Reason: Offend a constituency. Give us a good one.
Canady: I don’t want to single out any particular program. I’m sure I could…
Reason: Here’s a program you unsuccessfully worked to kill: racial preferences. Can you talk about that?
Canady: My simple view is that it’s not right for the government to divide people into categories and groups based on their race and gender. The government should treat people as individuals, and should not define people on the basis of their biological characteristics. I think that is discrimination, and I’m opposed to discrimination.
Reason: A lot of people say they support that position. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, for example. Why weren’t you able to pass your legislation?
Canady: It’s complicated. Ultimately, we failed to move my bill forward because I failed to have a majority of the Judiciary Committee support the bill. That’s the simple explanation. I think our leadership had mixed feelings about it.
Reason: What is your largest source of frustration with Congress?
Canady: One thing that has frustrated me is the way debates tend to proceed. The proponents of a particular proposal will exaggerate the benefits of that proposal and the opponents of the proposal will exaggerate the problems of the proposal. So you get these extremes in the rhetoric when the truth is really somewhere in between.
Reason: Like the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement?
Canady: Some people said NAFTA was doomsday for the whole U.S. economy. Others said we would enter the Promised Land if we just pass NAFTA. I opposed NAFTA. I thought that on balance NAFTA would be of some small benefit to the overall U.S. economy. But it was pretty clear to me that it was going to be of significant detriment to the part of the country that I represent. And I couldn’t justify having my constituents suffer serious harm for some very, very small overall benefit.
Reason: You were an impeachment manager. You were widely praised for the scholarship you brought to the task. Yet your team blew it in the end. Any regrets?
Canady: I have no regrets about the actions that the House Judiciary Committee took, or that the House took in impeaching the president. The president lied under oath before a federal grand jury. He lied under oath in a civil deposition in a civil rights case. He engaged in other conduct that involved the obstruction of justice. Those are facts.
Under the Constitution he had the duty to make sure that the laws are faithfully executed. That’s the role assigned to him by the Constitution. He stepped outside that role and became a lawbreaker. An obstructer of justice. That’s just unacceptable.
Reason: Is it really possible to cut government?
Canady: The government we have today is here because there are constituencies that demand these programs. If you ask the average American about government, they are skeptical about government, they don’t want government to get out of control. But they don’t want to see any significant reduction in the parts of the government that provide benefits to them.
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