The letter below describes why our club is opposed to the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Green Tier program. We encourage you to learn as much as you can about it, too (the clickable links are a good start!). Feel free to use this letter as is or as a base for your own letter to help others, including city council members, understand why such a benign sounding program ultimately leads to:
  • costly unintended consequences
  • less freedom
  • higher prices
  • more cronyism (close public-private relationships in which favoritism is an expected benefit)
A DNR representative who has been with the Green Tier program for over a decade promptly called and politely discussed it with our club president. We then wrote a cover letter, added it to a copy of the letter above, and sent these packets to the Governor, Lt. Governor, and various other Wisconsin assemblymen and senators.
We received follow-up communication from:
  • Office of the Governor (a form letter encouraging us to explore Scott Walker's public statements about issues at www.walk.wi.gov)
  • Representative Duey Stroebel called with an understanding of the dangers of encouraging private-public relationships and how it is crony capitalism (an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government). I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with him. On a related note, he voted for the venture capital fund program (a Republican baby), because he was assured it was the only way to make our state attractive to venture capitalists. He understood the argument that the program is rife for fraud and power control now and in the future (baby-Tarp). Wait to see that program expand exponentially, especially if it is "successful." Rather than reducing the barriers to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists (and ALL businesses in general) through reduced regulations and lower taxation for all, our officials are using our incomes to out-compete other states raiding their taxpayer's hard earned dollars to give breaks to certain venture capitalists and absorb the risk of losing their money when backing new ventures--risking WI taxpayer money instead (but Wisconsinites should rest assured, because (sarcasm alert) government has oversight!).
  • Scott Fitzgerald (Senate Majority Leader) indicated he spoke with the DNR before responding to us. You can read the letter and enclosures below. Remember: <<The 10 most dangerous words in the English language are, ``Hi, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.''>>
Small government advocates, including candidates, usually neglect to put any small government proposals on the table. Or they neglect to highlight them and rally voters behind them. They spend most of their time and energy fighting against the latest Big Government proposal — instead of for small government proposals.

We spend 99% of our freedom activists’ energy, time and money staving off our opponents’ Big Government Agenda – rather than formulating and advancing a Small Government Agenda. --  The Center for Small Government