Tim's 2010 LPWI Convention Speech

My name is Tim Nerenz, and I want to be your Congressman.

Not your mommy, not your daddy, not your doctor, banker, car salesman, landlord, insurance agent, teacher, pastor, union steward, or weather forecaster.   

I don’t care whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, or only vote on American Idol, I want to represent you in Congress. 

Represent, not rule.  Whether you are senior citizen or a senior at the University of Wisconsin, you do not need my permission to live your life.  Why should that change just because you elect me to Congress? 

Most of us want a few basic things from government – keep us safe, protect our rights, and then leave us alone. 

Leave us alone to go to work, raise our families, grow our businesses, build our communities, educate ourselves, practice our faith, pursue our interests, and take care of each other as we see fit. 

We are tired of other people telling us what to do, what to say, and what to think. We don’t need government’s approval to be who we are.

We are weary of endless wars and interventions into the internal affairs of other sovereign nations.  We believe in strong national Defense, not perpetual deployments abroad.  

We have had it with moralist hypocrites – in both parties - using the power of the state to shove their beliefs down our throats.

Your Creator gave you a brain of your own and a heart of your own; mine can’t possibly know better than yours what is best for you.  Neither can Tammy’s, Chad’s, or Peter’s.    

I don’t believe in the public good; I believe in the individual better.  I believe that each person is a unique and exceptional being, not a helpless member of a herd. 

I believe that you alone are entitled to make your own choices in this world, and that you alone are responsible for the choices you make. 

Liberty is the absence of government in choice.  Government is the absence of liberty in choice.  Tyranny is the absence of choice in government. 

I choose Liberty.  That is why I am a Libertarian.  We are not the party of “yes, you must” or the “party of no”; we are the party of “hell, no!.”  

Less government and more choices:  that’s my answer, what is your question? 

What is important to you – the economy, education, environment, health care, energy, employment, drugs, guns, taxes, trade, currency, markets, foreign relations, transportation, lifestyle, pensions, unions, social issues?   Getting the government out of the way is the first step in fixing each of our nation’s problems. 

Limited Government - this was once the unifying principle of this nation.  It is what we stood for in the world. 

Limited Government was the reason our ancestors risked everything to come here.  We have not just taken it for granted, we have taken it apart.   

In my own lifetime, government spending at all levels has tripled from less than 20% of GDP to over 60% of GDP if you include the cost of mandates on the private sector. 

Conversely, our economic freedom has been cut in half.  We have gone from 80% free to 40% in just over 50 years.

And we are unwilling to pay for all the government we have.  Taxes pay for only 58% of what government spends; we steal the rest from our children, our grandchildren and their children. 

This is not simply bad economics, it is not a question of right or left; it is a question of right and wrong.    

It is wrong to force Americans not even born yet to pay for benefits that we are unwilling to purchase with our own money.

It is wrong to force Americans not even born yet to bear the costs of wars we are unwilling to fund ourselves.

It is wrong to deny Americans not born yet the freedoms that were entrusted to us by our parents.

We are not the owners of Liberty; we are its tenants.  The only freedoms that will be passed to our children and our grandchildren will be those that we are willing to fight for now.  Each freedom we allow to be taken is gone forever.

Economic liberty and personal liberty are two sides of the same coin.  It is foolish to think we could give away heads and somehow keep tails.

Both parties act like rights are favors granted by the state to groups who supported their campaigns.  They believe that wealth belongs to society, not to the individuals who created it.  They claim both heads and tails of the liberty coin belong to them.

Ayn Rand called it the great inversion: when the state can do as it pleases, while we must ask its permission.

The socialists in both parties who run our government believe that individuals exist to benefit the state. 

Libertarians believe the opposite – we believe the state exists only to benefit its individual members. 

We know that all rights are vested in individuals, an endowment from our Creator. We understand that wealth is like art, or music, or an athletic achievement - it is the rightful property of the individual who created it or acquired it in voluntary exchange. 

We believe that the government must be constrained by the people, not the other way around.  George Washington called our Constitution the “immunization of citizenship”.  We have disregarded it, and now wonder why we are sick.

Government is not our master; it is our servant, our Cabana Boy.  The Cabana Boy doesn’t tell us what to do – he cleans up and he shuts up. 

So shut up and go fix a bridge, Cabana Boy – and keep your hands off our money, our guns, and our stash.    

Congress is supposed to represent us, not lord over us. We need to elect Representatives who understand that.  Tammy Baldwin doesn’t, but I do.

Next November, vote for Tim.  Tim, Not Tammy.   

Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District.  Check out Tim's campaign website at www.timnerenz.com