Issue Position: The Economy

Issue Position

This term refers to a huge complexity of issues, but as a start, here's a definition found on Google: "An economy is a system of making and trading things of value. It is usually divided into goods (physical things) and services (things done by people). It assumes there is [a] medium of exchange, which in the modern world is a system of finance. This makes trade possible."

Many different kinds of economies exist, but the economic system that historically and empirically seems to best promote safety and prosperity is a free market economy--one based on the freedom of individuals to choose what they want to buy and make rather than on the plan and direction of government. In a free market economy, the government's role is to provide well-defined, limited public goods and services while safeguarding private ownership and the rule of law. Since government cannot create wealth, it must carefully prioritize what is most needed for the "general welfare," not wasting the money taken from citizens on unproven or unnecessary items. Just as a household prospers when it creates a reasonable budget and lives within its means, so should the government.

Government reduction of taxes, red tape, regulations, and overly restrictive land use laws nearly always increases the availability of jobs and affordable homes.

Debt is a heavy burden, both in our home economies and in our government economies. Without cutting benefits for those who receive them, we need to continue to work to lower the cost of PERS (Public Employee Retirement System), which is choking our local and state economies. Qualified people can do this, but citizens have the responsibility to vote them into office.

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