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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” — Alexis de Tocqueville

Thank you, Senator Dornink, for standing up for what’s right. Americans are tired of politicians who simply go to the Capitol to “bring home the pork” at any cost, in the hopes of buying votes. Senator Dornink displayed integrity as our representative in government because the bill that was being pushed did not use the public’s money wisely. That means that our dredging bond may be held up. I am on the Shell Rock River Watershed District and Minnesota Watersheds boards and have seen the untold labor that goes on behind the scenes to make dredging happen and am very committed to seeing our lakes get dredged. I met with Senator Dornink while lobbying on behalf of the watersheds, and he is committed to getting the bond through, but not at the expense of our republic. Rather than just focusing on “bringing home the pork” and assuring another easy win next election time (2:1 vote last election), he did what a senator should do. The Democrats were not using your hard-earned tax dollars wisely with too many of our dollars committed to frivolous spending. Rather than just wagging my finger at the Democrats, because both parties have put pork in bills and held bonding dollars hostage, my goal in writing is to attract good men and women like Sen. Gene Dornink and Rep. Peggy Bennett to our party in the hopes that we will continue to send representatives to St. Paul and Washington, D.C., who will lead by example. I can’t defend the Republicans who abuse their positions, but I hope I can inspire more good people to join us who will be ready to lead by example when our local representatives have accomplished their priorities.

“A republic, if you can keep it.” — Benjamin Franklin’s response after a woman asked him what kind of government America now had.

A society that is committed to liberty sees the individual’s liberty as a right from our creator. You may not impose your will on others, and vice versa. Liberty comes with responsibilities, as well. We recognize that there are limits to our rights and we cannot receive our rights at the expense of another person. We value the inherent value of humanity with obligations to help others in need, such as having laws that require us to render aid to someone in a medical emergency. Imagine what would happen to a society where we’re allowed to walk past someone dying. Think about that next time you hear a Democrat brag about their pro-choice law that no longer requires medical staff to care for a baby that survived an abortion.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” — Declaration of Independence

Equality is a critical component of the American Constitution and our way of life. Hard battles have been won (largely by Republicans) to advance equality. Equality of opportunity means that all men and women are equal in the eyes of the law. Equality does not mean equal outcome where we all have the same standards of living, or in other words, escaping responsibility for our own actions. You have the right to the pursuit of happiness, which is a process. You do not have a right to happiness, which requires that others would have to sacrifice to give you happiness.

For every single person who is successful, someone paid a price. Someone’s parents or grandparents may have earned them the privilege of being wealthy, but someone paid that price. The first generation that forgets the lessons it takes to manage money, loses it. That has been one of the great equalizers of capitalism. Seventy percent of millionaires are self-made. People who become millionaires overnight through the lottery or lawsuits often lose that wealth in a matter of months because they never acquired the discipline it takes to manage that money, and most aren’t happy. You do not gain equality by taking from one person to give to another. Marxism has never worked in practice, never will, and has killed more people than any other ideology. Capitalism, on the other hand, lifts more people out of poverty than any other economic model. The Republican Party is the party that promotes capitalism. For many Democrats, the word capitalist is an insult. Crony capitalism sneaks pork into spending bills that gives everyone who votes for it favors. Such as the Democrats’ spending bill that tried to bribe us with our own money.

We hope you and your family had a blessed Easter!

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County GOP Party.