kl-20040505-future plans in office

Subject: Future Plans in Office Issue: General Date: May 5, 2004 Author: Ken Larsen -------------------- QUESTION #5 Each of the candidates has a wealth of experience in different fields which would well serve them as governor. A big differentiator is not simply past experience, but future plans. Most candidates intend to improve funding for education and further job growth in Utah. What is it about your plan that is unique among all of the candidates? Tom Gregory Contributing Editor, UtahPolitics.org ------------------ DR. KEN LARSEN: It's the Constitution, stupid. The voters should select me because I have the solution. The first step is to identify the problem. The problem is not insufficient government money for education. It is not insufficient government programs to provide jobs. It is not insufficient government oversight of business or public morals. The problem is too much government. Between the Civil War and World War I, Americans were relatively prosperous, relatively peaceful and relatively free. Our economy doubled about every ten years. Those with ambition, and willing to work, were rewarded by the natural laws of the free market place. The government was too small to prevent these natural consequences of free people working to solve their own problems. Thus, the solution is very simple: get government out of the way. The Constitution is a small box and my plan is to reduce the size of government until we can fit it back into the box it came in. Perhaps I am unique among the candidates in my persistence as a candidate in Utah on behalf of the Constitution. As early as 1972, while a graduate student at BYU, I campaigned for Utah State Senate with the slogan, "Save Our Constitution." I was raised in Provo with a firm belief that the Constitution was a gift from God and it's words were as good as holy scripture, and anything more or less would be evil. I believed it was my religious duty to preserve the Constitution. I have been campaigning for those principles ever since. I don't know if the voters are ready for the Constitution, but I will not change my words to get their votes. Believe me, I don't want to be Governor until the people are ready to support constitutional principles. What we do as a society and what we say we believe in our Constitution are very different things. The gap is so wide we are becoming schizophrenic. As Governor, I will work to establish commissions to examine all our unconstitutional laws and programs. I will seek public input. If we agree that the State Constitution forbids a particular law or program, we can then decide whether to propose to the Legislature a change in the law or an amendment to the Constitution. I will seek a peaceful and orderly return to honest, Constitutional government. Of course, I will refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws that I believe are oppressive, such as the drug war and the bans on polygamy and same-sex marriage. I believe forcing people to live righteously is part of Lucifer's plan. I sincerely hope there is still time to restore the Constitution without violence. I don't want my oath of office to be another lie.