Your Christmas Gift From Congress
Did you see that the lame-duck Congress is debating the passage of a new 2,000-page spending bill, with a price tag of $575 million per page! So our Christmas gift from our leaders is more spending, more debt on us and our children. Thankfully, Americans are fed up with this attitude, but much more work remains to be done. The message still hasn’t quite gotten through. And it’s not much better at the state level. The special session last weekend was only a down payment on the hard budget decisions the Legislature and governor will have to agree on during next year’s regular session. The governor is asking for ideas on how to balance the budget, and we gave her some. But the real question is not whether there are viable solutions; there are. It’s whether our elected officials will act like leaders, treat voters like adults and make the hard choices necessary to put this state back on a path that values individual rights and small businesses, and that doesn’t look to government as the solution for every problem.
At the Freedom Foundation, we seek to provide that leadership, to advance ideas founded on the principles of freedom, and then to empower thousands of citizens to champion those ideas in their communities.
As part of that strategy we hosted acclaimed pollster Scott Rasmussen at a dinner last week and awarded citizen activist and blogger Keli Carender (also known as Liberty Belle) our Defender of Freedom Award. It was refreshing to be in a room with almost 200 freedom-loving friends as we listened to Scott talk about the elections, and his view on how we can restore self-governance in this country.
We continue to focus on educating the next generation about principles of freedom with tools like our recently completed Talk Back on Economics DVD. And we are rolling out a series of video stories as part of our iLearn Project to demonstrate the desperate need for creating a menu of excellent educational options for parents, rather than the current one-size-fits-all approach.
This Thursday, Trent England completed another whirlwind tour of the state, teaching classes about the checks and balances provided in our founding documents. This was the third and final installment in our 2010 “The Rule of Law and Liberty” series, which reached nearly 1,200 citizens.
We are preparing now for the crucial 2011 legislative session, which begins in less than one month. Our investigative reporter will be on the ground in Olympia, providing inside information to you and the public on a timely basis. And we’ll be featuring our policy experts in a weekly video conversation aimed at equipping you with the information you need to be an effective citizen advocate. With so many newspapers downsizing their staff, it is getting harder and harder to find accurate and timely information about what is happening during session.
As we enter our 20th year, the Freedom Foundation continues to be an effective watchdog, advocate for citizens and a thought leader in the battle of ideas. In 2010 we educated, equipped and activated tens of thousands of citizens to advance freedom in our state, and we plan to redouble our efforts in 2011.
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