Rick Crawford for Congress

U.S. Representative for Arkansas' 1st Congressional District

Healthcare Vote Highlighted Leadership Void

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As I watched last night’s healthcare debate, and the final vote that will enact a new massive entitlement program, I couldn’t help but think about how we got here.Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats alike have failed us in recent years. Ethical violations, special interest deal-making, and saying one thing while doing another has led to the lowest approval rating of Congress in the modern era.

The primary reason why Republicans were unable to prevent passage of this multi-trillion dollar entitlement program is because they had played the same games when they were in power. Simply put, when you are a two-faced hypocrite, people don’t care what you say.

Folks, we need leadership. We need people who will go to Washington swearing on their life that they will fight the budget and process gimmickry regardless which party seeks to employ it. Country first, party second…period.

Our nation is truly at a crossroad, and I am not sure many have an appreciation for the trouble in which our republic finds itself.  Yes we now have $12 trillion in debt that has been piled up by both political parties. Yes our deficit, the yearly shortfall that adds to our total debt, has been averaging more than $1.5 trillion.  But what our “leaders” rarely talk about is the $56.5 trillion we have in total unfunded promises.

Add it all up and it equates to $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. While anyone with common sense would know that we must stop digging the hole deeper, last night Congress used a nuclear bomb to blast the hole even deeper.  And guess who gets to pay for it?

As I pondered this question myself, I realized that what we are doing is quite disturbing. Each generation leaves an inheritance for the next – usually a house, some land, etc.  In our case, we are leaving a brand new, 20,000 square-foot multi-level mansion. In the basement, however, is a dirty bomb of unpaid bills that will obliterate our kids and grandkids not long after we have slipped into the by-and-by.  While some may draw comparisons to certain spine-less acts of war, it really boils down to the superlative form of Selfishness.

Our elected officials have abandoned the founding principles that made our country great. If we are to return to these principles, and avert devastation for our kids and grandkids, then we must not only vote the self-serving hypocrites out of office in November but replace them with men and women who will swear to restore fiscal discipline.

Moral Leadership in Washington

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From record deficits in our Federal budget to the onerous economic policy being enacted by both Houses of Congress in the form of bailouts to the Federal Reserve devaluing our currency – all this raises a significant question for me.  That question is, “Where is the moral compass used by legislators and federal employees when enacting policy and legislation that impacts lives of people both here in the United States and across the world?  Where is that compass?

When our forefathers were crafting our Constitution, and even before that with the Declaration of Independence, they based their entire process on seeking guidance from God because they wanted to ensure moral decision making.  They also wanted to ensure the process would benefit all Americans and would create a limited government that would provide checks and balances to ensure our Republic would not become what they had fled from in Britain.

What they wrote – the laws and founding precedents — were set forth in our Constitution.  And within our Constitution lies a moral compass that all three branches of our government are required to follow.  That moral compass continues to offer direction in the articles and amendments of our Constitution. However, it would seem that lately even those time-tested elements of our government have been tossed to the side for both political expediency and gain of those in office.

If our current group of elected officials do not hold to a high standard in everything they do legislatively, what kind of government will we have?  What legislators do in Washington requires moral decision making.  What they do, with the stroke of the legislative pen, impacts the lives of every single American. That significant impact should compel our leaders to make moral decisions in every case and especially in regard to the costs it will inflict on us, the people.

Our leaders in Washington have a moral obligation to be fiscally responsible in everything they do.  Our elected officials in Washington should faithfully adhere to our Constitution. We do not want tyranny from either the legislative branch, nor from our financial systems.  These issues plagued our founding fathers and moved them to found our great nation.  Our founding fathers had a vision of a country with limited government and the liberty of every American being preserved.  They had a vision that put the people ahead of the government.  They had a vision where a limited government would be the catalyst to prolonged prosperity and longevity.

It is no mistake that the creation of our Constitution has led to our high standing in the world, and that it has led us to become a shining city on a hill.

Our liberty, our freedom, and our future is being challenged in Washington by legislators who hold no regard for their moral obligation to our nation’s future.  And, more importantly, the future of our children and grandchildren is at stake if we stand by and do nothing.

I am a traditional American who believes that you can not spend money you do not have.  I am a traditional American who believes what is outlined in our Constitution should be both our moral and legislative compass for what is done in Washington.  As your next Representative of the First District, I pledge to every resident that I will reference our Constitution in all that I do with each proposed piece of legislation and will grade the legislation according to the articles and amendments in our Constitution.

Its time to make a change in Washington! Together we can put our country back on track where every American can enjoy what this country is capable of providing – freedom to have prosperous employment, limited government, and the promise of a better future.