Abortion
Abortion is a touchy subject because it questions what point a fetus is considered a human endowed with human rights. Conception? Or Birth? Those rights being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No one will ever agree on this issue. Roe v. Wade will never be overturned in our lifetimes. I think the closest thing to a compromise, if it can even be called that, is to make abortion illegal after the first trimester, except in the rare cases the mother’s life is in jeopardy.
American Global Reputation
I feel there’s been a growing hatred and distrust of America by many around the world. Yes, there are those who are jealous of our success. Yes, there are those who find our way of life not in accord with their religious and moral beliefs. Yet the greatest reason for this hatred is our questionable foreign policy over the past several decades. And this disgust is manifested in everything from burning our flag to direct attacks on our soil.
However, I feel in my heart of hearts that if ever the sun was to set on our great nation and never rise again, this world would not rejoice, but weep. America, beyond all nations in all of history, has been the hope of mankind. Perish the thought of a future world without America.
Although built with the inherent faults of man, our foundation is the idealistic dream that we could rise above those faults and create a world of peace and freedom. We once were the hope of humanity. We were the guiding light to the future. The world is becoming ever more frustrated with us. We must not let them down.
Humans are abandoning hope. There is a sense of impending doom in the air. But, unless by the hand of God, there will be no Armageddon on my watch. Through charity and acts of benevolence, we will once again lead the world by example, into a new era.
Education
Imagine you’re the fifth generation owner of the family business. You were taught by your father and he from his and so forth. They made it their solemn duty to make sure you had the know-how to not only run the company, but to increase its profit and influence. This same solemn duty applies to our children.
The United States, like every other country, is also a family business. We must teach our children how to run this business and encourage them to do a better job than we did. That means we must spare no expense in doing so. We must build more schools, provide more teachers and more advanced learning tools. This will ensure our prosperity in the future.
Economy
The economy of a nation is an extremely complex system. This makes our financial woes rather difficult to solve in a short period of time.
Imagine you had a gold bar. And this gold bar is worth, say, $100. So you print a hundred - one dollar bills to represent it. But if you spend all of it and print 100 more to represent your same bar of gold, then each dollar is now worth half as much. So costs of living go up. People earn less. People spend less. Businesses suffer. Employment rates suffer.
We must begin our long journey back to economic stability by focusing on cutting taxes, cutting useless spending and returning to fiscal responsibility. With a strong plan, we could eliminate our national deficit in a couple of generations.
Gay Marriage
Preventing same-sex marriages is impossible. Marriage is a matter of faith and of the heart. It’s a vow to each other to co-exist until the end of your days. You need neither a preacher, nor a courtroom to create this union. But this isn’t what the fight is about. The fight is about same-sex couples having the same legal rights and responsibilities as heterosexual married couples.
Murder is a sin in many religions. It is also a crime against humanity, separate from my religion. Homosexuality is also a sin in many religions. But it’s not a crime against humanity or American citizens. So I cannot with good reason explain why the federal government seeks to not recognize same-sex marriage. Unless, of course, there was a matter or religion involved, making it a direct violation of the First Amendment. Law should have no place in the realm of romantic love. Society is evolving and we must evolve with it. It is my duty to fight for the rights of all Americans.
Healthcare
Is it American to send aid to other countries, yet be unwilling to give aid to those on our own soil? Not everyone can afford healthcare in this country. Free healthcare implies you won’t get the best or most timely healthcare, but at least it’s available. Yet one should not be punished for being rich. I believe, with careful economic consideration, we can have a mixed healthcare system of both private and public facilities.
Immigration
This nation is largely successful because of immigrants from all over. The term “immigrant” must not become synonymous with second-class. Although I’m all for enforcing the law as it stands, it’s ludicrous to think we can send every illegal immigrant back home. We’ve simply allowed the problem to go on for too long. However, the primary defense against any outside threat must be a secure, non-porous border. We must balance this problem with both duty to our nation and compassion for others.
Social Security
Imagine you’re eight years old. You want that new dirt bike all the other kids have. Dad wants to teach you the value of money so he makes you cut grass and take out the trash to earn enough allowance to pay for it yourself. Then just when you have enough money to buy that bike, Dad spends it on a new riding lawnmower for himself. This is Social Security in the United States. I will fight to pass a law prohibiting Congress from stealing your Social Security money. And, by cutting spending in other areas, over time we should be able to repay our hard-working citizens what we owe them.
Taxes
If I make a cake to sell and was taxed on the eggs, the milk and the mix, then why do you, the buyer, pay those taxes and still get taxed on the cake? That's called getting gypped.
The Fair Tax will solve this very problem.
Your taxes are high because Congress spends your hard earned money on giving welfare to corporations, building nuclear plants in China, financing their own re-elections and vacations and, of course, maintaining military conflicts all over the world.
War
It is time to end this war in Iraq. With a gradual pull-out, we should have our soldiers home by 2010.
We must retire our position as the world police. The world has neither given us permission, nor authority, written or implied, to hold such a position simply because of our superior might.
We must mind our own business. However, if you attack or kill my people, here or anywhere around the world, we will spare no expense and use every resource at our disposal to ensure justice is served. War will always be a last resort. I pray we never see another one.