Throughout my life, I have always been a person of action. I graduated from high school and BYU early. I completed my law degree from Northwestern in half of the time it traditionally takes. I fell in love with my wife Heidi when I was 17 and married her as soon as I returned from a two-year mission in West Africa. She is my best friend in the world — and an incredible mother to our five children.
For the last 10 years in the business world I have continued to get things done at an accelerated pace. I have worked on hundreds of transactions — ranging from multi-billion dollar investments to partnering with entrepreneurs and small business owners. As both an attorney and business leader, I was expected to carefully analyze financial statements, legal documents and industry trends to identify waste, areas for improvement and hidden risks. I have been a trusted adviser to CEOs and entrepreneurs seeking to reach their next phase of growth.
On a daily basis, I experience firsthand how the federal government imposes burdensome red tape, a complex tax code and crushing regulations. In almost every instance, these burdens do more harm than good and result in less growth, fewer jobs and greater barriers to entry for small business. I want to take action today to get government out of the way so that our private sector can thrive and create more opportunity. A healthy free market improves lives and communities far better than government programs.
You might ask why someone who likes getting things done would ever want to go to Washington — a slow-moving bureaucratic swamp where change has proven to be difficult. Indeed, this is incredibly frustrating to me — but it is even harder to watch from the sidelines as our government continues to throw away our tax dollars, spend away our future and cripple the next generation with unsustainable levels of debt. I refuse to see this happen to a country that God raised up to be a banner of freedom for the world, and which so many have died to protect.
For me, the greatest tragedy is inaction — the defining characteristic of Congress’ continued dysfunction. They fail to address clearly identifiable problems coming down the road. They leave the collapse to happen on another day or on the next guy’s watch. I find this to be morally reprehensible and one of the biggest threats to our nation.
I promise to be the type of leader who looks years down the road and takes action today — not to wait until a crisis shows up at the doorstep. I promise to work harder than anyone else in Congress. I will never back away from the critical priorities of reducing our spending and our national debt. We simply cannot let the next generation inherit problems that are too big to fix.
I ask for your vote. If you would like to learn more about me, please visit my website at www.aingeforcongress.com.
Together, we can fix Washington, D.C., before it is too late.
Tanner Ainge is an attorney and business leader. He lives in Alpine.