far as what’s going to happen with his seat, well, that is a big loss for us. You know, when guys like Mike Lee and Rand Paul were voting against things like indefinite detention, you know, for our liberties, DeMint was right there with them a lot of the time. You would hope somebody would be in that seat that would continue with those same votes. If I had to guess, I think Governor Nikki Haley would probably appoint Tim Scott who is actually my congressman in my home district, the 1^st Congressional District of South Carolina. Tim Scott is very conservative and good on some things, you know, and not good on others, in my opinion, but, you know, he’s no Jim DeMint, and the more he could possibly be like Jim DeMint would certainly be a good thing. My first pick for South Carolina would be Mick Mulvaney as far as people who have said they’re interested. There’s other people who aren’t interested who I would pick also.

[16:00] VSM: Mick Mulvaney is a current congressman.

JH: Right. He’s a current congressman. And he has made, there was a story in Politico last week talking about Republicans who are encouraging defense spending cuts and he was the main focus. He even uses the term ‘Military Keynesianism.’ And for anybody who’s been following my work for a long time, what has prevented the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and something Ron Paul has talked about until his face turns blue, and so many of our liberty leaders and activists, if we can’t cut pentagon spending, if we can’t cut all these bases around the world, the trillions and trillions of dollars that we spend on mindless wars that don’t make any sense, we will never, ever be able to shrink government.

Entitlements are unquestionably the biggest culprit when it comes to our debt and deficits, and our foreign policy is the second. And if Republicans, conservatives, can’t get their heads around that we will never, ever be able to shrink government.

VSM: Yeah, well, let’s talk about the fiscal cliff stuff first and then we’ll get back to the Jim DeMint issue in a moment. What do you think’s going to happen with the fiscal cliff stuff?

[17:27] JH: Well, Washington D.C. being Washington D.C. I can see nothing happening at all, and, you know, my preference is that sequestration goes through. For there to be a deal would probably mean there’s not going to be any cuts. And [cuts are] what needs to happen. And nobody needs to raise taxes. The idea that the government doesn’t have enough money is just stupid on its face. It would certainly hurt jobs. But more important than anything we have to start cutting. Sequestration is not enough, but at least it’s something. So I would like to see no deal happen, but, you know, John Boehner is sort of a joke. Barack Obama’s certainly a joke.  It will remain to be seen.