“It’s time to pull back the reins on the ever-growing, bureaucracy-breeding state that’s galloping headlong towards a cliff of economic bankruptcy and state dependency, and restore power to the people.”
“Coshocton loses 200 jobs at Pretty Products”
Are you sick and tired of newspaper headlines like that? As a family practice physician, I counsel daily with patients who are dealing with the devastating loss of employment in a county where jobs are growing thin. This trend of jobs going overseas or to other states is becoming as common in Ohio as scarlet and gray. “Coshocton to Lose 200 Jobs at Pretty Products”
I bring you hope! Ohio’s steady loss of jobs is the result of an ailment not difficult to diagnose and treat, but do we have the courage to prescribe the right remedy?
When commenting on the loss of 200 Coshocton jobs to Tennessee, the human resources director of Pretty Products said, "The bottom line is, this particular facility is not making money and it would take too much money and too long a time to turn it around appropriately." What is it about Ohio that makes businesses like Pretty Products less profitable here than in other states?
Did you know that Ohio’s state and local tax burden is among the highest in the nation? According to the Tax Foundation, Ohio’s state and local tax burden percentage ranks 5th worst in the nation (www.TaxFoundation.org). Ohio also has one of the worst tax climates in the U.S. for businesses, ranking 49th nationwide. We also have one of the highest gasoline tax rates in the nation. To make matters worse, on July 28, state bureaucrats agreed to suck our blood some more with a new tax called the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District assessment that will be demanded of private and commercial property owners.
One of the reasons Pretty Products moved to Tennessee is because Tennessee ranks as the 3rd lowest state and local tax burden in the nation. If you owned a business and you knew you could increase your profits by moving to another state, you might move too! If we want to increase jobs in Ohio, we need to let businesses in Ohio be more profitable and competitive, and stop taxing the jobs out of our state. Make taxes lower here than in other states and jobs will move into Ohio instead of moving out. That’s the right remedy for jobs!
But this castor oil leaves a bad taste in the mouths of politicians. Why? Because politicians routinely exploit the public treasury for pork projects that benefit their friends and contributors and will increase their chances of re-election. Republicans, unfortunately, are not exempt from this habit of reaching into the pockets of the citizenry to fund their favorite bureaucracies, businesses, and charities. In 2003, the Ohio state government, with Republican majorities in the House and the Senate and with a Republican governor, had a budget deficit (their budget spent more than they were getting in taxes). Rather than cut spending, they passed the largest tax increase in Ohio history! Uncontrolled state spending has severe consequences, including the erosion of our God-given liberties and, ultimately, the slavery of our posterity. It will take principled, revolutionary leadership to resist the state’s tendency to take over more and more of our wealth and intrude into more and more of our lives.
When Ohioans are forced to pay for corporate welfare to Fortune 500 companies, publicity for the NFL, rent for historical societies, and subsidies for wealthy business owners, your God-given right to enjoy the fruit of your own labor is denied. If 
you would rather spend your own money on your child’s pee-wee football team rather than the NFL, you should be free to do so. It’s your money! Do you see that the pork in the state budget destroys your freedom? If you want to support the NFL, you are free to do so, but other Ohioans should not be forced to do so upon pain of fine or imprisonment. Some of the charities that the state is funding are good and should be funded in an even greater measure by Ohioans, but they should be funded by free Ohioans who give willingly, not who are forced to give upon pain of fine and imprisonment. Charity should be voluntary and comes with accountability, which is compatible with good stewardship. The average American is already a slave to the state and federal government from January 1 to April 29, where we must work for them or face severe penalties – only after that do we get to take home and enjoy the fruit of our labors. This is immoral, and we should be outraged by this legal plunder! Aren’t you tired of the state acting like it owns you, your labor, your property, and your children? Do we exist to serve the state, or does the state exist to serve us?
As your State Representative, I will expose the pork to the public and urge my colleagues to stop exploiting your wealth for their pet projects. I will be diligent to limit state funding to constitutionally-justified obligations and let you keep the money saved. I will do everything I can to cut the self-serving bureaucracies out of the state budget and privatize the pork-laden programs in order to expose them to the powerful forces of free enterprise. I will let Ohio businesses compete with other states and other countries on a playing field that favors Ohio. Your hard-earned money does not belong to the State - under my leadership, the Statehouse will stop acting like it does!
Is this the kind of leadership you want? If you want an authentic conservative who will lower taxes and decrease state spending, then I need your help! Statist liberals are sprouting hernias over my message, because they know that this campaign resonates with the consciences of voters. Those who have grown wealthy exploiting the public treasury for personal gain are shaking in their taxpayer-funded boots because they know that this message makes converts and spells an end to their free rides. If this is the kind of leadership you want in the Statehouse, I need you to vote for me in the primary on March 4. I need you to get your friends, family, co-workers, and fellow church members to vote for me on March 4. I need you to volunteer to make phone calls for me and go door-to-door with me on my campaign “for life, liberty, and jobs.” And I desperately need your financial assistance to make this campaign successful. I’m not sending out letters telling people what they want to hear to try and gain 51% of the vote with a bland, generic message. I’m campaigning with the conservative leadership that I will exemplify if I am elected. Thank you for your support!
__________________________________________________________