MY PLATFORM
Responsibility. Friendship. Liberty.
People of all political persuasions share similar goals. We may disagree (sometimes passionately) about how to achieve those goals, but we can work together to achieve them. Staying focused on our shared values, understanding and considering the positions of our fellow citizens, seeking reasonable compromise, and trying different approaches, we can successfully meet every challenge our nation faces. Understanding that all who serve in Congress desire peace, prosperity, and liberty, these are the policies I advocate.
My Guiding Principles
We should work together toward common goals.
Our military should defend, not direct.
Let’s leave our children a country that is fiscally strong, at peace at home and abroad, and leads by example.
Principles In Action
Focus our military on defense. Work to achieve peace by peaceful means.
War is immoral, counterproductive, and costly. By using violence to achieve peace, we get conflict, more violence, and war. Neither side gets what it wants. Getting the peace we all cherish begins by rejecting violence. The best way to defeat our enemies is to make them our friends.
Focus on our shared goals and values.
We aren’t so far apart in our views. We all want peace, prosperity, and the freedom to live as we choose. We all value decency, kindness, fairness, and respect.
In Colossians 3:12, the Apostle Paul advises us to, “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
While we may disagree–sometimes passionately–on the best way to achieve our shared goals, there are good human beings on all sides of every issue, across the entire political spectrum. We cannot make progress by tearing each other down and questioning each other’s motives.
I respect people who hold different political views. I recognize their motivations are good. I will not encourage anyone to think ill of them.
As your congressman, I will build on the foundation of our shared values of decency, kindness, fairness, and respect. I will carefully work to understand and consider the positions held by members of all parties and political persuasions. I will seek compromise to resolve our differences and achieve our shared goals. I will encourage us to try different approaches in different places, and I will advocate for the approaches that prove most successful in practice.
Find solutions that empower people, not government.
Stories, for better or worse, are far more moving than data. Moved by powerful stories, and meaning well, we sometimes craft policies to create happier endings. Unfortunately, policies crafted in response to stories may have sweeping, unintended negative effects.
For example, moved by a story about a hungry family, policy makers may institute food subsidies in a well-meaning attempt to alleviate hunger. However, the subsidies may only increase food prices, making food less affordable and making more families hungry.
I favor solutions that give individuals and families responsibility for their own lives and well-being. It is always better to create opportunity than to foster dependency.
