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On America and Freedom
I have an instinctively positive vision for America and our future, so I will not accept the drift and decline of our country for lack of a moral foundation in the halls of government. Bedrock American values such as the primacy of the rights of the individual acting in a free society; the lawful limitation of government; the integrity of public servants held accountable by free elections; the Manifest Destiny of all people in every culture to live in common freedom and personal security free of government coercion; the sanctity of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – these values are more important today than perhaps they have ever been since the beginning of the American experiment. Our families, our country and the world need Americans to stand boldly for these values, and not shrink from the arrows of the enemies of freedom, whether that enemy is a religious radical with a dirty bomb or a compromised, corrupted politician. It is up to us to remind each other, and to be proud, that America is the last best hope of man in this world. We must not deny this truth because when we do, as we have on occasion in the past, the world suffers. We are not perfect, but America’s fidelity to our core values and beliefs sets an example for others that ultimately makes the world a better, safer, more peaceful place.
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Agriculture The Death Tax must die – permanently. Families build farms, corner groceries, Fortune 500 companies – and Congress must accept the fact that government has no legitimate prior claim to the assets a family builds over the course of generations. Through the estate tax, Congress is taxing families into bankruptcy. This must be stopped.
As Americans – as free people – who we are sets us upon our course each day. We work. We worship. We send our kids to school. We care for our families and our neighbors. And along the way, if we are able to save a little money, to enjoy the fruits of our labor, to build a legacy that we can pass on to our children, our heritage of freedom tells us that the fruits of a lifetime of labor and saving should be for the benefit and enjoyment of our families, not for the consumption of the federal government.
A family’s right to assume its assets are protected from confiscation by the federal government must extend to physical property as well. Claims of eminent domain by unfettered legislators for dubious economic use, and the loss of agricultural land and natural open spaces for livestock to unaccountable bureaucrats – either through alternate use or through increased use fees – directly threaten Colorado families, and must be reversed. Return to top
We have the technology today to extract, process and burn fossil fuels cleanly – oil, gas and coal. We also have the technology to build, operate and maintain nuclear power plants safely and efficiently. We are closer every day to market-based wind and solar power that will generate a return on investment without government mandate, subsidy or interference.
Energy production is not immoral. But denial of private individual rights to engage in legal entrepreneurial risk-taking in a fairly-regulated market is immoral. Government must reduce or eliminate the unseemly barriers it has erected to all but its pet energy initiatives. Not only are the rights of the adventurist currently under assault, but the rights of consumers are trampled as well when government directs that energy production be enforced through unelected bureaucratic dictate and based on ideology rather than economic national security. Return to top
A family’s financial security is the engine that drives the American economy. The security of health insurance, a child’s education, and retirement drives most of the economic decision-making that we do as a nation. But if government intrusion into the banking system robs us of the basic assumption that we all must make – that our financial system is secure – then it is time to change the relationship between the federal government and our banks. The government cannot, and must not, run banks, either directly or by fiat. We’ve experienced more than just a banking crisis in America. We’ve witnessed a governing crisis. Reasonable regulation means two things: ensuring the security of our families’ assets, and a fair set of rules that enhances the dynamic creative power of the private American economy. Return to top
Capital gains are no longer the exclusive benefit of the rich few. About half of all American families now own stock in some form, many through their 401(k) plan. More own bonds or other assets that they hope will grow in value over time. Most families own capital assets as a form of savings for medical, education, and retirement expenses. Taxing this investment of savings is, in my view, a direct attack on the future of every family. In an ideal world, the tax on capital gains would be zero. After all, a gain on capital investment does not use up resources, it creates resources. In my view, it is senseless and counterproductive to tax an activity that creates jobs and grows wealth. Return to top
Congress There was talk not long ago of holding people in contempt of Congress for taking bonuses at bailed-out financial institutions. I admit that I’ve held Congress in contempt for some years now – not because of any bailout, but because I have exhausted all patience with a Congress that illicitly and intentionally destroys just enough of the American Dream to create a false sense of need for expanded government power; a Congress that controls enough tax dollars to meddle in every area of my family’s life without any reference to any power either provided or implied in the Bill of Rights. Americans need to rescue our country from a corrupt, incompetent, and out-of-control Congress.
The Democrat leadership in Congress often contends that society is too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by the elitists in Washington is better than government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Well, if that is true, then I ask this question: If no one is capable of governing himself, then who among us, including the Washington political crowd, has the capacity to govern others?
We need a new start in Washington. We need positive, proven leadership that we can trust. Return to top
Defense Immigration My wife is a legal immigrant so I know first-hand how important this issue is to millions of people. I have been through the immigration process. America’s proud immigrant tradition touches every family in our nation – from Smith to O’Shaughnessy to Sanchez. It is a tradition that we should maintain as it has existed for most of our history – a consistent, reliable, controlled process for people of every tongue, creed and origin to learn and follow on the path to citizenship.
We must develop a surer, more predictable, and quicker legal immigration procedure that does not leave families separated and hanging in bureaucratic limbo for years. At the same time, Congress should immediately pass a tough sanctions bill to address foreign nationals who overstay visas or who enter America illegally, and enforce it. We must do a better job of preventing fugitives from using the American legal system to avoid paying their debt to society when they violate the law. Return to top
Border Security I reject the innuendo that suggests supporters of border security are opposed to immigration. I am an ardent supporter of legal immigration – my wife immigrated to America not long ago. But in a world where nuclear weapons can be carried in a briefcase, and water and food supplies can be used as weapons against large portions of our population, it is clear that our national security rests on the security of our borders. Border security is a matter of national security. America must take every measure necessary and practical to ensure that our border areas – north, south, east and west, including air and sea ports – are not used as zones of opportunity by narcoterrorists, human traffickers, or political and religious zealots who would harm Americans. Return to top
Foreign Affairs I’ve always believed in getting to the heart of a matter. In discussing foreign affairs, for America the heart of the matter is the Middle-East. From our European allies, to strategic competitors in Russia and China, to those openly hostile to our way of life such as leaders in Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, our relationships tend to be placed in the context of Middle-East politics.
I have long been an advocate of Israel as a responsible international actor with a free society that supports an open political system. Israel is currently weighing the risks of a nuclear-armed Iran and new peace talks with Palestinians. At the same time Israel is attempting to accommodate a new American President who has initiated a very public disagreement with Israel over peace and security issues.
We need to recommit ourselves not just as a nation but as a people to the safety and freedom of the state and citizens of Israel. The current administration must immediately rescind his pledge of aid of almost $1 billion to Hamas terrorists, and he must not impose new conditions for peace talks on the Israelis – conditions that Palestinians did not impose in prior negotiations. Return to top
War on Terror America needs vigilance grounded in commitment to face down undiminished terrorist threats. We need to make commitments to ourselves and to our neighbors that the security of our families, our neighborhoods, and our country is a top priority. We must demand leadership in Congress that will join us in that commitment by rising above the partisan attempts to use our nations’ greatest tragedy for political leverage. With no major event since September 11, life feels relatively secure in our homes and communities. But there is much more to be done to ensure the coming years are event-free. The means we use to secure our future will be in a constant state of change because the enemies of freedom are constantly changing and adapting their tactics. As a result, the debate about how best to maintain security will change as well.
We must remember through it all, though, that we are one nation, and that we are not the villains. It is important to remember where we started. More than 20 years ago, China transferred nuclear technology to North Korea. Throughout the 1990’s, North Korea helped Pakistan develop nuclear weapons, and Pakistan established a Persian bazaar of nuclear technology, supplies and training. As a result, today we’re facing nuclear weapons proliferation in Iran. This dark possibility also extends to Syria and into non-state actors in the region.
Diplomatic statements and public posturing not withstanding, the military and ideological councils that run these countries and enslave their citizens are no friends to the American concept of freedom. Our security depends on our ability to assess our enemies’ intentions, and upon our commitment to freedom as we face ever-changing threats. Return to top
Education Americans do not reduce children to a cost-benefit analysis in any part of our social experience except in education. As a former teacher, I am convinced that education has far less to do with spending dollars than it does with spending time – and that time begins and ends at home. Moms and dads are their children’s primary educators, and we must recognize and value that right and responsibility anew in our communities, workplaces, and local governing boards and councils. I am equally convinced that the cost-benefit analysis of public education is and will remain meaningless unless and until parents have the freedom to send their children to the school of their choice, without additional financial burden. Return to top
Colorado families are hurting. Much of the hurt is real , but just as much is a result of fear based upon what we hear from our President and Congress. We are today about where we were in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and I suspect the failure then of tax increases and fatter government is why our new President and new Congress are loathe to mention the Carter legacy – because tax increases and fatter government are the road they have chosen once again
In the early 1980’s, President Reagan charted a clear course to recovery, one that was derided at the time as nutty and dangerous, and it is dismissed just as quickly today. But we’ve been here before, and I believe that with the right combination of tax cuts, changes in regulations, and an extreme bias against class envy, our economy will recover from the mess that the federal government created in the first place.
Deficits Government at all levels is addicted to spending – and why would it be any other way? We in Colorado and people all over the country continue to place our own future at risk by electing and re-electing the same politicians who have spent us to the point of irrecoverable debt. Our current representative in the 3rd Congressional District is one of them. He voted, not once, but twice for a $410 billion budget bill that breaks the bank with pet-project pork.
The $787 billion "stimulus" package is also bad medicine. It is an economic drag, not a stimulus. I like to call it the “simulus” package because it only simulates a recovery plan. In the end, it actually does more harm than good. The Congressional Budget Office says that after the stimulus spending is finished - about the year 2015 - our national economy will be .2% smaller each year thereafter than it would be if there was no stimulus spending at all. Reaganomics caused debt to shrink because the result of Reagan’s policies was a growing economy. The result of the current administration’s plan will be less growth, not more, because it adds to debt and debt service. That’s where the poison is in this pill. Return to top
Financial Crisis The federal government must cease its panic. As my favorite President once said, "In this crisis, government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem." Americans have weathered economic recession before. We’ll do so again and achieve the same result: we will emerge stronger, smarter, leaner and more optimistic than we have ever been in the past.
Those who would cast the current downturn of our economy as a failure of market capitalism should understand the reason the federal government is panicking. The federal government is primarily responsible for recent market turmoil. Washington’s desperate attempt to point the finger of blame alternately at banks, insurance companies, auto makers, mortgage brokers and oil companies signals government’s own culpability. Years of micromanaging certain aspects of economic activity have produced the only possible result: imbalances too large for the market to bear. Those imbalances are being corrected by market forces, and the economic dislocation that has resulted will be healed as those imbalances are returned to natural equilibrium - unless, of course, Washington continues its’ grand self-deception and attempts to fix things for us again and again. Return to top
The American family seems to be under attack from every possible direction, and I don’t like the cowardice that lies behind many of these attacks. The politicians often say that evil corporations cheat by not paying any taxes. But economists have long noted that corporations are unable to cheat on their taxes, because they don’t pay any. The truth is that government has simply turned corporate America into another arm of the tax collector’s office. It is government that is cheating by hiding taxes in corporate tax rates. Corporations pass the cost of taxes through to consumers, and so consumers – families – ultimately pay those taxes. Return to top
Gun Control The right of the people to keep and bear arms must remain inviolate. The safety of my family and the families of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District supersedes the presumed rights of any criminal who would commit acts of violence against persons or property. As a District Attorney, I believe that tough gun violence laws ought to be enacted and enforced, and that sentences be carried out. And I believe, as well, that just as private citizens are held to account by the law, so too should the federal and state governments be bound by the restrictions set upon them in the Bill of Rights with respect to private ownership of firearms. As is true in all other aspects of the relationship between a citizen and the government he or she empowers, the state’s authority to enact restrictions on freedom ends where my rights as a citizen begin. Where keeping and bearing arms is at issue, those rights shall not be abridged.
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