Meet the Republicans Who Are Arguing that Big Is Bad

Sen. Jim DeMint (L) and Mike Needham (R). ABC News/Yahoo! News(WASHINGTON) — Are big businesses and banks set to become the GOP’s Enemy No. 1?

One leading conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, led by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, is advocating that the Republican Party adopt a new brand of conservative populism that would take a battle to “the bigs” — placing the interests of the middle class above big business and emphasizing local governments over the powers of Washington, D.C.

DeMint sat down for an interview with ABC News/Yahoo! News along with Mike Needham, the chief executive of the think tank’s sister advocacy organization Heritage Action, to explain the new policy prescriptions that they detail in a new book, Opportunity for All, Favoritism to None.

“We’re not saying big in and of itself is bad,” DeMint said. “The collusion really between big government, whether it be big unions, big corporations, big banks — that’s cronyism that we see in Washington that picks winners and losers and gives favoritism to people.”

“I think part of it is also convincing the American people that you’re on their side,” Needham later said. “You have to fight the bigs on some things, and you have to say that right now the Export-Import Bank, which gives most of its loans to companies like Boeing and GE and Caterpillar…that’s going to go, and by doing that, we’re going to convince people that we’re on their side. We’re going to earn the moral high ground to then talk about our solutions and how they will make their life better.”

Heritage’s new vision — while still built around slashing the size and scope of the federal government — is packaged in rhetoric that sounds much different than the traditional conservative message of rugged individualism and personal responsibility.

Instead, DeMint is placing emphasis on “interdependence” with one’s community.

“That’s why the institutions of America, whether it be family or churches, schools, volunteer organizations; this creates the type of society that we want,” DeMint explained. “But government, unfortunately, has replaced a lot of this and keeps pushing these institutions that build a strong society out, replacing them with government programs that don’t work as well. So, it’s not a matter of you’re on your own. We all depend on others.”

But he qualified that there is a “big policy difference” between what Heritage is now calling for and what populist Democrats, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, advocate.

“Conservatism is really a ground-up idea, building things from the bottom up, on the individuals and smaller communities,” DeMint said. “And the left, Elizabeth Warren, being at the top of that, is really top-down. Let’s have a big central solution for education, for healthcare. And this idea of individual decision-making, with states doing different things is really, it’s anathema to the left.”

Looking ahead to 2016, DeMint isn’t picking favorites and welcomed the idea of a large crop of Republican candidates as “good” for a healthy nominating process.

“What I am encouraging Americans to do now is, hey, don’t decide on the person, let’s decide on the ideas that we want for this country,” DeMint said. “And then see which candidate can inspire us the most by talking about how they’re going to implement those ideas.”

And when it comes to finding the candidate who best embodies those ideas, Needham said there’s nothing precluding old faces from embracing fresh ideas. He named Jeb Bush as one example.

“I think Jeb Bush is somebody who’s a policy entrepreneur and hopefully he’ll recognize the mood of the country right now, which is one of deep skepticism, deep cynicism toward Washington, D.C.,” Needham said.

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