The following op-ed is written by State Rep. Savannah Maddox, a candidate for reelection in the Republican primary for House District 61
Kentucky is our home. It’s where my husband and I are raising our two children, and it’s where my ancestors have cultivated roots that trace back six generations. My earnest desire is for our Commonwealth and the people who live within it to thrive, and to enjoy the blessings of a strong economy and the freedom to prosper.
This is why I am running for office, and it’s why I was first entrusted with the role of State Representative back in 2018. I have dedicated my time in Frankfort to upholding the Constitution, fighting for your individual rights and liberties, and standing up against government overreach.
The greatest challenge currently facing our Commonwealth is our 53.8% workforce participation rate among able-bodied adults, which is third lowest in the nation. Not only does this crisis impact Kentucky’s businesses that are struggling to hire employees, it creates an extraordinary burden on the social assistance programs that are funded by your tax dollars.
As a fiscal conservative with a proven track record of voting against wasteful spending, I am a strong proponent of much-needed reforms to Medicaid, Welfare, and other social assistance programs. We simply must get able-bodied Kentuckians back to work in order to rebuild our economy and be competitive with surrounding states.
Although it is true that Kentucky has had longstanding issues with workforce participation, this problem was exacerbated significantly by Andy Beshear’s economic shutdowns and the fact that citizens were paid to sit at home and not work. Reckless injections of federal relief aid have added fuel to the fire, and inflation has skyrocketed in conjunction with scarcity of goods due to the manipulation of the free market.
The bottom line is, Kentuckians’ eyes have been opened to the true cost of big government overreach. It is my mission to put Kentucky back on the path to prosperity by redefining the appropriate role of government in our lives: the protection of life, liberty, and property. I will continue to do everything in my power to help Kentuckians weather the economic storm that has been created by ineffective, nanny-state approaches to public policy.
We have the ability and the resources to provide for legitimate functions of state government such as infrastructure, roads, bridges, and education- if we are willing to prioritize needs vs wants and demand that our elected officials be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
I have never voted in favor of a single tax increase, and I have never voted in favor of any new regulation on Kentucky’s businesses. My job is to make sure that you are keeping more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket where they belong, instead of in the hands of bureaucrats who think they know how to spend your money better than you do.
As the only 100% Pro-Life candidate in my race who has been endorsed by Northern Kentucky Right to Life and Kentucky Right to Life, you can count on me to fight for the sanctity of unborn life. I am unapologetic in my defense of those who cannot yet speak for themselves, and I will never cave to Pro-Abortion activists.
In my freshman year in the House of Representatives, I filed and passed Constitutional Carry in order to expand the ability of law-abiding Kentuckians to exercise their 2nd Amendment Rights. I was honored to receive the “.50 Caliber Freedom Award” from the National Association for Gun Rights, in recognition of my efforts to protect our right to keep and bear arms. In addition to Constitutional Carry, I have proposed legislation to abolish so-called gun free zones and to protect Kentuckians from the enforcement of unconstitutional gun control measures at the federal level.
I believe that real leaders lead even when it is not politically expedient or popular. I have led from the front in resisting COVID tyranny from the very beginning, in March of 2020, when I filed an amendment to put a stop to Andy Beshear’s tyrannical mandates. Kentuckians will never forget what it felt like to have their businesses shut down, their children kept out of the classroom, and their church services banned.
Very few Republicans were willing to stand up for our constitutional rights when it mattered most, and far too many waited until the damage was already done. It was never the appropriate role of government to shut down the economy, to force citizens to wear a mask, or to receive a vaccine against their will. I fought vaccine mandates by passing HB 28 in the House, only to watch it die a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored death in the Senate. There is much more work that must be done to ensure our freedoms.
It’s time to elect authentic conservatives who will “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk”. It’s time to lead from the front and get serious about fighting back against the woke, progressive ideology that has begun to infiltrate our Commonwealth from Washington DC and Democrat strongholds across the nation.
Kentuckians, by and large, are God-fearing people who just want to live a peaceable, prosperous life in which they are free from undue interference from their government. I will continue fighting to ensure that YOUR voices are heard loud and clear in Frankfort, and I will never cave to the special interest groups and bureaucrats that have sought to drown you out.
For more information about where I stand on the issues, please visit my website at: MaddoxforKY.com