Randy Demmer said he learned a lot about individual responsibility during his time as a Hayfield farmer, and now he wants to take that knowledge to Washington.

Demmer, a Republican state representative from Hayfield who announced his candidacy in Minnesota’s First Congressional District race Tuesday, said he wants a seat in Congress so he can fight “unsustainable growth” and promote more personal freedom.

“People can be individuals. They can be allowed to make mistakes,” Demmer said. “We take that away as we have more and more government control.

The representative was quick to point out that he isn’t anti-government, and he feels that his individual-centric philosophy can be applied to policy decisions in Washington.

For instance, Demmer said he isn’t opposed to health care reform, but he wants to see it come from the people, not the government.

“Totally managed and controlled government health care is wrong,” Demmer said. “It can’t work.”

He also feels an investment in creating new jobs would be wise, but in the private sector, not the public sector where tax dollars ultimately pay for the work.

Demmer said the issues important to him all tie into one overriding issue — a massive expanse in the federal government’s power and spending. These, he said, are things that need to change.

“I have a deep-seeded concern about where government is going,” Demmer said. “We are so far out of whack.”

While he acknowledged that the federal government sometimes has a need for borrowing money — during a disaster, for example — Demmer said the deficit needs to become more manageable. He compared it to a family deciding when to use a check book and when to use a credit card.

“We have to use good sense,” Demmer said.

Demmer and his world view grew up in the small town of Hayfield. He said he was a farmer for 18 years and learned about the value of chipping into the community from his parents.

He continued along an entrepreneurial path, starting an accounting and software business and, later, becoming owner of three automobile parts stores.

To Demmer, it is people who follow similar, individual paths that stimulate an economy, not government spending.

“I challenge the notion that we can spend ourselves to prosperity,” he said, a reference to the federal stimulus package.

He said the district’s incumbent, Democrat Tim Walz, has supported such policies, which Demmer said is not representative of people in southern Minnesota.

However, Walz campaign manager Richard Carlbom disagreed.

“Walz will continue to focus on what he was elected to do in 2008,” Carlbom said. “He’s bringing the voices of the people of southern Minnesota to the debate.”

As far as Demmer, Carlbom said he and the rest of the Walz staff will worry about a Republican challenger when one wins the nomination. Currently, Demmer is joined by former state representative Allen Quist and Jim Hagedorn, son of former Rep. Tom Hagedorn, in the Republican field.