THEO PETZOLD FOR MICHIGAN'S 30TH SENATE DISTRICT

The issue I feel the strongest about and believe most people can agree with is funding the education of children and not lining the pockets of administrators. I believe nothing stifles the imagination and energy of teachers and students more than the heavy handed oversight our government has placed on the classroom. Children, parents, and teachers should be enabled to freely educate in the manner that works for them because we are all individuals with different values and different ways of learning. The average school receives $16,000 per student and yet more than half of our students are below their grade level in proficiency of reading and math. I propose we provide each child $16,000 to find a teacher and measure their success with core tests at grade level to continue to receive funding . Five students can group together and pay a teacher $80,000 for a small class with dedicated instruction. A stay at home mom can teach her three children for $48,000 and make more money than a minimum wage job she might otherwise be forced to find.

The Declaration of Independence states
that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness and that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.

We as a people have become so complacent with the government controlling our lives we are fine with a tax rate more aggressive than the that paid by the serfs of the middle ages, being thrown in jail for operating businesses, and requiring permission from the government for working on our own home.

The years of Covid Lockdowns in which the government threw people in jail for earning a living and being corrected with a delayed ruling of unconstitutionality is reprehensible and deserving of a new declaration. Our right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness should always be defended.

The need of every individual to be able to defend themselves adequately from those that would trample their rights is outlined in the blood stained parchment of history. Government is created to defend and preserve our rights as individuals however, often in the case of criminal activities, government is minutes away when seconds count. Additionally, the biggest violators of individual rights is the government itself. The founding father Thomas Jefferson said," When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Many have argued that we don't need 30 rounds for hunting deer but I've never heard of deer that threw a man in a cage because of something they said or believed. I believe we shouldn't need a license to carry a firearm to protect ourselves in our day to day society and that an armed society is a polite society.