Issues

There are three simple principles that must be protected in our society. First, there must be a separation of public power and private profit. Special interests and the politically powerful shouldn't be able to wield political influence to amass unfair amounts of wealth at the expense of regular Americans. Second, people should be free to make their own decisions in most cases. Government should do only what government is well suited to do. Few Americans believe that the government is well suited to make decisions about the minute details of our personal lives--why should Congress believe differently? Finally--and most importantly--Congress ought to remember that they are in Washington to represent the people of their districts. They have not been elected to ignore their constituents and play political games. It's time to remind Congress who they actually serve.

A Wall Separating Big Business and Big Government

What is socialism? It's a word we hear thrown about quite a lot today, with fears of government takeovers and their increasing domination of private industry. Too often, people think of Socialism only in terms of regulatory practices--government telling private business what to do. What people often forget is that those who hold private power--those who have a lot of money--are also the same people who hold political power. They do not impose regulations that harm themselves. They impose regulations that harm their competition. That's the essence of socialism--when the politically powerful wield their political power to protect and promote their own personal profits.

It's also why the foremost principle of our great Republic must be a separation of private profit from public power. When a politician uses their position to pad their own bank account, we call it corruption. When a company uses their money to influence a politician, however, we call them a special interest. This double standard needs to end, as does the practice of using government to benefit private businesses. The idea that government exists to serve business is just as clearly wrong, and just as dangerous, as the idea that government exists to regulate business. Governments exist to serve the people they represent, not the narrow business interests of a few wealthy and powerful individuals.

It is with this in mind that our forefathers created the constitution--a document defining the limits of public power. This was not an idea that sprang up out of the clear blue. It was an idea that came about because they understood the dangers of letting a government become too powerful--especially a government that could be bought and paid for by the wealthy interests of the world. It's time to put that wall back in place; it's time to get the government out of business, and business out of the government. Let business do what's best for business, and let government do what's best for government.

The Proper Role of Government

Governments exist to serve the people. That's the fundamental idea behind democracy--that people know what's best for themselves, and they should therefore be able to elect representatives that will represent their preferences. Do any Americans honestly think their government acts like a government should? We get offended when people pry their noses into our business--when other people simply assume that we're dishonest criminals. We get offended when other people tell us how to live our lives, or what we should believe, or what health care treatments we should get. Why, then, do we let the government do all of these things? Why don't we get offended when our politicians tell us what products are worth a tax credit, or when our politicians tell us we need to open our bank accounts to government inspectors? Why don't we get offended when our government tells us how long we can water our lawn, or what kind of light bulbs we can put in our houses? These are all actions taken by our government that are not examples of the government serving the people. These are examples of the government ordering people around.

It's time to change that. Americans are not as stupid as our government presumes. We understand that we shouldn't water our lawns in a drought. We can understand what our doctors tell us about the best course of treatment. We can make our minds up about the products we want to buy--we don't need the government giving us tax credits if we buy government-approved merchandise. These are all example of the government overreaching its bounds. It's time to remind Congress that it serves the people--not the other way around.

Partisan Politics Gets Us Nowhere

As conservatives, we can't afford to turn away a good idea just because it might have been proposed by someone on the other side of the aisle. A good idea is a good idea--no matter if the sponsor is a Democrat or a Republican. We are all Americans, and a good idea from any of us ought to be considered on its own merit. It's time that our politicians stop playing games with the American people. We have real serious problems in this country today. The last thing we should be doing is arguing with each other over credit for the solutions. We need to focus on finding genuine, common-sense, American solutions to these pressing political problems--not Republican solutions, not Democrat solutions. What our government does is the responsibility of both Republicans and Democrats--conservatives and liberals--working together to find compromises that we can all live with. It's time to put the partisan games aside and start putting common-sense solutions in place to face the problems of the 21st century.