We are most free when the Constitution is followed and each branch of government serves as a check and balance to the others. We are a nation of written laws. One law for all and equal application of the law is a founding principle that distinguishes America from the lands immigrants fled to escape oppression. No American president, regardless of party, should ever go around the Constitution, no matter how important the issue. No government entity is above the law, and no public official may act outside or above the law. Yet Washington has repeatedly demonstrated a reckless disregard for the rule of law and the balance of powers.

When our leaders pick and choose which elements of the laws they choose to enforce — or grant waivers and exemptions to favored groups — they undercut the Constitution and demonstrate their belief that laws do not apply to them and that they are different from the citizens who elect them. When government leaders lose the public's trust, we will exercise our right to be outspoken, to vote, and to say "No More."

The government has grown too big and too powerful, and many of those in Washington have grown out of touch with the citizens they represent. We have watched government slowly erode basic freedoms that every American deserves — the freedom to speak without fear of retaliation, the freedom to worship according to our conscience, the freedom to make our own healthcare decisions, and the right to privacy in our personal communications. Washington continues to pass laws and regulations that take even more freedoms away, and Americans feel it. There is a widening gap between how much we value freedom and how free we actually feel, with a growing sense that the American Dream is becoming harder to reach.

We support policies that protect and defend personal freedom and individual rights, and the ability to pursue the American Dream without government intrusion. We also support policies that will reclaim those freedoms and rights that have been eroded through intrusive policies of unaccountable politicians and Washington bureaucrats, many of whom answer to special interests and lobbyists rather than their electorate.

We believe that our freedom is America's greatest strength, and that any policy or action that restricts or erodes that strength is detrimental to the potential and growth of our country.