Immigration
Illegal aliens threaten our economy and undermine our culture. While our brave soldiers risk their lives to protect us overseas, our political elites lack the courage to defend us at home. I am 100% opposed to amnesty. As President, I will secure our borders so illegal aliens do not come, and I will eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay.
Gun Control
I fully and completely support the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The failure of the ACLU to defend this right, and of federal courts to make the second amendment binding on the states, as they have made the first amendment and most others, testifies to their intellectual hypocrisy.
Iraq
America’s noble sacrifice has purchased Iraqis a precious opportunity for democratic change; it is now up to them to ensure success. Setting the President’s ‘November benchmark for shifting control’ as an actual timetable for disengagement will let regional powers and Iraqi factions cooperate to forge a new balance of power.
Homeland Security
Homeland security plans which do not include enforcing our immigration laws and securing our borders are entirely inadequate. A CIS study of 94 terrorists prosecuted for their crimes in the U.S., found that nearly two thirds had committed immigration fraud. It is difficult then to justify the rigor, expense, and inconvenience of new safety measures at our airports and harbors, while leaving the door open for terrorists to slip across our southern border undetected.
Income Tax
A growing chorus of economists and experts argue, and I agree, that the the current income tax system is complex and unfair and should be replaced by a flat tax or national sales tax. Simplifying the process would dramatically reduce the costs of compliance, make American companies more competitive, and put billions back into the economy by encouraging investment.
Social Security
There is no question that the system is broken. Projections show that by 2016, the only way to avert its collapse will be deep cuts in benefits, heavy borrowing, or substantial tax hikes. The best suggestion I have heard is to switch from a defined benefits approach to a defined contribution approach with payroll tax funded private investment accounts. These accounts would be made available to young workers and function similarly to 401Ks.
Education
I spent a decade as the Department of Education's regional representative in Denver so I do not say this lightly. Federal involvement should be limited. Educational control is best left in the hands of parents. A no-strings-attached voucher system would promote school choice, while compeititon for students would drive educational improvements at the institutional level. I also suggest schools return to a more traditional course of study and that the public focus shift to certain non-school factors, like parental involvement, which studies show are the most important determinants of student perfomance.
Agriculture
As a general rule, I believe the farm economy should be market oriented. This is especially true under the current system, where the subsidies flow not so much to family farms but to very wealthy 'hobby farmers' and large agri-business concerns. To preserve our sovereignty however, the Country's domestic food supply should be self-sufficient. Therefore, I would not be opposed in principle to limited agricultural subsidies designed to keep farms afloat, and farming skills current, in case of national emergency.
Healthcare
The major issues are the high cost of healthcare and the number of uninsured. Tort reform and immigration enforcement would save the system billions. In California alone, illegal immigrants cost the system $800 millions annually and forced 84 hospitals to close. As for the uninsured, as many as 25% of them are illegal aliens and should be deported. For citizens and legal residents who are employed by businesses which cannot afford coverage, I favor association health plans which band small businesses together to access lower cost insurance. For those out of work, state governments should be the primary source of relief, but the federal government can offer incentives and subsidies to make sure families who have fallen on hard times are not without coverage.
Budget
The federal government is in debt because it spends too much, not because it taxes people too little. Government spending is classified as either discretionary or mandatory. Discretionary spending includes funds for things like the military and is explicitly set by Congress on an annual basis. But the major culprit in ballooning budgets is mandatory spending for entitlement programs like medicare, expenditures which are determined by the number of beneficiaries. The only way to control the budget is to reform the entitlement programs that mandatory spending funds. Those decisions on how to allocate resources are as economically necessary as they are politically and ethically difficult.
Abortion
Roe v. Wade is wrongly decided on intellectual as well as moral grounds. But contrary to popular belief, overturning it would merely permit states to prohibit abortion; it would not require it. To protect the unborn, we also need to educate the public about the potential life-long medical problems and emotional scarring associated with abortions.
Gay Marriage
Federalism concerns make a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage an avenue of last resort, Unfortunately, intellectually dishonest activist judges have left us no choice. Activist courts have ignored the principal legal argument that the state's interest in marriage is procreation. Population is power. Society needs a young generation to defend the country in battle, to support its programs with taxes and to carry on its culture and traditions. The mere fact that two people are in a loving relationship does not matter to the state. Society supports traditional marriage because is the only union which, in the ordinary course, leads to children, without the intervention of a third party.
