Former Utah governor Huntsman talks about politics at UNC

While Jon Huntsman might not have secured the Republican nomination for president, he received numerous applause lines when he spoke at UNC on Monday.

In the lecture at Hill Hall, Huntsman, who served as U.S. ambassador to China and governor of Utah, spoke about topics foreign and domestic, including the need for politicians to overcome the partisan divide.

“Before we are Republican and before we are Democrat, we are all Americans,” Huntsman said to applause.

Huntsman said hyperpartisanship in Washington, D.C., makes it difficult for moderates to push for pragmatic solutions.

“With a system that incentivizes polarization,” he said, “you can’t expect people to move to the center.”

Despite his concerns, Huntsman said he remains a proud Republican.

“Economically, I’m a strong Republican with a libertarian bent on social issues,” he said, adding that he thinks the party will increasingly move in this direction.

Huntsman also spoke about the need to leave Afghanistan, reform campaign finance laws and deal with the nation’s mounting debt.

But he added that along with the fiscal deficit, the “trust deficit” must be fixed.

“As the economy improves,” he said, “the next discussion is going to be, ‘How do you reform a system that is broken?’”

Huntsman was joined on stage by Hodding Carter, a professor of public policy at UNC, who said Huntsman provides an alternative to the normal political discourse.

“I think he remains interested in getting across a message that you can have a different kind of politics than what was experienced in this last election,” Carter said.

Huntsman was selected to deliver the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship, which is hosted by the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.

“Given the election and looking forward to the U.S. relationship with China, we felt Gov. Huntsman was a good choice,” said Elaine Erteschik, director of communications for the institute.

Earlier in the day, Huntsman held a private question-and-answer session that focused primarily on foreign policy and American relations with China, which Huntsman said will be the defining international relationship of the 21st century.

“We’re married, and divorce isn’t an option,” Huntsman said in reference to America’s relations with China.

“It’s easier to talk about what you’re going to do to China, as compared to what you’re going to do with China,” he said.

When asked about his hope for U.S.-China relations in the future, Huntsman said he hoped President Barack Obama would “forge a strategic dialogue that recognizes the reality that the U.S. and China have embarked on a global relationship.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.