Spec Bowers files for District 2

Why I Am Running

Our country, our state, all of us can be SO much better than we are now. We should all have our choice of doctor and hospital – not just the ones that ObamaCare allows. Median family income should be rising – not falling for five straight years. More people should have good jobs – not fewer people than seven long years ago.

Armies of politicians and bureaucrats can’t fix what they themselves broke – but you and I can, we the American people can.

Our country has not failed. It is our government that has failed. Washington does not know what is best for NH. Concord does not know what is best for each family.

Do I have all the answers? Of course not, nobody does. But that’s the point. No group of people in Concord or Washington has all the answers. Our strength is not in our government; it is in our people.

It was not government that made the United States the greatest country on earth. It was the freedom for ordinary people to do extraordinary things that made us great. People such as the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs created entire industries that employed tens of millions of people.

We CAN fix our problems. The first step is simply to recognize that there is a problem. NH Democratic leadership seems oblivious to any problems with ObamaCare, jobs, and the economy. NH Republicans know that there are problems and that we can start to solve those problems.

Last week, I signed up to run for State Rep. I am running because I want to be part of the solution. I am running because I want to help get us on the right course. I am running because I care about the middle class being able to live the American Dream, and I care about poor people escaping poverty, not being trapped there by bad policies.

If elected, my focus will be in two areas: 1) Letting you choose the health insurance that you want, not having politicians take your choice away; 2) Creating an economic environment that encourages businesses to grow and hire more people.

I think that you know what is best for you; the other side thinks that politicians know what is best for you. I think that you should have the right to buy the health insurance you want; the other side will let you buy only what they want.

I agree with the late Sen. Tsongas that “You cannot redistribute wealth that you never created. You cannot be pro-jobs and anti-business at the same time. You cannot love employment and hate employers.” The other side seems to have disowned their former Presidential contender, and appears to be anti-business and to hate employers.

We CAN have a growing economy with more good jobs. We have a clear path in the form of our neighbor to the North. In recent years Canada has passed the U.S. in terms of median family income. They did it by adopting conservative, free-market principles.

Economic freedom leads not only to greater prosperity, but also to better health and longer lives, cleaner environments, and reduction in poverty. Canada has increased its freedom score by more than 10 points over the last 20 years.

In recent years the phrase, “new normal”, has come into use to describe our economy. For example, “Low economic growth is the new normal”, “The new normal may be a state of mild depression”, “More jobless Americans: The new normal?” Polls consistently show by wide margins that people think our best days are behind us, that the next generation will be worse off.

To this gloom and doom, I say Hogwash! The American people cannot be kept down. I wish I had the ability to express how optimistic I am about the coming years for our state and our country, but let me repeat the words of a far better man. (If you wonder who it was, that is a homework assignment.)

“We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.”

“The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God’s help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

“And, after all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.”

The Honorable Spec Bowers – Sunapee