Culberson Responds to the State of the Union Address

I live in the district represented by John Culberson in the U.S House of Representatives. This is his response to the president's State of the Union address:

Congressman John Culberson (TX-07) issued the following response to President Obama’s State of the Union address:

"I am pleased that President Obama’s State of the Union speech spent less time than usual attacking Republicans. Unfortunately, his speech was filled with statements that will play well on the campaign trail, but it contained little substantive policy. The proposals we did hear confirm that he will continue to try to transform the America we know and love into a European style social welfare state where a majority of Americans are dependent on the federal government for a paycheck or a handout.

"In light of the President's policies and his recent rejection of the Keystone Pipeline, it is not believable for him to tell us he is committed to “[a] future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world [and] an economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.” For the last three years, the President has made it more difficult for America to produce our own energy, and he is determined to raise taxes on Americans who work hard and are the most successful.

"Like so many Americans who want to see the size of the federal government reduced, I also found it absurd to hear this president claim he believes in Lincoln’s motto that “government should only do for the people what they cannot do for themselves, and no more.” It is the height of hubris for him to promote tax cuts and deficit reduction, and to claim that he is committed to eliminating government waste and cutting regulations. President Obama has created more debt and bigger deficits than any president in history, and he has aggressively grown the government, expanded its power, extended regulations into virtually every corner of our lives, and driven federal spending to the highest level since World War II.

"Despite the praise he properly bestowed on our men and women in uniform, Obama and his party followers are aggressively working to dismantle and dramatically weaken the greatest military the world has ever known. At the same time, their policies embolden our enemies and strengthen Israel’s enemies yet they undermine Israel's national security as well as our own. He has also abruptly abandoned all our sacrifices in Iraq and left that fragile democracy alone to face their fanatical enemies in Iran.

"Around the world, America’s enemies, especially communist China, Iran and other radical states in the Middle East, are growing stronger and becoming bolder, while President Obama dismantles our military and apologizes to the world for our strength and our pre-eminence. It is appalling that he even tried to apologize to the Japanese for President Harry Truman’s necessary decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the Japanese government understood that apology would have been a disaster and stopped it.

"His speech last night was utterly unconnected to the reality of everything he has done and is trying to do. His State of the Union was pure political theatre designed to trick us into thinking that he shares the values and goals of most Americans. He and his party followers hope they can fool us just long enough to win this next election.

"I prefer to follow Thomas Jefferson's advice, "Follow the core principles of the Constitution and the knot will always untie itself." We can balance the budget and restore our liberty and prosperity by unleashing American ingenuity and hard work with massive tax cuts matched by spending cuts but above all by restoring the Constitution's limits on the federal government, especially the 10th Amendment's guarantee of State sovereignty and individual liberty."