Wednesday, January 27, 2010

An excellent Republican response to the State of the Union

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered an excellent response!

1 in 10 American workers is unemployed. That is unacceptable. 

Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector's ability to create new jobs. 

We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world. 

What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class. 

It was Thomas Jefferson who called for "A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ….and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…" He was right. 

Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much. 

Last year, we were told that massive new federal spending would create more jobs 'immediately' and hold unemployment below 8%. 

In the past year, over three million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren. 

The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household. 

This is simply unsustainable. The President's partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one. 

The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level. 

Without reform, the excessive growth of government threatens our very liberty and prosperity. 

All Americans agree, we need a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality. 

But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government. 

Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform healthcare, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes. 

We will do that by implementing common sense reforms, like letting families and businesses buy health insurance policies across state lines, and ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare. 

And our solutions aren't thousand-page bills that no one has fully read, after being crafted behind closed doors with special interests. 

In fact, many of our proposals are available online at solutions.gop.gov, and we welcome your ideas on Facebook and Twitter. 

All Americans agree, this nation must become more energy independent and secure. 

We are blessed here in America with vast natural resources, and we must use them all. 

Advances in technology can unleash more natural gas, nuclear, wind, coal, and alternative energy to lower your utility bills. 

Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas offshore. 

But this Administration's policies are delaying offshore production, hindering nuclear energy expansion, and seeking to impose job-killing cap and trade energy taxes. 

Now is the time to adopt innovative energy policies that create jobs and lower energy prices. 

Americans were shocked on Christmas Day to learn of the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen, and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence. 

As Senator-elect Scott Brown says, we should be spending taxpayer dollars to defeat terrorists, not to protect them. 

Here at home government must help foster a society in which all our people can use their God-given talents in liberty to pursue the American Dream. Republicans know that government cannot guarantee individual outcomes, but we strongly believe that it must guarantee equality of opportunity for all. 

That opportunity exists best in a democracy which promotes free enterprise, economic growth, strong families, and individual achievement. 

Many Americans are concerned about this Administration's efforts to exert greater control over car companies, banks, energy and health care. 

Over-regulating employers won't create more employment; overtaxing investors won't foster more investment. 

Top-down one-size fits all decision making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism. As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best. 

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