Johnson: Security Is Main Issue In America and Election

During the 42 days of Congressional summer recess, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he hit all 72 counties to talk to the people of Wisconsin. From that whirlwind tour and in the 43 telephone town hall meetings he has held since knocking Democrat Russ Feingold from the U.S. Senate seat in the 2010 election, Johnson said he has discerned a common theme.

“I can describe the common theme in one word: Security,” Johnson said during an interview with what he termed a “gaggle” of media (three representatives – one with radio and the other two with newspapers) at the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club, where he appeared at a reception held by the Republican Party of Door County the evening of Sept. 19.

“Obamacare was important the first year or two, it still is, but the focus has shifted,” Johnson said. “People are hungry for some sense of safety and security. They are hungry for leadership. When they take a look at 6½ years of this administration, and actually they look at the decades of all these programs that haven’t exactly solved poverty. They’ve watched median household incomes decline. Their income security is reduced. Their job security is reduced. Their retirement security. Their health care security, and now their national security. So people are looking for some sense of security and they’re getting pretty frustrated and angry about it.”

Asked which issues will determine the outcome of the 2016 election when he faces Feingold again, Johnson said, “Who the people are, why we’re doing it. My standpoint, I hope people recognize I didn’t do this because I wanted to be a United States Senator. I ran for the United States Senate because I was so deeply concerned about the path this nation was on. It’s completely unsustainable.”

Johnson pointed to his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

“Let’s face it, Russ Feingold was never a committee chairman, and I rose to committee chairman in four years,” he said.

Johnson added that he hopes voters realize he is a uniter, not a divider.

“I hope the people of Wisconsin realize they’ve got somebody as a United States senator who is earnest about solving problems and honestly working with the other side. We have to find the areas of agreement. Look for things that unite us that we can agree on rather than exploiting what divides us,” Johnson said.

“Neither party has a monopoly on caring about every citizen. If we approach things with that type of attitude, that’s been my track record and I can prove it. We’ve reported out more than 40 pieces of legislation out of my committee now. They don’t solve all our problems, but they identify a problem.”

When the radio guy mentions that a recent quote he got from Reid Ribble made it into Gannett’s USA Today, Johnson picked that up and ran with it.

“There’s a reason why a Reid Ribble and a Ron Johnson stepped out of the lives we loved in the private sector and ran for office,” he said. “We see this nation on an unsustainable path. We see the games being played politically. We see the hollow demagoguery, the hollow promises, the broken promises, so we stepped in as citizen legislators. I think that’s what we’re seeing in the whole Donald Trump phenomenon. People hate political correctness. They hate seeing America lose these negotiations like the Iranian deal. They know Donald Trump is a dealmaker. That’s certainly where he’s riding right now in terms of the polls. They want to see America great again. That’s what Reid and I want to see.”