Guest MINDSETTER™ Jon Restivo: Why I'm Running for State Rep.

Guest MINDSETTER™ Jon Restivo: Why I'm Running for State Rep.

I decided to run for political office in order to lend my energy towards pursuing meaningful reform in Rhode Island. For years I have heard the people of this State protesting Rhode Island's high taxes, hostile business environment, excessive regulations and expansive public sector. Most of the citizens here are keenly aware of the problems facing our State, but few of our politicians effectively represent the interests of those they serve. I reached the point where I realized that it is going to take dedicated and driven individuals willing to run for office in order to affect the changes Rhode Island desperately needs.

The constituents that I hope to represent have a generally consistent perspective on the proper role for the government to play in people's lives: it should be there to help the people that need it, and stay out of the way of the people that don't. It is a sentiment that I share with them, and it imbues my political philosophy throughout. Too many of our State's citizens have been forced to depend on the government. Rhode Island does not need to be the first State into a recession and the last one out. Increased hiring by the government is not a viable job growth strategy.

We have an incredible resource in the citizens of our State, who are among some of the best educated, hardest working and most loyal of any State's residents in the nation. We need to help foster the growth and advancement of our communities by tapping into the ingenuity and diversity that makes Rhode Island so dynamic and unique. Part of this includes creating space for individuals to thrive based on their own self-determined goals, abolishing the oppressive regulations that interfere with development and lowering hurdles for those struggling to stake their own claim.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Many of our current representatives have failed to use their office in order to advance broad community interests, using their position to instead advance their own narrow needs and the desires of those closest to them. The resulting situation has produced a government that subsidizes a small network of connected individuals at the expense of our neighbors, small business owners, and the taxpayers of our State.

I know it is going to take more than one candidate and one term to introduce the kind of change Rhode Island needs. Still, I believe it is critically important to undermine the establishment that has produced complacency at the State House with as many new faces and resolute, dedicated and energetic community leaders as possible. This kind of dramatic change doesn't happen organically, and I am too discontent to rely on others to help Rhode Island accomplish it.

Jon Restivo is a Democratic candidate for State Representative in District 40.