Ed’s top priority for Alamance County is to cut property taxes.

As the former National Taxpayers’ Union Field Director, Ed travelled across the country fighting to let taxpayers keep more of their own hard-earned money. Repeatedly and publicly, he called on Alamance County politicians to cut taxes and wasteful spending, now more than ever when taxpayers are:

• Threatened with eviction because they can’t pay their property taxes,
• Facing crushing inflation on food and fuel, and
• Maxing out credit cards and depleting retirement savings to make ends meet.

Government must take less from taxpayers and spend public resources wisely.

Term limits are a common-sense check on arrogant, self-entitled career politicians. In poll after poll, term limits are supported by huge majorities. Unsurprisingly, incumbent politicians and special interest groups are the only segments of the population opposed to term limits.

Ed Priola favors requiring that politicians be limited to three consecutive terms in office. Subsequently, they must sit out for at least one term before running for the same office again.

No one is “entitled” to hold elective office. Not an incumbent. Not a former incumbent. No one. Candidates must earn the right to hold office in every election. And politicians must live under the laws they pass for everyone else.

There are many good reasons for limiting the terms of elected officials at all levels. Here are three. First, greater transparency will result when newly elected officeholders expose the backroom deals of their predecessors. Second, term limits ensure greater fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. The longer politicians stay in office, the more opportunities for wasteful spending and self-enrichment occur. Third, term limits open decision-making to new people with fresh ideas for solving problems. They can counterbalance incumbent burnout and a tendency to drift along at taxpayers’ expense.

In short, more frequent turnover will result in higher quality decision-making and more independent judgment. It will also reduce the unfair election advantages of incumbents.

Free market principles are the bedrock of the American economy. The free interaction of consumers and businesses, with a minimal amount of government interference, is the most sound and sustainable system of economic opportunity.

Promote Economic Growth

Alamance County needs policies that promote smart economic growth. Our policies should benefit everyone in the economy. They should be designed to attract a variety of investments in industry, services, and family agriculture.

Our policies should not be designed to pick winners and losers, serve special interests, or subsidize favored businesses. Control by government elites hampers economic growth. Moreover, it is the hallmark of failed socialist experiments the world over.

Remove Barriers to Small Businesses

North Carolina takes pride in being “First in Freedom.” We should make it our goal to become the leader in economic freedom too. This means creating an opportunity economy, starting right here in Alamance County. The barriers to small business entrepreneurs should be minimal. Our goal should be to encourage businesses of all sizes and types to create jobs and meaningful work for everyone.

Like the air we breathe, the liberty to pursue our self-determined pathways to economic prosperity is essential.

IT’S ALL ABOUT FREEDOM!

Alamance County’s families deserve the freedom to exit failed government schools. Moreover, schools should focus on education, not political indoctrination. In every zip code and at every socioeconomic level, parents must have the freedom to decide where and how their children are educated.

Support School Choice

Taxpayer dollars must follow students to the educational institutions that their parents select. In addition to public school choices, family options must include:

• Charter school options;
• Scholarships to private and faith-based schools;
• Resources for homeschooling; and
• Vocational and apprenticeship programs.

Oppose Indoctrination

Unquestionably, there are many outstanding educators in Alamance County’s public school system. These first-class professionals should be recognized, promoted, and paid well.

Regrettably, there are also some bad actors who exert far more energy toward extorting taxpayer dollars and pushing indoctrination programs than they do toward delivering a world-class education. A case in point is the leftist political indoctrination program at Graham High School. Ed Priola’s role in uncovering it was recently covered by the Alamance News.

Alamance County’s families deserve better education options.

IT’S ALL ABOUT FREEDOM!

The average response time for Alamance County law enforcement is about six minutes. No matter how vigilant, our sheriff deputies and police officers cannot be everywhere at the time they are needed. Fortunately, the Second Amendment guarantees our ability to protect our families, our homes, and our country. Safety in Alamance County begins with the vigilant defense of this inalienable right in Burlington, Raleigh, and Washington, DC.

IT’S ALL ABOUT FREEDOM!

People are not free when they are afraid. According to a 2020 survey, 50% of North Carolinians say their top fear is being physically assaulted by a stranger (compared to 40% of respondents across the country). Moreover, 73% of North Carolinians report high concern about a break-in occurring when they are at home asleep (compared to 58% of respondents nationwide).

Law enforcement in Alamance County needs our support. Against a backdrop of skyrocketing crime, it is astonishing that some wish to hamstring the ability of law enforcement to keep our communities safe. They’re agitators who howl to “defund the police” while at the same time seeking to prevent local authorities from working with ICE to remove notorious MS-13 gang members.

How bad is it? In 2020, while the nation’s attention was distracted by nightly orgies of violence by Antifa, two MS-13 gang members were arrested with little fanfare in North Carolina. According to federal prosecutors, they were part of an eight-man murder crew who had been extremely active in New York. Their industrial level of criminal activity included multiple “victims who were hacked with machetes, shot numerous times, and decapitated.” The threat is real, and it is close to home.

We must support the men and women who keep us safe by enforcing law and order in our communities.

IT’S ALL ABOUT FREEDOM!