Senator Tom Brewer
43rd District
8-23-2019

Who do you put your faith in: government or people?

My colleagues on the liberal side of politics see a lot of evil in people in the world. They want to use the power of government to combat this evil. They see large businesses, for example, as anti-social profit-seekers who will victimize us all if the government does not clamp down on regulations and take their wealth for the “better” purposes that these politicians define. But the plain truth is that markets and entrepreneurs have done more to improve the condition of the common person more than any other institution in human history. The profit motive has lifted more people out of poverty than any government program ever could.

Many of my colleagues see their role as all-knowing masterminds of the ruling class, uniquely qualified to know “what’s good for us.” Opposing their schemes will get you labeled as someone who wants poor people dying in the streets. This sort of politician thinks greedy, uncaring capitalists need to feel the boot-heel of government across the back of their neck, and they want to be the ones wearing the boot. No one should be forced to navigate the harsh realities of daily life without the helping hand of Big Brother. The idea of helping people help themselves has been lost in our culture.

Forced altruism is not compassion. Government confiscating someone else’s money is not generosity. Believing the government can spend money better than the person who worked for and earned it in the first place is not being big-hearted or charitable. This attitude that anyone who refuses to sacrifice, to serve others at his own cost, is somehow harming those others, is simply wrong.

Americans declared a long time ago that we have an inalienable right to exist for our own sake. We decided that we are not subjects who must sacrifice our lives to the needs of the State. We decided that being free is not selfish. America’s founders called this idea LIBERTY. They believed that liberty would serve the people and their needs better than a society commanded and controlled by the government. We have strayed from this idea, and the sad results speak for themselves.

We need to beware of those who want to use government force to “give” people things. This mentality of dependency is weakening the country and our state. Government power should only be used to protect individual liberty and remove obstacles to the ordinary person’s pursuit of his life. We need to do more to instill a self-reliant mentality in our society. When I explain to my urban colleagues what life on a ranch is like, they are shocked to learn that there are hundreds of thousands of people in Nebraska who do not expect the government to do a single thing for them. All they want the government to do is get out of the way, and leave them alone while they take the initiative and solve their own problems. That used to be what we proudly called the “American way,” and it is what I still believe to be a Nebraska value.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.