WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) challenged tea party conservatives in his response on their behalf to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday to move "from protest to progress" and to start focusing on constructive solutions for the country's problems, rather than fixating on what they oppose.
Lee used the example of the American Revolution, a favorite touchstone of many conservatives, to illustrate his point. The Boston Tea Party, he pointed out, came 14 years before the Constitutional Convention created the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.
"Fortunately for all of us, those early patriots moved on from Boston and moved past their protest against the government they didn’t want," Lee said. "They marched forward on a road toward the kind of government they did want.
"In America, the test of any political movement is not what that movement is against, but what it is for," Lee said. "The founders made a point at Boston Harbor, but they made history in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall."
Lee said that the GOP has had "no choice but to engage in a number of protests" against Obama's agenda, which he said has been "Washington-centered" and has worsened, not improved, economic inequality.
But Lee's point was a continuation of a move he has made of late to show that he, and conservative Republicans, are going to do more than to simply oppose Obama and his policies.
Lee was a sidekick of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during Cruz' failed gambit to force Obama to defund Obamacare, which resulted in October's government shutdown. Soon after that episode, Lee began to debut more proactive policy ideas, such as family-centered tax reform, in part to shake off the idea that all he and tea party conservatives stand for is intransigence.
Lee mentioned Cruz in his speech Tuesday night, but as a "friend." He then went on to list several Republican lawmakers he considers to be "reformers," including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
Lee detailed some of his ideas for how government can reduce inequality, which he acknowledged is a "crisis."
The "kind of government we do want," Lee said, includes reforms to education, welfare, prisons, transportation, health care, the tax system, and government handouts to big business, "so that business profits are won from customers, not through political connections."
Lee placed the blame for the strain on the lower and middle classes squarely at the feet of government.
"Government-driven inequality is the reason why, as hardworking families across the country struggle to make ends meet, six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are now suburbs of Washington, D.C.," he said. "Throughout the last five years, President Obama has promised an economy for the middle class. But all he’s delivered is an economy for the middlemen."
It was a mix of populism, reformism, and compassionate conservatism. "After all, if we’re going to reform welfare, we really should start with corporate welfare," Lee said.