Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten – President Calvin Coolidge said it well almost one hundred years ago. Friday is Veterans Day, when we as a nation honor those who have answered the call to defend our way of life. We exercise and enjoy our freedoms every day, and we owe special recognition of every American man and woman who has served in uniform.

Remember this promise from President Obama to sell his signature health care law to the American people: If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. You might remember that it earned the distinction as PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year” in 2013 after millions of Americans’ plans were cancelled.

As a farmer and a student of American history, few things are as satisfying as wrapping up the last few weeks’ harvest at my family’s hop farm in Central Washington. Thomas Jefferson once wrote to John Adams in 1787: “I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural.” While I admit some bias, I tend to agree.

The Internal Revenue Service is at it again, this time targeting farmers, ranchers, and other businesses operated by families. It may not be politically-motivated targeting, but the IRS is now pushing a new rule that would revise the valuation of family-operated businesses, resulting in a higher tax burden when a family member passes away.

Two million lives. That is the number, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, of lives saved by the Hyde Amendment. Many Americans may not be familiar with the Hyde Amendment, named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), and first enacted by Congress on September 30, 1976.

I am convinced that there is a recurring “top-down” fever that strikes Washington D.C., which gives rise to the idea that more government regulations are the answer to creating economic prosperity and supporting job growth. In reality, one-size-fits-all regulations often have unintended and damaging consequences to individuals, job creation, and the economy.

In January of this year, four American citizens were released from Iranian custody in a prisoner swap that exchanged seven Iranians and removed 14 more Iranians from an international police watch list. At least, those were the details the White House made public at the time.

For Americans, two dates in our history hold special meaning for our personal liberties and for limiting the power of the federal government. July 4^th is universally known because of the date’s association with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.