More Freedom, Less Government! — This is my motto. What is the proper role of government? It is to safeguard individual freedom. For many years, the Idaho Legislature has been engaged not in protecting individual freedom, but in suppressing it. Idaho does not need more regulations, more government services, and more revenue collected by the state; instead what we need is exactly the opposite — fewer regulations, less government spending, and substantially lower taxes.
What are the most important issues facing Idaho right now? I can talk to you about my primary concerns, but I need to hear YOUR opinions on these critical issues as well. Please Contact Me with any thoughts or concerns that you may have.
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The Economy — Idaho needs more jobs, and the best way to ensure that we get them is to lower taxes and eliminate regulations. We can make Idaho the most business-friendly state in the nation simply by removing the many regulatory and financial obstacles that our state and local governments have placed in the path of creating and expanding businesses. Milton Friedman once wisely said, "I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible." Cutting taxes encourages economic growth and helps to restore individual freedom. Reducing taxes and regulations should be one of the primary goals of the Idaho Legislature.
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Education — Education is currently the single largest budget item in the State of Idaho. The best ways to help our education system do more with less and be more flexible are to reduce government control over the curriculum; explore alternative and competitive options such as unschooling, home schooling, online education, private schools, charter schools, voucher programs, and education tax credits; reduce the power of the education unions; and encourage more input from students and parents. There should be no laws regulating or prohibiting unschooling or home schooling.
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Individual Freedom — For far too long, our Country has been drifting away from the principles of individual freedom and personal liberty that it was founded to protect. Our State has too many regulations, requires too many licenses and permits, and places too many controls on individual choices that are none of its business. Restoring individual freedom should be one of the primary goals of the Idaho Legislature.
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State Sovereignty — James Madison said, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." The State of Idaho is being dictated to and generally denied its sovereignty by an overbearing and out-of-control federal government that has grown significantly beyond the bounds which were intended by the framers of our Constitution. I believe that, on the basis of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 and the "Equal Footing Doctrine," Idaho should seize control of all the land within its geographical borders that is currently claimed by the federal government.
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My political philosophy most closely mirrors that of Frédéric Bastiat as laid out in his famous book, The Law.
You can download The Law as an audio book
here (Part 1) and
here (Part 2) or as a PDF eBook
here.
Frédéric Bastiat
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain." — Frédéric Bastiat
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