Continuing in the series on 2014 Primary candidates, I had an opportunity to sit and chat with Ben Streusand. Ben is one of the dozen candidates running in CD-36 to replace Rep. Steve Stockman, who decided at the last minute to run for U.S. Senate.
Streusand is a native Houstonian and graduated from Madison High School. After high school, he was interested in politics and received a B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He returned to Houston after graduation to work in the financial industry, spent a few years in Austin, got back to Houston as quick as he could, and has since built his own mortgage company, Home Loan Corporation, and has been active in the Southeast Texas community for over 30 years. He and his wife Kathy have been married twenty years.
Ben’s passion is for a return to fiscal sanity at all government levels. He is the former Chairman of Americans for Prosperity, Texas, and has provided conservative commentary on radio for years. But in his heart, he is a grassroots activist, demonstrated by his participation as a delegate at state and national Republican conventions, and his early support of the Tea Party movement.
If there is one thing that separates Ben from the large field of candidates in the race, it is that he is a “movement conservative” and that the rest of the field is made up of candidates with the traditional philosophy of “bringing home the bacon” to the district. Streusand is adamant that because the federal debt is so large, we cannot accept that traditional definition and that we must focus on free enterprise capitalism to move America forward. In fact, on every policy position that we discussed, Streusand had a free market alternative. He insists that we cannot continue to subsidize the economy and that we must transition out of programs that we cannot fund, programs that are living off of federal promises that we have no chance of honoring.
Streusand’s philosophy resonates with both old and young voters. In fact, as we were sitting in Luby’s talking about the race, a young man walked up to the table and asked “are you Ben Streusand?” When Ben affirmed that he was, the young man introduced himself, said that he was a new precinct chair in the Harris County Republican Party, and that he was a solid Streusand supporter because of the work Streusand has done over the years promoting economic freedom and liberty, and that he just wanted to meet Streusand, thank him, and shake his hand. Strong stuff. The young man looked at me as an afterthought and said, “oh, you’re Big Jolly, I read your stuff sometimes.”. Kids.
Because of his work through the years on economic policy and free enterprise capitalism, Streusand has a knack for articulating policy in a way that the average person can understand. In other words, he can take a complex policy position and convert it to layman’s language. One of the problems that Republicans have faced and are facing is that we have a lack of ability in that area in Washington, D.C., so we tend to lose debates because our representatives simply cannot articulate conservative, free market positions in a way that people can understand them. If elected, Streusand would certainly be able to do that.
Find out more about Ben Streusand:
Website: BenStreusand.com
Facebook: BenStreusand
Twitter: @BenStreusand