With the Congress mired in debating the eye-glazing fine points of refundable child tax credits and Medicare prescription drug coverage, it was refreshing to spend some time yesterday afternoon with a Republican who can see over the horizon, Rep. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. The congressman appeared at a lunch in New York wearing a pin on his lapel with an Israeli flag crossed with an American one. We asked if he wore it in his home state or only on trips to New York City. He acknowledged he has a Clemson lapel pin that he dons in some parts of the Palmetto State. But he said that Charleston has a large Jewish community, and that Israel is an important issue for social conservatives. And then he made the essential point: that support for Israel goes beyond religious or regional lines, but is about shared values and systems of government: “It’s a democratic issue,” he said.

Mr. DeMint, 51, is running in the 2004 election to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Though it’s unclear who his opponent will be — Senator Hollings, the Democratic incumbent, may decide not to run — Mr. DeMint can already outline the issues he’ll be emphasizing. He wants to overhaul Social Security to allow younger workers to build capital in individual savings accounts that they could invest — a plan that would almost certainly be a boost to New York City’s financial services industry. He speaks of “cash-based health insurance” that would help control government health-care costs and keep decisions in the hands of consumers. He speaks of “tax code replacement” that would dramatically reduce the complexity of the current system. Mr. DeMint has proposed eliminating the in come tax and replacing it with a 9% national sales tax that would let voters see the cost of government every time they bought something. “Let them see the tax,” he says. “The way we do it now, government is free. That’s a dangerous thing for a democracy.” It’s not the easiest position for a politician, essentially calling on taxes to be made more obviously burdensome than the current system of payroll tax deduction. But the idea is to create pressure for reining in government spending. In the long run, that would be good for taxpayers and for economic growth. If the sales tax plan doesn’t fly, he’d be supportive of a flat tax on income. “The tax code is more than a huge inconvenience. It’s a detriment to the country,” he says.

There are plenty of details that will have to be worked out on the way to any major changes to the tax code, to the health insurance system, or to Social Security. But it’s encouraging to see a politician who is thinking big on these questions with an eye toward helping the private sector create growth. At the national level, popular incumbents — of whom President Bush is one — are often inclined to play it safe. It’d be tempting for the president to coast to reelection on the strength of his achievements on tax cuts and counter-terrorism. But now that Mr. Bush is a known quantity to the American electorate, the president could probably sell a bold, growth-oriented second-term economic policy agenda in a presidential campaign. The Democrats tried to depict Mr. Bush’s recent tax cut as extreme, but the stock market has responded with a rally. We’ll all have to wait and see what Mr. Bush ends up running on next year. But if Republicans are scouting for ideas, Mr. DeMint’s office is a place worth a stop.