Why I'm Running
Dear Friends,
I am running for Congress because I love freedom, and I'm alarmed by Congress's encroachments upon it.
Freedom means we are free to build a business, start a family, choose to save and invest, and enjoy the fruits of our own labors. But our federal government is insistent on encroaching on our personal finances as well as the free market, all in the name of fairness or a clouded vision of 'responsibility.'
I was appalled when the government took taxpayer funds and used them to bailout failing companies. Taxpayers in essence subsidized the imprudent risks taken by the executives, shareholders, and bondholders of those companies.
When we subsidize irresponsibility and waste, we get more of them. Likewise, when we use higher taxes or heavy regulations to penalize independence, integrity, industry, self-reliance, thrift, prudence, and discipline, we get less of them -- and less freedom.
A similar dynamic is at work in the pending health-care reform bill. Suffused with mandates, taxes, and penalties, it illustrates Mencken's dictum that the urge to save humanity almost always cloaks the urge to rule it.
Likewise, the so-called stimulus package didn't stimulate anything but federal spending -- leading to record-shattering budget deficits and an unprecedented rise in the national debt, impeding economic recovery now and burdening generations to come.
Unfortunately, Washington has moved so far Left in its economic policies that most observers would find it hard to distinguish the current administration's policies from those of socialist European countries. But as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pointed out: "the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
I am running for Congress because I want to grow the economy, not the government. I want to balance the budget by controlling spending, not by raising taxes. And I want to liberate small businesses from excessive taxation and regulation so they could once again prosper and create new jobs.
Most of all, I am running to be able to tell my children that when the opportunity arose, I did everything within my power to keep them free. After all, they deserve as much.
I would be honored to have your support.
Yours truly,
David Harmer
About David
David Harmer is an attorney and businessman with a long record of Republican leadership here in California. The son of former California State Senator and Lt. Governor John Harmer, David began his lifelong involvement in politics at age four, when he walked precincts for his father, who won an upset victory in the Glendale-based 21st district and went on to become one of Governor Reagan's key allies in the state legislature.
After graduating with honors from law school at Brigham Young University, David went to Washington as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, appointed by Senator Orrin Hatch.
Upon his return to California, David served as a Fellow of the College of Public Interest Law at Pacific Legal Foundation, defending property rights and other freedoms in state and federal courts.
In the mid 1990's, David served as a Resident Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he researched and advocated market-oriented approaches to education and training. David's book on education reform was published by the Cato Institute, America's foremost market-oriented public policy organization.
David and his wife Elayne live in the East Bay where they are busy raising four young children. Over the past decade, he has served as in-house counsel for several major financial companies.
In his spare time, David has served as a coach for the local soccer club, merit badge counselor for six scout troops, and treasurer and vice president of the Windemere Ranch Middle School Education Fund.
