In a wide-ranging interview with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie, Sen. Mike Lee discusses the proper role of the federal government, the importance of states’ rights, and how his Mormon faith informs his politics.
From the transcript of the interview:
GILLESPIE: Does your faith inform your politics? Should voters care about a politician or a leader’s faith?
LEE: First of all, my faith informs everything I do. It certainly informs how I do my job, how I treat my family, and how I interact with other so yes it informs everything I do.
GILLESPIE: What is the essence of your faith? Is it “do unto others…”
LEE: It’s following Jesus Christ, the redeemer of the world, the Son of God who took upon himself the sins of mankind and made it possible for us to receive forgiveness and to be resurrected after this life. As to the second part of your question, there are many who share my faith, who don’t share my view of government. I’m certainly not willing to assume as a voter that simply because someone else shares my faith that they’re going to get my vote. As a voter what I look for is whether somebody shares my view of government and its proper role. That person may or may not share my faith; that person may or may not have any faith. I’m hiring them not to be my minister. I’m hiring them to represent me in government. I want to know what they think the proper role of government is. If they’re running for federal office I want to know what they think the proper role of the federal government is, how they read the constitution, whether they see this as some kind of open-ended conversation-starter or whether they view it as actually meaningfully restricting the power of the federal government.
Here’s the video:
