A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. I am a firm believer of the free market system.
Government should not create jobs. Instead, it should create an environment in which jobs are created by the private sector. I will work to reduce and remove restrictive regulations that are cumbersome to businesses and prevent them from prospering and growing. With the layoffs due to the recession and few job openings, many people are now becoming first time entrepreneurs. Tennessee laws need to ease restrictions on companies to enhance new business development and encourage entrepreneurs. Easing restrictions will also keep Tennessee business friendly and encourage companies to relocate here bringing in new jobs.
Education should include free market alternatives, such as charter schools or vouchers, as this will provide greater quality and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Schools should be managed locally to achieve greater accountability and include a high level of parental involvement. I believe in returning authority to parents to determine the course of education of their children.
Legislative mandates from both State and Federal sources prevent parents, teachers and local school boards from operating schools in the manner they believe will achieve the best and highest return. I will work towards giving parents more control over their children’s education by supporting voucher and other initiatives. Additionally, I support efforts allowing parents to home school their children without interference by the government and will work to level the playing field by insuring that home, private and government schooled children have the same requirements to meet, such as those used for high school graduation or on college entrance exams.
Restoring and reviving a free market health care system, and not a government induced and directed system, is urgently needed. Tennesseans should have the freedom to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care. I will oppose efforts by the federal government to impose health care mandates and costs upon Tennesseans.
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