Feb. 22–Republicans, such as those in the Aiken County Republican Club, need to encourage people throughout South Carolina and the nation to vote this year and help the party take back the White House and the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., told the group Tuesday.

Speaking to club members, DeMint outlined his philosophy that America can return to a past when millions of people made their own decisions about their lives and were not so dependent on the federal government. He wants to eventually ween the country off that dependency and transition to a more private economy, he said.

DeMint made no specific mention during his speech about the ongoing Republican primary season. He said earlier this year that he would not endorse a candidate and did not do so Tuesday.

He was asked about the possibility of a brokered Republican convention, in which no candidate has enough delegates to wrap up the nomination. That probably won’t happen, DeMint said, but the party has to be prepared for that eventuality.

He acknowledged the campaign has been unnecessarily negative, but the give and take between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul has some value.

“It’s something we can recover from,” DeMint said. “It’s how we find our balance. I think our eventual nominee will have to recognize he has to pull a package together from the (platforms) of the other three. He will have to embrace the Libertarian ideas of limited constitutional government and individual liberty.”

He expressed his dismay over the recent shooting deaths of two Aiken Public Safety officers.

“I’m constantly reminded of the selfless service of officers all over our state and country,” he said. “We need to keep them in our prayers, too. We take a lot for granted, and that’s where I want to start.”

Many citizens, DeMint said, are telling him they are praying for him and asking what they can do.

“Everyone seems to sense that the country is in trouble,” DeMint said. “It has gone beyond the ability of politicians to solve it. Washington is not going to solve our problems, certainly not by the people who created them. We’ve lost ground to countries all over the world.”

Welfare has encouraged unwed births, which have led to more school dropouts, drug use and incarceration, DeMint said. What must work for America is a free people who are responsible for themselves.

When DeMint was elected to the Senate in 2006, he found his own party members in Washington sharing a penchant with the Democrats for new government programs and spending.

That’s why he has been traveling around the country, looking for more conservative candidates for the U.S. House and Senate, he said. South Carolina is off to a good start, with five strong House members in place, he said.

Ultimately, it’s imperative that President Barack Obama be defeated in November, DeMint said.

The president remains determined, he said, to have a federal government that makes decisions on education and health care. Obama wants to threaten national security with defense budget cuts and is not serious about reducing the nation’s $16 trillion debt, he said.

“We need to recognize this is now or never,” said DeMint. “It could be our last chance to get things right.”

Senior writer Rob Novit is the education reporter and has been with the Aiken Standard since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.