For my district and for the voices of Liberty in North Carolina, my top three issues in our 2010 campaign are annexation reform, educational choice, and medical marijuana availability. However, I think the toughest issue we face state-wide right now is that the government is trying to have too much control over its citizens and its commerce. This is a trend I want to reverse while I’m serving in the North Carolina Senate.

The result of this government interference is that regulations and costs of doing business make North Carolina an inhospitable environment for those who choose to set up shop here. To make up for it, government officials spend time and money courting a hand-selected group of business executives to lure them to set up shop using tax-based incentives and special breaks rather than real market analysis and a skilled workforce. This allows the executive branch to brag about creating jobs, but ignores the fact that those are only trial-run jobs while businesses use the state’s special breaks to gamble on its resources. That is not a path to sustained growth in the job market or to permanent career-building positions for the people of North Carolina.

For many of you, I need say only one word to evoke the potential failure for such methods in North Carolina: Dell

The issue of government control over citizens and their commerce is at the heart of many other issues, too, including my own top three.