Basic economics dictates that in order to sustain employment, businesses need to make a profit. If a business is not making enough money to run, they have to either close up shop or cut costs and/or payroll. Most businesses are in a continual process of looking for efficiency and streamlining their methods so cost cutting further in a down turn is not as feasible as cutting payroll. Cutting jobs has to happen in order for a lot of businesses to survive and keep the few jobs that remain.

Now, government jobs on the other hand, which are funded by taxpayers with jobs, are a different story entirely. The unfortunate part is that it is easy for the public funded jobs to look at an economic downturn where there is less revenue because there are less people paying taxes, and just say, well, lets raise taxes. We need to keep the money coming in to fund the government right?

I think, WRONG. I don’t believe it works like that. The reason is, is if you raise taxes, especially on “the rich”, you are also increasing the cost on those small business owners that account for most of the jobs in the economy. When you take more profit away from these people who are already strapped, they have to cut jobs from their payroll. In Oregon for instance, economists predict that if the two tax increases due to be voted on in January pass, the effect will be the loss of 70,000 additional jobs. Oregon can not afford this. And as a country, we can’t afford this mentality on a national level either.

For me, this really hits home in a personal way. Last week I was let go from my job and now I am experiencing the process of filing for unemployment and the uncertainty that goes along with the loss of a steady income. I knew at some point, in order to continue on with my campaign, that I would have to take a leave of absence or even quit so I had saved up for that ahead of time but that doesn’t take the initial sting away. Unlike the federal government, now I, as a homeowner, have to figure out how best to use the resources that I have and slash whatever excess that I can find in my spending to make ends meet in order to hopefully keep my home and family moving forward.

I know in my heart that raising taxes or spending on funding for things like ACORN will not help get the unemployed back to work. What I believe we need to do is to take steps to help businesses achieve. Help them make money, because as good investors, they will grow their businesses and hire more people to handle the growth. It’s what business does.

So, how do we help businesses? First, we go to them to find out what regulations and inefficiencies are in our system that discourage or hamper their efforts. Figure out why they want to leave our state or our country and send jobs elsewhere. Work with them on finding solutions. Second, instead of attacking them with a tax increase, help them with a tax cut. There is no better way to directly help business than to decrease their tax burden.

There is an economic ebb and flow to the economy, and the people in government need to have the foresight to create “rainy day” funds that allow for times of economic uncertainty. Discipline during the economic good times is the key here, not raising taxes. Also, if the government is not taking in the money it needs to keep funded, and there is no “rainy day” fund to stabilize things, they need to make the tough choices and cut funds to things that are not absolutely necessary. Just like I have to do with my household budget right now. It isn’t easy telling your daughter that we can no longer afford to send her to all the activities that she wants to, but it is better to be sad about that, than to lose the roof over our heads.

So, I ask you. Do we want to keep these guys in office, or elect new ones that are just going to keep spending and taxing, Republican and Democrat? Or do we do something about this? I hope you choose the latter and send me, a fiscal conservative, to Washington D.C. to represent your beliefs.

If you agree, now more than ever, I need your help to continue the resistance. Right now, we have a outreach project that will cost $6,000 to execute. If I can get $60 from just 100 people, we can make a big impact. All donations, large and small are welcomed, but we can’t do this alone. Resistance is a team effort.

Donations can be made on the home page of my website, or, you can just mail it to the address on the homepage as well. Thank you!