Who?
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) — Senate Banking Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Hagerty
Ask a Pol asks:
Social policy’s en vogue again in today’s new right — where’d Republican’s libertarian leanings go?
Key Hagerty:
“I think at the core, the appreciation of liberty and freedom is still very prevalent in the Republican Party,” Hagerty told us. “Even, you take an issue like crypto technology. I've seen a tremendous movement toward us by people who, I think, are essentially libertarian — wanna be left alone by the government.”
ICYMI — Don’t miss our sister site AskaPolcrypto.com
Hagerty’s libertarian leanings end at marijuana:
Should a Trump administration roll back the DEA’s rescheduling of marijuana?
“That, to me, is not a matter of liberty and freedom, as much as, as a parent, great concern about where it leads,” Sen. Bill Hagerty exclusively told Ask a Pol. “I certainly don't want to see this encouraged.”
Caught our eye:
In the Senate Banking Committee, Hagerty opposed the SAFER Banking Act.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Bill Hagerty
SCENE: In the midst of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo was exploring what happened to the GOP’s libertarian leanings of, say, the Rand Paul era, when he ran into Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty in a busy hallway just off the convention floor.
Matt Laslo: “The party used to have strong — you know, in the Rand Paul or Ron Paul era — strong libertarian leanings. I'm kind of curious if they're still there or — your take out of that?”
Bill Hagerty: “Listen, I think at the core, the appreciation of liberty and freedom is still very prevalent in the Republican Party. You take an issue like crypto technology.”
ML: “Yeah?”
BH: “I've seen a tremendous movement toward us by people who I think are essentially libertarian and wanna be left alone by the government, and the last thing we want is the last thing they want is centralized control over their currency and their financial activities.”
ML: “Yeah.”
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BH: “What they see from our platform — and you should check out our crypto, the legs of our crypto platform.”
ML: “Yeah.”
BH: “It’s the most libertarian, freedom-oriented posture that one could possibly take, and, I think, as I've had conversations with people in that industry, they say, ‘Look, this is a litmus test on the ballot’ and every libertarian should be supportive of this, and I’ve had tremendous positive feedback.”
ML: “I used to discover music back in the day. I spent July 4th with my band family in Nashville...”
BH: “Oh, great.”
ML: “…and a lot of them are really into crypto. Not into politics — they want Washington out…”
BH: “I've seen the same thing:. They're not into politics, but they want freedom here. And I think we have a lot of voters, you know, who have a lot of alignment with us, but they tend not to vote in primaries. But when it's your pocketbook at stake, I think we're gonna engage a lot more people in the crypto community, and the numbers are large...”
ML: “Yeah, yeah.”
BH: “…between 20 and 50 million.”
ML: “Right?”
BH: “And so I think it's a significant number of people, and a lot of them that have those libertarian leanings, they're gonna find their home right here.”
ML: “And then when it comes to something like the DEA moving to reschedule marijuana, would you like to see Trump roll that back? Cause he's always been opposed to cannabis and drinking.”
BH: “That, to me, is not a matter of liberty or freedom, as much as it is, as a parent, great concern about where it leads. This is far stronger than anything that people were doing back in the 60s. I certainly don't want to see this encouraged. And, you know, I don't, I didn't see anything in the platform that would make me feel otherwise.”
ML: “Yeah? Preciate ya.”
Hagerty and his aide signal they have somewhere they need to be in the arena.
ML: “Good to see you, sir.”
Andrey Beregovskiy contributed to this report.
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