Populist-in-Chief: Mike Huckabee Says Humble Roots Connect Him With America’s Working Class

ANAHEIM, California — Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee expanded upon his platform’s emphasis on building America’s economy and strengthening its military, during Friday’s annual California GOP Convention.

Huckabee drew from his personal upbringing, which he explained affords him with a greater ability than others in the crowded pool of presidential candidates, to connect with this nation’s working class.

“I did not grow up a blue blood. I was a blue collar,” Huckabee said addressing the lunchtime audience at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim. “And quite frankly, I have more in common with the people working in the kitchen than I did with the folks sitting at the head table.”

Huckabee, who was the first male in his family’s lineage to graduate from high school, said he became a Republican during those formidable teenage years.

Huckabee’s father, whom he described as a smart man despite not having the opportunity to receive a proper education, taught him the value of being honest. “Son, if you just tell the truth, you won’t have to remember what you said because it will still be true the next time you say it. That’s why I tell the truth,” Huckabee explained.

He said that the truth behind why he is running for president is because he “is not willing to walk my [five] grandchildren through the charred remains of a once-great country called America and say ‘here it is kids. This is what’s left.'”

Huckabee attributed years of unruly and immoral leadership as main causes for America’s recent weakening on the world stage. “The best government that we will ever have is the self-government of a moral code internally that tells us it is better to do right than to do wrong.” And “we have an incredible opportunity to get America going again,” he said.

I want to go in with a hammer and a saw and a group of people who want to build this country back to the greatest days it’s ever had so that our economy is strong, our military is strong, we are the most feared country on the planet, and where there is a future for those five grandchildren of mine.

He said it was never intended for this country to make people become dependent on government assistance and welfare.

American workers should not be “penalized” with higher taxes for working hard, saving their money, and making investments, in his view. “We should reward them for that because that’s how you build a stronger economy.

“The IRS is a rogue, thug agency” that will “crush you under their feet if your views do not adhere to theirs,” Huckabee said. “And the only way to get rid of it, is to obliterate the IRS by passing the Fair Tax which is a tax on our consumption, not on our productivity.”

Regarding the military, Huckabee noted that “we have the least prepared, combat-ready military that we’ve had since before World War II,” which he attributed to President Obama’s sequestration.

We need the strongest possible America so that no bully would want to take a punch at us because they know that they just punched the wrong soldier… America will never back down.

Placing emphasis on the importance of adhering to the rule of law as outlined in the Constitution, Huckabee said America “should never elect a president who would surrender the executive branch to either of the other two. And we should never elect someone to the Congress who would just acquiesce to what the executive wants.”

Furthermore, Huckabee said it is unacceptable to tolerate a judicial branch that engages in the doctrine of judicial supremacy and which he believes leads to what President Thomas Jefferson called judicial tyranny.

“That’s exactly what we are moving toward now by letting the courts legislate while the Congress puts their hands in their pockets and refuses to act as the president goes wild with power.”

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