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We must create a state that responds to the citizens' needs, and we need citizens who feel committed to their state because that state serves the citizens.

We have become bound by a political straitjacket that frames every debate: Too much federal government. Yet our forefathers forged this system for us. The federal government can accomplish what the states, acting alone or even in concert, cannot.

The idea of the state is, or should be, a very limited, prescribed idea. The state looks after the defense of the realm, and other matters - raising revenue to pay for things which are for all of us, and so on. That idea has turned turtle now. The state isn't any longer perceived as an institution which exists to serve us.

We need a government that is what we are at our best. Smart, efficient, pragmatic and compassionate.

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.

What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise.

We have to be realistic about what the state can afford, and put an end to abuses of the system that cost millions.

The American people deserve a blueprint for policymaking that is built upon the Constitution of the United States and the principles of fiscal discipline, limited government, accountability, and a strong national defense.