Candidate for
United States Representative; District 16

In my view, the sum of a good government, as described by that illustrious champion of democracy, Thomas Jefferson, is all we aim at--"a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain people from injuring one another; shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement; and shall not take from the mouth of labour the bread it has earned."

The fact is that the functions of Government, when confined to their proper sphere of action, are therefore restricted to the making of general laws, uniform and universal in their operation, for these purposes, and for no other.

Governments have no right to interfere with the pursuits of individuals, as guarantied by those general laws, by offering encouragements and granting privileges to any particular class of industry, or any select bodies of men, inasmuch as all classes of industry and all men are equally important to the general welfare, and equally entitled to protection.

Whenever a Government assumes the power of discriminating between the different classes of the community, it becomes, in effect, the arbiter of their prosperity, and exercises a power not contemplated by any intelligent people in delegating their sovereignty to their rulers. It then becomes the great regulator of the profits of every species of industry, and reduces people from a dependence on their own exertions, to a dependence on the caprices of their Government. Governments possess no delegated right to tamper with individual industry a single hair's-breadth beyond what is essential to protect the rights of person and property.

Individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited and efficient government, enforced check-and-balance accountability, balanced budgets, and putting the interests of "we the people" first is tantamount to good government. Under the current Congress, government bureaucracy is the largest it has ever been, the debt has ballooned by trillions of dollars, people are losing their homes in record numbers, gas prices are soaring, the number of Americans without health insurance is staggering, and our children are being left to deal with a crippling, over-spending economy and disparaging consequences to their health, their environment, and their future.

Public service should be about citizen leaders helping others--not politicians helping themselves.

As your Congresswoman, I will ensure that Government serves you as opposed to you serving or being over-regulated by the Government.