Constitution Party candidate for US Senate

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Raised in Dedham, Phil Lawler graduated with honors from Harvard, worked for the Heritage Foundation in Washington, and served in the Reagan presidential campaigns. He returned to Boston as editor of the Pilot. Today he edits Catholic World Report and runs the Internet syndicate Catholic World News. Phil lives in Lancaster with his wife, Leila, and their seven children.

Question: Given the current economic climate, what are your priorities for the budget surplus and why?

Answer: The "budget surplus" is an illusion, created by bookkeeping gimmickry. Thanks to years of uncontrolled spending by liberal legislators like Ted Kennedy, our federal government now has long-term financial commitments - to Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs - far in excess of projected revenues.

The only realistic solution to this problem is to cut federal spending, returning power and responsibility to individual citizens. The "surplus" in this year's federal budget was achieved only by taxing American families at record levels. Taxes and government regulations now impose huge burdens on ordinary households, while adding to the power of an overgrown government bureaucracy.

For 38 years Ted Kennedy has symbolized a bloated federal government - a government which caters to special interests and neglects ordinary working families. As we enter a new millennium, the voters of Massachusetts deserve a real alternative to the liberal failures of the past generation.

The alternative that I offer is a return to the vision of the Founding Fathers, set forth in the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It is a vision of a strictly limited government: a government which respects human life, protects families, and encourages personal responsibility.

Our economy seems healthy but many Americans still worry about the future because they see the signs of moral decay in government and in public life. Their fears will be eased not by another government spending program, but by a return to the principles that made America great.