Rising prices have harmed all Pennsylvanians. What has our government done about it?  Both Harrisburg and D.C. have FUELED inflation with unwarranted spending.  Now Gov. Shapiro wants to increase the Commonwealth’s budget by $3 billion for the coming fiscal year.  As if that is not bad enough, Biden offers Americans $2 trillion in deficit spending in his 2025 budget.  Leftists will tell us we have a taxing problem.  But we have a spending problem.  Pennsylvania’s budget has grown from $31 billion in 2017 to a proposed $48 billion in 2025.  The Federal government had a $1.8 trillion budget in 2000 and now wants $7.4 trillion in 2025.  Even after inflation, these are unwarranted increases which affect prices.

Most politicians refuse to recognize that government spending is a key factor in inflationary pressures on consumers.  Restrain wasteful spending, cap budget increases to inflation rates (at most) and remove government from services more appropriately delivered by the free market rather than the government inefficiently intruding into the marketplace.

Have you gotten better governance as legislatures increased spending?  Are you better off today than you were a few years ago?  When government is not competing with the private sector and focuses on ensuring a level playing field for all, we have a more efficient economy, greater prosperity, and liberty.

Funding for schooling is, to say the least, a contentious subject in Pennsylvania.  In February 2023, the Commonwealth Court declared Pennsylvania’s method of funding public schools unconstitutional on the basis that some schools are in less affluent districts.  Sadly, this decision treats public education like politicians and governments treat most challenges.  To quote President Ronald Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.”  Unfortunately, the judge’s answer to help is more money.  Pennsylvania is constitutionally mandated to provide public education.  But that does not mean we should simply throw money at the problem.

More money in education does not equate to better outcomes.  Like most things in life, there are many factors that play a role in educational experiences and outcomes.  Money is one of them.  Ironically, “School Choice” is one clear method to overcome unequal outcomes in education.  Parents and students should not be held hostage to teachers’ unions or poorly performing school districts because of where they live.  Gov. Shapiro cynically promised to support school vouchers and then reversed his position.  Isn’t this exactly what so many politicians do to us?

When gasoline soared within weeks of Biden assuming the presidency, elected officials did little to nothing to ease the burden by lowering our fuel taxes (energy costs are a key driver of inflation).  Pennsylvanians still pay an outrageous .58 cents a gallon to the Commonwealth, while the Feds tack on .42 cents a gallon.  Higher energy taxes do not reduce consumption in any appreciable way, they simply force families to make difficult choices, erode savings and lower the standard of living for all consumers.  We can curb inflation by lowering energy costs immediately with a tax holiday on fuel taxes.  That LEAVES money in the pockets of all consumers and lowers the costs of essential goods distribution, also helping to curb inflation.

Politicians virtually everywhere betrayed our trust with their unscientific hysteria and by all too easily abandoning the rule of law to IMPOSE upon and abrogate your liberties, all in the name of public safety.  While we form governments to represent our common interests, including public safety, far too many abused their authority to dictate to others during the COVID era.

Gov. Wolf dictated unlawful mandates, threatened business owners and Pennsylvanians should they dare ignore his unconstitutional lawlessness.  The state and federal government coerced employers to fire law abiding workers, abrogating their CHOICE to make informed decisions about their own medical health.  Nurses, initially hailed as “our heroes,” were suddenly pariahs and tossed out of work.  Police, EMS, Firefighters and military personnel who risked their lives for our safety were demonized should they deign to even ask a question or seek to exercise their right to make an informed decision or request a religious exemption.  

Never again can we allow such abuses to occur.  As an adult citizen, you should be able to make informed decisions about risk and your health, not poorly informed (and far too often, wrong) bureaucrats or politicians.

Natural rights, derived from nature itself, are universal, fundamental and inalienable. No government "grants" natural rights.  Therefore, such rights are unalienable and cannot be abrogated or legislated by a government or a culture.  Though one can forfeit their enjoyment of natural rights through one's actions (such as violating another person’s rights).  Natural rights are not dependent on the laws or customs of any culture or government.  And yet, not only has the federal and state government violated our natural rights and even (serially) does so with constitutionally protected rights like freedom of speech and assembly, but they do so with increasing frequency.

We know that federal government agencies (DHS, CDC, FBI, White House, et. al.) colluded, coerced or cajoled at least twitter to censor speech, but we also saw Gov. Wolf violate due process throughout the pandemic.  Our rights are under assault in ways the framers of the Constitution foresaw, yet most Americans in contemporary America do not realize.

Pennsylvania needs leaders to step forward, speak up and defend our rights from abusive governments.  I spent nearly 37 years in the Army protecting the Constitution and our liberty.  I will do the same in Harrisburg.