Growing up on a farm in North Central Montana, I learned very early that you can always count on your neighbors, and they can always count on you.  Neighbor helping neighbor is a fundamental value we share in rural Montana, and it has always informed my view of public service. 

I am running for United States Senate because I want to make government work for ordinary Americans again.  Too many American families are falling further and further behind.  We're working harder for less money, we're struggling to pay record high fuel and utility prices, and we're wondering if we can afford to get sick.

Most of all, Americans are baffled and saddened with what's going in Washington today.  Our faith teaches us that there's a time to plant and a time to reap. It's true. Being on the farm teaches you those kinds of things.  Our leadership in Washington has lost track of this essential lesson, overextending our commitments abroad and running up a debt in the next generation's name.

We find ourselves in the grips of a president and a party who enact public policy not on what's best for the common good, but who can write the biggest campaign check.  Today, the people who receive the government's help don't need it and the ones who do - the poor, minorities, seniors, struggling working families - can't get it.  That's plain wrong.  It's wrong morally, and it runs counter to the values and principles this nation was founded upon.

As Montana's next United States Senator, I am committed to returning our nation to the time when the terms "equality of opportunity" and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" meant something to our leaders in Washington.  And in order to allow each and every American to fully participate in The American Dream, we must take the following steps:

Fix Health Care:  America spends more on health care than any nation on earth, yet millions of Americans cannot afford to get even the most basic form of health care.  We must make health care accessible and affordable to all Americans.

Lower Energy Costs:  Too many working Americans struggle to pay record high gas and utility prices, while our nation is more dependent on unreliable foreign sources of energy than at any time in our history.  We must lower the cost of energy, make America truly energy independent, and protect the environment by expanding our use of renewable sources of energy and promoting energy conservation.

End Washington's Culture of Corruption:  As recent scandals involving former Rep. Tom DeLay and Washington super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff vividly demonstrate, Washington is in the grips of the rich and well-connected.  You cannot expect to have government do the people's business when the only voices our leaders listen to are those who can afford to "pay to play."   We must end this culture of government of, by and for the wealthy in order to make government work again for ordinary Americans.

Jon Tester is a member of the Church of God in Big Sandy, Montana.  You can see his website here.