I am not a native Californian. I grew up in Tennessee. I didn’t know anyone from California and hadn’t met anyone from California but I understood the power and allure of this state. We took the California Aptitude Test in school, the Beach Boys were huge, we knew about Walt Disney’s park in LA and that all the trends sweeping the nation started here. All that and so much more was California. This state was the preeminent state in the nation.

Our state still leads the way but I don’t like the way we are leading. Our budgets aren’t balanced, our water is disappearing, people are here illegally using our services and it seems the people in charge aren’t doing what they need to do in order to correct the problems. Long term planning for the Sacramento liberals is next week and they don’t understand a thing about what it means to own and operate a business in California.

As a business owner with over 100 employees I can testify to the fact that the business environment has changed. I have become a functionary of the state government and I’m about at the point where I can’t afford it anymore…..and they want to raise my taxes even more and add more regulations. Increasing taxes is abhorrent to me, especially in this type of fiscal situation. Winston Churchill said trying to tax oneself into prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself with the handles.

We have to change the way we do business in California. We are the 7^th largest economy in the world and as such this election, on a state and federal level, is vitally important to our future. We need to get our financial house in order while we still can and stop government from intruding into every facet of our lives.

The people in charge have forgotten that the government is made for the people not the people for the government. They have lost sight of the fact that the primary function of government is protection of its citizens and everything else is secondary. Our budgetary process needs to reflect that priority.

We do not have a revenue problem in this state, we have a spending problem and government can not be all things to all people, nor should it try. We have allowed people, over the last 20 or 30 years, to put their responsibilities onto the government for everything from raising children to providing for the needy. Many people do not feel personally responsible for themselves or their families. That has to change.