Everyone knows Dean Cain as Superman, or at least a Superman. But if you ask him about politics you quickly forget that.
In 1993, Cain was announced as the man who would play Clark Kent and his alter-ego, Superman, in the ABC Series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The show was well-received, and Cain was well-loved. It remained on the air for four years, and during that time, Cain seemed be in every entertainment magazine, sometimes on the cover. He was even voted one of People magazine’s"50 Most Beautiful People in the World" in 1994.
I first met Cain when we appeared on the same episode of Fox New’s Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. I assumed that most heartthrobs from the 1990s are now self-important jerks or out creating their own religion in Venice Beach.
Whatever I expected, it wasn’t that Dean Cain would be so normal.
As we sat in the greenroom and chatted between commercial breaks he didn’t talk much about himself, but he frequently spoke about his son. We saw each other again a few months later at a party after the White House Correspondents Dinner. He took photo booth pictures with D.C. journalists (myself included) and, like before, spent most of the time chatting about his son.
Dean Cain, I thought, is a nice guy. You want him to be your friend, and I consider him one of mine.
If you ever find yourself chatting with Cain, you will notice his infatuation with politics. He's not wonky, or posturing to prove his intelligence. He just sounds, again, really normal. Cain reminded me of the type of people I talk to each time I go back home to Georgia. The middle-aged neighbor who loves America and is genuinely worried that it’s not going to be the same "beacon of freedom" when his kid gets older.
I wanted to know more. So I decided that I had to get to the bottom of Superman’s political leanings.
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If you follow him on Twitter it seems like Cain is a Republican. Google will reinforce that idea as well, but in a 45-minute phone conversation, Cain tells me that while he is conservative, he’s been an independent for nearly 10 years—apart from the one time he mistakenly registered in a party best known for a pro-segregation platform.
"At first I tried to go, oh you know, Independent, but then I ended up in the American Independent Party for one voting cycle, and I was like what the heck is this," Cain explained with a laugh. "So you have to decline to state in California. That makes you a true independent."
"I was registered as a Republican forever … I forgot why I switched to sort of an independent stance," he said. "I just found it to be very partisan and I found it to be, you know, polarizing and I didn’t like that. I supported certain candidates and their views, and I didn’t really align, you know, completely on any political party’s platform. So I went independent and then I would start just to watch and listen to what people had to say and what candidates had to say and most of the time I found myself lining up, as before, with Republicans."
Cain describes himself as "very conservative" when it comes to "fiscal and foreign policy matters," but a libertarian on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. He admits that some of those positions will likely put him at odds with people on the "far right," but he doesn’t care.
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Cain is unapologetically candid, an attitude that comes with some risks in his line of work. He still works in Hollywood, after all, appearing in many television shows and movies each year. He is very much part of a world that isn’t known for supporting conservative causes. He says that’s not something he worries about. In fact, he claims that if he were starring in a show as popular as Lois & Clark, he would still speak out—even if they asked him not to.
"I realize that, you know, they always say that politics is what they are because good men and good women don’t want to run," he said. "Because it’s ugly, ugly business, and I see that. I see the ugliness of it, which I don’t like, but it’s important for the rest of us to do something otherwise you know this country is going to go the wrong direction and I can’t stand that because I love this country."
Whether it’s talking about his support for term limits, disdain of earmarks, or frustration with talking points and hypocritical politicians, Cain wants to discuss it all—preferably with people who "engage in an actual, real conversation." It’s something, Cain reproachfully notes, "I just don’t see happen very often on Twitter."
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Since Cain is already a public figure, it seems plausible that he may want to run a campaign of his own.
"Would I consider running? Um, it’s possible. I wouldn’t consider while my son was still in school because I’m a single father and he needs me here. And if I were to go away I don’t think that’d be a good thing for him, and if I were to be a congressman or a senator, I’m going to do my job."
"I don’t need the prestige," he said. "I’d be doing it because I want to do what’s right for this country."
Cain’s son is 14, meaning he'll have plenty of time to decide. If the opportunity did present itself down the road, Cain says his background in acting could be a major benefit in launching a political career.
"Actors, you can be communicators, and that’s a big part of what happens [in politics]. I don’t pretend to be an economic genius, but if I were in a situation where you know if I were say governor of California, I would have tremendous economic advisers who are economic geniuses."
"That’s another thing," Cain later added. "I’m happy to say very clearly. Look, I don’t know. Here’s my opinion but I don’t know all the ins and outs. I don’t know the ups and downs, but this seems wrong."
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One issue Cain is perfectly comfortable discussing is national security. He’s a staunch supporter of the military, but worries that when it comes to security the United States is beginning to stumble.
"I don’t think Americans really get it," Cain said. Quoting former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, he said, "We’re the good guys."
"I didn’t think we should’ve, you know, pulled out our forces of Iraq. I didn’t think that ever. Having studied war and diplomacy. I was like, no, and I was over there, you’re going to leave a lot of people in the lurch, and you’re going to have a real problem there."
Cain seems confident the country, and the world, would be in a better place if the 2012 election had a different outcome.
"I voted Romney and I liked Mitt Romney quite a bit, and he’s proven to be correct on almost everything he said and was vilified for it during that campaign," Cain said.
"It’s like, what kind of a memory do voters have? I mean the things that he said, and having called [Benghazi] a terrorist attack. That got him in the debate when Candy Crowley inserted herself incorrectly in the debate and wrongly, in my opinion. It’s amazing. You know, Russia being our biggest geopolitical foe. I mean things like that, it just cracks me up how the media treated Mitt Romney when he made those statements, because I agreed with him then, and I agree with him now."
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For months, strategists and members of the media have discussed the Republican divide between libertarians and conservatives.
Cain’s politics make it impossible to neatly place him in either of those categories.
A strong foreign policy, he contends, "is very, very necessary especially in this current world that we live in."
In that regard, Cain says that he aligns with "Ronald Reagan, when it comes to foreign policy issues."
However, on domestic issues Cain is quick to advocate for a less is more approach, and praises policies advocated by the likes of Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.).
"I do think the size of government has grown so much in the last fifty years," he explained. "It just frightens me. I’m more of a small government guy."
The side of Cain that wants to see the federal government scaled back likes Paul, but his hawkish side remains weary.
"I like a libertarian bent," Cain says. "I don’t necessarily think Rand Paul will become President of the United States … I’d have to look at his foreign policy views, and I kind of recall him being, in my mind, I remember him being a little bit isolationist … and I disagree with that."
Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), and Governor Chris Christie (R., N.J.) are two candidates Cain speaks favorably of, but he says, at the moment, there isn’t a particular candidate that stands out amongst the Republican field.
When 2016 comes around, Republicans will certainly look for surrogates to appear at rallies and on the campaign trail, and very few celebrities offer to campaign with Republicans.
Republicans who like Katy Perry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ben Affleck, or Matt Damon won’t ever see them beside a Republican nominee. But Cain would be open to doing it.
"If I found somebody whose message I believed in I would absolutely get up there and stump for them a little bit. No doubt."
He won't guarantee that he will campaign with Republicans, but if you see Cain on the campaign trail in the coming years, he makes one promise worth noting.
"I won’t talk to a chair," he said. "I promise that. I won’t talk to an empty chair."