Here I am with a desert tortoise, just northeast or Oracle, Arizona.
Thank you for visiting my website. I am the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress in District 3, Arizona. District 3 includes all of Phoenix and Paradise Valley north of Thomas, Indian School and Osborn roads.
The United States Library of Congress has selected this website for inclusion in their "historic collection of Internet Materials related to the 2010 U.S. National Election", to preserve "materials of historical importance to the Congress and the American people to foster education and scholarship..."
WHERE I STAND
I am a true Ron Paul conservative and helped in his 2008 Arizona presidential campaign. I have been publicly active on political issues since 2002, challenging both the federal government and the media: writing letters, producing/selling bumper stickers, authoring articles, assisting others, speaking in public, organizing symposiums, creating websites, distributing dvds, hosting a public-issues radio show and running for congress two years ago.
I have long been committed to: - No new taxes - No bailouts - Decreasing the power of the federal government - Restoring economic prosperity through new manufacturing - Bringing to trial all co-conspirators in the crimes of 9/11 - Maintaining the world's strongest and most efficient military - Ending wars of conquest, open-ended and undeclared wars - Re-establishing excellent relationships with all nations through cultural and economic ties
RESIDENCE AND WORK BACKGOUND
I moved to Arizona with my father in 1964 and have resided here since for all but 10 years. My wife and I have three children and one grandaughter. I have worked as a deputy prosecuting attorney, corporate attorney, private attorney (suing corporations), technical writer, loss-control analyst, risk manager, engineering manager, author/publisher/retailer and investment manager. I was privileged to have worked with my father, a legendary entrepreneur and student of business, for 20 years. I have done lots of hands-on work including farm work, low-tech manufacturing, equipment maintenence and arid-lands revegetation. I have a wealth of experience.
A DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES
NO NEW TAXES, EVER: For the last eight years, I have been an advocate of drastically reducing taxes. Unfortunately, now is not the time to do so, because of the current and accumulated budget deficits. To quote Alan Greenspan's September 20th CFR testimony: "We should not have tax cuts with borrowed money..." Greenspan explained that deficits are "crowding out" capital investment . Deficits ultimately inflate the currency and discourage new investment which guarantees a deeper recession. I can promise that, like Ron Paul, I would never vote for a tax increase, for any purpose. Before we can cut taxes, we have to get expenditures in line with taxes -- we have to cut expenditures. See the youtube video at the bottom of this page.
STIMULUS: The problem with the stimulus package is, "What did it stimulate?". We have the same problem with cutting taxes -- whom does the tax cut benefit? If the tax cuts benefits overseas manufacturers, we have done little for our economy because our (domestic) economy is primarily a service economy, not a manufacturing economy. The big money is in manufacturing, not service. If we stimulate consumer spending, most of it goes to manufactured goods, which means that it goes overseas. The monies that go to domestic service industries are relatively small. This is why Greenspan testified that the stimulus package was "less successful" than anticipated. See the youtube video at the bottom of this page.
NO BAILOUTS: The bailouts were wrong because they taught the financial industry that it could engage in any type of risk/misconduct and still get rescued by the government. We need a financial industry that fears the consequences of their own misconduct. This is what the free market system is all about. See this website's page "2010 Campaign" for a more details.
DECREASE THE POWER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: The federal government overstepped its legitimate functions long ago and has been searching for excuses to tax more, grow more and control more. The warfare state and its opposite twin, the welfare state, are the two excuses the federal government uses to unnecessarily control our lives. Republicans are usually the shills for the warfare state and Democrats shills for the welfare state. Someone has to stand up to both, like Ron Paul has done for over a decade, sometimes all by himself. I would love to join Congressman Paul in Congress and say "No, no, no".
RESTORE ECONOMIC PROSPERITY THROUGH NEW MANUFACTURING: This is the most important of all issues. In my lifetime I have seen manufacturing as a percentage of all jobs decrease from 39% to 9%. The good money jobs are all in manufacturing, but we have been exporting our manufacturing overseas for 60 years. A person cannot support himself or his/her family with $8-10/hour making lattes at Starbucks or reshelving boxes in a retail store. These are service industry jobs. We need manufacturing jobs, hard or soft, which pay $25, 30 and 35 dollars/hour. While it is true that developed nations normally export manufacturing jobs to countries with lower wages, it is also true that these lost jobs can be replaced with new-product/higher-tech manufacturing jobs. Germany has created new manufacturing jobs through continued large investments in infrastructure, education and basic research. Today, Germany is the largest exporter of manufactured products in the world. We can do the same, only better.
EDUCATION, INFRASTRUCTURE, BASIC RESEARCH AND TAX POLICY: These are the four pillars of new manufacturing and the only sustainable path to real wealth. Our public schools can be improved by minimizing federal control and maximizing local control. Private schools have historically outperformed public schools and should be made more available to more students through tuition tax credits. Our public schools benefit from competition with private schools and can learn much from them. China, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden have been investing in infrastructure for decades, and it shows. They attract new manufacturing, scientists and designers. Basic research should be encouraged by R&D tax credits as it is from this basic research that entire new industries are created. Here I am discussing this on youtube.
BRING TO TRIAL THE CONSPIRATORS IN THE CRIMES OF 9/11: 9/11 was the largest murder and property crime in our history. Yet, in the nine years since, no alleged co-conspirator has been tried. One individual (Sheikh Mohammed) has been imprisoned for nine years, tortured and waterboarded (185 times), but still not tried, or even charged. The individuals who perished in the attacks surely had co-conspirators who assisted with finance, transportation, lodging, information and training. We know that the Pakistani intelligence service transferred $100,000 to one of the hijackers a few days before 9/11 and that the head of that service met with our top government officials before, during and after 9/11. Former members of the 9/11 Commission, ex-CIA and foreign government high officials are now saying that the events of 9/11 have the earmarks of a government intelligence organization operation. The only way to uncover all the co-conspirators is to try some of them in our criminal justice system and let them plea-bargain out their accomplices. Their defense attorneys can uncover other co-conspirators through discovery directed at intelligence organizations, just as defense attorneys in the 1993 WTC bombing proved that our FBI was a co-conspirator (Google "1993 WTC Salem").
MAINTAIN THE WORLD'S STRONGEST/MOST EFFICIENT MILITARY: It is nice to be the biggest kid on the block. You can afford to be nice, and everyone wants to be your friend. But we are also dealing with economic reality -- we cannot afford to be infinitely strong, we must be affordably strong. We have some 14,000 nuclear weapons -- enough to destory the world 20 times over. We have 16 intelligence organizations with 850,000 employees/subcontractors with top security clearances -- to keep tabs on a few thousand Taliban and Al-Quaida. Military/defense expenditures must be within our tax receipts.
END WARS OF CONQUEST AND UNDECLARED WARS: In retrospect, the Iraq war was one of conquest. The claimed justifications were all found to be false. We have hardly established a democracy in Iraq, but rather have left a boiling cauldron and literally millions of new enemies. Before the invasion, in 2002, I argued the anti-war position in the only Maricopa County-wide broadcast public debate on that war. I suppose I won the debate, but our country lost, because we still invaded and incurred huge financial and human losses. Then-congressman Ron Paul tried to force Congress to vote on a declaration of war, so Congress would be held responsible for any failure, but the Congressmen ridiculed Paul and passed the buck (and the war-making decision) to the President, who is now gone and can no longer be held responsible. Congress must be held to their constitutional duty of declaration of war so they can be held responsible.
RE-ESTABLISH EXCELLENT RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALL NATIONS: The Russians have a history of excellence in the arts and higher education. We should maximize our cultural and economic contacts with them and with all nations. It is good business. My father used to say that he couldn't afford a single enemy. He ended up with a couple, and they brought him down. It is nice to be strong and kind. People are grateful if you are kind, because they know you don't have to be. People want to help you. This is the position our country was in at the end of World War II. We were well liked, even in the defeated nations . Compare that to our position today. Instead of dropping bombs, embargoes and mischief on other countries, we can help them -- with medical clinics, refugee supplies, trade, cultural exchange and a kind word. I have personally done this and it works. We can be the heroes of the world again, and it will be to our economic benefit.
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: It is sobering to see how far the Germans are ahead of us -- multiple wind generators even in small towns, biomass gas plants in the fields, clean diesel vehicles, solar panels on homes, an awesome public transportation system and the most comprehensive and utilized recycling system I have ever seen. We can do the same, only better. And when we do, we will save money doubly because we will eliminate any need for our military's presence in the oil-producing Middle East.
THE UNBORN: I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is murder and that governments should not facilitate abortion. But reality is that the majority of citizens do not share this belief and would not follow laws which codified this belief. Rather, we would have a repeat of Prohibition -- widespread public disobedience and increased injuries because people were finding their own ways around the law. We have a responsibility to work to change peoples' hearts and beliefs on this issue, just as we have a responsibility to work to change peoples' hearts and beliefs on the issue of wars of conquest.
IMMIGRATION: Of course our borders should be respected and all workers should share in tax burdens and not operate in a tax-free black market. But expelling illegal immigrants will do almost nothing to solve our economic problems. The retreating illegals leave behind the toughest, most unpleasant jobs for $8-10/hour, with no benefits and no future. Their abandoned jobs won't solve our economic problems. See page "The Mexican Problem" in this website for more info.
OUR VOTES MAKE A DIFFERENCE
As a young man, I was privileged to experience America as a place of beauty, freedom, tolerance and opportunity. I would like the same for my children and for yours. More than three decades in private enterprise and eight years of public-issues work demonstrates that I am not blowing smoke. I will do the job in Congress. I respectfully ask for that opportunity.