Issues

American Exceptionalism - Our founding fathers created a government like no other on earth. While our Constitution was and is not perfect, it provides a number of checks and balances on each branch and each level of government. The federal government is defined to have limited and enumerated powers that focus on national defense and the protection of individual liberties. State governments, on the other hand, have much greater authority to define laws to reflect the wishes of local citizens. If an individual believes that his state's laws are objectionable, he can easily relocate to another state that has more desirable laws. The result is a free people who are more happy and productive than any other on earth. I will work to restore this division of power between the federal and state governments so that America can once again experience the benefits of true freedom.

Budget - We have a moral obligation to eliminate our debt. We must reduce our spending by roughly 1/3rd to make this happen. I have analyzed the problem, defined my general approach, and have even provided a sample budget. While the details of the budget will have to be negotiated, I promise to fight for a realistic solution that will eliminate the debt within forty years with meaningful cuts immediately.
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Economy - Our economy is in shambles due to self-imposed taxes and regulations. Our current policies result in jobs going overseas to countries that abuse human rights, intellectual property rights, and the environment. We need to reform our tax policies, our energy policies, and our trade policies to promote our values of individual freedom worldwide. Everyone wins when individual liberty is protected.
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Education - For the last 50 years, the federal government has become more and more involved in education policy. The involvement has resulted in local school districts spending more time filling out bureaucratic paperwork and less time responding to the needs of the children or wishes of the parents. The end result has been 50 years of falling test scores. It is time to return control of schools back to the local government. No one loves and cares for the well-being of our nation's children more than their own parents; we need to give them more power to enact their solutions through their local officials rather than having bureaucrats in D.C. dictating solutions from afar.

Energy - The drilling moratorium and the continued refusal of the government to issue drilling permits has devastated much of the Gulf Coast economy and is continually weighing on our national economy. These policies have been magnified by our government's increasing regulation of the coal industry, which has directly impacted Virginia's economy. Finally, its refusal to pursue nuclear power and other energy sources more aggressively has ensured that our energy costs continue to skyrocket. America has the natural resources to provide for our own energy; we need to adopt policies to responsibly develop these resources.

Guns - I understand that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the individual's right to protect himself against an out-of-control government. Conceptually, it is similar to the mutually assured destruction policy that our country had with the Soviet Union; by allowing the citizens to arm themselves, you create a deterrent to an attack and thereby prevent a war.
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Jobs - Reducing the deficit will not be easy, but it must be done for our long-term viability. However, we must also have a strategy to offset the economic side-effects of these budget cuts, otherwise unemployment will soar. That is one of the reasons I believe we must reform our tax, energy, and trade policies at the same time that we reduce deficit spending. Economists estimate that switching our income-based tax system to a consumption-based tax system will add an additional 10% to our economy; this one change will add an extra $1.5 trillion to our economy, more than offsetting the necessary $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. We can restore our economy and balance the budget at the same time, I will work to make this happen.
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Liberty - One of the biggest concerns of our founding fathers was that the government would infringe upon the liberties of its citizens. This concern led to the establishment of the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, this threat of infringement upon our liberties is increasing today. From the PATRIOT Act, to the TSA body scanners, to the President’s kill list, to the NDAA, our rights are under attack – always on the premise of providing for our security. While I accept that the definition of “reasonable search and seizure” may change in a time of war, we must recognize that Congress has not formally declared war, and our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is decreasing by the day. I will fight to protect Americans from these unreasonable searches and seizures.

Life - Although the right to pursue life is not explicitly defined in the Constitution, it surely must precede any other right granted and must surely be part of the 9th Amendment. But, it is also clear that such a right would only apply to a "person". Science has proven that, at conception, there is a unique, human life; but the question remains as to when this unique, human life becomes a person. Personally, I believe this is best defined to be from the moment of conception, but I do not believe there is national consenus on this issue. Until there is national consensus, I believe we are well-advised to take our founding fathers approach to the topic and allow our states to agree to disagree. Each state should be allowed to set its own laws on when personhood begins, and by extension, when and if abortions are legal. From a policy perspective in the U.S. House, the only real abortion issue that I am likely to deal with is federal funding for abotions. My position here is clear - no one should be forced to pay taxes to fund an act that they find morally abhorant that could have just as easily have been funded through a chairity.

National Defense - America should always have a strong national defense; this is best achieved by making wise investments in our defense while minimizing unnecessary foreign entanglements. We need to bring many of our troops home from overseas and allow our allies to shoulder a greater share of the burden for providing for their own defense. We need to focus our spending on needed programs rather than continually funding initiatives for the benefit of key Congressional districts. We need to return to the Constitutional principle of only going to war when the Congress officially declares war. And we need to end our involvement in the wars in the Middle East (Iraq and Afghanistan) by declaring the truth that we have achieved our originally stated goals (i.e., removing Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein as threats).

Taxes - Our tax code is ten times longer than the King James Bible, largely due to attempts to hide the real tax rate while providing special provisions for wealthy special interest groups. Because the code is based on income, rather than wealth, it penalizes those that are earning money while protecting those that have already made it. It also encourages firms to move their operations overseas, resulting in fewer American jobs. We need to replace our current tax system with one that will encourage manufacturing to move back to the U.S. while providing a fair and honest distribution of our taxes. The Fair Tax is one such solution that I could support.
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Transportation - Transportation issues are best solved by state and local governments that are directly accountable to the public, but far too often, the federal government intervenes to the detriment of communities. For example, an interstate and federal board plans to raise tolls on the Dulles Toll Road to $10-20 each way in order to subsidize the expansion of Metrorail to Loudoun County. The result will be an underused Dulles Toll Road and gridlock on US-50, I-66, and Rte 7. It is time for the federal government to respect the Constitution and to allow the state to make its decisions by itself.
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