'Government is the problem,' not the answer

Congress must set priorities to limit government in size and scope so it can focus on core functions and save taxpayers’ money, former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta told a crowd of about 30 at the Conway Café in Conway on Wednesday.

"I think, as a mayor, government should be limited in its functionality and it should be limited in the services it provides,” Guinta said. “I have never seen government compete as well as the private sector. It just doesn't happen.

“And honestly, I think we need that out of Congress, and I think we need that out of this administration,” he added.



But President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter seem to think that government is the answer to all our problems. In the past year, the president and Congress have taken over banks and the auto industry. They’ve promised lower unemployment and government-run health care using the heavy hand of the state.

In all its hopes for overreaching, this Congress has passed a $1 trillion stimulus bill and has worked to pass a $1 trillion health care burden that will be left for our grandchildren to pay. What do we have to show for these efforts other than 10 percent unemployment nationwide, with 7 percent unemployment in New Hampshire—about double its usual 3.5 percent?

Now Congress wants to spend more money on sweetheart deals to bribe some states into supporting its health care takeover plan—all while sending the rest of us the bill?

We’re already facing a $12 trillion debt, which is unfathomable to most people, but Congress wants to raise the debt ceiling another $2 trillion. When will it end?

"The thing is with the debt and deficit that I think people appreciate is that we feel we're leaving the next generation worse off than the last generation gave us as a nation,” Guinta said. “And that's something I think we feel very strongly about."

To fix this, we simply have to elect enough people with honor who know that their role in Washington is to represent the people back home. Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts was just the beginning of this nationwide effort.

"New Hampshire has always been known for sending people down to Washington who are independent minded, who aren't just party people, and who will do what's best for New Hampshire,” Guinta said.