Jim DeMint

You could accuse Republicans of a lot of things, but you could never convict us of being too conservative!

American businesses and upper incomes pay a larger portion of the federal taxes of our national taxes than any country in the world.

I have been on shop floors. I have talked to a lot of the companies that create jobs in South Carolina and across the country. And what they want is less regulation.

I want to find the candidates who understand the principles of American exceptionalism and have the character, the courage, and the confidence to actually lead the greatest nation in the world.

I don't have the support inside Washington or even inside my own party.

We have this kind of revolving door, we don't have a permanent class of millionaires in America like a lot of other countries.

If you remember you just have one constituent, and that's God himself, and if you try to please him I think you usually come with a lot steadier pace and a lot more peace in your life.

Anyone who says the Republicans have been irresponsible aren't looking at the facts.

Something happens to me when someone says, 'You can't.' I'm generally not very competitive; unless someone tells me I can't do something that should be done.

California is going to take themselves off the cliff culturally and economically, fiscally. They are going to be at the trough in Washington wanting a bailout.

Compromise works well in this world when you have shared goals.

I'd like to see a Republican Party that embraces a lot of the libertarian ideas.

The debate in the Republican Party needs to be between libertarians and conservatives.

I don't think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it, and without making some modifications such as turning it into a loan at some point. It then encourages people to go back to work.

The Democrats have essentially decided to move more toward central power, control of just about every aspect of our culture and economy.

You've got the Democratic Party that now depends on more government spending and actual building the dependence on government in order to increase their political party.

The problem we've got now in Washington is that the goals are completely the opposite from each other.

I don't need to be asking for money for local museums and other projects just to make me look good back home.

So, the point I'm making is, we are not going to cut spending in Washington if we think it's the job of every congressman and senator is to pave local parking lots and build local sewer plants. These parochial interests are getting in the way of the national interests.

Heritage will remain, first and foremost, a research institute dedicated to impeccable research and data-driven policy analysis.

I don't think Obama will get re-elected.

The message is pretty clear: Americans are sick and tired of the doubletalk coming out of Washington, of us going home and saying we're conservative and then coming up here and voting for 10,000 earmarks. We can't fool America anymore; the media is too good. They're reporting what we're really doing.

Frankly, if independents and Democrats want to work with us on conservative ideas, I can do that better at Heritage than as a partisan inside.

I'm a conservative first, and I believe that, if we do a better job of helping Americans understand what we're trying to do, to showcase every place in the country that our ideas are working at the state level, that that will help those at the federal level who want to carry those policies.

The Heritage Foundation is the premier think tank, research organization. The premier idea group for the conservative movement.

I've developed a lot of reform proposals myself and been accused of trying to destroy Social Security, when the whole point was to try to save it. I think most people know that Social Security is bankrupt.

Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.

What we need is some people to stand up with the courage of their convictions, to do what they promised when they ran for election, and fight to stop Obamacare.

The Tea Party doesn't like politicians.

I'm humbled to follow in the footsteps of Ed Feulner, who built the most important conservative institution in the nation. He has been a friend and mentor for years and I am honored to carry on his legacy of fighting for freedom.

As more people rely on government programs, the harder it becomes to conduct the necessary reforms to preserve them to help our society's most vulnerable.

First of all, no candidate is going to win by catering to the alleged Occupy Wall Street vote.

If we become too scared to confront the chief problems of our time, there is no hope of ever solving them.

I'm never going to rule anything out in life, because most of what I'm doing now, I never intended to do.

I have no plans to run for president.

What happens in the Senate is the Republicans sink to the lowest common denominator.

Marriage is a religious and state issue.

If we want to secure the best jobs in the future, we must make America the best place in the world to do business.

We need comprehensive reform that will make America the best place in the world to invest and do business.

We must now make clear to Lebanon that it will not benefit from U.S. assistance and support as long as it harbors this brutal terrorist and murder.

Motorists who want to save money on gas will demand and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. We should not limit their freedom with more government regulations.

Ideas are more powerful than people.

Today is a celebration of hope for the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people can now take control of their government and their future by creating a society that protects the rights endowed to us by our creator - life, liberty and freedom.

If a person wants to be publicly gay, they should not be teaching in the public schools.

A free and stable Iraq will be a shining light against the shadow of Islamic extremism.

We know from our own history that democratic institutions take decades to mature, and we know from past conflicts that freedom is not free.

Well, one of the most important things for Americans to be reminded of is that a lot of the exceptional nature of our country is founded in Judeo-Christian values that promotes individualism, personal responsibility, a strong work ethic, and a commitment to family, charity.

Well, purity - there's no purity in politics.

From a policy standpoint, the Judeo-Christian principles are important.

I like to be a strategic policy guy.