Scott Cumbie

It has been said that all politics are local. It might even be said that all politics begin at home. Every decision made by someone in government has a direct or indirect effect on each of our families. For this reason, I have listed “Family” as the first priority of my campaign.

Not only do governmental decisions affect our families, they affect our freedoms. The more government does for us (no matter how honorably intended), the more government does TO us. A government that grows without limits is a government that must take more and more from its people. The more a government takes, the less its people have. The less people have, the fewer choices they have. The end result is less freedom for us and for our families.

In order for our families and nation to prosper, the government must take from its people only what is necessary, and the government must do only those things that “We, the People,” have empowered government to do.

To form a more perfect Union

On many of our coins is the Latin phrase, “E Pluribus Unum,” which means, “out of many, one.” The USA is often referred to as the “great melting pot.” The fact that diverse people from many different backgrounds and cultures can come together into one group of people — Americans — is a testimony to what has made us a strong and prosperous country. We have come from “many” backgrounds and cultures, but we are “one” people.

Sadly, many politicians seek political gain by working to divide us, then pitting one group against another. We become grouped by skin color, income, age, sex, career, and more recently, the 99% and the 1%. Politicians work to convince us that those in other “groups” are out to use us, or to take from us.

The truth is, there are scoundrels in every group; yet, in every “group,” people want what you and I want — what is best for our families. No matter what “group” you may be placed in, the hopes, dreams and desires we have for our families crosses all politically enforced boundaries.

Jesus was once asked by a lawyer, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” He listed two commandments; the second was “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” No matter what your religious affiliation is, this is a worthy goal. When those we elect to office seek to divide us instead of unite us, it is time they be given their retirement papers.

Establish Justice

Our nation was founded as a republic, which simply means that we are a nation of laws. Every individual is subject to those same laws. There is no one that rises above the law.

Unfortunately, we find many who escape the law through money or influence. We even see Congress creating laws that apply to us, but do not apply to them. We also find judges changing the clear meaning of laws to suit their personal ideologies.

If we are to retain our freedom, we must not allow our government to create laws that apply differently to one group than another. We must not allow judges to remain in office as judges if they cannot follow the law as it is written.

Our justice system can only work when:

• our representatives create laws that are equally binding on all of us
• our law enforcement enforces those laws equally for each of us
• our judges properly interpret the laws that our representatives created

Insure Domestic Tranquility

The Declaration of Independence states that “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 – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.” It is clearly stated in the birth certificate of our nation that we are given certain rights by God that cannot be taken away by anyone. It is the purpose of the government to insure that no one, including the government, attempts to take these rights.

When the government has secured our right to live, and secured our right to freedom, and secured our right to pursue those things that we desire to do with our lives, then government is protecting us from those that would seek to interfere with these rights. When government’s primary purpose is to secure our rights, then the government is insuring that our cities, neighborhoods, and homes will be places of tranquility.

We are seeing more frequently where government has lost sight of its purpose and is, itself, interfering with the rights God has given to each of us — rights which even government cannot take from us. Since government derives its power from the consent of the governed, We, the People, have the right to remove our consent and remove our elected officials from office.

Provide for the Common Defense

In order to secure our rights at home, our rights must be secured from foreign aggressors. A strong military is vital to our security. There is no question that when we are attacked as we were in World War II, we should respond fiercely and aggressively, without hesitation.

In cases where we are threatened, but not attacked, we should proceed cautiously. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution clearly states that Congress is the only branch of government that has been given the power to declare war. Giving Congress this power insures that any declaration of war will be considered by the representatives of the people which will allow for caution to be exercised.

Promote the General Welfare

Over the past 70 years, many of the policies of the US government have created a drain on our communities. Overspending, excessive regulation, and a 70,000 page income tax code have created a drag on the entire economy. All of us are affected by these policies, but low income communities are the ones who are hardest hit.

When the US government borrows money, that money is removed from the economy. We currently have an almost $16 trillion national debt. This means there is almost $16 trillion that has been drained from our communities. If there was no national debt, this $16 trillion would be in our communities creating jobs and growing businesses. A pastor in a low income community recently said that when any money comes into his community, the money quickly leaves. The money does not “revolve” around the community. This occurs because the US debt is like a vacuum, sucking money out of the economy and preventing it from revolving.

The national debt is probably THE most obvious example of where our government’s policies are not promoting the general welfare of all Americans. These policies are promoting a shared suffering and they must change.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity

Our Constitution states that it was created so the blessings of freedom would be insured for us, and for our children, and for our children’s children. The policies and laws that our government creates are often created with the best of intentions, but when we allow our government to overstep its constitutional limits and interfere with our rights and freedom, we are insuring our descendants will one day find themselves where the early American colonies found themselves: under the rule of a tyrannical government that exists only for its own sake and the sake of those in power.

Responsibility in Government

In the past few years, we have all heard about many of the bills that have come before Congress that were thousands of pages in length. It is not possible that any bill of this size can efficiently accomplish what it was intended to accomplish. Because of their large size, politicians are forced to have their staff read the bills and explain to them what is in the bills. Words cannot begin to describe how utterly irresponsible it is for anyone in Congress to vote for any bill of this size. For any act of Congress to be effective and to be clear in its purpose, each and every bill should be no more than a few dozen pages and should be written in simple, readable language understandable by any American.

Many in Congress believe that the average American is not intelligent enough to understand what they are doing for us, or, more correctly, to us. However, it is clear that many in Congress are willing to quickly push through legislation so that We, the People, do not even have the time to find out what they are doing.

Every elected official should be reminded that our government derives its powers only from the consent of the people.

A Final, but very Important Note

The Declaration of Independence states, “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.” In this one simple sentence, our Founders declared two things: 1) that all men are created equal, and 2) that our Creator has given us certain rights that no one can take from us. In his eloquent style, Thomas Jefferson stated that these two truths are self-evident; anyone can clearly see and understand these truths. It does not take a scholar to explain these to us.

Jefferson then states what three of these rights are: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life is listed first, because without life, none of our other rights matter. Some would argue that our Founders were not referring to the unborn. I would disagree. There have been laws protecting the unborn since at least the time that Moses penned the Mosaic Law. Abortion was even a topic of discussion in colonial times. Without question, our Founders would have fiercely argued that the Creator is the one that gives life. No one has the right to deny that right to anyone, young, old or unborn.

The next sentence states, “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, …” In other words, the reason that governments exist is to insure that our rights are not taken away from us. It is vitally important that those serving in government understand that government was created to protect our rights, and among these rights is life!