Hip Hop Republican.com did an interview with A.J. Otjen, a self-styled Teddy Roosevelt Republican running for Congress in Montana. Below is their interview.

HHR Blog: Tell the readers of HHR Blog a little about yourself…where are you from…where were you born…where were you raised?

A.J. Otjen: I was raised in Enid Oklahoma by a Republican family. My grandfather William John Otjen was the Republican candidate for governor and senator for Oklahoma. I remember wearing “I like Ike” buttons as a small child and my mother being a “Bellmon Bell”. My parents were divorced when I was 15. I think Mom was my hero as she paid for all of my college but always told me I was on my own the day I graduated and she meant it. She had the greatest friends that had parties and played bridge. The day she died I was able to tell her that she had been the best mom. That is all she wanted to know. That she could be proud of what she left behind. She also gave me a love of horses and a believe that I could do anything I wanted. Her name was Eva and I am named after her mother Agnes. Read more »

Jim DiPeso is the kind of Republican you don’t hear about in the newspapers everyday. He’s the Vice President for Policy & Communication of the Republicans for Environmental Protection, an organization formed in 1995 to restore the Republican tradition of environmental conservation. In an era when folks like Senator Jim Inhofe get headlines for Republicans by calling climate change “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”, it’s refreshing to see there are Republicans out there who remember the first two syllables of the word “conservative.”

In two sentences, tell us about your organization.
Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) is a grassroots citizens organization that was founded to restore the Republican Party’s conservation tradition. We believe that good stewardship of our natural endowment is a duty that we owe to future generations.

Expand on that, if you please.

Republicans stand for taking responsibility and securing the blessings of freedom for all Americans. We hold our country’s natural endowment – air, water, land, and wildlife – in trust. We must take responsibility for using natural resources with care and avoid waste, so that those resources are available for future generations to use and enjoy. As Margaret Thatcher stated so well: “No generation has a free hold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with a full repairing lease.” A crucial aspect of defending freedom is ensuring that future generations enjoy the freedom to make their own choices. Leaving them a healthy environment is crucial to carrying out that responsibility. In his book, A Book Lover’s Holidays in the Open, Theodore Roosevelt wrote: “‘The greatest good for the greatest number’ applies to the number within the womb of time.”

The British statesman Edmund Burke is widely regarded as the founder of modern conservatism. Burke taught us that society is a timeless contract among past, present, and future generations. Good environmental stewardship is one way that we, the present generation, can uphold our end of the bargain.

What are REP’s goals?

Our goals are to encourage Republicans, especially our elected leaders, to take responsibility for environmental stewardship by developing and supporting credible environmental solutions that fit with traditional Republican ideals, including support for limited government, strong national defense, and market capitalism.

We urge our fellow Republicans to take pride in our party’s environmental heritage and build on it for the 21st century. Great achievements in environmental stewardship were made by our party’s icons. Abraham Lincoln protected Yosemite Valley, setting a vital precedent that led to formation of our national parks system. Theodore Roosevelt set the gold standard in conservation by protecting 150 national forests, 18 national monuments, 55 bird and game reservations, and 5 national parks. Dwight D. Eisenhower established what is now known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Richard Nixon pushed for and won passage of the Clean Air Act and many other beneficial laws that reduced pollution and strengthened conservation. George H.W. Bush significantly strengthened the Clean Air Act. George W. Bush protected more of America’s territorial ocean waters as preserves than all of his predecessors combined. There are many more examples I could list.

We believe that environmental stewardship should not be politicized as a partisan issue. All Americans benefit from a healthy, clean environment. There are no Republican rivers or Democratic forests. As Theodore Roosevelt realized a century ago, the environment provides valuable services to human society that cannot be replicated or replaced. Protecting the environment will help keep our country strong and prosperous. History has shown that when people of good faith from both parties work towards balanced environmental solutions, lasting benefits are achieved. For example, thanks to the Clean Air Act, the air in our cities is demonstrably cleaner than it was before the law was enacted. Smog levels are down, acid rain is not the threat it once was, and lead has been largely cleansed out of the air, eliminating a proven health hazard to our kids. One of the congressional champions of the Clean Air Act was Senator Howard Baker, R-Tennessee, who served our country with distinction in Congress and as Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff.

How and when did you get started?

We were founded in 1995. Our three “founding mothers” were Republican activists, including one who served as a county commissioner in Illinois, who believed that Republican leaders were forgetting our party’s environmental heritage. They came together in reaction to the excesses of the 104th Congress, whose Republican majority went to extremes in attempting to weaken or even repeal environmental laws that past Republican leaders had fought to enact.

What gap did you think REP would fill?

There are a thousand and one environmental organizations, but REP is the only one with a distinct Republican identity. Most other environmental organizations are led by Democrats, and they tend to work on the assumption that only Democrats can be trusted to protect the environment and that only Democrats’ ideas can form the basis of sound environmental policies. This, along with the behavior of Republican officials who see the environment as a “liberal” issue, tends to reinforce polarization around the environment. When the issue is polarized along partisan lines, you see “boom-and-bust” cycles for environmental stewardship that shift with changing political cycles. When both parties take the issue seriously, as was the case a generation ago, then we will see steady environmental progress.

Our founders believed correctly that there was a missing Republican voice in environmental debates, the voice of Republicans who care about protecting our country’s natural heritage, keeping the environment healthy, and ensuring that future generations can enjoy the services and benefits that only a healthy environment can provide. We supply that missing voice and we call things as we see them. If that means criticizing Republican leaders for being irresponsible, or criticizing Democrats for thinking that they have cornered the market on environmental virtue, then so be it.

Who are your members?

We have members from all walks of life. They include present and former elected officials, some of whom have achieved national prominence. A good example is former Congressman Sherwood Boehlert of New York. During his years in Congress, Congressman Boehlert was the leader among House Republicans who took environmental stewardship seriously. Our members also include state legislators and local elected officials. We have business owners, scientists, physiians, clergymen, attorneys, teachers, students, and retirees.
Let’s talk about you for a bit…tell us a little about Jim. Where are you from?I’m a lifelong Westerner. I was born and raised in California, spent a few years in northern Nevada, then moved to Washington State 18 years ago. I am now living in the Seattle area with my wife. Our four children have grown up and flown the coop, so it’s just us two and the self-important cat who has colonized our household. Got a granddaughter on the way in September, so we’re very much looking forward to spoiling her.

What’s your profession?

By vocation and avocation, I’m a writer. I have a degree in communications, spent some years in the newspaper business reporting and editing, then switched to the non-profit sector to actually do the things that I had been writing about. I now serve REP as policy director – analyzing issues, developing positions on them, and communicating our views.

What are your non-political interests?

I’m an avid reader, and I especially enjoy history and science. Right now, I have two books open on my nightstand – Ben Bova’s newest science fiction novel and the first volume of Winston Churchill’s history of World War II. I also enjoy spending time with current events publications, especially The Economist, the world’s finest news magazine.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

It varied from one day to the next. Ship captain, railroad engineer, astronaut, and electrical engineer are a few examples. I still think it would be great fun to sit in the cab of a big locomotive and drive a train across our country’s wide open spaces.
Okay…let’s turn to your Republican Journey…Why did you decide to become a Republican?

I don’t consider myself a hard-core partisan, but I believe that the traditional Republican approach to public policy is the better of the two alternatives on offer to American voters. I group my political ideals around great Republicans of our past. Like Abraham Lincoln, I believe in individual liberty and defending the dignity of all people. Like Theodore Roosevelt, I believe that we must be good stewards of God’s creation. Like Dwight Eisenhower, I believe that moderation serves the commonweal better than bitter dogmatism. Like Barry Goldwater, I believe that government should stay out of people’s personal business. And like Ronald Reagan, I believe that America’s best days are yet to come, and that we should stand for our beliefs with a sense of humor and a humbleness of spirit.

Did you come from a Republican family?

My pedigree is mixed. My dad was an old-time New Deal Democrat. Only voted for one Republican in his life and that was Ike in 1956. My mom was a moderate Republican whose first presidential vote went to Tom Dewey back in ‘48. On both sides, my aunts, uncles, and cousins tend to be conservative Republicans. And my younger brother calls himself a tax-and-spend liberal Democrat, but he probably would get thrown out of a Democratic gathering because of his un-Democratic ideas about nuclear energy and foreign policy.
Moving on to the Party itself…what do you think it means to be a Republican?It means to be a responsible citizen who takes an interest in civic affairs, supports Republican ideals in the formulation of public policy, backs Republican candidates when they deserve it, and gives them hell when they don’t.

What does the Republican Party mean to America?

At its best, the Republican Party is the custodian of traditional conservative values, including freedom, responsibility, and stewardship of the inheritance with which we have been blessed, including a beautiful land and resources to enrich our lives and spirit.

What do you think the Republican Party needs to do to face the challenges of the 21st century?

Face up to and offer positive, forward-looking solutions to the three E’s that will determine whether America will still be a global leader when 2109 rolls around. The three E’s are energy, entitlements, and education. Energy is a broadly encompassing problem that affects our economy, national security, and the environment. Get energy right and we’ll get a lot of things right. Get it wrong and the outcome will not be happy for our country. More on that below. Entitlements is the fiscal sword of Damocles hanging over our country. We have to deal with looming fiscal liabilities or face the kind of national stagnation that Britain went through in the 1970s, but at a much larger scale. One step that we’ll probably need to take is to raise the retirement age and ask people to work longer before collecting Social Security. Education is critical to ensuring our country’s future prospects. We need to challenge more and demand more of our young people in school, clear the change-resistant bureaucracy out of our public education systems, and invest much more in higher education. We have the best universities in the world. Let’s keep them that way.

Where do you see the Party in 3 years? 7 years?

Depends on whether the party learns the right lesson from two consecutive election defeats. The right lesson is to move away from dogmatic extremism and deal forthrightly with issues that concern the broad middle of the electorate, including energy and the environment. That means much more than badmouthing the Democrats and hoping they fail. It means offering credible alternatives to the Democrats’ agenda. Many of the voters who pulled the lever for the D’s last year would be open to voting Republican, if they believe that Republicans deserve their trust. They won’t give their support on a silver platter. Trust must be earned, and if lost, must be re-earned.
Last group of questions…the Future…what do you think is the number 1 issue facing America over the next decade?I’d put energy and entitlements at the same level. Let me focus on energy because that’s in REP’s bailiwick. One, we must reduce our country’s dangerous dependence on oil, which exposes our economy to price spikes and supply instability, and entangles our country with untrustworthy regimes that do not share America’s values. As a panel of retired generals and admirals wrote in a report published a few months ago, oil dependence weakens our international leverage, undermines foreign policy, and leaves us vulnerable to unstable or hostile regimes. Two, we must throttle back dependence on conventional carbon-rich fossil fuels. The weight of the evidence and balance of risks compels us to slow down our loading of the atmosphere with carbon. Based on how the climate has behaved in past geological epochs, climate scientists are concerned that increasing the atmosphere’s carbon load could push climatic systems past dangerous tipping points that would set off consequences that would be very difficult and costly to manage. Diversifying our energy portfolio with low-carbon energy, including renewables and nuclear, coupled with greater energy efficiency, can lay a foundation for lasting economic prosperity, as well as reduce emissions.

Is that the only solution? What steps should we take to deal with climate change?

The first thing that must be done is to put a price on carbon, either through a carbon tax (with return of all or nearly all proceeds to the taxpayers) or a simple cap-and-dividend system with sales of carbon emissions allowances and return of proceeds to the taxpayers. The bill that passed the House is overly complex and prescriptive, but we call on Congress to improve the legislation rather than delay matters for another year or two. Further delay in going on a “low-carb” energy diet would be unwise.

If you could find out one thing about America in 2109, what would it be?

That I could open my great-great-great grandchild’s history textbook (I hope printed books are still around in 100 years!) and read that our generation faced up to its responsibilities and helped lead America to a new era of greatness.

Thanks for your time, Jim!