Platform

Taxes

Just like you and I have to live on the money we receive every payday, so must the government. If you want something beyond your means, you have to make sacrifices. If it's important enough to you, you have to make cuts. In the same way, your representatives must make the same decisions. If this program is absolutely vital, get rid of the many wasteful programs that aren't vital. Just taking more money is irresponsible and shows you're incapable of making the tough decisions. I'm calling for an infusion of badly needed fiscal responsibility in our government. The mounting debt is inexcusable, and the course must be reversed.

Along with that, the time has come to eliminate the IRS, a costly program that represents an unconstitutional invasion of our privacy. I would work diligently to reduce spending such that income taxes are no longer necessary. Along with that, I would co-sponsor legislation with Congressman Linder to implement the FairTax, a national sales tax that would eliminate capital gains taxes, estate taxes, and corporate taxes and replace them with a consistent sales tax. This would remove the burden of Americans and American businesses to keep extensive records in order to prove their innocence to the government.

Energy

A priority of the next Congress should be to free our nations energy needs from the grips out of outside aggressors, such as Venezuela, Iran, and other nations that could cut us off at their own whim. Our nation must maintain its sovereignty, and to do that, as your Congressman I would press to free up any and all sources of energy readily available. Deregulation of drilling restrictions and refinery construction would go a long way towards ensuring our continued strength. The sooner we can allow drilling to begin, the sooner our nations energy can be independent of other nations.

Education

In virtually any area, competition increases quality. If you can offer an equivalent quality product, at a better price, the consumer will pick your product. If you offer something of greater quality at an equal price, the public will pick your product. Monopolies control the product completely, and have no motivation to increase quality or decrease price. The same is true with our education system. The choice of where your child should receive their education should always fall with the parents, be it religious, private, government or home schooling. If schools are competing for students, they"ll work that much harder to decrease costs, and improve the quality of education they provide. I will call for vouchers for parents to use towards whatever education they feel their child best needs.

Personal Liberty

Every year, we lose more and more of our precious liberties and it has to stop. There have been too many violations of our rights and our privacy recently. With attempts to create a National ID card packed full of your personal information, and the PATRIOT ACT, expanding wiretaps without any adequate oversight, something needs to be done, and soon. I will fight tirelessly to return your rights and your privacy to you as citizens of this great nation.

Property Rights

Property rights are the core of all our rights as citizens. Without them, we can be driven from our homes and businesses too easily. As your Congressman, I would fight to return the original principles of the 5th amendment. Government takes homes from families, without following the strict guidelines of "fair-use", and rarely providing "just compensation". We must stop violating families" right to security in their homes against the very government sworn to protect them.

Immigration and Border Security

A secure nation is a nation that has control over who and what enter its borders. Without that control, we cannot protect our citizens. We must protect our nation, and have greater control over who and what crosses our borders and enters our ports. At the same time, we must remove incentives for those to violate our laws, and not provide amnesty to millions who have already done so.

Iraq

I believe the time has come for us to make our way out of Iraq. It is unacceptable for us to remain in Iraq for 50 or 100 years, time frames which Senator John McCain has called appropriate. However, we should not, as others have suggested, immediately withdraw all troops on January 3rd, 2009. Instead we should withdraw them in the near future on a set, specific date. This date should be predetermined and firmly held to in order to give Iraq a chance to regain their own sovereignty under their own power. The other options for withdrawing from Iraq -- staying indefinitely or evacuating more than 200,000 military and civilian personnel overnight -- are both inconceivable. We need to perform a measured withdrawal by providing the Iraqis with a specific time frame and then pulling troops out gradually over that time.