Immigration

Border Security is National Security

First, we need to secure our borders. We need to build the wall on our southern border to stop the influx of illegal aliens, drugs, and criminal enterprises. Border security is national security. The incumbent is against securing our borders as is evident in her voting record. Democrats tell us that we can have a “virtual wall” and that will stop illegal entry. I can compromise, we build a physical wall, and they can also have a “virtual wall.” The truth is Democrats want the illegals here to be given amnesty because they know that most of the illegals will vote for them. That is a big reason why Democrats are against voter ID laws. It’s all about increasing their power, and if we allow the Democrats to have their way we will one day never have a Republican majority in the house, senate, or the presidency. History has shown us, any form of amnesty will be wrought with “unintended consequences,” but those consequences are intended when it comes to the ideology of the left.

The Mexican cartels are bringing tons of heroin and cocaine through our porous borders. They deliver it all throughout the United States. Violent gangs have infiltrated every state of the union, and the Democrats allow more of them to come through due to their inaction.

Chain migration and visa lottery need to be stopped immediately. America has “dreamers.” I’m for United States citizen “dreamers.”

There were 1.2 million false tax returns in 2017. This means stolen identities, mostly committed by illegal aliens. These victims have a difficult time restoring their good names. The left want us to believe that all illegal aliens are just trying to have a better life like the rest of us. They work hard every day, and they make America better just from their presence. Almost every day we hear of a heinous crime committed by an illegal alien. There are many more we don’t hear about.

When it comes to making decisions about immigration, we need to use our heads, not our hearts. As many of you know, when you use only your heart in making decisions, you often make the wrong decision. That’s why my wife and I don’t tell our four children, “Just go with your heart.” We know from experience what can happen when we do that. Therefore, no Amnesty is good Amnesty.

Taxes

Tax cuts benefit all taxpayers

The incumbent voted against the tax cut. I have already seen my take home pay increase substantially. I’m sure I’m no different than the rest of you: A hundred dollars here or there and soon you have some real money. Unemployment is down; jobs are up. Minority groups, especially Black Americans, have the lowest unemployment rates ever. We need to make the tax cuts permanent and works towards a better taxing system. I believe everyone should pay taxes. It is very easy for those not paying taxes to vote for higher taxes on those of us who pay taxes. We all know that the upper 10 percent of wage earners pay the majority of taxes, yet the Democrats and the media lie about the facts. They love to have class warfare. That is how they get their votes. I believe that we should have a flat tax of 15 percent. God asks us to tithe 10 percent so I figure 15 percent is plenty enough for the government. The government needs to live within its means.

Debt

We should not leave this debt for our children and grandchildren

We need to address the 20 plus trillion-dollar debt, and the unfunded liabilities of what some say is over 200 trillion dollars. Non-discretionary spending makes up the vast majority of our budget. Something is drastically wrong with that. Everything should be on the table, especially welfare programs. There are so many welfare programs that most of us can’t even list a fraction of them. We are going to need to address this sooner than later or we will leave our children and grandchildren with a debt that they may never ever be able to repay. The current members of congress continue to kick the can down the road, but not all of the blame lies with the Democrats. We have members in our party that are big spenders. We have more big spenders in the Republican party than we have fiscal conservatives. RINOS need to be replaced by conservatives. We need to have a clear distinction between us (Republicans) and them (Democrats).

Judges

It is the job of Congress to make laws, not judges

The Democrats have been blocking President Trump’s judicial appointments. Many seats sit open, and this allows leftist groups to bring specious lawsuits to block the President’s agenda. There are too many judges that legislate from the bench. They are political hacks who need to be replaced and held accountable. We need to nominate strict constructionists to the bench. We need jurists who understand the original intent of the founders. The fate of our republic lies in the hands of the courts. Liberal judges will erode and ultimately end our rights.

Second Amendment

The Second Amendment should not be infringed

I am a lifetime NRA member, a lifetime member of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and other gun rights advocacy groups. The founders did not write the Second Amendment to mean that we would be able to hunt and protect our family from a burglar or robber. That was a given. The Second Amendment was specifically written to keep an overbearing government from being able to disarm us and impose its will.

Now, I know that the founders probably didn’t have the foresight to know what type of weapons we would have in modern day, but I believe that they knew there would be improvements on weapons as had been in their time, and they would want us to be able to have weapons to keep the government in line.

I don’t have a bump stock, but I don’t think they should be outlawed. As any of us with any training knows, when you fire on full automatic, you waste a lot of rounds. Well measured semi-auto fire is much more successful.

The school safety bill that was passed by the congress is a “feel good, at least we did something” bill. It provides for training students and teachers to be able to identify a person who possibly has mental health issues as well as more school security and officers. But the students in Parkland Florida already knew the shooter had mental health issues. Law enforcement knew he had issues. The problem was the school district and law enforcement failed to act. They failed to act because the school district did not want to discipline minorities at a higher rate than their white counterparts (school to prison pipeline). This was a failing of the school district and law enforcement at both the local and federal levels. Now we have more students who think that outlawing guns will stop the violence. Gun-free zones are easy targets for the mentally ill and terrorists. An armed society is a polite society.

Energy Independence

Energy Independence is national security and will provide thousands of jobs

As I said in my campaign in 2012, America has enough natural resources to be energy independent. We even have enough to export. Democrats want to force us into mass transit while they travel by gas guzzling SUVs and fly here and there to speak about how we regular folks are destroying the environment. I am for freedom of choice and for a free market. If people want to use mass transit, that is great. If others want to drive a car, that should be their choice. One of the major problems with mass transit is that it is run by faceless bureaucrats who are accountable to no one. We are seeing that right here in our state with Sound Transit. Democrats use the excuse of the environment every time there is a discussion about energy independence. For some reason, they have no problem with us buying our fuels from countries that don’t like anything about us except our money. I am an environmentalist. I spend weeks every year in the great outdoors. I practice “leave no trace.” I also understand that oil companies are very careful to not cause damage to our ecosystem, and there is a lot of oversight. If I thought these companies were out there to destroy the planet as the democrats would have you think, I’d be the first to stand against them.

We should use nuclear power. It is clean and safe. I’m all for renewable energy if a company wants to produce it, but the federal government should not subsidize it thereby picking the winners and losers.

Coal is cleaner now than it has ever been, and we are sitting on years and years of coal energy.

Just remember, when the sun isn’t shining, the wind isn’t blowing, and the winter runoff is low, we still need energy for our electric cars. We need to get it from somewhere.

The United States can be energy independent. Energy independence is a national security issue.

Energy will produce thousands of jobs. Drill here, drill now.

Infrastructure

Our infrastructure is crumbling and needs to be fixed

We have been paying 18 cents per gallon to the federal government for years to keep our infrastructure intact. (We pay 49 cents tax per gallon of fuel to the state of Washington.) The government has squandered that money and has allowed our roads and bridges to fall into disrepair. In 2015, the federal government collected almost 44 billion dollars in fuel taxes. One year of taxes! The government has collected more than a trillion dollars since the inception of gas taxes. Now, President Trump wants to repair our infrastructure, and many in our party are against it stating we do not have the money for it. I say we should have the money for infrastructure, and if we don’t that’s because the bureaucrats used the money for other purposes. So, take it from the “non-discretionary” funds, and put it back into infrastructure. Like you, the only thing that I use from the federal government is the highway system. I’ve paid my taxes, now fix my roads.

Military

We need to reestablish our position on the world stage

During President Obama’s time in office, our military diminished in size, strength, and readiness. Bringing the armed forces back to strength will take time and money. Billions of dollars need to be spent to get our armed services to the strength that they need to be. President Trump and the Republican-lead congress have made giant strides in repairing our military. We need to support our military and make it the most powerful in the world. Peace through strength.

Healthcare

Healthcare is not a right. Let the free market work.

The Republican controlled congress got rid of the individual mandate, but they did not go far enough. During the Obama administration, the House voted to repeal Obamacare nine times. Now that they have the ability to repeal it, they have not. This means that many in the House and Senate lied to you. They told you they were going to repeal Obamacare to get your vote, and figured that you would give them a pass on lying.

I believe that the federal government should have very little to do with health care. It needs to get out of the way, and let the free market work. There is room for oversight, but for the most part, the free market should control health care. We buy car insurance across state lines so we should be able to buy health insurance across state lines.

Veterans

We need to make sure veterans are receiving the benefits they deserve

I am a veteran, and I support veterans. However, I have first-hand knowledge of the abuses. It seems that the Veteran’s Administration went from denying all benefits to veterans to now denying benefits to those who deserve benefits and allowing benefits to those who do not. The VA needs to be revamped. There are too many veterans falling through the cracks and too many taking advantage of the system.