Reagan's policies are still necessary today

GUEST COMMENTARY

By U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry 
Published: February 06, 2011

WASHINGTON -On the day that President Ronald Reagan would have turned 100 years old, our nation is struggling to pull itself out of the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression. Not only are his policies more necessary today than ever before, but his fighting spirit and faith in American exceptionalism are the foundation on which our recovery is based.

Ronald Reagan once said, “[w]e in government should learn to look at our country through the eyes of the entrepreneur, seeing possibilities where others see only problems.”

Over the past two years, the American business owner has seen darker economic days than this country has seen in generations. Yet, our businesses still push forward, innovating and adapting to the increasingly global marketplace. Our government must do the same thing.

One of Ronald Reagan’s core beliefs was that the government should work for the people, not the other way around. Our federal bureaucracy is growing seemingly by the day as it struggles to enact the thousands of new regulations imposed by the policies of President Obama.

As this unprecedented growth is implemented, efficiency is tossed to the wayside and effectiveness is dulled.

America was founded on the principle that government stands in the way of liberty. Over the past two years, our government’s policies have run counter to that principle. Our answers to the problems facing our country should not be found by asking how the government can solve the problem for an individual. We in government should be asking how do we better enable the individual to solve that problem.

Our government must have faith in the individual, because the strength and virtue of the individual is what makes our country great.

In 1988, Ronald Reagan stated, “that in the end it was free enterprise, not government regulation, not high taxes or big government spending, but free enterprise, that has led to the building of a great America.”

We need to get government back in the business of working for the people.

The best way to help small businesses, America’s job creators, is to take a lesson from the Gipper. We, as a government, need to look in our own back yard first to see what onerous regulations and wasteful programs are getting in the way of free enterprise. That means a renewed commitment to tough government oversight and transparency.

We need to remember who we work for. Our boss, the American people, have a right to know exactly where their money is going and how it is working for, or against them.

The principles of Reagan that first inspired me to become involved in politics still guide me to this day. With a new majority in the House of Representatives, I see a great deal of potential in the work we can do on behalf of the American people.

Our work starts now by enacting policies based on the principles of Ronald Reagan — reducing the size of government, increasing its efficiency, and making it accountable to those it serves: You.

Patrick McHenry, a Republican, represents North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District.