Issue Position: Limited Government / Individual Rights

Issue Position

Americans are increasingly concerned about the ever-expanding federal government and the resulting limits on liberty and individual choice. Our strength has always been found in the character of our people, not the size of our government. Individuals, families and communities should make the choices that affect them, whether that involves choices about the doctor they see or their child's education. As a naval officer, I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. I will strongly defend constitutional limits on government and work to return more decisions and control to We the People. To that end, I strongly:

Support state-based efforts to propose and approve a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Support policies that protect our Second Amendment rights, including the right to Stand your Ground if attacked.

Oppose Obamacare. At the state level, I will oppose the Medicaid expansion proposed in Obamacare. At the federal level, Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with new reforms that put patients in control of their healthcare, not the government.

Oppose federal interference with our education system. I support strong standards and accountability in education. However, any education reforms should acknowledge that parents have a primary role in the education of their children. Similarly, I am strongly opposed to any efforts to nationalize curriculum. As one example, the newly expanded framework for the College Board's AP U.S. History Exam directs teachers to include specific learning objectives for testing that will necessarily operate as a de facto curriculum. Most troubling, the new framework adopts the cynical view of leftist academics, focusing on identity politics and anti-American themes that change America's legacy to one of class conflict and recurring injustices. Conspicuously absent are learning objectives about the desire for freedom and religious toleration that led colonists to the New World or the principles of our constitutional republic and America's primary role in advancing liberty and the rule of law.

Source