Rep. Justin Amash: 'Most Members of Congress Don't Think Anymore'
WASHINGTON — There is a comically large Darth Vader action figure on the table next to Congressman Justin Amash’s desk. It’s one of the first things he put on display after he recently moved offices. You can’t miss it: the face of the Evil Empire staring you down as you interview the congressman from Michigan’s 3rd District.
The Vader toy was a birthday gift from one of his staffers, and Amash thought it would be funny to have in his office the way other members of Congress have busts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan. It’s just one of the many ways Amash, an intellectual misfit in the halls of Congress, is unlike any other politician in Washington.
Amash, 39, has never quite fit in on Capitol Hill. A libertarian who got elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave, he’s spent his time in Washington angering his Republican colleagues with his unflinching opposition to mass surveillance and big-government spending bills while chiding members of both parties for not living up to their constitutional duties. Last Fourth of July, he declared “his independence” from the only political party he’d ever known, the Republican Party, and became the only independent in the House of Representatives.
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Rolling Stone caught up with Amash, a longtime critic of unchecked military spending and interventionist foreign policy, soon after Trump’s approved killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani via a drone strike. We talked about Congress’ war powers, runaway defense spending, and whether he’d serve as an impeachment manager.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/justin-amash-iran-impeachment-congress-937760/
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