The government says it’s doing all it can to improve the economy, but government spending has not and will not stimulate economic growth.  In order for this economy to get going the government needs to provide stability.  Fiscal responsibility, reasonable taxes, stable money growth, free trade among states, and fair trade among countries are what is needed to allow our private enterprise system to work and grow this economy.  AND, we need to roll back NAFTA and CAFTA, because there is a huge difference between Free Trade and Fair Trade, and our government has not figured that out!

I am an advocate of the Fair Tax System. We should transition toward scrapping the mess we have now and move toward funding the government with only what it requires, as laid out by our Constitution. A smaller government will reduce our taxes and create a more localized system of governance that is in touch with the needs of the states and communities.

Every education decision needs to be based on what will best prepare our children for the real world.  Education directed from a dysfunctional Federal Government is failing our children.  We need the decisions, planning and implementation to be carried out by people who have a passion for our children; parents, teachers, and administrators – all on the local and State level.

Skyrocketing healthcare costs, along with staggering job losses in this economy, have highlighted the limitations of our current healthcare structure. Core health services that are affordable are the right of every citizen. However, overtaxing upper-income wage earners in a nationalized plan as the ranks of the unemployed, underemployed, and part-time workers grow, simply glosses over the issue of affordable healthcare. I’m a biker and biker’s have sayings about all kinds of things. One is about saddlebags: “They won’t hold everything you want, but they will hold everything you need.” This is the attitude we should take with our healthcare system: How much do we need and how can we make it affordable?

I am a family man first and foremost.  I believe in doing what is best for the family based on self-reliance and good fiscal responsibility. The last thing our senior citizens want is to feel dependent on anything or anyone. They have invested in good faith in our Social Security system and they expect the investment to pay off in their elder years. Anything that is done to modify our Social Security system should first take into account the concerns of every American vested in the system. I will not support any measure that does not guarantee security for our seniors. Any future legislation should only consider citizens 55 and younger, so they have the time to begin preparing for a possibly insolvent system down the road. Young people need to be told the facts now, so they can come up with the means of supporting themselves, and transition away from government dependence.

America should not be dependent on foreign oil. That puts us in a weak and compromising position in the global market. I favor drilling for our own oil and exploring clean coal and nuclear options. I am also for exploring green energy options but not for making green energy mandatory until it is economically feasible. Our industry needs to stay globally competitive and that requires low energy costs.

There is no question our Status Quo system of government is broken.  One solution to this is Term Limits.  The professional politicians and party establishments have a virtual lock on who gets elected.  People say we have term limits — it’s called elections.  Well how’s that going when over 85% of the incumbents are returned to office.  And why?  Because they wrote the rules!  Not because they accomplish anything.  Congress is the only place I know where you can accomplish nothing and still be considered a success — and win a return to office.  After three terms, a Congressman or Congresswoman  should be termed-out and either move on or go back to the real world and live under the laws they wrote, or didn’t write.

We need leaders who are willing to stand up to Political Correctness and take it on with no worry about what it will do to their political careers. The first place to make this stand is to acknowledge God in Government; not religion in government, but God in government.  

Can you imagine our Founding Fathers trying to be politically correct about affirming Divine Providence? Would they not laugh at us for thinking the mention of God might be politically incorrect? Our Founding Fathers wrote God into our Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution, and therefore into our Government. There are those who are determined to write God out of all areas of government and that is wrong! 

G.K Chesterton, a renowned writer and poet of the 1920’s and 30’s wrote, “Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God.” Do we not see those who are determined to make us more and more reliant on government for all our needs; to have faith in our government for everything.

I read and study the Bible every morning.  That means I’ve read and studied the Bible in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.  My worry is that someday I will not be able to read the Bible in our own House of Representatives! We are headed that way. We need leaders to stand up to the Progressives and say “ENOUGH!”  I say this is where we make our stand and say to political correctness thus far, and no farther.

The number one problem in our district is jobs.  We need jobs, good paying jobs, jobs that cannot be exported.   It’s said we are becoming a service economy, that manufacturing jobs are not important.  That is wrong!  We need manufacturing jobs.  I’m a manufacturer and I know in my company one job in the manufacturing part of my factory can create as many as four other jobs elsewhere in the company.  That means if you create a manufacturing job you just created as many as 5 jobs — now that is job real growth!  I’ve started businesses, and created jobs.  I know how it’s done and the jobs I created aren’t going overseas!  But, the policies of our government are preventing jobs from being created; policies of massive spending programs, staggering debts, and looming tax increases.  These are holding back business growth and job creation.