On September 14th, the first step of a two-part “national hiring process” will take place. Voters will go to the polls in our statewide primary to select the candidates that will represent them in the general election. On September 14th, you will choose the candidate to champion the things you believe are vital to our nation’s future.

At a time when we are at war, when the legislative process is broken, when spending and taxation are rising at unsustainable levels, our country needs people in Congress who will make the tough calls on wasteful, needless  and harmful legislation and spending. The best way to determine whether someone can make those calls is with a proven record of performance that is consistent with the things we believe. I am the only candidate in this race with that record.

At a recent speech, I asked the crowd, “Which candidates do you want managing your finances, laying requirements on the operation of your business, and determining the future for your family? Because they will.”

America spends tens of billions of dollars each year on a "war on drugs", even as the Obama Administration endorses Afghanistan’s continued production of 90% of the world's opium. Despite the perpetual “war on drugs”, you can find a ready supply of heroin and other drugs in any town, city, school or prison in America.

We borrow billions of dollars from China to fight a war in Afghanistan.

We spend lives and money trying to establish democracy in a place where tribal warlords oppose it and the absence of a middle class cannot sustain it.

With the passage of Obama-care, many Americans feel as if government has slapped us in the face. And that's probably putting it mildly.  Predictably, many are calling for a repeal effort after the coming November elections. While speaking about "repeal" makes people feel better, it will not happen. Here's why:

There are not enough Democrat seats up for election in the US Senate to establish a veto-proof majority; conservatives need to capture 27 seats for a veto-proof Senate, and only 15 are up for election this fall.  

Some federal candidates are appealing to the sweeping populism and public anger resulting from the passage of ObamaCare with pledges to “Repeal the bill!” if elected.  While such “chest thumping” sounds impressive and feels good, the simple fact is that repealing ObamaCare is not going to happen. Here’s why:

Repealing ObamaCare will bring a swift Presidential veto. Over-riding that veto will require a 2/3 of both the U.S. House and Senate. Public outrage or no, while it is possible to regain a simple majority of the Senate, it is statistically impossible to gain the 2/3 needed to override an Obama veto.

Reactionary battle cries like “Repeal!” sound and feel good But they will not produce a legislative outcome. Given the enormity of the Constitutional and economic danger in which our nation finds itself, this is a time for careful legislative action to deliver the outcomes we must achieve.

While he was a U.S. Senator, John F. Kennedy wrote a book titled “Profiles in Courage.” In it, he chronicled acts of personal courage by sometimes unsung heroes who did the right thing regardless of personal cost. In every case, the people profiled in JFK’s book were faced with difficult decisions framed in the context of conflict. Sometimes the conflicts were the result of the perpetual struggle between right and wrong. Sometimes their struggles were the result of having to define what is right and what is wrong. 

Times have certainly changed since the publication of President Kennedy’s book. The struggles in Congress are no longer to define what is right, or even to do what is right. In Congress, the struggle has become how each member can best feather his or her political nest at our expense.

Americans have become cynical and disenfranchised from their government because those in whom we placed our trust have violated it. Elected representatives should be accountable to those who entrusted them with the future of our nation and the defense of our Constitutional liberties. We have a major ethics problem in government; its presence is a constant, exhibited in the conduct of too many of our elected leaders. Fraud, waste and abuse start in the halls of Congress, and carry through to every department of the federal government.

If you want to recover from an economic meltdown, you don’t send hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks that caused it. You don’t spend it paving highways and buying used cars. You don’t shield the Fed from accountability. And you don’t call it “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” It wasn’t an act. It was an outrage.

Congress and the Administration ignored the American people, wasted $1 trillion on a failed “Stimulus Package”, and quadrupled the federal deficit in 1 year. Then they blamed the last Administration for the bailout debacle while using the remaining monies as a political slush fund.