A Campaign Of Ideas – Reducing Government
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
In an earlier post on this topic, I identified the top 10 items which have been ranked by Farm Bureau members responding in a volunteer response mail-back. Those who responded were indicating their interests in getting involved in the 2010 election process and were more than likely expressing their frustrations with the way things are, so with that perspective in mind, the rankings of these issues might have something to do with those frustrations.
Never-the-less, these issues deserve individual consideration and further expansion of thinking…
1. Growth of the National Government
2. Access and Use of Public Lands
3. Taxes
4. State Government Spending
5. Water
6. Growth of the State Government
7. Public Education
8. Business Failures/Home Foreclosures
9. Animal Care and Treatment
10. Sustainable Agriculture/Food Production
Growth of the National Government
It goes without saying that the past several months have made us witnesses to a historic expansion of the federal government’s reach into a host of new areas and ventures. Under the guise of crisis (with new areas of more crisis constantly making themselves known to us by those who wish to further expand government’s intrusion) we are lead to believe that government intervention is our only hope for a solution.
The first step in addressing the Growth of the National Government is responding to those who wish to have us believe that further expansion is necessary. Our response has to continue to be of the nature that has been drawing so much attention and disdain on the subject of this summer’s town hall meetings. We need to stand up and make it clear that further expansion of government, new government programs and further increases in government spending are not acceptable. The shake-up that our elected leaders are going through is not something they anticipated or have witnessed in the past. Their “business-as-usual” approach would have us attend their planned events, listen to them tell us about all the wonderful things that they are doing for us and send us on our way worshiping them for being such great representatives of the people. It is quite obvious that they didn’t want us to actually tell them that we didn’t want what they have been considering and actually it would be our preference for them to not do what they are planning to do (especially in the form of a government-operated, national health care insurance program as well as Climate Change taxation of energy legislation).
Pundits and self-proclaimed experts consider the matter to be a problem of those in charge, losing control of the message…as opposed to people just saying “No! That’s not what we want!”
Our second step in addressing the Growth of the National Government has got to come in the form of un-electing those who have been involved in growing it. Our 2010 election will give us a chance to bring several of those types of current representatives home. From a Nevada perspective, two Congresswomen and one U.S. Senator fit this mold, demonstrating with their actions and votes how out-of-touch they are with the boundaries of appropriate government constraint.
Another Nevada-based action we can take is pressing those who represent us in our state legislature to adopt a meaningful 10th Amendment Resolution, telling the federal government to keep out of things that they simply should not be involved with. Such a resolution was proposed in the 2009 Nevada Legislature, but because those who were in charge of the Nevada Legislative process are of the opinion that government is the solution to all things, the resolution didn’t get a hearing.
We need to make the 10th Amendment principles, spelled out in AJR 15 a focal point in the election of those who wish to go to Carson City in 2011. Leaders and members of the majority party in 2009 need to learn that they are on the wrong side of the issue regarding limits to government’s boundaries.
In an earlier post on this topic, I identified the top 10 items which have been ranked by Farm Bureau members responding in a volunteer response mail-back. Those who responded were indicating their interests in getting involved in the 2010 election process and were more than likely expressing their frustrations with the way things are, so with that perspective in mind, the rankings of these issues might have something to do with those frustrations.
Never-the-less, these issues deserve individual consideration and further expansion of thinking…
1. Growth of the National Government
2. Access and Use of Public Lands
3. Taxes
4. State Government Spending
5. Water
6. Growth of the State Government
7. Public Education
8. Business Failures/Home Foreclosures
9. Animal Care and Treatment
10. Sustainable Agriculture/Food Production
Growth of the National Government
It goes without saying that the past several months have made us witnesses to a historic expansion of the federal government’s reach into a host of new areas and ventures. Under the guise of crisis (with new areas of more crisis constantly making themselves known to us by those who wish to further expand government’s intrusion) we are lead to believe that government intervention is our only hope for a solution.
The first step in addressing the Growth of the National Government is responding to those who wish to have us believe that further expansion is necessary. Our response has to continue to be of the nature that has been drawing so much attention and disdain on the subject of this summer’s town hall meetings. We need to stand up and make it clear that further expansion of government, new government programs and further increases in government spending are not acceptable. The shake-up that our elected leaders are going through is not something they anticipated or have witnessed in the past. Their “business-as-usual” approach would have us attend their planned events, listen to them tell us about all the wonderful things that they are doing for us and send us on our way worshiping them for being such great representatives of the people. It is quite obvious that they didn’t want us to actually tell them that we didn’t want what they have been considering and actually it would be our preference for them to not do what they are planning to do (especially in the form of a government-operated, national health care insurance program as well as Climate Change taxation of energy legislation).
Pundits and self-proclaimed experts consider the matter to be a problem of those in charge, losing control of the message…as opposed to people just saying “No! That’s not what we want!”
Our second step in addressing the Growth of the National Government has got to come in the form of un-electing those who have been involved in growing it. Our 2010 election will give us a chance to bring several of those types of current representatives home. From a Nevada perspective, two Congresswomen and one U.S. Senator fit this mold, demonstrating with their actions and votes how out-of-touch they are with the boundaries of appropriate government constraint.
Another Nevada-based action we can take is pressing those who represent us in our state legislature to adopt a meaningful 10th Amendment Resolution, telling the federal government to keep out of things that they simply should not be involved with. Such a resolution was proposed in the 2009 Nevada Legislature, but because those who were in charge of the Nevada Legislative process are of the opinion that government is the solution to all things, the resolution didn’t get a hearing.
We need to make the 10th Amendment principles, spelled out in AJR 15 a focal point in the election of those who wish to go to Carson City in 2011. Leaders and members of the majority party in 2009 need to learn that they are on the wrong side of the issue regarding limits to government’s boundaries.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 8/24/2009 9:09 AM 
Categories: 2010 Elections
Tags: Government Expansion 10th Amendment Nevada Congress
Categories: 2010 Elections
Tags: Government Expansion 10th Amendment Nevada Congress
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