Will a real conservative please step forward?

Congressman Collin Peterson would have his constituents believe he is a “moderate” who is not beholden to the hard left leadership currently running the Democratic Party in Washington, D.C. But in the end, Representative Peterson has been loyal to Nancy Pelosi and President Obama.

Collin Peterson voted against the health care bill. However, do we know what he would have done had he been the deciding vote? No we don’t. But he gave us some indication in a recent speech to the DFL faithful when he said, "This election now I think is going to center to a large part on repealing the health care bill. That's going to be the mantra. That's going to be what people are out there talking about in this election...I am not going to be part of it." The American people disagree. They want the health care legislation repealed.

Why repeal? As Americans we don’t like to settle for second best solutions. We aspire to win, to create improvements that are second to none, to engage in open dialog, and to feel proud that the process was not tainted by the ideology that the “ends justifies the means”. Do we not think that bi-partisan dialog is essential for complex issues to become solutions that can survive the test of time?

Representative Peterson recognized the predicament with the health care bill, yet wanted it two ways. He saw the political danger in voting for a bill that was opposed by most of his constituents. But he will not work with those who want to repeal it. The vote seems to be a politically expedient vote, knowing he could probably get by doing penance in front of his hard left supporters.

In that same speech, Peterson discussed the fiscal crisis facing our country. Is not the Tea Party movement a reflection of the failing grade assessed on career politicians who for years have neglected to guide our nation into financial solvency? Referring to America’s dire financial situation Peterson said, “But this has got to be addressed. We have Moody’s rating service talking about downgrading from AAA to AA the bonds of the United States of America. I never thought in my lifetime that I would hear of anything like that. We have people talking in the Financial Times about the United States of America becoming the next Greece.” It is certainly about time that Representative Peterson and others of our leaders take our national debt seriously – which is approaching about $13 trillion or about $40,000 per individual. Unfortunately this new attention is too little too late as we have lost faith in many of our current career politicians.

Collin Peterson has spent the last 18 years in the United States Congress. Perhaps there was a time when the country could tolerate elected officials who would move from side to side. Perhaps there was a time when Americans could prosper in spite of politicians whose votes were dictated by working the middle between their constituency and their radical base. America is at a cross-road and is currently directed by the radical left. To regain the American idea, we need now new leadership anchored on principal limited government solutions.

This country has spent its way into a financial hole that we will not dig out of without elected officials who are committed to cutting the budget, reducing America’s national debt, and living within our means. I, Lee Byberg, will be that kind of elected official. As a nation, state and district, it is indeed time for the people to elect new leaders who will take on the difficult choices required to return our system to a limited government as specified by our Constitution.

During Peterson’s 18 years in Congress, his Party has promoted spending and taxation for every cause imaginable. Peterson and his friends have not considered the hard working, tax paying Americans who pay Washington’s bills. A token vote for restraint here and there does not make up for voting with Nancy Pelosi over 93% of the time. It is time to send someone to Congress who will stand for the traditional American values of individual freedom and responsibility, fiscal restraint, free enterprise, and efficient use of tax dollars.

I ask for your vote November 2nd.