Nielsen describes the principles to which he subscribes

Dear editor:

I, Pete Nielsen, candidate for District 23B, do subscribe to the following political views, which are limited because of space allowed for printing.

First thank you to the paper for allowing me the space.

I will go directly to the Declaration of Independence.

I firmly believe we have assumed the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle us and that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Basically I want you to be able to do anything you want to do as long as you don't infringe on the rights of someone else with the Golden Rule to be your guide.

This summons us all to duty to be good citizens and show respect and love for one another.

I believe in the free-enterprise economic system. As Adam Smith put forward in his writings, "Wealth of Nations," prosperity depends on a climate of wholesome stimulation protected by law.

Reduced to its simplest formula, there are four laws of economic freedom which a nation must maintain if its people are to prosper at the maximum level. These are: 1. The Freedom to try. 2. The Freedom to buy. 3. The Freedom to sell. 4. The Freedom to fail. The following was taken from the book "The Five Thousand Year Leap," by Cleon Skousen."

With this formula the United States by 1905 had become the richest industrial nation in the world. With only 5 percent of the earth's continental land area and merely 6 percent of the world's population, the American people were producing over half of almost everything -- clothes, food, houses, transportation, communications, even luxuries. It was a great tribute to Adam Smith and the free-enterprise economic system.

Socialism has never worked well. It always works against private property rights, which are essentially for Freedom. A quote here would illustrate: "I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you've earned, but not greed to want to take somebody else's money." -- Thomas Sowell.

I am a Constitutionlist.

The federal government has far exceeded its authority as stated in the Constitution through the first ten amendments. We have allowed it to be changed through the last century, most of which has brought us an out-of-control federal government. We must start to rein in the federal government and bring back STATE sovereignty while it may still be possible.

We must look for every possible avenue to do this if we are to resolve our problems with federal lands, endangered species and the enviroment.

We need to resist every encroachment on state rights. This is going to require the best thinking and actions of both our state legislators and senators, state executive officials and our U.S. Congressmen and senators. And most important of all is for you, the people, to keep us working for your God-given rights and that goes right back to the Golden Rule that we all want to live by.

We need your input and ideas and careful watching eye.

Let me finish with one last quote by Thomas Sowell: "It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."

-- Pete Nielsen, incumbent legislator, House District 23B