The issue of energy is on the top of my list because expensive gas, electricity, and heating is a “double whammy” when it comes to the economy. It hurts both business and the consumer, slowing the economy. While it is true that the United States consumes one fourth of the world’s oil, we also are responsible for feeding the world and our economy is roughly one fifth of the world gross domestic product.

What makes the energy issue most aggravating is that we have the resources, technology and the intelligence to get our own energy (coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear) at reasonable market prices but the market is inhibited by federal and state government action that restricts our ability to go get it. We are not allowed to drill in the barren wilderness of ANWR, or off the outer continental shelf. In Minnesota, we are restricted from building new nuclear power-plants by law, and as of August of 2009, we will not be able to build any new coal-fired power plants (not that the Sierra Club would let us). Environmental groups are blocking every effort for the U.S. and Minnesota to become energy independent, unless it includes wind or biomass or solar which is all cost prohibitive.

Friends, coal-fired electricity costs just 2.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour to produce. By comparison, wind energy costs in the neighborhood of 13 to 15 cents to produce. Who do you think is going to pay the difference? A 1,000 megawatt power-plant that runs on coal can be built on 1,000 acres, while the same amount of power produced by wind would take up almost the entire area of Winona County, and only operate 30% of the time.

We have the ability to fix the energy crisis in this country, we simply need to let the free market solve the problem, and get government and special interests out of the way.

Rhett Zenke

I believe that the solution to the high cost of health care can be solved in the free market as well. We in Minnesota face unique challenges in the purchase of reasonable health insurance. The state has put so many restrictions on the sellers of health care coverage (over 60 specific restrictions or mandates), that only 3 companies are willing to sell health insurance in the state. This lack of competition and breadth of coverage forces up the cost of insuring all Minnesotans. I believe that if we are allowed to purchase the coverage that we desire, the cost will come down by more than half.

Rhett Zenke

When the Democrats took control of the House in 2007, they were left with a $2.2 billion dollar budget surplus. The most pressing need they saw in the budget was the need to increase the already lucrative welfare system in Minnesota. I think there should be a safety net for those of us who are less fortunate or those who fall on hard times. It can happen to anyone, as we saw in August of ‘07 with the flooding. More often than not though, our welfare system in Minnesota has become a recliner instead of a safety net. Able-bodied Minnesotans (and some who reside outside our state) are encouraged to take advantage of our system and choose to rely on our tax dollars to make a living, simply choosing to remain jobless and sitting in the wagon instead of helping to pull it.

Rhett Zenke

Do you think that you pay enough in taxes? On April 15th, do you send the State a little more money just to be nice? No? I don’t either. But time and again, we elect politicians to do just that. The money we send to St. Paul is never going to be enough. They don’t seem to understand that we cannot simply grow money on trees. The family budget is stretched to the limit with rising gas, groceries and energy costs. To add insult to injury, we don’t even get to see any benefit for having the sixth highest individual tax burden in the country. State highways 61, 43, 44, 74 and 76 all are in desperate need of repair. As I drive around the district, there are some roads that are barely passable and are in serious need of attention. The State portion of the gas tax that is supposed to go to road maintenance (more than 25 cents per gallon) is obviously being spent elsewhere. I want to fix our roads to make for a better life here in southeast Minnesota.

Rhett Zenke

My friends, this country was built on immigration. It’s the illegal part that I have a problem with. If an individual is willing to start their life in a new country by breaking the law, I don’t think they should be allowed to stay. I realize that people want to come to this country to enjoy the freedom and liberty that we have, but they need to accomplish this legally.

At the federal level, I would support reforms that would make the process easier to come to this country and to be assimilated into the melting pot, but in the mean time, we need a fence, we need to deport the criminals that take advantage of our generosity (we spend over 11 billion dollars on welfare to illegal immigrants in this nation), and we need to make sure that the legal immigrants are encouraged to learn English by making it the official language in all government interaction. We do not serve our new neighbors well by not making sure that they respect our traditions and our language.

Rhett Zenke

To me this issue is cut and dried. The right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is one of our first liberties behind only free speech. The second amendment must remain intact and I will fight any attempt to weaken it. In the 5 years since the Personal Protection Act was passed (concealed carry law), there has been no outbreak of chaos that the Democrats predicted. Law abiding citizens will make the right decision if they need to defend themselves, period.

Rhett Zenke

On the issue of abortion, I believe that life begins at conception. If we as a society start to decide when life begins, then what is to stop us from deciding when life ends? It is a slippery slope from which it is difficult to return.

I have witnessed the joy that adoption brings to parents who cannot have children of their own. My brother and his wife tried to have children on their own for a number of years with no luck. They finally were able to adopt their first child in 2002. I thank God that he led this young mother to put him up for adoption and that he is now in our life. It saddens me that so many young mothers choose to abort these young lives and deny so many other couples the joy of raising children. I will never support abortion unless it is the result of rape or incest, and even then only after the mother is informed of all the options that she has at her disposal. Life is too precious to throw into a bucket.

Rhett Zenke