What are all the smaller/smarter signs about?
My campaign theme is smaller, smarter government. As Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address to the nation, “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts."
President Reagan was right. We’re seeing our state and federal governments expand at an unsustainable rate, and we’re starting to see our liberties contract at the hands of an intrusive, overbearing government.
I’ve had many people ask me lately, “What will you do to make our government smaller and smarter?” In my view, the situation looks like this:
Incumbent Democrats’ big-government mess
- Passing budgets that spend more than they take in
- Borrowing from one-time-use funds to “balance” the budget
- Creating an environment hostile to business, with unemployment nearly doubling
- Taking control of schools from local school districts and giving it to bureaucrats in Des Moines
- Overloading people and businesses with taxes that cost Iowans jobs every day
Walt Rogers’ “smaller, smarter government” plan
- Responsible, transparent, and honest budgeting
- Saving Iowans’ jobs by reducing the tax burden on individuals and businesses
- Reducing the size, scope, and control of government wherever possible
- Returning Iowa’s education system to #1 by taking back control from bureaucrats and returning it to the local parents, teachers, and administrators
- Letting teachers teach, with a goal of reducing the paperwork load on teachers and administrators as much as possible
