Reviving Constitutional Principles Will Not Get Easier If We Wait

Constitution Day is on September 17th of Each Year
On Sept. 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by thirty-nine brave men who changed the course of history. Now Constitution Day is a time for us to continue their legacy and develop habits of citizenship in a new generation of Americans.

If the Constitution and its limited government principles were revived, it would solve many of the most pressing problems of our time. The alternative to limited government is unlimited government, which has been the status quo for kings, dictators, and other forms of tyranny throughout the world.

Which direction is America headed? Should we scrap the document despised by those who think its limitations are a nuisance? Have we become so enlightened that we can now trust our government to be unleashed from the chains of the Constitution?

The bipartisan trashing of the Constitution and Bill of Rights has gotten so far out of control that accelerating numbers of citizens are realizing that 'We the people' must govern again! Local self-government must be revived.

Is there any corruption and abuses of power in your county, the state of Idaho, or the federal government? Who cares enough about their community and their country to demand accountability and work to replace politics-as-usual with a small, easily controlled government?

Free markets and private enterprise enabled American prosperity to flourish; government bureaucracy is consuming it. Proponents of expanding the scope of government beyond its Constitutional limitations are crippling our economy and defaming our country.

Who will help repair the foundations and demand that their elected representatives dismantle the bureaucracy and give freedom, responsibility, and prosperity back to the people? If 'We the people' held our representatives accountable:

• we wouldn't be suffering a 29% tax burden
• we wouldn't have an overzealous bureaucracy regulating our economy to death
• we wouldn't have international bureaucracies, built under the guise of “Free Trade” deals, exporting industries and jobs out of the country
• we wouldn't have a $10 trillion dollar nation debt (over $30,000 per person)
• we wouldn't have the Federal Reserve System inflating the dollar supply, which devalues our currency
• we would be free to use competing currencies that increase in value over time
• we would be free to keep the fruits of our labor
• we would be free to release American ingenuity
• we would be free to compete against politically protected industries (regulation and subsidies shut out bright new ideas that don't have 'connections')
• we would be free to produce our own energy

If we restricted government to its Constitutionally authorized functions and phased out all of the looting of taxpayers that's going on, we would also eliminate the incentive that motivates all of the special interests and lobbyists. Government would shrink to a fraction of its current size and cost.

Imagine keeping an extra $200 of every thousand you earn. Is this a fight worth winning? I can already hear the pessimists whining, “It'll never happen.” To which I firmly respond, “Let not him who says it can't be done interrupt those who are doing it.”

Some of those who crave freedom will become public servants. Besides an understanding of Constitutional principles, they need the character and the courage to vote against the bureaucracy, the special interests, the lobbyists, and when necessary, their party. And they will need our support.

I would be negligent in my duty if I refrained from asking you to participate in this critical effort to revive freedom and prosperity. Please help by putting principle above party and exposing corruption and abuses of power at every level of government.

I look forward to prodding my colleagues in the State Legislature to strengthen free markets, preserve individual rights, and limit government. Republicans are elected to implement these ideals which are found in the Party Platform, a mandate written and approved by delegates from every county in the state.

The tide is changing. I believe Idaho can set an example for the rest of the nation by reviving the proven principles of personal freedom, responsibility, and prosperity. Read your Constitution and get involved. But be forewarned: the establishment will not walk away without a fight.