In Tennessee and nationwide, there has been a broad, encouraging willingness by strong conservatives to step forward this year and run for office at various levels of government. That is in large part a reaction to the liberal extremism of President Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
In the race to succeed excellent conservative U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, we enthusiastically endorse the candidacy of Republican Chuck Fleischmann. But we were pleased nonetheless to learn more about another conservative candidate in the race, independent Mark DeVol, of Oak Ridge.
In a visit to the newspaper this week, DeVol, who owns DeVol Millwork, was clear about his vision of returning America to its constitutional values.
Pointing to our massive national debt and huge, out-of-control entitlement programs, he made the commonsense observation that America’s “grand social experiment has failed” and that the federal government should be smaller, not bigger.
He vigorously opposes ObamaCare socialized medicine as well, and he insists on a return to the limited-government principles enshrined in the Constitution, especially the 10th Amendment, which says that powers not delegated to the federal government are retained by the states and the people. With the national debt at around $13.6 trillion, it should be obvious that Washington has far overstepped its bounds.
Our preference in the 3rd District race is for sound conservative Fleischmann. Running as an independent, DeVol will have a difficult time competing strongly for the seat. But we nevertheless respect his high regard for the Constitution.