Brecheen says fiscal responsibility needed to restore American Dream

If you’re not familiar with Josh Brecheen, he wants to change that. That’s why he’s barnstorming through Oklahoma’s 2nd congressional district this week hosting town hall meetings — five on Monday, including Sallisaw and Muldrow, and five more on Friday, primarily in southern Oklahoma. In February, he visited eight cities in the district.

Those who attended Monday’s Sallisaw or Muldrow meetings were introduced to Oklahoma’s newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Constitutionalist, a free market capitalist and one of at least 46 members of the Freedom Caucus, which is generally considered to be the most conservative and farthest-right bloc within the House Republican Conference. Current members also include Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Mark Meadows, Paul Gosar and Matt Gates, and some former members were Madison Cawthorn, Ron DeSantis and Devin Nunes.

He’s also a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, one of four Native Americans currently serving in Congress.

And he speaks very fast, especially when he rapidly recites portions of the Constitution, passages from the Bible and “The New Colossus” sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

But Bill Davis claimed, tongue-in-cheek, at the Muldrow meeting that he didn’t know the congressman. Not because he doesn’t know who represents all or part of 26 eastern Oklahoma counties in the nation’s capital, but because where Davis lives in extreme eastern Sequoyah County beyond Roland, he’s never heard Brecheen’s name on television.

“The reason I don’t know your name,” Davis told Brecheen, “is because I never heard it. I get television through satellite. But I am required to pay for Arkansas channels. We don’t get anything out of Oklahoma. You were never mentioned on Arkansas television last year.”

This was Davis’ preamble to his request that Brecheen help reduce FCC regulations “to where we can get, down here in eastern Oklahoma, off satellite, channels out of Tulsa or Oklahoma City.” Davis subscribes to Dish TV.

Brecheen couldn’t promise a resolution to Davis’ dilemma, but when others at the town hall meeting said other satellite TV carriers offered Tulsa channels, Brecheen suggested there may be a solution that doesn’t require an overhaul of the FCC.

“Sounds like there may be a free market option for you,” Brecheen counseled Davis. While Brecheen may not have any pull with the FCC, talking free market and the U.S. economy are right up his alley.

And he was in his element addressing the two dozen constituents who turned out in Muldrow, before taking his message to Sallisaw later in the afternoon at the Sequoyah County Fairgrounds.

“Let’s try to solve our nation’s problems from this little community gathering by getting your input, how you think we can turn this country around, and I wanna be teachable. If you can out-Constitution me, then you’ll have me,” Brecheen began.

“I believe we’re a country that’s deviated from Constitutional principles, and I believe that’s as much a part of our reason for falling where we’ve fallen.”

Then he hit high gear in delivering the message he wanted to impart.

“In 1900, according to a book called “Restoring the Dream,” 60% of all tax collection was on the local level, and only 20% was on the federal level. By the time we got to the mid-1990s, those numbers had flipped, and 67% of all tax collection and tax spent was on the federal level, and only 20% was on the local level,” Brecheen said.

“I think it happened because we stopped adhering to the Constitution. In Article 1, Section 8, it lists 18 things the federal government is supposed to do, that Congress can do. The permissibility section says, as a supreme law of the land, the Congress can do these things,” and he rattled off the 18 enumerated powers.

“Then you get to the Tenth Amendment, and it says all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution or prohibited by it are reserved to the states or the people.”

This was just Brecheen’s introduction to the meat-and-potato portion of his message, which included pointing an accusing finger at the Biden Administration and a hard reality about Medicare and Social Security.

“If we’re gonna restore the American Dream, we have to go back to the basics and simplicity. Because we’ve gotten that wrong, we have a $31 trillion national debt,” he preached. “The U.S. Treasury report came out under the Biden Administration this last summer, and the Hartman Institute picked it up, and said it’s not just $31 trillion we need to be worried about, it’s the unfunded obligations of Medicare and Social Security. Medicare hits insolvency in 2028, Social Security hits insolvency in 2033, and when that happens, you don’t have to worry about a Republican or a Democrat cutting Medicare or Social Security, the cuts happen automatically, because there’s not enough people paying in for the outlays. This has happened because of mismanagement by many, many years by members of Congress. I will contend there is fraud within the Medicare element that’s helping to lead it to insolvency, there’s fraud within SSDI, Social Security Disability Insurance.

“So when the Treasury report came out in June, you take 31 trillion, plus the 90 trillion unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Social Security and what we owe veterans for pensions, what we owe federal employees for pensions — when you add it all together, it’s $121 trillion. That’s our total obligations to get flush with the House. That’s the math, that’s the reality,” Brecheen said.

Emphasizing how much $121 trillion is, Brecheen used the example of someone laying down a dollar per second 24/7. “It would take 11 days to get to a million dollars. It would take 31 years to get to a billion dollars. It would take 31,000 years to get to a trillion dollars. It would take 3.7 million years to get to 120 trillion dollars.”

Now he was on a roll. “This year we’re gonna overspend by $1.4 trillion, that’s the projected deficit for this year. That’s exactly the size of our entire gross national debt, our entire debt 200 years as a nation in 1983. We’re gonna overspend by that amount this year,” he projected. “And then in 10 years, the CBO says that’s just gonna be our interest payments. So the difference between 1983 and 50 years later, the size of 200 years as a nation to get to 1.4 trillion, and now 10 years later, in 2033, that will be just what we flush down the toilet in annual debt service, interest payments only, no principle. In five years, what we spend on interest, just to service that debt, will match what we spent to defend our country, our total defense budget, almost a trillion dollars.

“So the question is, are we as a people really willing to address this head-on? Or will we continue to do what’s been happening for the last 40 years, inheriting prosperity from our parents and our grandparents, kickin’ the can down the road and stealing prosperity from our kids and grandkids, leaving them debt dependency? Or will we get serious in this Congress, and actually start cutting spending?”

Then, as if at the podium for a tent revival, Brecheen summoned the crowd to its feet, at least figuratively, with a rousing proclamation.

“I believe in miracles. I believe that there was a miraculous inception of our nation. I believe what the founders said that the finger of God came in that Constitutional Convention. I believe that when [George] Washington stood on the banks of the Delaware [River] and read Thomas Paine’s ‘these are the times that try men’s soul … Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered, but we have this consolation with us: the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too light.’

“So here’s my great belief,” Brecheen said. “If God can intercede for a nation and get us started, He can intercede for a nation that’s headed for an economic collapse. I believe in miracles. It’s gonna take a miracle. Are we willing to make the sacrifices, as the Constitution says, to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity?

“I’m doin’ these town halls to say, ‘we’ve got real problems. Are we willing to sacrifice? And if we are, where are those areas where y’all would like to see us start focusing on spending cuts?”

After blaming “a divided government” for the looming insolvency of Medicare and Social Security, Brecheen fielded questions and concerns from his audience.

Waste and fraud was brought up, which gave Brecheen an opening to campaign for welfare reform and deride social programs. He also condemned LGBTQ parades and transgender story hours he claims are being funded by U.S. taxpayers in Colombia and Ecuador, respectively.

Then a question about reining in federal bureaucracy devolved into Brecheen calling for accountability in funding the war in Ukraine.

“A strong national defense protects us. But blowing money on Ukraine and claiming that that’s part of our national defense — we need an audit of that, we don’t know where it’s going — the $113 billion, we’re supporting their government functions. We need to demand accountability,” he claimed.

“When do we stop becoming the adult that takes care of everyone across the world? We can’t. Economic security is national security. There are a lot of economists that think we’re headed for a recession. I am really struggling with the concept of sending more monies [to Ukraine].”

Then, after Brecheen presented a historical retrospective of what caused the collapse of Russia in 1917 and the fall of the USSR, and how it parallels what he believes lies ahead for the U.S., a comment from the audience invoked the Republican political platform: “How much of it is going through Hunter’s [Biden] bank account right back out? I think Ukraine was corrupt from the start. I think they’ve been laundering money from the get-go. Sending them a penny is problematic.”

Another attendee brought up immigration and the border wall. Brecheen blamed the Biden Administration for illegal immigration and the U.S. policy of catch and release, before saying “finishing the wall is important.”

Interaction among the mostly partisan crowd was mostly subdued, until someone asked about stolen elections. It was at this point that a husband and wife at the front of the room became uncomfortable and threatened to walk out of the town hall meeting. Brecheen’s response: “There is a high amount of fraud in absentee ballots, that is fact.”

The congressman then cited “2000 Mules,” the documentary which purports to prove widespread, coordinated and deliberate voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome, and claims Donald Trump won swing states like Michigan, Georgia and Arizona. Brecheen was quick to offer a caveat — “I’m not trying to ascribe that it’s fact” — but said his takeaway from the movie was the ending, which says “we don’t know what we don’t know.” He said “we’ve made it easy to cheat” due to an alleged lack of accountability, and said it was “either (Vladimir) Lenin or (Joseph) Stalin” that said power lies with those who count the votes.

Regarding taxes, loopholes and the wealthy not paying their fair share, Brecheen said he is “a big advocate” of a flat tax, saying that it is the only fair tax system.

When Brecheen attempted to return to the question of Ukraine, a constituent changed the subject, saying she doesn’t believe more bank bailouts are needed. “I don’t believe the government is the solution to every problem,” the congressman concurred.

Then Bill Davis posed another set of questions. “What is your position between Gov. Stitt of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation?” He asked. Then he attempted to narrow his query. “What is your position as to the rights of the Cherokee Nation? Should the Cherokee Nation operate as a separate entity and government unto itself?”

Brecheen acknowledged that the U.S. should honor its treaties. “I believe a blessed nation keeps its word,” but then cited “complexity” that makes it difficult to provide a definitive answer.

“I’ve gotta lot to learn,” he said.

Brecheen will host town hall meetings Friday in Holdenville (8-9 a.m.), Coalgate (10-11 a.m.), Atoka (noon-1 p.m.), Madill (3-4 p.m.) and Tishomingo (5-6 p.m.).