Should government be more like Apple’s App Store? That’s the message Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander put forward in Saturday’s weekly Republican address.
“Just imagine if instead of mandating things for you to do, your government became a platform, just like your iPhone, enabling you to create a happier, safer, more prosperous life,” Alexander said as he pushed for school vouchers and Medicaid block grants.
While Alexander criticized the Obama administration and Democrats over the Affordable Care Act and Common Core standards, he also took time to single out the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates and approves medicine and medical treatments, as an oppressive body “ordering you around.”
“Republicans want to enable and empower you,” Alexander said. “We want to be the iPhone party. We believe government ought to be a platform that gives you opportunity and freedom to create a happier, more prosperous, and safer life.”
He added: “Just imagine the Internal Revenue code, the Food and Drug Administration, or the Labor Department enabling you rather than ordering you around.”
Watch Alexander’s address:
Meredith Clark
Meredith Clark is a freelance writer and editor. She was previously a senior news producer for "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj," a reporter with MSNBC.com, the digital politics and culture editor at Glamour and a senior news and politics editor at Refinery29. She has written for Vulture, Rolling Stone, Self, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast and Bustle.