Statement of Values

To secure life, the government must maintain a robust, impartial legal system, favoring none, and provide a minimally sufficient national defense. We oppose offensive wars and the death penalty as administered.

To secure individual property, the government must do more than solve property disputes. Government must:

• knowing that fair and free market capitalism produces the largest economy and the largest gains for both producers AND consumers, remove itself from free markets, limiting action to restricting market power that inhibits competition, correcting negative external costs paid by non-participants in the market, or correcting positive external benefits reaped by those who do not pay;
• stop continually running budget deficits, growing an astronomical national debt, infringing on the property rights of future generations; and,
• promote progress in the areas of science, education, and infrastructure development, granting the opportunity to all to obtain and grow property.

If any of us were born in the least advantageous position in society, we deserve social equity (as Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, said) in the areas of health, safety, and conservation of natural resources. We commit to helping the disenfranchised, disabled, and injured. We commit to helping others. We reject the old adage that, “You must pull yourself up by your own boot straps.” Instead, we offer a pair of boots to all in need that they may walk on their own.

 Even with limited democratic government, we need good representatives that work for us. Good representation requires good people. We:

• must be a moral people, promoting equality, truth, pragmatism, service, and the greater good;
• believe in natural rights, a limited democratic republic firmly committed to the rule of law, and individual liberty free from government interference, guidance, or social mandates;
• commit to civil discourse, the willingness to lose, and the common good;
• are liberal in the sense that we favor the expansion of democratic principles and firmly oppose authoritarianism, autocratic rule, socialism, and communism;
• are conservative in the sense that we value social customs and norms, follow Constitutional rule, commit to the American work ethic, and honor the outcomes of both success and failure;
• reject the current political discourse, the “Us vs. Them” conversations between Republicans and Democrats;
• recognize a media that tears at the personal lives of our leaders, discouraging broader participation from Americans, as they forward the agenda of their corporate sponsors; and,
• see that the powerful political and moneyed interests are slowing selling our future and robing America’s working and middle class of liberty, property, and equality.