"This Things I Believe..."

I do not support raising taxes for the sake of fairness, regardless of the negative impact it is likely to have on the economy. In fact, I support equal taxation by percentage across the board, regardless of income levels.

I believe the federal government has gone too far in bailing out the auto, insurance and finance industries.

I do not support amnesty for illegal immigrants. I also realize that a solution that is completely in line with my principles and ideals is not practical. I support a registration program that includes a fine as penalty and requires the payment of estimated back taxes implemented simultaneously with a new guest worker program.

I believe that English should be the official language of the United States.

I have not completely agreed with the large expansion in social spending and welfare that we have seen over the past decade and I believe that the time to start cutting back benefits is just around the corner. There should be length of time, education and work requirements for all able-bodied Americans on welfare programs.

I believe that if the effort that recently went into socialized medicine had gone into creating jobs, we would be better off today.

I did not support the creation of a national health insurance program administered by the U.S. Federal Government. While recognizing the need for reform, a completely partisan bill rammed through the congress was not the right solution, especially from a man who said he was going to unite the country. I believe that once the federal government is dictating prices and eligibility to doctors and hospitals, the quality and availability of healthcare will be greatly reduced. Those with no insurance will now have insurance at the cost of the 50% of Americans that actually pay income taxes and those who already had insurance will see the quality of their care decline. I also believe that the development of new medicine and treatments will greatly suffer under the weight of this new federal health insurance program.

I believe that we should eliminate teacher tenure and increase the use of performance standards and accountability.

I believe that our armed forces should remain an all-volunteer force.

I do not believe that federal employees should be allowed to unionize if they serve in positions critical to safety and security. While I am not a big union supporter at all, I do believe that union elections and initiatives should have secret ballots.