'God raises up those in authority': 4 highlights from Mike Johnson’s first speech as House speaker

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, October 26, 2023

Tackling partisanship

Johnson acknowledged that Americans "live in a time of bitter partisanship" and "it has been on display here today" in the House of Representatives.

"When our people are losing their faith in government, when they are losing sight of the principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world, I think we got to be mindful of that," Johnson said.

"We're going to fight; we're going to fight vigorously over our core principles because they are at odds a lot of times now in this modern era. We have to sacrifice, sometimes, our preferences because that's what's necessary in a legislative body."

Johnson noted that while "we will defend our core principles to the end," noting that he considered the "core principles of American conservatism" to actually be "the core principles of our nation."

"I boil them down to individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity," Johnson listed.

"Those are the foundations that made us the extraordinary nation that we are, and you and I today are the stewards of those principles."