As a state senator I have deep concerns, which I share with many of my constituents, about the direction our country and state are headed. This is an extraordinarily trying time for American families, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet and are having trouble balancing their household budgets. Yet the federal government continues passing huge spending increases, further saddling our children and grandchildren with massive debt, higher taxes and devalued money, and turning America into a debtor nation.

   My constituents are angry, frightened and dismayed by what is happening in Washington D.C., and many believe Congress is failing America. They are also worried about the haste with which our elected officials are passing legislation that most in Congress don’t read, but that we all will have to pay for. The $700 billion of TARP money and the nearly $800 billion federal “stimulus” have done little to fix the recession, and may even be prolonging it. These policies simply have not worked. Now Congress seems to be rushing into a multi-trillion dollar takeover of health care.

   These bills will seriously impact Washington State. As you know, we are a leading foreign trade state and cap and trade will have a significant impact on our state’s ability to compete, as will a government takeover of health care. When the financial capability of the federal government is weakened, it weakens our state legislature’s ability to fund programs and services by hurting the state’s economy.

   Be it cap and trade, health care, bailing out private firms and companies, or taking over General Motors and Chrysler, the percentage of the United States economy directly under the control of federal government has dramatically increased to the point where it is approaching 30% of the Gross National Product.

   We simply can’t tax and spend our way to prosperity. Looking at past presidents, the ones who succeeded cut taxes and regulations, and the ones who failed raised spending and allowed inflation to run rampant.

   The U.S. Constitution has as its guiding principles, the idea that government should not have intrusive power over the lives of citizens. The founding fathers wanted to guarantee that federal interference in the daily lives of citizens would be strictly limited. They also wanted to make sure that the minimal government role in the domestic economy would be financed and delivered at the state and local levels.

   The federal government never was supposed to grow so large that it could trample on the liberties of American citizens. The Tenth Amendment states clearly and unambiguously: powers not delegated to the United States government by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.