ISSUE 1: The Backbone to Reduce Government
ISSUE 2: Common Sense in Government
ISSUE 3: The Role of Government and the 10th Amendment
~THE BACKBONE TO REDUCE GOVERNMENT~
The Ada County Commissioners are here primarily to maintain the quality of life for its residents through public safety, judicial services, sanitation, and health and welfare. I believe we can do this using much less money. However, we need someone with backbone and leadership that can stand up and restrain government spending.
I have the backbone to reduce the size of Government and restore money and freedom back to the people.
If there is the understanding that government should tax only what is absolutely necessary to accomplish its goals, we can dramatically cut taxes and wasteful spending. This leaves more money in the pockets of Ada County residents where it belongs.
Taxing more than is necessary, especially to do things government should not be doing, is simply legalized theft. It is taking your money under the pretense of necessary government work that is either not being done, or that it shouldn’t be doing. We must tax only what is absolutely necessary to maintain a reasonable quality of life in Ada County.
“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” – President Calvin Coolidge
Under this model, I want a wholesale review of all expenses to make sure residents get to keep as much money as possible, and to make sure Ada County is running as efficiently as possible.
Anywhere that Ada County is contracting work, we need to get bids, lots of bids. We can save money and improve quality. If a contractor is not holding to their agreement with the county, costing us money or being difficult to work with, we should simply get a better contractor. This competition is how America became great, and how Ada County can prove the free market model truly rewards the best companies.
~COMMON SENSE IN GOVERNMENT~
I believe I can eliminate absurd rules, senseless ordinances, and back-door deals that hurt the people. I don’t know any lobbyists, I don’t rub elbows with the affluent. I live month to month, and work hard to maintain my humble handyman and landscaping business. If some regulation, fine, or government project wouldn’t make sense for a business owner like me, it probably wouldn’t make sense for anyone.
We cannot prefer the wealthy, we cannot prefer the poor. That is not the role of government. If you are tired of being ignored or looked down on by government when common sense supports your cause, I am your man.
~ ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE 10TH AMENDMENT~
The role of government is to protect our rights as individuals, and to stay within the boundaries created by the U.S. Constitution. Elected officials are servants who guard freedom in sacred trust. As the Declaration of Independence says:
“…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights… That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men…”
The federal government’s power is limited in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. James Madison said that “The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.”
We must return to constitutional boundaries for the federal government. Loose interpretations of several clauses of the U.S. Constitution have led to an enormous government with tens of trillions of dollars in debt that could lead to the collapse of our country. Our liberty is threatened. However, there is a way out of this mess.
It’s in this light that the logic of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is seen. The powers of the federal government should be downsized, transferred to the States, counties, cities, or abolished entirely. Though the task seems enormous, a sober and serious attitude based on this thinking is the only way restore our constitutional republic and the power of local government.