More and More Government

As a fourth generation Montanan and 22-year District Court Judge, I believe Montana deserves better. We deserve better from our public servants. We deserve government policies that do not stifle economic growth and stagnate wages. We deserve the ability to capture the American Dream by making our own decisions and succeeding or failing based on our own talents and hard work. As a lifelong Montanan, I understand that a hand up from a neighbor is much more effective than a handout from a government bureaucrat. As a father, I believe it is immoral to force future generations to pay for our 20-trillion dollar debt. As a long time District Court Judge, I have seen the suffering and the desperation that a lack of high paying jobs places on individuals and families.

Montanans understand that the American Dream cannot be achieved without limited government, private property rights, voluntary markets, and the rule of law. This recipe for freedom and prosperity, while simple, seems to have been lost in Washington DC. For far too long, politicians have disguised more taxes and ever-increasing regulations as a by-product of growth, while in all reality, taxes and regulations only leave us all worse off.

If we continue down the path of more and more government, our children and our grandchildren will find that the American dream is unattainable. They will see an America where talent and hard work are no longer the sole catalysts to prosperity. Thankfully, there is still time to divert from this path. If we choose to live within the constraints that our founders created in the Constitution and we support policies of less government and more freedom, we can protect the American Dream for generations to come.

U.S. Senate candidate Russell Fagg has been a State District Court Judge, served two terms in the Montana legislature, and is past president of the Montana Judges Association.