Where I Stand On The Issues
PROMOTING BUSINESS
As a business owner myself, I am thoroughly exasperated at the number of regulatory hurdles that stand between me and the work I love. Considering all the reports, audits, forms, applications, fees, fines, penalties, and notices, it is very difficult to be a business owner in Minnesota. If we want to encourage growth in Minnesota, we must figure out how to deal with the growing regulatory problem plaguing our businesses.
ATTRACTING AND RETAINING WORKERS AND FAMILIES
Northwestern Minnesota has plenty to offer: good jobs, great communities to raise families, and lots of opportunity. But we do not attract enough workers or families to grow our towns and communities. We must figure out ways to showcase our great district or we will continue to see accelerated population decline.
Our first step is to make Northwestern Minnesota a desirable place for our own children to stay and raise their families. We can do this by bolstering our primary and secondary schools. If our children possess the skills that are marketable to our local businesses, there will not be a need for our children to go elsewhere to find employment.
We also must provide a tax and regulatory structure that encourages businesses to stay and hire employees right here in SD1. Because we are a border district with a competitive western neighbor, we know all too well the draw they have on businesses and jobs that could stay right here in this district. Legislators from populist urban centers do not understand how the regulatory plans devised in the metro area impacts our businesses climate is penalizing our small towns and rural communities.
Finally, if we start attracting new families and retaining our own, an already tight and aging housing market will become a barrier to growth. We can encourage an investment in housing with reasonable policies and incentives.
PROPERTY RIGHTS
Article 1, Section 13 of the Minnesota Constitution explicitly protects our property from being taken by our state government without just compensation. But that isn't stopping our Minnesota government from taking thousands of acres of land without compensation. This is unjust and should be remedied immediately by either eliminating this requirement or, at the very least, compensating our landowners for their loss.
PRO-LIFE
"No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law[.]" U.S. Const. amend. V. The Constitution clearly requires due process of law when we are going to take someone's life, but twisted reasoning has created a system where individuals can be exterminated for convenience. Life begins at conception. We need to stand up and protect those who are unable to speak for themselves!
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof[.]" U.S. Const. amend. I. "The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed[.]" MN Const. art. I sec. 16. We have seen our First Amendment right to freely exercise our religion of choice infringed upon, especially for Christians. Contrarily, the government seems to go out of its way to accommodate other more "politically correct" religions. I will stand up for Christian principles to prevent this blatant double standard.
2ND AMENDMENT
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." U.S. Const. amend. II. When I read what the Constitution says about gun ownership, I don't see room for interference by the State or Federal government. In Minnesota, gun ownership is a tradition we must promote and protect.
LIMITED, FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
For the sake of our liberty, we should be extremely cautious of growing government programs and spending. We need to ensure our government is working for the people of Minnesota and not the other way around. This requires the government to be fiscally conservative and limited in its scope.
