America is the World's Last, Best Hope!

By Tony Brush

This is my declaration of values and beliefs. This is my vision of where the strength of nation is vested and how our liberties are defined.

Coming of voting age with President Reagan in the White House, I was pretty much oblivious to what made his views so attractive and his message so powerful. It is only through the passage of time that I have come to appreciate the words he spoke on that day in 1964.

There is no better country on earth. America is the world's last, best hope for freedom and liberty. If we, as a people, continue to let our elected officials take away our freedoms in the name of safety, and limit our prosperity in the name of fairness, then we only have ourselves to blame.

Here is my belief upon where we stand as a country and my vision as to how we move forward and upward. My plan is based on some simple truths that I believe are self-evident:

1.Money and Power travel in the same suitcase and where one goes the other must follow.
2.Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
3.The 10th Amendment to the Constitution, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." has been largely ignored for decades as those in Federal office grabbed power.
4.By removing as much money as possible from Washington D.C., we will remove most of the corruption as well. (See truth #1)
5.If we screw up at the Federal level, there is no place else to go.
6.Each state has the authority to test and learn, to prosper and to discover its destiny according to the priorities of its people.
7.If a state fails and its financial system collapses, then the Federal government has no obligation or authority to bail them out.
8.Officials elected to offices in our local and state governments have a better understanding of the needs of our communities than the politicians who have been negotiating on our behalf in Washington D.C.
9.It is very inefficient for us to send a great portion of our wealth to Washington D.C. only to have a small share of it returned to our state and local governments.
10.The authors of the U.S. Constitution knew that We the People needed protection from those among us who hunger for power. The founders did their best to create a document that protects us. For these ideals to survive, We the People must protect this document that establishes our freedoms and limits governmental power. As Patrick Henry said, "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government + lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
11.If the management of many Federal programs is transferred to the states, state taxes must rise as Federal taxes fall. States and local governments have the authority to create budgets which provide the benefits that their constituents deem to be important without impacting the fiscal policy of another state.
12.The Federal government cannot fix our problems! Only We the People can fix our problems. Governments do not have morals or ethics. Only We the People possess these qualities. Governments do not have compassion or tolerance. Only We the People share these principles.