OLN Exclusive: Senator Mel Martinez On His Career and Today's Politics
Marshall S. Swanson 
Former U.S. Senator and Roger S. Swanson Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mel Martinez sat down for an exclusive interview with Orlando Local News Editor Marshall Swanson to discuss the Statesman's career and the pulse of politics today. A partial transcript can be found below.
SWANSON: My first question is a bit of an icebreaker. If we lost all the books about American history ever written, what would you tell the next generation in one sentence about the United States? What we were and what we could be?
MARTINEZ: That’s a wonderful question and I think it is something we should more often think about when we get into the day-to-day political wars. My answer would be: "A country where all things are possible." "A country filled with possibilities." One of those two. We are a country which is an open canvas. Most countries around the world will pre-determine your outcome based on your family or where you were born. In the United States it’s a country open to all possibilities.
SWANSON: It’s even more significant hearing that from you with your background, coming here to the United States with Operation Peter Pan. Since you've arrived there's been a lot of changes. What is the most positive change and the most negative change you've seen in your lifetime?
MARTINEZ: I think in terms of positive change we continue to lead the world in the area of technology. China’s challenging that and that’s not a guaranteed thing as nothing is never guaranteed in the history of this country. But because we are on the cutting edge in terms of so much of our modern day technology I think that’s allowed our country to be on the precipice of revolutionary change that is as revolutionary as the industrial revolution or the agricultural revolution. I think the most difficult and negative thing is the divisions within our country. When I came to this country politics ended at the waters edge. I fear that today if we had to make a decision about something like the Berlin airlift that there would be a republican view and a democrat view and it would be turned into a political issue. I think that is the most difficult thing to say. There is nothing about which we will not be completely political.
SWANSON: How has faith set the tone for your life?
MARTINEZ: For me my faith has been central to my life and it is right at the root of why my family and my parents and I made the decision to leave Cuba for the United States. We came to Florida and it was rooted in the lack of religious freedom in Cuba and the persecution that incited. The lack of human rights and all of that. But it was originally all about the lack of religious freedom. That forged it in a way that became even more important in my life. When you have some thing threatened it becomes more important. And for me in my life it has always been essential part of who I am. It has strengthened me at times and consoled me at times and it has always been a guiding star. Not that I do it perfectly but we can all aspire.
SWANSON: I think about that great song God bless America: the first line is "as the storm clouds gather far across the Sea let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free." And now sometimes we've seen our own storm clouds gathering here, it’s not just another countries. Given where our county is today, based on your time in the Senate and at the local level, what advice would you give statesmen and stateswomen now who are in office about to move forward?
MARTINEZ: You have to be detached from re-election to do the right thing. You have to be willing to say I’m going to vote a certain way because it’s the best thing for our country. This may not be what helps me get re-elected but it’s OK to lose an elected state if while you were in office you were able to execute what’s best for the country... The fact is that our system was not designed for one side take all. Our system was designed for compromise and collaboration...
SWANSON: Looking back on your career, what would you say is the most important lesson that you learned from your time in public service?
MARTINEZ: ...the paramount most important thing is freedom. The freedoms that our country affords us. It’s all because of our great freedoms and the democracy we live in that I as an immigrant had the opportunity to do all the things I’ve done. Where else in the world could one do that? To me that is the magic, the beauty of America and although imperfect, it is still the greatest and best hope of the world.
