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The American people understand that there’s turbulence and turmoil in the marketplace. The financial sector is rattled. Confidence on Main Street and Wall Street is shaken.

People from every walk of life across Southwest Florida and the nation want to see our economic challenges disappear quickly and for the U.S. economy to grow.

I do too.

But I didn’t run for Congress so that I could sit idly by while the foundations of America - freedom and free markets - are destroyed. Instead, I ran for Congress to fight for my unwavering belief that government should be small; that the powers of government should be limited; and that freedom and free markets matter.

That’s why I oppose the pending $700 billion bailout of the financial sector and why I have previously opposed Washington’s bailouts and takeovers of AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and the automotive industry.

This year alone, the federal government has taken on $29 billion of risk from the Bear Stearns bailout, $85 billion of risk from the AIG bailout, and at least $200 billion and potentially trillions of dollars of risk from the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailouts.

Those figures do not even include the looming $700 billion dollar financial sector bailout, the $300 billion of exposure to expand the FHA to refinance problem mortgages, the $9 billion of losses from the collapse of IndyMac, and a $25 billion bailout for automakers.

These sweeping interventions by the federal government into the challenges of the private sector come on top of a projected budget deficit of $407 billion in Fiscal Year 2008, the $10 trillion national debt, and over $640 billion in proposed tax increases passed over the past two years by the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

There’s no question that had Washington acted appropriately several years ago, some of the key challenges that contributed to today’s market crises could have been avoided.

Instead, we are now suffering the consequences of Washington’s past failures.

That’s why I agree that action is needed.

But the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector that is being advocated by the Bush Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress would give unprecedented and inappropriate amounts of power to the federal government.

It would expose every single American to untenable risks and almost unimaginable costs. And it would snuff out the free market system that is one of the cornerstones of America.

There are other ideas and plans. Proven free market proposals abound that would flood the marketplace with liquidity and confidence without destroying capitalism.

That’s a view shared by many of my colleagues in Congress, reputable think tanks, and hundreds of esteemed economists from every corner of the country.

Some of the ideas that I have proposed include instituting a reduction in or a temporary moratorium of the capital gains tax; strengthening the U.S. dollar; ending mark-to-market accounting; accelerating depreciation; and repealing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ban on short-selling certain stocks and reinstituting the so-called “uptick rule.”

It’s unfortunate that these common-sense free market ideas are being blocked by the Bush Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress from consideration in the name of urgency and expediency.

It’s equally unfortunate that The News-Press and others would so casually reject their worthiness for consideration.

These proposals pose tremendous opportunities to help guide and grow our economy without trampling on the basic tenets of the free market and without incurring yet another massive expansion of government.

They deserve debate and are worthy of being enacted in lieu of this $700 billion dollar bailout.