Dear Hilton Head Island Voter:
Greetings from Russia. As many of you know I have been in Russia since November 20, completing the adoption of two boys (Misha age 3 and Sasha age 4). The three of us will be returning home later this week. No doubt our family is blessed to have been given the gift of these two little ones.
As I sit here in Moscow, I am reminded of the many blessings we have been given as Americans. Among those are the gifts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While I have always understood the value and appreciated these freedoms, like many I have sometimes taken them for granted. Visiting Russia during these weeks puts almost everything we take for granted back into perspective. I am particularly focused on our economy and the strategies being implemented by not only our federal government, but at the state level as well.
State spending has been out of control over the last few years and in a few weeks our legislature will begin a new session and will focus once again on the budget. The cornerstone of the budget discussions should be wasteful spending and the danger of unfunded liabilities. How much money lawmakers allocate to government programs and how those dollars are spent should be vigorously debated.
This year fiscally conservative lawmakers should do more than fight wasteful spending on government programs. They need to stand up for their core governing philosophy — that the private sector grows the economy better than the government.
I fear the economic strategies of our state government will only delay the much needed economic recovery. The free market principles that created the very strength to make us a world power are under attack and being compromised. To expand the economy, we need to grow the private sector, not grow the size of government.
The “former” Soviet Union built it’s economy around the foundation of the state, by which it controlled, determined, set, and created prices, goods, jobs, and services – in short, Communism.
In the United States such an experiment could destroy what is (for now) the greatest economic model in the history of the modern world. The foundation of capitalism was developed from the ideas and principles of our founding documents and traditions. The idea that individuals can determine their own economic destiny by way of hard work, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an environment where government protects these freedoms, not stifle them.
The journey I complete this week has helped to re-affirm and strengthen my courage and conviction to defend the guiding principles that have made our country great.
As we approach the New Year and the last 6 months before the June 8, 2010 primary date, I would be grateful to those of you who can host a meet & greet at your home. By inviting your friends and neighbors to meet me and to discuss those subjects of importance to Hilton Head Island we can, as a group, formulate plans – practical plans – for better representation in Columbia. I have participated in several such events over the last few months, but need to step up the pace in order to be successful in June.
If you can host a meet & greet, please – by response to this email - tell me what month would be convenient for you. I will contact you to set up the specific date. Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
