Getting Big Government Out of the Way

(Bruce Feher) – Nevada has been hard hit in recent years, and it doesn’t appear that our representatives in Washington and Carson City have a clue about what to do to help us bounce back. If they did, they would have done something by now.

A drive around the Las Vegas area will disclose even to the most casual observer that we are in trouble. Car dealerships, gone; restaurants, closed; new strip centers, vacant. On most days, almost every major intersection has a panhandler nearby with the ever-present cardboard sign.

Leaving the main roads and driving through the residential areas, you enter a forest of For Sale signs, abandoned and foreclosed homes.

Unemployment is steady; gas prices are increasing and will continue to rise; gold is going through the roof, but how many of us can afford to own it? Homes are losing value; cars are being repossessed.

There are over 43,000,000 Americans living in poverty, and there has been a constant rise in bank failures. And, let’s not forget our $14 trillion debt, the one that President Obama and Harry Reid want to pass on to our kids and grandchildren.

The professional politicians and even worse, the legions of faceless bureaucrats, are destroying our economy with job-killing mandates, laws, rules, and ordinances. It has been estimated that there are at least 10,000,000 Federal laws. When you factor in state and local governments, it’s a wonder that any progress can be made – ever.

Our reality certainly paints a gloomy picture.  But, even at what seems our darkest hour, there is a ray of hope. That’s real hope, not some slick campaign propaganda.

What I’m talking about, believe it or not, is the Republican Party. No, not the established Washington insiders, but the rank and file. The people who actually believe in our Republican principles.

For those who have forgotten these principles, mostly in Washington; here they are. Read them, follow them, and believe in them and maybe, just maybe, we can return to prosperity:

•  We believe the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.
•  We believe in equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age, or disability.
• We believe that free enterprise and the encouragement of individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth, and prosperity.
• We believe government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.
• We believe the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.
• We believe the most effective, responsible, and responsive government is government closest to the people.
• We believe Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.
• We believe Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom, and human rights throughout the world.
• Finally, we believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government. 

 We would be well served if we offered courses on these principles to our young people.

 We must reduce the size of government and expand the wonderful opportunities America once offered.  We must ignite the entrepreneurial spirit once again. We cannot permit the “something for nothing” Democrats to continue driving our great nation to ruin with their lies.

 We must do this while we still have some time, we can’t afford to waste it.

(Bruce Feher is a small business owner. He and his family have lived in Las Vegas since 1996.)