Jeff Tyberg to Challenge Obey

Jeff Tyberg to Challenge Obey

Dave Obey has been representing Wisconsin in the U.S. Congress for the past 36 years, but at least one man thinks Obey's time is up.

Jeff Tyberg of Grantsburg is gearing up his campaign for the 7th Congressional District election in November 2006.

"I recognize that my opponent has a 36-year head start," said Tyberg about Obey, "but I really believe this is going to work to his disadvantage this time around. There's a perception, anyway, that he serves special interests, and we want to contrast that with that fact that I've been serving kids in orphanages."
Tyberg was born and raised in Grantsburg. He went to college at University of Minnesota-Morris but decided during a mission trip that he "wanted to serve people." He then left college and went into missionary work in places around the country, as well as in Mexico, Japan and Ukraine.

He didn't consider running for public office until one day, while working at a coffee shop in Grantsburg and talking politics, a customer said that the country needed 'good men in Congress' and that Tyberg should run.

Tyberg's general political philosophy is one of taking power away from the national government and, in turn, empowering states' rights closer to what he believes the Founding Fathers intended.

Three security issues play into Tyberg's philosophy and create the backbone of his campaign: "national security, economic security and family security."

National security

Tyberg said the national government's powers should be limited to fixing inter-state disputes and maintaining the nation's borders.

"Our Founding Fathers had an idea that the federal government is only there to protect our borders and to mediate disputes between states," said Tyberg, adding that the national government should "stay out of our everyday lives outside of those two areas."

Securing the nation's borders and improving foreign relations are two ways Tyberg said national security could be enhanced in the United States.
"We're not focusing on our border, especially with Mexico," he said. " ... Having lived two years in Mexico, I think I have a pretty good grasp on at least some of the issues that face illegal immigrants and Mexican people in general."

Tyberg said the free trade agreements NAFTA and CAFTA are examples of foreign policy made without an understanding of "the economic situation of the average person in those countries."

Economic security

Tyberg doesn't think government should spend more money than it has because deficit spending jeopardizes the government's solvency for future generations.

"We're paying $41 million in interest per hour on our federal debt," Tyberg said. "That's money that's gone. It's not available for any kind of federal programs. It's not available for tax relief. It's just gone."

By reducing Congress' spending habits and fixing government programs such as Social Security, Tyberg said the country's pocketbook could be out of the red and back in the black.

"We have to fix Social Security now because it will cost less to do it now than to do it 40 years down the road when it actually goes belly up," he said.
Removing the $100,000 cap from income taxable for Social Security purposes, imposing a maximum income limit for Social Security beneficiaries and investing at least some Social Security monies in the stock market are three reform ideas that the Grantsburg candidate supports.
Tyberg's ideas for cutting government spending aren't limited to Social Security reform, though.

Taking a plank from the late President Reagan's platform, Tyberg said dissolving the Department of Education could reduce federal government spending.

"I believe we could save the taxpayers a lot of money and give them better education through better control by getting rid of the Department of Education and allowing people to run their school districts based on their local needs and local issues," he said.

Tyberg also said that the Department of Transportation could reduce pork-barrel spending by issuing block grants based on how much each state uses the interstate highway system, rather than allowing state representatives to negotiate pet projects into the department's budget, like "$300 million to Alaska for a bridge to nowhere."

"That way congressmen aren't on the hook to try and get money back to their district," Tyberg said. "It's become a system of 'If you don't bring money back to your district, you don't get elected,' and we need to change that whole attitude to where 'It's better if we leave the money here in the first place.' "

Family security

Tyberg said his support for local control extends to the family arena, as well. Individual families, not the federal government, should decide what their children are taught in school and if their children should be enrolled in certain classes such as sex education.

"Right now we're looking at the 9th Circuit Court of California told a family that they don't have a right to decide the sexual education of their children," Tyberg said "And the parents should have the right to protect their children from things they don't believe are age appropriate."

Tyberg said government is meant to protect the weak from the strong, and that belief is why he is against both abortion and euthanasia.

Other policy positions

Tyberg is handing out pamphlets outlining his policy positions while on his campaign. Here are some of the other issues important to his campaign, according to his pamphlet:

* The methamphetamine problem in rural areas, and the insecure Mexican border that facilitates the drug's transportation

* Supporting stem cell research that uses umbilical cord blood and opposing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research

* Protecting 2nd amendment rights

* Taking religious freedom issues out of the judiciary

* Reserving eminent domain only for the public good, not for generating increased government revenue

* Supporting troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of why or how the wars are waged, and making Veterans Affairs facilities the best in the world
Anyone wishing to contact Jeff Tyberg is encouraged to email him at jeff@tybergforcongress.com, call him at 715-431-0170 or visit his Web site at www.tybergforcongress.com

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