Mark Sanford on Paul Ryan

I am a part of what’s called the House Freedom Caucus. It’s comprised of many of Congress’s most conservative members, and I was asked to join when it began in the spring. It makes up less than ten percent of the House but has had disproportionate influence since it began this year. Rightly or wrongly, it’s blamed or credited (depending on one’s views) with both ending Speaker Boehner’s term and unravelling Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s presumed assent to the Speakership. After all, it was this group that was most unusual in endorsing Daniel Webster of Florida for Speaker over the sitting Majority Leader.

The degree to which this group was not comfortable with Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McCarthy yet got to a supermajority of its members (70 percent) deciding to support Paul is significant. Equally important are the people like Jim Jordan, Rep. Raúl R. Labrador, Congressman Jeff Duncan, Mark Meadows,Congressman Dave Brat, Congressman Jim Bridenstine, U.S. Representative Gary Palmer, Congressman Marlin Stutzman, and Justin Amash – just to name a few of the members – who do not take issues like this lightly. In part, this is the case because of the mission statement that joins together the Freedom Caucus: “The House Freedom Caucus gives a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. We support open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans.” In part, it’s just who these Representatives are. In any case, the overwhelming majority of the group has decided to support Paul.

The overriding reason this happened really has nothing to do with Paul but rather his commitment to changing some important things in the way power is distributed in the Republican Caucus and the way ideas are able to progress. This is what the Freedom Caucus has really been pushing for all along. What we now have is a commitment by an able legislator to help make this happen.

The first is a commitment to working toward redistributing power within the Caucus. The Steering Committee decides who gets on what committees and is more moderate than the Conference itself. Changes here would allow more conservatives on key committees, and this one change would impact legislation of all sorts, given the different committees that drive most legislative activity in the House. The second change would move us to operating the House on a more Member-driven basis. This is a big deal, as presently – regardless of a committee’s work on a bill – Leadership without consent or consult of the members may unilaterally decide to derail their work and go with their own idea. Allowing amendments to bills and allowing bills to go through the regular committee process is called “regular order,” and beginning to do so represents changing business as usual.

The second part of what got us there were Paul’s credentials. He has a 90 percent lifetime American Conservative Union index, a 100 percent pro-life record, an A rating from the NRA…the list goes on. There are some in the Conference with higher scores and some with lower. In his case, his big credential is his commitment to go out and work the Sunday talk shows and make the case for the conservative cause. The Bible says where there is no vision, the people perish, and one of the big frustrations I heard at home was that people didn’t feel like Speaker Boehner was articulating the vision and fighting for the cause. They accepted the idea that we might win and lose, but they wanted to see more of a fight for the ideals they sent us here to advance. Paul has committed to do this – to spend less time on fundraising and more time on developing, selling, and advancing the ideas of the Conference. In an age of 24-hour television, this is vital. Equally important were his credentials as former head of the Budget Committee and what he forcefully tried to do there in limiting government.

Finally, all choices in life are between the options available. Some have suggested there could still be someone better…and I suppose they could be right. But whoever that might be has decided not to run. Paul has great respect within the Conference because, over the years, he has earned it one member at a time. The Bible again says trust in little before you trust in a lot. He has consistently done what he said he would do with members, so they are now willing to trust him in this significant responsibility. This was made evident when his potential challengers, people likeCongressman Jason Chaffetz, Rep. Bill Flores, Congressman Tom Cole,Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, or Darrell Issa, all ended what had been the start of their campaigns for the Speakership when Paul said he was willing to do it.

I said “finally,” but can I add one more thought?

He has already displayed wisdom both in what he is asking for and, equally as important, in what he won’t pursue. He said he won’t be bringing up immigration during the remainder of President Obama’s term and that any potentially divisive issue, such as immigration, would only be brought to the floor for a vote if a majority of our party had agreed to do so. In the past, conservatives were simply ignored, while Leadership cut deals with Democrats to pass legislation like this. It seems like Ryan is focusing on the bigger picture here to push the will of the party above perhaps his own wishes…and, to me, that seems to speak volumes about the type of Speaker he could be.

It’s also important what he has asked for, and that is time with his family. It’s fairly thankless, but, historically, the Speaker was expected to spend a lot of time traveling and raising money. Speaker Boehner logged more than 200 days on the road last year. Paul has said he can’t do that given the ages of his children, and while some have been critical of his goal to protect weekends, I think it shows remarkable wisdom.

So, the bottom line is that he is not perfect. I’m sure we will disagree on any number of issues, but I think he represents the best chance we have to unite the Conference and advance conservative ideals. Accordingly, I will be supporting him on Wednesday.