Washington DC Spending Addiction
The reason many people have encouraged me to represent our district in Washington is that my background in finance and money management makes me highly qualified to help in the effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse and to bring sanity back to our federal budget. My ultimate goal is to restrict the Federal government to its core mission, which is to do collectively for the states and citizens what they cannot do individually.
The continual deficit spending of the United States government — by both Republican and Democrat administrations and legislators — has led to a $36.5 trillion dollar debt that must be paid in the future by taxing our children and grandchildren, most of whom have not yet graduated from school or have just begun their life’s work. And unfortunately, The interest costs of our federal debt will take an increasing part of our tax revenue. We must stop our deficit spending. Interest on our debt is already projected to exceed our spending on defense. This cannot continue. The workers and employers of the United States can generate adequate funds to operate the federal government, yet Congress has exceeded the federal tax dollars and fees sent to it for most of the last 50 years. We must get federal spending under control, if only because it is immoral to burden our children and grandchildren with a level of debt that will not shrink, but continues to grow. The United States economy will continue to grow, but at the same time, we must force our federal government to shrink in size and scope in order to match revenue to spending while paying down the excessive debt we have already accumulated. To ensure that a responsible revenue/spending ratio continues in the future, systemic safeguards must be enacted that allow us to limit spending and eliminate unnecessary and ineffective federal programs which tend to distort our economy.
Border Security & Immigration System Reform
Taxpayers should not have to pay educational and healthcare costs for illegal aliens. We must secure our borders and reform our immigration system in a way that is fair, consistent with the rule of law, and streamlines our legal immigration system. I oppose the separation of families at our borders. In this country, we do not punish kids for the actions of their parents. However, those parents who broke the law should not be rewarded with an easier path to citizenship or eligibility for government assistance. In order to stem the flow of illegal aliens, no wall or fence is sufficient by itself to stop this problem, but a combination of enhanced border barriers, technological monitoring and increased border agent staffing is a step in the right direction. Perhaps most important, companies should not be able to gain a competitive advantage by hiring lower paid illegal aliens. Companies must bed required to assure that their employees are here legally by using E-Verify or other means. I support a reasonable number of H-2A and H-2B visas where we need immigrants to fill certain jobs, especially seasonal jobs. We are a nation of immigrants and I support legal immigration, but allowing anyone to cut to the head of our immigration line by breaking visa laws or violating border security is fundamentally unfair to those who follow our laws.
The Florida Environment / Natural Disasters
Florida needs to protect the Everglades and the environmental health of Southwest Florida. Following the lead of former U.S. Congressman Francis Rooney, the state legislature has taken some actions to curb the harm of byproduct runoff from the Florida sugar producers, but more needs to be done. We need to return the natural southerly flow of water through the Everglades which can help reduce the threat of red tide and provide more fresh drinking water.
Mother Nature is nonpartisan. Hurricanes bearing down on your home don’t care about your political beliefs. We need to do what we can to mitigate damage from future hurricanes.
We also need to plan ahead to provide transportation infrastructure for the expected continued growth in our community.
Education Policy
As a former teacher myself, I realize that the proper education of every child in Florida is crucial to their transformation into thoughtful and productive human beings, and it is also imperative to sustaining our democracy and our economy. We simply cannot compete in the global economy when our children aren’t getting the education they need and deserve. While making sure that existing schools are provided necessary resources, increased competition among traditional government run schools and private schools should be encouraged. Parents should be allowed to select the best school for their children rather than being limited to their immediate geographic boundaries, and I believe school choice will ultimately lead to more motivated teachers, better academic programming and increased allocation of funds for STEM as well as art, music and sports programs.
As a former teacher I also believe top-down centralized control over education from Washington is the wrong approach. We need to de-emphasize federal control over education and encourage school choice options that empower students and parents to find high performing schools. State and local run school systems competing with private schools are likely to provide better educational opportunities for all.
Reforming The IRS & Tax Code
The United States Tax Code needs to be greatly simplified with a goal of making federal tax collection broader and flatter. The elimination of contradictory rules and loopholes will not only make tax collection fairer, it will make it more efficient and allow for the reduction of the cost of running, staffing and monitoring the Internal Revenue Service. We can continue lower federal tax rates for most Americans and spur a new era of growth and prosperity for all Americans if we have the will to further these reforms.
The tax reform bill passed in 2017 saved American companies from moving their headquarters to other countries through a maneuver called “inversions”. Our corporate tax rates were so much higher than the rates in other developed countries that many corporations felt they had to change their country of record. That lost revenue had to be made up in some way. The biggest and best way is through the accelerated economic growth that the reforms have encouraged. The 2017 tax reform act wasn’t perfect, but I believe it was a step in the right direction and we need to build on that.
In my opinion, in an ideal world, the best solution would be a flat tax. One example might be a rate of 0% on the first $50,000 of income, 10% on the next $50,000 of income and a rate of approximately 22% on all income above $100,000. To make this work, virtually all deductions including mortgage interest and special rates for capital gains would have to be eliminated. The one deduction that might remain could be for charitable contributions. Can you visualize how much simpler this would be for all of us? I’m sure there will be accountants and lawyers who will be unhappy with this idea since they are paid a lot of money to provide tax advice and help. But wouldn’t we and our country be much better off? Dollars spent on accounting could now be put to productive use creating jobs and opportunities for all Americans and supporting those in need.
Term Limits
I favor proposals to limit the number of terms for legislators. Serving in the legislative branch should be exactly that – service – not a permanent job. I have come to that position because career politicians invariably start representing the government establishment and the special interests that finance their campaigns rather than the families they take an oath to protect. By limiting service in office, we are ensuring representatives will be closer to the real people they represent than the special interests and government bureaucrats that inevitably subvert the mission of our elected representatives. Incumbents gain such power over time that it is very difficult to defeat them. If eight years is enough time for the President of the United States, then eight or ten years is enough for Congressmen. Two six year terms should be enough for U.S. Senators as well. Term limits work very well here in Florida and for the President. They will work for Congress as well. Term limits would mean that a Congressman would not have to serve 10 years before getting seniority on committees because there would be much greater turnover. Some argue that this could give too much power to non-elected staff. My answer is – not if we elect the right Congressmen.
USA Energy Independence
While I personally drive an electric car, it is because I like the car. We should all be able to choose the car of our choice without government interference The United States needs to use its research and development expertise to reach our ultimate goal for energy consumption: to use cost efficient and renewable energy sources for families, business and transportation.
While we work to achieve that goal, we must work to continue to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources through the exploration and production of energy and to again become a net energy exporter. The Democrats in Congress have worked hand in hand with Washington DC special interests to prevent our use of America’s abundant oil and gas reserves. They have even blocked the safe delivery of less expensive domestic fuel sources by preventing the construction of the Keystone Pipeline. We need to get beyond the political infighting and special interest protection agendas of the Washington DC career politicians to accommodate both our short term energy needs and long term energy policy goals.
Marriage / Gender / Women’s Sports
While I personally believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, other people have different beliefs on that subject and I can accept people making different choices for themselves. When it comes to sports, though, I believe those born as biological males should not be allowed to compete as females.
Poverty Reduction / Helping Hands
The best way to help the working and non-working poor in SouthwestFlorida is to create a vibrant economy and an effective education system. I agree with President John F. Kennedy when he said a “rising tide lifts all boats.” Only through growth oriented policies on economic development, regulation, job creation and fair taxation will businesses grow and hire our Florida residents with good paying jobs.
Too often we define helping the poor as creating federal and state programs that don’t work or are counterproductive. Rather than focus on programs that help people help themselves out of poverty, ultra-liberal career politicians have focused on establishing a permanent welfare assistance lifestyle which provides incentive for many individuals to remain in poverty. That is the wrong approach which was discredited over 50 years ago. It can create a permanent underclass of Americans who help hold our nation back while fully capable of helping move our nation forward. My good friend, Pastor Corey Brooks, has said that he believes that government has a role in giving people a helping hand to get started but then they must work and achieve on their own. One of the worst things we can do is to create policies that encourage people to stay on welfare for their whole lives.
First Amendment Free Expression Rights
I will never seek to limit the speech of those who I disagree with and will be vigilant in opposing efforts to stifle anyone’s speech. As an American citizen and a former State Senator and as your next U.S. Congressman for the 19th District, I will aggressively oppose attempts by the radical left Democrat Socialists to promote a “group think” which condemns and ostracizes citizens with mainstream conservative political opinions. More “political correctness” is not needed in our country. The one limitation, of course, would be those promoting terrorism or the overthrow or our government.
Second Amendment Self-Protection Rights
I am also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I support Constitutional Carry laws as a deterrent to street crime. Our Founders believed that Americans have an absolute right to defend themselves and their families and to keep and bear reasonable arms. We have extensive gun laws on the books and crime is greatest in some of the areas where our laws are the most restrictive. We need to enforce the laws currently in place and focus on addressing the root causes of crime.
Right To Life
My religious beliefs and conscience guide me in acting to protect innocent life. I believe that once we determine that we have a human life in the mother’s womb, we must protect that life. The problem is that people have different beliefs about when human life begins. I agree with most Americans that any abortions ought to include reasonable restrictions, such as parental notification and a ban on late-term abortions. Few Floridians support unrestricted abortions on demand. How can any reasonable person argue that a viable eight month old fetus is not a human life and that the mother has the right to kill that fetus?
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