Republican Sharron Angle, who’s fighting to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, tells Newsmax that the U.S. needs to completely overhaul the federal income tax to rein in corruption in Washington.
Angle, who was endorsed by the Tea Party Express in April, also objects to claims in the media that she is an “extreme” candidate and says she embraces the mainstream views tea partyers espouse.
The former Nevada assemblywoman won the June 8 Republican primary handily with 40 percent of the vote, while her closest competitor, former State Sen. Sue Lowden, got 26 percent.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Angle was asked about her strategy for defeating longtime incumbent Reid in November.
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“The strategy is very simple — we’re just going to expose his record,” she says.
“Most everyone knows Harry Reid and they are not happy with Harry. Our strategy moving forward is to remind them of all the reasons they’re not happy with Harry.”
Noting that Nevada has the nation's highest unemployment rate, at 14 percent, and is also highest in home foreclosures and bankruptcies, Angle says: “Harry Reid says he does more for Nevada. We say stop doing more, we can’t stand it.”
One of the things Reid has done is “raided the lockbox” of Social Security, Angle charges. “There is no money there. There’s an IOU.
“We need to save that Social Security fund by putting some money back in there so Harry Reid can no longer raid the lockbox. But going forward, we need to personalize Social Security the same way Harry Reid has a personalized account.”
Asked about her call to overhaul the income tax system, Angle tells Newsmax: “The federal income tax code is 67,000 pages of reward your friends and punish your enemies. It is what Washington, D.C. and the lobbyists have been using for years to get advantages for their clients.
“What we need is something that is fairer, flatter, and simpler for our citizens. Something that we can fill out on the back of a postcard. Something that [doesn’t require us] to pay extra every year for an accountant to come in and figure out if we’ve got the right forms filled out and if we’re paying the right amount.
“This needs to be simplified, and if we do that I think we’ll see a lot of the corruption in Washington go away.”
Angle has proposed eliminating the U.S. Department of Education as one way to cut the federal budget. She says the 10th Amendment dictates that education should be done at the state and local levels. “The closer education is to the classroom, the better it is. So that’s why I would say that’s the place to cut if you’re going to have to cut spending at the federal level.”
The functions of the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency also would be handled better at the state level, according to Angle.
Responding to assertions in the media that she is “outside the mainstream” or an “extreme” candidate, Angle declares:
“The American people are mainstream, and I’m mainstream America. If you ask any person on the street how they feel about the federal government, they’re going to tell you the federal government is the problem, not the solution. They’re going to say my views are mainstream views, and that’s really what the tea party is all about.
“It’s not an organized movement. It’s grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, dads. What they’ve seen is, the government has gotten between them and the next generation, and now they’re afraid: What are we passing down to our children? Is it liberty, or is it debt and deficits?”
Regarding Arizona’s tough new law targeting illegal immigrants, Angle said: “Arizona has stepped up when the federal government has failed to secure the borders and protect its citizens.” She favors passing a similar bill in Nevada.
Turning to the American economy, Angle says: “We see an economy like Greece, and now Spain is following that. We don’t want to be the next Greece or Spain. We want to have an American economy that thrives on Reaganomics.”
With unions pouring money into Reid’s campaign, which is reportedly on track to raise $25 million, Angle was asked whether she can compete.
“The support of the people in America is sufficient for me to compete, and that’s why I’ve said, go to sharronangle.com and if you can’t vote, send money.”
Angle adds that she will make an issue of Reid’s statement during the George W. Bush presidency that the war in Iraq “is lost.”
“This is a very serious matter. When he said that, he demoralized our troops in foreign countries.
“Since we have committed our children to fighting a war, we need to do everything we can to support them, not only with our money but also with our words. Words do cause damage and Harry Reid has caused damage.
“We cannot tolerate folks like Harry Reid that demoralize our troops with those really irresponsible statements.”
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