Wisdom, not gullibility

The following Letter to the Editor was published in the Northfield News on December 9, 2009. By the way, if I don’t get the opportunity again, Merry Christmas!

There are attacks on people of faith as hypocrites and gullible, living inconsistently with myths to which they are easily persuaded. I take that criticism to be, firstly, a denial of a crucial perspective that was firmly established at the beginning of our county, and secondly, a wish that the restraints of morality be removed from science, and the way we view life and public policy.

The Declaration of Independence clearly states that all are created equal and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness …” The Declaration concludes that the signers had “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” The Creator was seen as the source and protector of our liberties. Those who see these salutary views being denied and forsaken, and who “want their country back,” want the return of America to its original, vital perspectives.

What kind of America do the critics want? One with the gradual dissolution of our freedoms? If so, who will decide where we work and live, what schools we go to and health care we get, and the nature of our retirement?

The attack on religion as anti-science confuses the essence and purpose of science and the place of morality in how we view life, science and public life. We have seen wide acceptance of the denial of life in its early stages, now we sense that medical care will be rationed for seniors. We have seen willing destruction of good farmland to build shopping malls and homes that we don’t need and industrial/commercial facilities that could go elsewhere, and the ready passing of massive, debilitating debt onto our children. What will these critics say when their lives are threatened, and to whom will they appeal, when the state controls their income and life?

Science, unconstrained by morality is hideous. Those who think that the choice facing modern people is between Darwin and Jesus should read the history of the 20th century and learn how evil and arbitrary a central state can be when, led by a tyrant, the government controls the economy, science, technology, health care, education and public justice. In such a state, the individual has no hope and no appeal.

The wise citizen is not willing to accept the curse of tyranny in exchange for the blessings of freedom.

Mike Piper

Candidate, Minnesota House District 25B

Bridgewater Township

A New Day

|||| A New Day by Mike Piper ||||

Registered candidate, MN House District 25B, 2010

Today and its challenges

The economy is in the worst fall since 1982. And in Washington, D.C., the Democrats, now firmly in charge of the federal government,  once known as the party of “tax and spend” criticized the last Republican administration as “borrow and spend.” Now the Democrats are doing both!

If the root causes of the present economic difficulties are borrowing and spending often unwisely and beyond reasonable limits, the Democrats answer is to borrow and spend more, and, in keeping with their tradition – believe this – to increase taxes. Throw in that the government is doing some things that it shouldn’t, and is doing poorly some things that it should.

There are problems enough. Many have lost their jobs and homes. Many lack access to health care; many don’t know if they can afford to provide post high school education for their children and for their own retirement. Many roads, bridges, cyber interconnectivity, and schools need repaired and built. Loans were made that shouldn’t have been made to people who couldn’t afford them. Prices were significantly inflated beyond reason. There was risk taking and speculation beyond value and prudence. Many in charge of financial institutions lined their pockets while the effects of their actions will empty ours. We all learned the term “Ponzi scheme.” Many industries were poorly managed; many workers sought compensation that would make their employers noncompetitive.

It’s hard to out-promise the Democrats. They seem to say that the government will provide all that everyone wants, now — regardless of the cost to you and your children. How do you think that they are going to pay for this? They will tax the rich, and when that isn’t enough, decrease exemptions and raise taxes for everyone else, for you and your children. Then, borrow money from China (for example), print money, and default on debt. And then, following closely behind, inflation, depression, and social unrest.

 It’s a new day, on our way to a golden future

Today, effects quickly follow causes.  The massive federal debt and its overpowering interest payments, some feel, will surely cause significant inflation. States and the federal government could be broke and we could see, as inflation and unemployment cripple the economy, significant unrest, not in generations to come, but in a short time.

This is what Minnesota needs to be the kind of state we should be – We need freedom; we need economic and political freedom. We need intelligent and honest financial institutions, we need workers and consumers with realistic expectations, and we need intelligent and heads-up management in our industries and government. We need to encourage risk taking because that is how we retain and create jobs and provide competitive products. We need tax reform for individuals, families, and businesses. We need jobs; we need good schools, access to health care and education, and good retirement provisions. For the future, to be competitive, we need to encourage research. We need to strengthen our education in science, technology, engineering, math, agriculture, health care, liberal arts, public safety, and teaching. We need to encourage and capitalize upon innovation, now moving at warp speed. We need good teachers. We need stable families. We need serious students. We need a society of confidence and responsibility. We need a society that is healthy and safe. Although we need to be as self-sufficient as possible and reasonable, we need to be connected with each other by good roads and bridges and data lines. We need to make things and grow food. We need to protect our environment and conserve our farmland, minerals, water, and air. We need a way of life that is sustainable. All are required to participate in the accomplishment of these objectives – individuals, communities, businesses, and governments. Defining the mix of responsibilities and enabling their success is the ticket. It is the capability that separates competence from the current dominant political/economic mentality that says “more of the same regardless of the cost even if we need future generations to pay for it.”

What we don’t need is massive debt, inflation, and high taxes. What we don’t need are foreclosures and health care and education problems because people are not working. What we need are jobs. What we need is a government that knows how to enable the retention and growth of jobs and to live within its means. We need to cap and then cut spending and taxes.

Republicans understand and can implement the path from we are to where we should be. The missions of the Republican Party are to enable the retention and growth of private sector jobs for Minnesotans, and to take care of the public’s business economically and efficiently without punishing debt and taxation for you or your children.  We understand the kind of employers that could thrive in our District and in Minnesota. We also know how to attract those job-creating businesses.

I have been talking with the folks in our District – with home owners, business people, educators, engineers,  physicians, employers, employees, farmers, elected officials, law enforcement officers, students, and retirees. They understand that the way out of debt is not more debt. They understand that we must live within our means. We are an industrious and educated people, we have work to do, and our people need jobs. We need the type of leadership that Republicans can provide.  We need jobs! Here we are, today, on the way to tomorrow. Let’s make it a golden future! Vote Republican in twenty-ten, and get Minnesota working again.

Postscript: Acting with intelligence, integrity, and responsibility [1]

(Note: I am calling the voters of this District, especially the young voters who in the future, when they look back to 2010, will realize that “the World was all before them.” [2] All of us are here in the now on the verge of the future. What kind of a future will it be? Will it be peaceful and prosperous? Each of us can be players in that outcome. We should chose the politics of sanity which must surely include the mature handling of finances, investment, and debt; the role of government; conservation of limited natural resources; and a reverence for life. In Chapter 1 of his General Theory, published in 1935, Keynes, in contrasting his arguments and conclusion with the classical theory, says “the characteristics of the special case assumed by the classical theory happen not to be those of the economic society in which we actually live, with the result that its teaching is misleading and disastrous if we attempt to apply it to the facts of experience.” [3] So we face economic and political challenges which require thinking different from those implemented during the Great Depression era. For us, the path to peace and prosperity is the Constitution of the United States, sound conservative analysis and synthesis, and all acting with intelligence, morality, and responsibility. It will be a great journey: join us.)

Our nation and form of government were founded to escape excessive, concentrated and arbitrary political power. Since the intent was to minimize government authority, the purpose was to maximize individual liberty.  A republic was formed with its government and institutions that would secure “equality … life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Our national history shows the steady realization of these rights. What have always been required of the American people are intelligence, integrity and responsibility.

To act with intelligence — to see clearly challenges and to define just and effective solutions; to plan based on reasonable expectations, not wishful thinking; to be willing to spend and invest what we have not what we would like to have; to live within our means and not the means of future generations; to leave our country, environment and economy better than we found them; and to leave our liberties more secure.

To act with integrity, with morality — to do what we ought, not what we can get away with, and to accept that our actions affect not just ourselves but also others about us and future generations.

To act with responsibility — to act individually and collectively doing our part and being willing to make sacrifices. So, in these difficult times, we see that we have spent and borrowed too much, often unwisely. That we cannot spend our way out of debt, even if we spend all of our money and much of our children’s. That good earth and clean water are limited resources. That individual liberty is the path to freedom and prosperity just as it was at the beginning of this nation. That everyone can’t have everything they want now; that all must be willing to sacrifice. That by acting with intelligence, integrity and responsibility we will survive and prevail.

In Stephen Vincent Benet’s words, “We’ve ridden out storms before and we’ll ride out this one.” And that the work will be done by “the proud walker, Democracy” — by free American people “Plowed by their suffering, harrowed by their hope/ Tall with their endless future.”

In 2010 say “no” to the discarded notions of the past that would have you believe that the government knows better than you do and that it can do your work better than you can; say “yes” to our endless future which could be, if we are intelligent, moral and responsible, peaceful and prosperous.

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[1] Reprinted, Northfield News, August 8, 2009

[2] Milton, Paradise Lost, XII, line 646

[3] The General Theory, John Maynard Keynes, First Harvest/Harcourt, Inc. edition, 1964, page 3. Italics are mine.

A New Minnesota that Works! by Mike Piper

A NEW MINNESOTA THAT WORKS!  BY MIKE PIPER

Republican candidate for Representative, Minnesota House District 25B in 2010

 

We are all aware of today’s challenges – unemployment, foreclosures, the high costs of health care and education. And on top of all those, our financial backbone has been injured. Individuals, businesses, and governments spent and borrowed too much, and often unwisely.

 

Here come the Democrats! If our basic problem is that we spent and borrowed too much, their solution is to spend and borrow more! To pay for this venture, they will borrow more money putting our children in debt, print money causing inflation, and raise taxes on everyone. Much of the money will be spent on programs like universal single-payer health care that won’t work and will make matters worse. We have had enough of record deficits and the unnecessarily high taxes required to fund careless government!

 

Republicans want Minnesotans working, living in their homes, being safe, living in a clean environment, driving on good roads, being effectively connected to the information superhighway, getting medical care from the health care provider that they choose, being educated so that they are competitive for 21^st century jobs, being responsible and free and free from the punishing burden of excessive taxation, and conserving and preserving our environment which is our inheritance and our gift to our children and grandchildren.

 

Republicans believe in free markets operating in accordance with reasonable standards, free and independent people, and government limited by the Constitution, by statutory law and by what the people can afford. Republicans believe that life is sacrosanct.

 

Republicans will deliver an economy that works. A working Minnesota is the key to successful health care, education, and housing. The first priority for Minnesota Republicans is getting jobs for Minnesotans. § We support the provision of affordable education and training at all levels that will equip our students for the 21^st century job market, including a significant emphasis on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, agriculture, health care, and teaching. § We support conditions that will provide for the establishment of new businesses and the expansion of existing businesses, including appropriate support for technological innovation, and tax reform for businesses so that they can innovate, grow, be productive, and create and retain jobs. Five areas of priority have been identified to reduce business tax burdens: repeal the state corporate income tax, exempt 20% of “pass through” business income from taxation, conform to federal tax write-off provisions for business-related assets, replace the capital equipment sales tax refund with an upfront exemption, and extend that exemption to businesses that provide services subject to sales tax. We also support the transparency of business taxation, and the promotion of investments in innovation, entrepreneurship, and emerging high-tech companies.[1] § Republicans believe that regulation should be protective and should generate confidence and not discourage risk. § Republicans believe that any government intervention should be transparent and temporary and should leverage private sector capital.

 

§ We support a contemporary infrastructure for highways, bridges, and information.

 

Republicans will deliver a government that works. With the federal deficit projected to be huge for many years, and the present state deficit, we need a government that sets priorities, lives within its means by spending the revenue it has not the revenue it would like to have, and  that gets the job done effectively and economically with innovation and without a punishing level of taxation.

 

Republicans will bring efficiency, economy, and innovation to state government. Republicans will be smart about budgeting and measuring performance through the use of contemporary management tools. § Republicans support a cap on the tax rate for individuals and families.

 

§ Republicans support efficiency-improving and cost-cutting initiatives like the consolidation of state functions, a cost-benefit analysis concerning trimming the size of the state House and Senate, and the innovative modernization of the state’s information technology capabilities to increase safety and decrease costs.

 

§ We support an affordable, competitive private-based health care system that would “lower costs, cover the uninsured, and put Americans in control of their health care”[2] so that we will avoid the inevitable increased costs, price control, health care rationing, long lines at the clinics, decreased quality, and significantly increased taxes that comes with so-called single-payer programs.

 

§ We support effective social services as compassion, a gateway to independence, and protection for the young and elderly.

 

§ We encourage the conservation of our farmland, natural areas, minerals, air, and water.

 

§ We support efforts to make education and training, including K-12 and post high school, effective and affordable. § We support efforts to ensure clean water and effective sewage and septic systems. § We support public health including protection against pandemics. § We support public safety including protection against crime, terrorist attacks, and the hostile infiltration of communication and power networks. § We support immigration reform.

 

Today, on the way to tomorrow. With our abundant natural resources, the skills of our people, the innovation and energy of our businesses, and a capable government, Minnesota can meet the challenges of the 21^st century. But we do not have enough to be stupid, to manage poorly, to mask mistakes, and to refuse to learn from the past. So we must be smart. We cannot spend our way out of debt. We cannot count on a forgiving nature or anticipate the wealth and wisdom of our children and grandchildren to make up for our mistakes. Our opponents are suggesting approaches that will not work and will break the bank if we try them. The Republican Party has programs that will work and that Minnesotans can afford. Join us as together we forge a new Minnesota that works!

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[1] Source: Minnesota’s Millennium, 2009 Report.

[2] Kimberly A Strassel, Wall Street Journal, 5/8/09, p. A11.

Postscript: A 21^ST century mindset

These are different times. We need to recognize that –with the depth of the present financial crisis; the willingness of the present government to significantly deepen the national debt ($9 trillion!) and its unwillingness to support  tax policies that will enable the growth of businesses and the retention and growth of jobs; and the increasing difficulty that individuals and families are facing to save, provide for emergencies, their health care, their retirement, and their children’s education – we need to recognize that the way out may likely be more complex and longer than it was for previous recoveries. We will need patience.

 

We will also need wisdom and leadership. We need a government that understands what kind of businesses could thrive in our District and State; we need pro business-growth, and pro job-retention and growth policies that will put paychecks in the pockets and purses of our people and enable them to keep a significant portion of their earnings. We need a government that can set priorities, that will do the public’s work effectively and efficiently, that knows how to budget, and how to measure and report on progress. In short, we need a government that can manage and lead.

 

We also need a 21^st century mindset that would be more frugal and Spartan and less materialistic. We need to examine whether it is reasonable that all should work 40 hours per week for 50 weeks till age 70. We need to review whether it is advisable that everyone spend all their income plus borrowed money from credit cards and perceived home equity plus money from our children and grandchildren. We need to prepare our society for a new age of innovation through education and tax policies. We should consider requiring the federal government to prepare balanced budgets, except in instances of national emergencies.

 

We need to renew our commitments that all are significant; that all should have the opportunity to use their talents; that all should be educated and receive health care, that none should be hungry; that our limited resources of land, minerals, air, and water are strategic resources and should be protected; that government is the servant of the people, not the other way around; that government should act efficiently and economically; that its budget should be balanced and carefully defined; and that its doings should be reported clearly and frequently to the public. We need to renew our commitment to freedom, liberty, intelligence, integrity, and responsibility; knowing that such virtues are the path to peace and prosperity.

 

This is the way out of our present difficulties. It will be challenging, but we can do it. It will take wisdom, leadership, and hard work. That is the way. And at the end, there is freedom, peace, and prosperity.

 

Vote Republican in 2010 – let’s get Minnesota working again!