My basic position is that government should stay out of people's lives except to provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. At this point in our history, it may be extremely difficult to change the momentum that government has, but not impossible.

One way to stop government growth is to refuse to allow government to raise money by imposition of additional taxes. Families have to live within their budgets and so should government. The practice of government virtually writing itself blank checks is offensive. If programs have to be cut back to pay for more important functions such as military readiness, so be it.

I do not, however, advocate the position that we, as a society, should not give a leg up to those who cannot provide for themselves. The sick, the infirm, the elderly, orphans should be cared for. Everyone else without good reason who can work should in exchange for government assistance. The rest of us should be self reliant, as should our country.

Government employment should not be a work program for the inept. Government should not be an employment agency where jobs are created at the expense of taxpayers. Every four years a county tax assessor comes by my office to scrutinize my old books and desks and outdated computers etc. and I have to pay for the assessment at some ridiculously low amount. I think I have paid something like $65.00 a year. The tax means nothing in my overall budget, but am I just contributing to that guy's salary so he can have a job? Couldn't we eliminate that meaningless tax and the employee as well? It seems like it would be far simpler in the long run. Eliminate the government job, eliminate the need to pay for his office space, his retirement, his expense account to drive around looking for things to tax, and so forth, and we arrive at a better result with lower taxes! What a novel approach!

How about the practice of an established municipality being able to gobble up unincorporated areas with little or no recourse by the inhabitants of the unincorporated area? Why should political boundaries and city taxes have to be forced on those who chose to live the simpler and less expensive life in the county? Why should we have to buy the new cars for the government workers, build new offices, pay for ongoing maintenance etc. all for the sake of city growth? Typically the city offers nothing in the way of improved infrastructure when it takes over an area. We in the county seem to be doing just fine on our own thanks.

Police protection, good roads, clean air and water, decent education for our kids--what more do we really need (or should we expect) from government? At the point government gets out of control--as it appears to have more and more each day--is the point "we the people" need to stand up and say we aren't going to take it anymore.

Ok, so maybe this little spouting is oversimplification of the picture. I acknowledge that I don't have all the answers, and I'm not an expert at government operations. I don't care what political party you belong to or what you do for a living. We are all in this together. I am willing to evaluate a problem from all sides before taking a position. I am willing to admit that a position I may have held in the past should be modified with good reason. As your representative I will think globally and act locally while looking out for all our best interests. Isn't that really what common sense is all about?