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My Point of View by Aaron Farris

The party of positivity, transparency, the American dream, limitless opportunity and so much more. That’s the Republican Party that I’ve grown to know in my last two years as secretary of the Freeborn County Republican Party and in my last year as secretary of the Minnesota 1st Congressional District Republican Party. Far too often, whether it be nationally, on a statewide level or here locally, what we hear about our political parties and where they stand on the issues is filtered (either positively or negatively) and distorted to the point where it no longer communicates what the party truly supports. In many local papers around southern Minnesota, letters to the editor by Republican writers won’t even be printed simply because they’re written by Republicans. The Albert Lea Tribune is very good about printing everyone’s letters, but a lot aren’t. Without having any letters written by Republicans in papers, the community is left with only the media, which is never going to be unbiased again. I wish that wasn’t the case, but I have no reason to believe the majority of the media will give Republicans a fair shake anytime soon, so it’s up to us to tell our neighbors what we truly stand for and believe in.

Republicans believe the government’s No. 1 job is to keep its citizens safe. While some may believe that defunding the police or redirecting funds from police departments to social workers would make us safer, it’s been proven that’s not the case. In Minneapolis, the City Council voted to do something similar, and quickly had regrets. Crime spiked, the same council members who voted for that proposal then needed personal security, and many are leaving the metro for safer communities. The government must protect its own citizens to the best of its ability — period.

In the health care field, the U.S. leads the world in innovation. With clinics like Mayo and MercyOne in the area, Freeborn Countians don’t have to worry about being too far away from a health care facility in order to receive care. Republicans believe that the government should encourage competition in the health care system to drive down the costs of prescription drugs, procedures and doctor visits. A socialist Medicare for all health care system would do little to nothing to drive down the actual costs of health care once you factor in how much you would be paying for the health care of others. The answer to fixing our broken system isn’t more government. As President Ronald Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” Not to mention, it’s been researched and proven that a socialist health care system would severely restrict the amount of cures for gruesome diseases like cancer that would be discovered and put on the market. Everyone knows at least one person who has been treated using one of these cures.

The Republican Party and its members believe all are “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.” Whether it’s the belief that all should be given equal opportunity to succeed, supporting religious and political liberties, or defending the right to life, Republicans support the civil rights of all. Republicans believe that workers should have the option of joining a union, that Americans deserve to not have their Second Amendment rights infringed upon and that personal privacy, both tangible and intangible, should be respected by everyone. Without these basic rights for all Americans, what do we really have as far as personal liberties go?

Another true pillar of the Republican Party is fiscal conservatism. We believe that you, the taxpayer, know best how to spend your hard earned money. We believe that frivolous spending by the government doesn’t help anyone, but instead adds more to the national debt that, at some point or another, we will have to come to terms with and find some way to dig ourselves out of the crippling hole that we’ve put our country in financially.

In Freeborn County, we are represented by some fantastic Republican state legislators: Rep. Peggy Bennett and Sen. Gene Dornink. We also have one precinct representative by another awesome legislator, Rep. Patricia Mueller. It’s clear that the values of Freeborn Countians, such as the ones expressed in this column, are being well represented in St. Paul, as well as in Washington, D.C., with Congressman Jim Hagedorn.

With our upcoming Freeborn County GOP officer elections, this will be my last column as secretary of the Freeborn County GOP. I’m running to be the next vice chairman to help our party build on our recent successes, and we have an incredible slate of candidates for every other officer spot as well that will do the same! Check out our Facebook page, Freeborn County MN GOP, Twitter @FreebornGOP, and our website, freeborncountygop.com.

Aaron Farris is the secretary of the Freeborn County Republican Party. He is the party’s youngest activist.