Sonoran News - Big Government. Bigger Problems.

Op-Ed

By Rep. David Schweikert

They say that when you notice government in your everyday life, it has gotten too big.

Lately, it has been hard to even turn around without seeing the fingerprints of government touching every aspect of our lives.

When I travel up and down my district talking to Arizona's job creators, workers, and unemployed, I hear time and again, that government regulation and uncertainty are killing sustainable job growth.

The Arizonans I talk to know exactly how we can get America working again--and its by shrinking government. Unfortunately, President Obama's response is more burdensome, overarching government.

We have seen big government eat up jobs and economic growth at an astounding level.

Tax-and-spend liberals, like those in this Administration and the Democratic U.S. Senate, believe that government is intended to create jobs. However, it is simply not designed to function that way. Government works best when it creates an environment that allows the private sector, the genius and hard work of the American people, create jobs.

Career politicians and unelected bureaucrats in Washington do not know how to run a small business in Arizona better than hard working Arizonans.

When bloated government interferes with families, small businesses, and farms we see the results.

This Administration's regulatory environment has destroyed jobs and created a weak and uncertain economy. We have seen over and over that more stimulus and more government spending are not the means to more jobs, but further economic decline.

Take for instance ObamaCare. This government take-over of healthcare mandates that everyone have insurance whether they want it, need it, or not. It puts an unelected Washington bureaucracy between patients and doctors. Furthermore, ObamaCare has failed at even the most basic of measures and has not contained costs. Since its passage, ObamaCare has caused health insurance costs to skyrocket at a rate three times higher than the historical average.

Then there is the president's so-called stimulus. President Obama promised that if the Congress passed the $787 billion stimulus bill immediately, unemployment would not reach 8 percent. Today, we are staring down our 32nd straight month of unemployment at or above 8 percent. Unemployment has not been this high for this long since the Great Depression. This is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, these overreaching programs just scratch the surface of where Washington under President Obama is headed. There are at least 219 new regulations under consideration for the upcoming year by this Administration. These 219 regulations have a projected price tag of $100 million or more.

Most Arizonans do not need anyone to tell them that big government and over-regulation have job-crushing results. The 9.1 percent unemployment rate speaks for itself.

It is time to stop growing government and allow the private sector to regain the confidence it needs to start employing Americans. When we unwind the red tape and unleash the free enterprise system our economy will come roaring back. Those are the kind of fingerprints we want on life in Arizona.

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