Candidate for
Member, Republican Party County Central Committee; County of Los Angeles; Assembly District 43

In a nutshell, my political philsophy follows the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In other words, do what you can to ensure that you can live your life as you see fit without doing harm to others, and respect their right to do the same. Here are some brief examples of this way of thinking applied to specific topics:

Taxation -

To take what is the rightful property of someone and give it to another for a purpose which they may not agree with is fundamentally wrong. I quote the famous French philospher and economist Frederic Bastiat from his classic work of 1850, "The Law":

"How to Identify Legal Plunder - See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one person at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils becasuse it invites rerpisals. If such a law—which may be an isolated case—is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system."

A perfect example of this in action is government funding of the arts. But who is to say what is art? Certainly a "correct" answer to such a subjective question cannot exist "for the benefit of the public good", and yet every single American taxpayer is forced to fund what is deemed to be art by a panel of bureaucrats. Whether any particular taxpayer enjoys the works or not is considered irrelevant.

Furthermore, in all cases taxation is only fair when the public can be sure that they know exactly where their money is going and how it is being spent to their direct benefit; for example when your local property tax is used to maintain the infrastructure of your neighborhood (sewer systems, sidewalk repairs, etc.), or when road tax is used to build and maintain roads, or when excise taxes and user fees are utilized to support the proper functions of government on a national level such as national defense and a judicial system.

Needless to say, once elected I will promote lower taxes for everyone and fiscal responsibility of government whenever possible.

Economy -

It has been proven throughout history that the most fair and equitable economic system is one that allows the common man to earn his living according to the Golden Rule, and this system is free market capitalism - but backed by a strong system of courts to make sure that everyone plays by the rules. In this regard, the importance of honest citizens' participation in our judicial system through the jury process (and in particular grand juries) cannot be overstressed. The finer points of what amounts to "fair play" are open to debate (and in many cases need to be addressed one by one via the courts), but the empirical evidence of the benefits of free markets to the common man cannot be disputed.

When people are free to make their own economic choices - but without having the right to harm others in the process, society as a whole invetibly benefits. Socialism came into vogue when the gap between the rich and the poor was quite wide, but its logic fails as the line between rich and poor blurs when people are free to choose their own level of success in life. It also relies on a simplistic belief that there are only "bosses" and "workers", and that once cast into one of these groups you are there for life - and therefor your only hope is to have government intervene to even things out for everyone. However, the reality of the business world is much different when people are free to pursue their own career goals without government interference. People switch jobs and careers regularly, learning new skills and developing new ideas as they go through life, often moving back and forth between the role of "worker" or "boss" as they find their way in the world.

Like you, I am tired of paying $4 per gallon for gas and seeing my food and energy bills going through the roof. Here is a good question to ask yourself... Are these things any more valuable to you than they used to be? Of course not! It’s the value of your hard earned cash that has been robbed through debasement of our dollar. This is more commonly known as "inflation", but that term focuses on prices rather than on the root of the problem, which is the declining value of the dollar. We must stabilize our monetary situation before it destroys our economy. I see two ways we can do this: 1) Reign in the irresponsible Federal Reserve and give the power to create money back to Congress as stated in our Constitution, and 2) Support the Free Competition in Currency Act.

One last note - only when property rights are fully protected by law and backed by the courts, and when people have access to the wide variety of environmentally sound goods and services that only a free market system can bring, will the topic of pollution be able to be rightfully addressed.

Education -

There may not be any more important task than educating our children about the values that our great country was founded on. This includes teaching them the fundamentals of our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, how our government was founded, how our monetary system works, and so on. We cannot know how to deal with whatever the future might bring if we do not present a clear view of our past history to future generations. That said, I challenge anyone to find a law that states that every child must attend government run public schools. Parents must have the right to choose how to educate their children if we are to be a free and diverse society. Whether parents choose a private school or decide on home schooling their children, their right to do so must not be infringed.

An excellent way to promote this idea is to provide tax credits for those parents who decline to send their children to public schools. And for those parents who do decide to take advantage of public schools, they need to know that their children are getting the best education possible for their tax dollars. This means returning control of schools to a local level. The larger the education bureaucracy grows, the more watered down the curriculum becomes in an attempt to cater to the incredible variety of regional needs and interests in a country the size of ours. Returning control of education to local levels will ensure that children learn more than just the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic (which we are doing quite poorly at by the way). It will also help promote their appreciation of their local community's heritage and traditions, and ensure that they acquire the particular skills and knowledge that will help them assimiliate better into the local job market.

Health Care -

I am disgusted when multi-national pharmaceutical and agricultural corporations work hand in hand with the FDA try to control my health care and dietary options. It is time to put control of health care and healthy foods back into the hands of doctors, patients, and farmers by supporting truly free markets in both health care and sustainable farming.