Sending this to local papers. Comments Appreciated

In the midst of another election year, we are faced with the recurring question of which candidates best represent our principles and beliefs about the role and function of government in our future lives. Which candidates from federal to local and from well known to unknown deserve our vote for the office they are seeking? Are you willing to take the time to study the issues and make informed decisions? Will you be discussing the issues and candidates with your family and friends?

Some have decided that voting or being involved in election processes is a hopeless endeavor. After all, the national candidates may already be chosen by the time we vote at the April Primary. Hopelessness also proceeds from the measurable levels of discontent with our current politicians in office and with the candidates running to replace them. There are a host of reasons why ignoring this entire process may seem like a good idea, which is precisely why I have chosen to become politically active.

Our nation’s leaders have so forsaken our founding principles and documents that they now risk what has been wished upon them - oblivion. Where have the ideas of limited government, personal responsibility, fiscal discipline and individual freedom gone? Have they vanished completely? Not quite yet! I still believe in them and I know that many of you do too. I know that because I heard it from you as I went door to door these past weeks gathering signatures to run for office. I know because many of you asked me if I still believed in those ideas. You have not forgotten that politics are no substitute for principles and accommodation is no friend of liberty.

I am running for two Republican Party offices where I can specifically have an impact to bring those foundational principles back to the forefront. As a Delegate to the Republican National Convention, I have the opportunity to influence the party platform in this conservative direction. As a member of Republican State Committee, I have the opportunity to recruit and assist candidates in future elections.

If the ideas of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are to be preserved in our country and for our children, we must find, recruit and elect candidates who understand and are committed to them. We must have a party platform that recognizes the power already belonging to the people and not to an elite few who reserve power for themselves to be doled out at the whim of social and political interest. We need Republicans, both candidates and supporters, who know in principle and by experience that big government does very little as efficiently and as economically as free citizens exercising free choices in a free society.

Each of us has an opportunity to make an impact for the cause of Liberty in this election. Voting intelligently is the least we can do. Even if the national election is presumably decided, there are still candidates on the ballot for state and federal offices that will lead us either towards conservatism or away from it. On April 22nd, I need your vote to begin representing your voices within the Republican Party. May we look back on this year together knowing we did what we could to preserve our heritage and our freedoms.

William Allred, Jr.
Winfield, PA