Editor's Letter: Dear friends

last updated 8 January 2015

Dear friends: I appreciate your faith in me over my brief 17 terms in Congress. Your support has buttressed my fight against the Washington insiders and helped me to champion the common-sense, hometown values we share. And while some in Washington use weasel words to shirk responsibility, I’ve always made a habit of honest talk—which is how I’ll address your question about federal spending.

If by “spending” you mean the ravenous bureaucracy that taxes hard-pressed workers to the breaking point, gorging on the fruit of others’ labor; if you mean the deficit-inducing profligacy that ransoms our children’s future and transforms the land of the free into a debtor’s prison; if you mean squandering your hard-earned money on aid to foreign tyrants; if by “spending” you mean a government that robs Peter to pay Paul—then I am dead against it. If, however, when you say “spending,” you speak of the Social Security check that soothes an aged widow’s brow; if you mean putting neighbors to work on vital community projects (like the new post office that humbly bears my name); if by spending you mean keeping our armed forces strong and our homeland defended; if you mean nutrition for poor children, comfort for the sick, and a helping hand to the innocent victims of misfortune, well, then, rest assured, I’m full in favor of it. I won’t apologize for my principles. I will not equivocate. That is my final position. (With apologies to the late Judge Noah Sweat, the original waffle master.)