Jim Ward for Congress

Tax Reform and Jobs

Let’s just start over.

One of the most complex structures we deal with is the United States Tax Code which currently runs 16, 845 pages long with 5.5 millions words. The complexity of this document is mind-boggling and it hides the basic progressive structure of the tax system and creates gross inequalities, which disincentivize the very variables that drive our economy.

Now, how do you fight complexity? With simplicity. That’s the right kind of change.

We need to understand that the way to stimulate jobs in this country is to fundamentally reform our tax code.

First, we need to:

• Recognize that small businesses generate most of the new jobs in America.
• Create a six month payroll tax holiday to stimulate small businesses.
• Create a two year 50% reduction in the Social Security and Medicare taxes including the employers' match.
• Reduce the corporate tax rate to 12.5%.
• Repeal taxes on capital gains.
• Repeal the alternative-minimum tax.
• Repeal the death tax.

Ultimately, the right kind of change is to repeal the 16th Amendment of the Constitution and have Congress replace it with a fairer and flatter tax system that would be transparent and understandable, would strengthen our international trade competitiveness, offset Social Security and Medicare funding issues and abolish the IRS once and for all.

Federalism

Restore the Balance Between Federal and State Power.

In our great state of Arizona, nearly a third of our budget is tied to the Federal Government primarily through federal transfer payments for health, welfare and education. That means our state elected officials have control over only 70% of our budget. That means when they try to balance our state budget they can’t because so much is tied to Federal funding. And, that federal funding is inflexible as it dictates how those dollars are to be spent and evaluated, usually tied to lowest common denominator standards.

In order for our society to prosper it needs to be dynamic and free to create innovative solutions to our local problems. No matter how genuinely well-intended those at the federal level are, there is no way that the federal government can understand, legislate and dictate solutions to the myriad of challenges we face on local issues like education, transportation, job creation, energy and technology to name a few.

We need to receive our fair share of federal tax dollars back in the state of Arizona, unencumbered by rigid federal mandates and standards. These dollars need to be mainlined to those at the forefront of solving our key issues like teachers and small businesses.

Ultimately, I would support and call for a Federalism Amendment (including the repeal of the 16th Amendment, see Tax Reform and Jobs) to the Constitution which would simply clarify what is already inherent in our existing Constitution. Specifically this amendment would:

• Free our states to experiment and innovate with policy by prohibiting Congress from regulating any activity that takes place wholly within a state.
• Incorporate the Enumerated Powers Act which would require Congress to specify the source of authority under the U.S. Constitution for the enactment of laws particularly as they relate to state’s rights.

Free Markets and Free Trade

Stop Government Intervention and Protectionism

I have a Masters degree in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management right here in Phoenix. This education along with managing businesses on a global scale for the past twenty-five years has taught me much.

First, the economic engine for this nation has been and should continue to be the free market system. This economy is based on an individual’s right to make their own economic decisions concerning employment, the accumulation of wealth and consumption. The government’s role should be limited to protecting private property, enforcing contracts and regulating natural monopolies. While regulation is necessary to curb abuse of the system, it is, nonetheless extremely delicate and when government presumes to take an active role in the marketplace it risks upsetting this delicate balance.

I am concerned about the recent federal incursion into our free market system. Bailouts, mandated management change, payback to union contributors and unconstitutional czars running industries in America are all examples of a violation of the free market system. This needs to stop.

In addition, I believe open markets around the world are central to our economic well-being. Free trade stimulates investment, jobs and ultimately prosperity. I’m concerned that the current administration is attempting to intervene by creating protectionist policies that will choke our livelihood.

We need to:

• Stop government bailouts.
• Stop government intervention into the free market system by prohibiting mandated controls of industry and specific companies.
• Solve our competitive problems not through protectionist policies but by lowering corporate tax rates, reducing regulation, protecting intellectual property rights and stopping subsidies.
• Protect existing U.S. free trade agreements from protectionist revision and move ahead with expanding new agreements.
• Avoid sanctions that, in the long run, have no efficacy and ultimately harm free trade.
• Fight government imposed programs like Cap and Trade that will cripple the competitiveness of American business in the global marketplace.
• Fight the movement towards a new global currency based on IMF Special Drawing Rights and maintain the use of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency.

Education

The Civil Right of the 21st Century

The single key to our prosperity in the future is the education of our children. It is truly the Civil Right of the 21st Century. For Dawne and me it is imperative that our daughters have the best education possible in order to compete on the global stage.

The question is how do we achieve this?

I believe that the nucleus of the solution must always consist of the relationship of we as parents and the teacher of our children. We as parents and our child’s teacher are the most knowledgeable about the best way to educate our children. And there are many options available. But we need to be able to have the ability at all times to choose the best options, whether that’s public, private, parochial, charter or home schooling. The federal government should not dictate those choices or create standards and benchmarks that are not relevant to our local needs.

But at the center of that relationship comes accountability. Parents and their children must assume accountability for behavior, performance and accept real consequences for failure. Parents must stop asking teachers to become the parents of their children. Accordingly, teachers must be able to perform to set goals and either achieve those goals or accept real consequences as well.

Accordingly, we must have the best teachers available. The primary variable for student success is the quality of the teacher not class size. We must create incentives for the best and brightest to enter the teaching field and not handicap that entrance with archaic teaching certification requirements. We must reward them with competitive compensation and goal oriented bonuses and we must recognize that under-performance cannot and will not be tolerated in such an important profession.

We must also shift the conversation away from how much is spent on each student to an examination of the efficacy of that expenditure. Since 1960 inflation adjusted spending per pupil has nearly quadrupled. Yet literacy rates have decreased. We need to ensure that the majority of dollars go directly to the teacher and the benefit of the student rather than being churned in administrative and bureaucratic costs. Currently, in the state of Arizona, only one third of the per student cost goes to teachers. The rest goes to the cost of the bureaucracy. This ratio needs to flip.

Finally, we must not be afraid to examine the best possible benchmarks out there and use these as templates for success. In our very own 5th Congressional district we have such models including the charter school example of BASIS of Scottsdale. In Tucson, BASIS has delivered the number one high school in the country and has done so with the same per student expenditure as public schools because they reward high-performing teachers for delivering results across a broad group of students. In addition, they demand a high level of performance from students and their parents alike.

In order to make Education the Civil Right of the 21st Century we need to:

• Protect the sanctity of the parent-teacher-student relationship at the local level.
• Protect the right of parents to choose the best possible education for their children and create the ability for them to have access to that solution whether it is public, private, parochial, charter or home schooling.
• Create a culture of accountability where parents and students accept the consequences of bad behavior and performance and where teachers are accountable to specific goals for success.
• Limit federal government intrusion with programs like No Child Left Behind that create lowest common-denominator standards and attempt to legislate generic national solutions to solve specific local challenges.
• Force federal education dollars back into the state of Arizona unencumbered by federal regulation so that they may be distributed to local districts with the flexibility to spend those dollars as they see fit.
• Fight the National Education Association’s 2006 resolution that opposes merit pay schemes that link teacher compensation to student achievement.
• Recruit and retain the best teaching talent we can by recruiting from the top five percent of graduating classes, removing archaic teaching certification standards, focusing on compensating these teachers with high salaries for high-achievement and by giving them control over the educational environment.
• Create a system that can competitively rival other private sector jobs that would yield high salaries for high performing teachers; this would include transparency in teacher performance with reviews made accessible to parents and the ability of high performance teachers to teach more pupils with associated per-pupil bonuses tied to student achievement.
• Move the expenditure discussion away from per student expenditure and class size to efficacy; and in so doing, shift the expenditure allocation to teachers away from bureaucratic costs.
• Open the door for part time teachers, retirees and those willing to bring practical experience to students to be able to enter the schoolroom environment.
• Leverage successful models, like charter schools that focus on pay for performance with a strict mission, vision and method of measuring progress and promote the creation of more charter and independent options for parents.
• Ensure both the prosperity and security of our future by strengthening the educational performance of our children in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Technology

Critical for our Prosperity

Most of my business experience has been centered on technology and innovation. Whether it was introducing innovative Apple hardware and software solutions like the PowerBook, the Newton and the Power Macintosh, Windows ’95 with Microsoft or working with George Lucas to pioneer the digital capture, transfer, distribution and exhibition of his creations and driving the next generation of video game technology through the creation of digital molecular matter and behavioral simulation engines, technology has been a driving force in my own success.

I am convinced that innovative technology is a key component to the future of our prosperity in America. And I believe that technology is also an opportunity for economic advancement here in the 5th Congressional District. I’m currently an advisor to ASU’s SkySong Innovation Center and I’m truly excited about the technology incubation that is taking place right here in our own district. But I do not believe there is a solid, coherent technology agenda. I’d like to offer one:

• We must have a coordinated public/private plan to invest in future broadband infrastructure, such as Fiber to the Home, which would remove current barriers to the deployment of innovative technologies that spur investment, create jobs and increase productivity.
• We must streamline right-of-way procedures to stimulate investment in broadband infrastructure.
• We need to develop a national spectrum strategy that will dissipate the artificial limitation on frequency availabilities.
• We must limit the expansion of the FCC in regulating content and must fight any attempts to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
• We must constantly uphold existing intellectual property laws particularly internationally.
• We must maintain the regulatory freedom of the Internet by limiting government regulation and taxation in order to continue the creation of the innovative and disruptive technologies that have benefitted everyone.
• We must create the proper tax incentives to stimulate research and development along with creating the proper environment for small businesses to adopt and implement new technologies.
• We must promote, at the earliest stages, the ideas of creative technology to stimulate participation and learning, so that our next generation embraces technology as an essential tool for economic success.
• We must create work-study vocational technical schools in every state so that our young people can see a technical future as a good future and our economy is assured for the 21st century.

Arizona's Frontier Economy

Diversified Independence

The right kind of change is to have Arizona become a Frontier Economy once again; to become what we once were- independent and not afraid to take risks.

I like to call our economy here in Arizona the “Yo Yo Economy”. It’s wound tight around the traditional C’s that have made this state great but because there are so few C’s it’s volatile. When times are good everything is fine. But when times are bad we feel it more so than most other states. As a result, our economy is up and down. Up and down.

We need to diversify our economy beyond the all-important C’s and become known as the innovation state, a title we deserve, not California.

The right kind of change is to make Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe the innovation metroplex of the country, but to accomplish this the environment for innovation must exist. We need to provide an unencumbered ability for entrepreneurs to start businesses and seek out the public/private partnerships that do, in fact, drive business. We need to put in the tax structures that entice businesses to the state. Much of this needs to happen at the state level, but we need to set the table at the federal level by limiting federal intrusion into our state. (see Federalism section).

Arts and the Cultural Economy

Recognizing the Stimulative Benefit of Creativity

My mother played the Harp. She loved music and instilled this love in me. And the day I came to her and said that I wanted to play the electric guitar like the Beatles, in defense of her eardrums, she suggested that I learn to play the piano first. I was classically trained on the piano from the age of six. I went on to play oboe and bassoon in my high school orchestra. And yes, the oboe and bassoon rock! I love music and the impact it has had on my life. Music helped me overcome difficulties I had with mathematics growing up and I soon learned it was like a second language and valuable for me during my entire career.

All too often we view music, art, dance and all of the arts as a drain on our economy and, as a result, they become “discretionary” to that economy. I would argue the opposite. I maintain the arts are an essential element to the vitality of our economy and should be regarded as a unique industrial segment. The arts drive our economy by attracting youth into productive activity, stimulating private companies, commercial enterprises and self-employed creative people, adding valuable skills and revenue streams to industries such as tourism, manufacturing and technology.

We can, at the federal level, create a framework for this type of productivity where enterprises that directly or indirectly produce cultural products come together with a creative workforce of thinkers and doers trained in specific cultural and artistic skills and together drive the success of leading industries. We must also protect the arts as a national cultural element of our character and at the same time realize the practicality of the economic impact they can deliver.

But here’s the challenge. Currently, financing for non-profit arts is complex and diversified. The arts only earn 44% of their income. 56% must be contributed from private or public sources. Public sources account for 13% of this income. Within the public contributed income, 9% comes from the federal government, 3% from local governments and 1% from state governments. The federal component of this spending largely comes from the National Endowment for the Arts which commands an annual budget of only $125 million which is shot gunned out through a labyrinth of grants tied to exacting standards.

The fallacy of this approach is that, in this case, the federal government is simply allocating too few dollars and dissipating those dollars with no real critical mass to make an impact. In addition, once again, states and local entities are receiving the dollars encumbered with a federal agenda, which may not necessarily align with the economic needs of the recipients. Finally, there is not sufficient incentive for individuals and corporations to adequately contribute on the private side of the equation.

To stimulate Arts and the Cultural Economy I would:

• Support the allocation of unencumbered federal funds for local schools to maintain artistic instruction in order to foster creative thinking.
• Promote policies that encourage the development of creative industries.
• Divert the current waste in spending from the Department of Education and other government largess like the stimulus package and create the critical mass of funds necessary to stimulate the Cultural Economy.
• Overhaul and expand the National Endowment for the Arts with deficit neutral spending derived from the funds mentioned above; create pools of funding that can be drawn upon, unencumbered, by state and local governments that can be invested directly into programs that fund non-profit organizations and public/private initiatives that develop a skilled workforce to help businesses remain competitive.
• Revise the tax structure to further incentivize donations to the arts from individuals and corporations by increasing the standard deduction.

The Constitution

An Enduring Document

Beliefs on the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States play heavily in policy decisions. It’s important to understand one’s point of view on this issue in order to understand one’s view on both policy creation and the role of the judicial branch.

I believe the Constitution of the United States is an enduring document that is static, fixed and knowable and should only be interpreted based on the way in which the authors originally intended it. Often the argument is made that current context demands that our Constitution need be interpreted loosely in order to account for the changes in culture and the condition of society. I reject this argument because I believe the Constitution is clear and specific and also leaves the discretion to adapt to current times to the legislative branch of government, particularly at the state level.

I also assert the express limitations that the Constitution places on the form of our federal government and believe that these limitations need be adhered to in order to protect our liberties from infringement at the federal level.

The 2nd Amendment

There is no compromise

I grew up in Rockford, Illinois. When I was seven I enrolled in a Winnebago County/National Rifle Association program that taught us about the safety, maintenance and efficacy of firearms. I used to go pheasant hunting with family friends in the frigid cornfields outside of town and shoot clay pigeons on each and every Memorial Day.

I remember my childhood experiences fondly and cherish the times I had with close family friends who were responsible, instructive and most importantly, safe. Today I continue to enjoy the ability to shoot trap, skeet and sporting clays at our wonderful state ranges like the Ben Avery Shooting Facility.

I believe that our founding fathers created an amendment to our Constitution that was simple in its intent. As part of a bill of rights the 2nd amendment was created in order to guarantee that government could never disarm its people as the British Parliament had attempted to do in order to subdue its colony.

No, we’re no longer under the thumb of the British Parliament. But our founding fathers had learned a lesson. And that lesson was that an unchecked government coveting power could enslave its subjects and deny them their rights. This was a cornerstone of our political thought and our Constitution of the United States. To remove that check on government today would be a naïve concession to the notion of civilized modernity. There is no proof that any government at any time, unchecked, will resist the abuse of power. We fight this today even with the current checks and balances we have.

Unfortunately for many, there simply is no gray area on this subject. There is, in fact, a slippery slope. It exists due to the nature of government. We have a 2nd amendment that gives United States citizens the right to bear arms and the right to form a citizen-militia as a check on the abuse of power. I must defend that right because it is an enduring, fixed and static component of the framework of government we live by. It is key to our liberty.

And it is an absolute, just as every other amendment in the bill of rights. An incremental approach to revising the intent and impact of the amendment serves to degrade the right that it provides and consequently erodes the sanctity of every right protected by our Bill of Rights.

Violent crime is an abomination. I am a victim’s rights supporter. Yet the solution is not to undermine inherent rights provided under our Constitution. The solution is to attack the heart of the problem by increasing incarceration rates, keeping criminals behind bars and enforcing existing laws against criminals with guns.

The 2nd Amendment is a right guaranteed under our Constitution. We must keep it that way.

Health Care

The Sanctity of the Physician/Patient Relationship

After her divorce, my mother had to go back to college, earn her degree and make a living to support my sister and me. She became a medical technologist and for thirty years worked at Rockford Memorial Hospital in the laboratory. I grew up as a lab rat, which probably explains why I never became a doctor.

But my mother always told me that I needed to make sure I knew my doctor, had a relationship with him or her and openly and honestly worked out the best course of action for my medical care. She also told me that my health was my responsibility and to never give that responsibility away. She always talked about the tension that existed when doctors were pressured to alter or curtail treatment for cost reasons and the resulting harm to the health of the patient.

The moral of the story was to never let anyone come in between my relationship with my doctor. That’s what was drilled into me since I was a child.

And that is why I will never support a public option for health care in this country. We do not need government to insert itself into this fragile relationship. Only you and your doctor are qualified to make the important decisions about your health care. I view the sanctity of the physician/patient relationship as a fundamental liberty.

However, we do need health care reform in this country. Anyone who wants to maintain the status quo is ignoring the soaring costs of coverage and treatment, lack of consumer choice and overall competition, not to mention the lack of accessibility with many Americans episodically left uncovered.

But, the way to address these issues is not through a public option, health care exchanges, health choices commissioner or comparative effectiveness research. The government has proven all too often that it is incapable of effectively administering these types of programs as evidenced by the government’s mismanagement of kidney dialysis in this country for the past forty years. Government monopoly markets have seldom proved effective. The free market is what fuels this country and we should have a consumer driven health care program in America, not a government sponsored solution.

A public option will not address cost as there is no true way for this kind of solution to be deficit neutral and will result in spending and tax increases creating a long-term unfunded federal mandate that will burden families making as little as $20,000 and force employers to provide health coverage deemed acceptable by the Federal Government or else pay new payroll taxes. To pay for this spending, taxes will necessarily increase, driving up the top marginal tax rates in this country. Because the government-run plan will be “too big to fail”, taxpayers will also be responsible for any funding shortfalls.

And, nowhere in any of the currently proposed plans is tort reform addressed which would focus on some of the leading costs in health care today.

A public option will not address choice and competition as Americans will actually lose options as a federally subsidized government-run insurance plan will cost-shift the underpayment burden for Medicare to private insurers culling out the herd over time. Providers will be limited in creating new options that do not comply with the federal government’s requirements effectively limiting choice in the insurance market.

How do we address the issues of cost, choice and competition and ultimately accessibility?

Here’s my plan. We, as consumers along with our physicians, must take back control. We must deconstruct the system by taking the following steps:

• Make health insurance personally attainable, tax-deductible and portable.
• Unburden business with the need to offer health benefits to their employees thereby increasing overall direct pay and effectively lowering the cost of their products making them more competitive in the marketplace.
• Create the opportunity for consumers to purchase affordable health care on the open market across state borders similar to the way they can purchase car insurance today.
• Drive accessibility by creating a safety net for low-income families and those dealing with chronic diseases that would be funded by unencumbered federal reimbursed funding to the states to create high-risk insurance pools.
• Allow and incent physicians to form specialty clusters outside of hospital service providers focused on specific treatment areas such as diabetes and, in so doing, create an environment for consumers and physicians to determine the best plan for their health care unencumbered by service provider cost pressures and administrative agendas that can drive costs higher by providing services consumers don’t need.
• Give consumers the ultimate in choice by mandating hospital service providers and clinics to be open and transparent about their rates, costs and efficacy so that consumers can pick the best service provider to fulfill their doctor’s plan for health.
• Create a cash flow pipeline that incents insurance providers to pay physicians in a timely manner based on efficacy and not quantity.
• Transform the medical industry through the creation of private electronic medical records
• Address tort reform as a key driver of cost in health care particularly by placing caps on non-economic damages.
• Drive all reform in a transparent way, led by physicians and those responsible for the ultimate solution, at a reasonable pace with the flexibility to experiment with differing payment models.

The Workplace

Protect the Right to a Secret Ballot

Currently, there is proposed law called “Card Check” or misleadingly the “Employee Free Choice Act”, co-sponsored by Congressman Harry Mitchell, that will fundamentally alter the relationship between the employer and employee in the workplace by denying the employee his or her fundamental right to vote through a secret ballot whether or not to unionize the workplace, and forcing an employer to run his or her business according to government arbitration.

This movement attacks a fundamental liberty in America: the right to vote by secret ballot. There exists today a structured, fair and effective method for employees to decide whether or not they want to form a union in the workplace. Employees can sign a petition, or an authorization card, and with signatures of at least 30% of the workforce it can then be submitted to the National Labor Relations Board who will then authorize a secret ballot. This secret ballot allows privacy for all involved, particularly those employees who might not want to unionize.

The “card check” movement changes this dynamic dangerously. Under “card check” if more than 50% of workers at a facility sign a card, the government would have to certify the union automatically and a private ballot would be prohibited, even if workers wanted one. This methodology forces workers to sign a card in public, instead of voting in private, and opens them up to intimidation and coercion.

But, “card check” doesn’t stop there. Once the unionization of the workplace is authorized the employer and the union would have only 120 days to reach an agreement on a contract. If this doesn’t happen it is automatically forced into binding arbitration with the government imposing a two-year contract determining with finality all workplace issues without any control by the employer or vote from the union employees.

This is wrong, unfair and violates an employee’s fundamental right to a secret ballot not to mention an employer’s right to run a business in the most flexible way possible.

I am not against unions. But we have a fair and effective method for determining whether employees want to unionize. We do not need to violate their fundamental right to vote by secret ballot.

I am against “Card Check”.

Energy

Exploit all of our Assets with Environmental Respect

A comprehensive national energy policy is vital to our prosperity. But it is also vital to our liberty, as we have become more and more dependent on foreign energy sources. Since our last energy crisis in 1973, U.S. energy production has grown by only 13% while consumption has increase by 30%. This rate is untenable and has tied our economy to the vagaries and whims of the international marketplace that doesn’t always put our national priorities first.

Our energy future must make us independent of foreign oil consumption, provide new energy resources to drive our economic growth and be sensitive to our environment as we expand energy consumption.

However, this cannot happen over night. We need to recognize the reality that we are hooked on oil. And oil will factor into our energy consumption for the next decade.

We need to recognize that while we develop new technologies to exploit renewable energies like wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower and woody biomass, we must be able to access the existing energy reserves we currently have in this country. More than 85% of the oil and gas resources off the continental United States remain off-limits because of federal laws. The technology exists to harness this energy in environmentally safe ways in addition to the fact that these resources lie completely outside the aesthetic view from our coasts. There is no reason not to do this.

Unfortunately, laws like “Cap and Trade” do nothing to address this dependence and everything to paralyze an ailing economy that needs stimulation not taxation. In addition, existing technologies like nuclear energy, which has proven to be reliable, affordable, and carbon free are limited due to federal regulation.

I propose a two-phase national energy policy:

Phase I

• Repeal any “Cap and Trade” legislation that might be enacted in order to provide the economic stimulus necessary for growth in America.
• Make the 85% of oil and gas resources that are currently off-limits available for production.
• Reduce government regulation on nuclear energy to expand our nuclear power capabilities.
• Increase overall energy efficiency and conservation.

Phase II

• Leverage the billions of dollars of federal revenue created through the access to oil and gas reserves to fund development in wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower and woody biomass technologies.
• Create incentives for all business to leverage alternative energies and to create products that will continue to promote independence from foreign energy resources.

Victim's Rights

Equal Protection Under the Law

While our focus as a nation has been on our economy, crime and the resulting victimization still exist. It should not be forgotten and it should not be ignored.

Over twenty-five million crimes will be committed in the United States, with six million of these being violent and 19 million involving property. Nearly one million children will be abused or neglected. The economic loss to victims will be nearly $2 billion for violent crime and $17 billion for property loss.

And, on top of this suffering, victims are then exposed to a legal system that often provides greater protections for criminals than it does for their victims.

I support a federal Victim’s Rights Amendment to our constitution that protects violent and non-violent victims’ rights to justice and speedy due process and preserves their right to be treated with fairness, respect and dignity, to be notified of proceedings and status as it relates to the defendant, to be present at certain judicial proceedings, to make a statement at sentencing or other times, and to restitution from a convicted offender.

Life

Two Unknown Mothers

I am pro-life.

Dawne and I have been blessed with two beautiful little girls that we adopted from China. Fortunately for us, two brave mothers chose to have these girls despite a government that maintained a one-child policy. Tragically, these mothers were then forced to leave our little girls literally on the doorstep of their respective orphanages or face extreme economic and punitive recourse.

We will always be indebted to the courage of these two unknown mothers and for their respect of the sanctity of life. As a result of this courage, respect and choice, our dream of becoming parents has come true.

Immigration, Illegal Immigration and Border Security

Reform and Immersion

This is an important issue to the state of Arizona and to the future of our country. Yet because it is volatile we must be very careful not to confuse the issue. I recognize the difference between immigration and illegal immigration.

I believe in immigration. I am a father of two legal immigrants to the United States of America. My two daughters came here legally and are learning to be productive citizens of the state of Arizona and the United States of America. We must continue to be that bright beacon for all people of the world who want to come to this country, pursue their happiness, become U.S. citizens, learn our language and shoulder the responsibilities of paying taxes and contributing to the economic welfare of our society.

We should not generalize that all immigrants are illegal and that all immigrants are a burden on our society. The Republican Party is the party that freed the slaves and should continue to be the party that encourages all people, of all races to promote the American dream of prosperity, liberty and security.

In addition, immigration will be an important economic driver to us in the future. We will face a labor shortage in this country. Our current birthrate of 1.6 children per family is far below the sustainability rate of 2.1, a rate that will leave us with a deficit of workers. We have a choice. We can move forward as France and Germany and the rest of Europe has and face the chaos of fatally flawed guest worker programs or map out our future in a constructive and strategic way.

We must all also understand that a healthy Mexico, and for that matter Latin America, means a healthy Arizona and a healthy United States. We need the country of Mexico to succeed. Just think if Mexico were to falter. Their economy would be severely compromised and the flood of those wanting to leave the country and enter ours would increase geometrically.

Now, let’s discuss illegal immigration. We have a severe problem in this country and more specifically, here in Arizona. We have an illegal population that is, in fact, a burden on society because they are receiving and using government services such as schools and health care at our expense. We have a crime problem in the Phoenix metro area due to drug cartels infiltrating this country. In addition, we have a border that is not secured, not only to illegal immigration but also to terrorist activities that threaten our country.

We have not dealt with this issue properly at the federal level through reform nor have we actively pursued existing law to counter this issue. And, what has been lacking is a positive immersion component to any reform.

I do not support instant amnesty. I do not support granting illegal aliens social security benefits or any benefits they have not earned legally.

But I do support this plan for immigration, illegal immigration and border security:

• We must celebrate legal immigration in this country and reward those who want to come here, pursue their happiness, become U.S. citizens, learn our language and shoulder the responsibilities of paying taxes and contributing to the economic welfare of our society.
• We must have a long-term plan to face the labor shortages we will face forty years from now and avoid the damaging models of guest worker programs from Europe.
• We must not demonize legal immigrants in this country.
• We must promote free trade and economic stability in Mexico and Latin America in order to prevent a catastrophic collapse that would only worsen our border issues.
• We should expand the Merida initiative with Mexico, which provides equipment, training and technology support to law enforcement operations in order to gain control over the drug cartels.
• We must secure our porous borders by properly investing in the equipment, technology, infrastructure and records modernization necessary including border fences, vehicle barrier construction and an increase in border agents.
• We must have better overall coordination between federal, state and local bodies including the National Guard and we must fully fund SBInet leveraging technology and rapid response to secure our borders.
• We must utilize all law enforcement personnel to enforce existing immigration and workplace laws and continue with the detention and removal policy.
• We must open up legal avenues of immigration to this country and incorporate patriotic immersion programs, while respecting cultural differences, reinforce the common principles and mutual understandings of the American way of life; this would include an understanding of the principles of our government, understanding that language is a bond and learning the English language would be a requirement, understanding the economic free market and the way in which to engage with this market and understanding the true meaning of national allegiance.

Defense

Our Number One Priority

While this nation’s attention has been understandably focused on the economy, the rest of the world has not been on pause. Clearly we face national security issues in North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. And geopolitical forces around the globe are constantly at play altering the ever-changing landscape of foreign affairs. Yet, I’m deeply concerned about our national approach to defense and foreign policy.

We have to face the world of realpolitik. We have enemies. We will always have enemies. And the best way to peace is through strength.

One of the three express purposes for our government is to provide for our common defense. And the absolute necessity to provide for our common defense is to make sure we are always prepared and secure. This means maintaining our defense superstructure in the most efficient yet powerful way possible. We must make sure our military is properly funded and has the resources necessary to provide for our security. This includes a strong and fortified missile defense program including interceptors in Alaska and California to protect us from North Korea and interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic to protect Europe from Iran.

We will be tested as a nation, particularly if we are seen as compromised on our principles and willing to openly engage with violent regimes. As a result, now is not the time to cut our defense budget. The world has not become safer just because we’re not looking. I support Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and others in calling for the maintenance of a minimum defense budget of 4% of GDP.

In addition, we must secure our borders (see Illegal Immigration section) to protect our citizens from terrorist threat. And, we must make sure that our future security is protected by strengthening the educational performance of our children in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (see Education section).

Foreign Policy

The Dawn of the American Age

We live in a world of nations that are interconnected through trade, culture, influence, political philosophy and military impact. We cannot shy away from the world stage. We can benefit by creating economic conditions that drive prosperity here at home and abroad. We can be an example to the world that freedom, free markets and democracy can, in fact, lead to a higher standard of living for all.

We must refrain from worldwide crusades that deplete resources and more importantly, human lives. Yet, we must also be vigilant at all times and recognize that nations will act in their own self-interest and when that self-interest conflicts with that of the United States, we must not be afraid to do what is necessary to protect our sovereignty. The answer is not always a military answer. Yet when it must be the answer, after all options are exhausted, we cannot hesitate to act.

I believe that we need to be a leader on this world stage. But to be a leader we must act like one. We must be firm in our resolve and beliefs and consistently communicate them to the international community. We must not apologize for these beliefs but be fair in our approach.

I believe we are at the dawn of the American Age not at its nadir. We will continue to be a pivotal actor in the twenty-first century. But critical issues must be addressed.

Terrorism

We must recognize that we are in a war with terrorists and we must win this war. However, the definition of winning the war in the twenty-first century is disruption. The key to blocking a fundamental Islamic uprising around the world is to disrupt that world and turn it against itself. Accordingly, we must understand this strategy, establish the correct expectation level here and abroad and execute this policy with the resources necessary to achieve success under this new definition.

Israel

We must never forget, or walk away from, the cherished democratic bond we have with the nation of Israel. We must continue to support the sovereignty of the Jewish State and it’s right to defend itself from violent attack. We must resist the creation of a terrorist Palestinian state run by Hamas while strengthening Palestinians opposed to terrorism. We must also help to stabilize the region by isolating the Iranian agenda.

Iran

We must face the reality that Iran is the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism and poses a growing threat to the stability of the Middle East. We should quickly and confidently praise the efforts of the democratic opposition and rally international support for extreme sanctions that seek to halt Tehran’s repression of its own citizens and freeze its nuclear program.

Iraq

The transparency around our invasion of Iraq was a tragedy to say the least. And the initial strategies post-invasion including de-Baathification and the lack of a long-term post-occupation plan were catastrophic contributing to the loss of valuable U.S. lives. This can never happen again. We must know what we are doing, have a strategic plan that underpins our efforts and we must always be transparent to the American people about those efforts.

However, I stand by the goal in Iraq and the goal of disruption was achieved. Our American troops have served with honor and have been victorious. Once General Petreaus executed the surge strategy we had a clearer path to transition. We need to embrace the fact that the surge was indeed successful, that whether or not people agreed about why we were in Iraq, the fact was that we were there, and the solution was not to pull out our troops.

The key now is to transition the gains in security made from Patreaus’ surge strategy into sustainable political progress for Iraq. We cannot take our foot off of the gas and must be vigilant in pressing for a national coalition. This will still require our presence in Iraq and we must be careful not to be too premature in our departure. In this manner, our troops will come home victorious with honor and dignity and with the thanks of the American people, which they so richly deserve.

North Korea

President Clinton’s unilateral diplomacy aside, we must maintain pressure on North Korea through China and Russia to fully comply with previously agreed Six-Party treaties and U.N. resolutions. Additionally, we need to aggressively implement a comprehensive multinational program of sanctions targeted to any company, bank or government agency aiding North Korean proliferation of nuclear weapons. We also should not be hesitant to take any action against nuclear testing activity should that activity repeat in the face of worldwide pressure. This will demand that we continue, not decrease, out missile defense development. (see Defense)

Afghanistan and Pakistan

The leading key to the terrorist disruption strategy is to finally dislodge the Al Qaeda foothold along the Afghanistan and Pakistani border and to recognize that we must view this approach as a single unified theatre of operations. We must allocate additional resources to this theatre in addition to supporting the Pakistani efforts to disrupt terrorism on their own soil while measuring the true efficacy of those efforts and throttling aid based on results.

China

As China continues to emerge on the world stage we must appropriately balance the complex economic and political variables that make up our relationship. It is imperative that we discern between the Chinese government and the Chinese people. We must understand and respect the inherent good of the Chinese people and culture and celebrate their aspirations for economic vitality. As we are more reliant on China’s economic well-being we must ensure that vitality exists.

At the same time, we must be consistent and firm in our desire for Beijing to effectively engage Taiwan’s democratic system, and to be more transparent as they militarize their economy, struggle with the solvency of their financial institutions and manage their currency in worldwide markets.

Inherently we must understand that while China is making great strides, the vast majority of the nation is impoverished leading to tension, conflict and instability. It is in our best interests for China to be stable in the region as a counterbalance to North Korean unpredictability and Russian resurgence.

Russia

As economic pressures and political tensions increase, Russia is being forced backwards in time only to repeat the sins of the past. It is a mistake for us to believe the collapse of the Russian Federation in the ‘90’s was the flashpoint for democratic economic growth. To the contrary, Russia has coalesced once again and is flexing its muscles on the world stage. By objecting to NATO expansion, U.S. missile defense in Europe, sanctions against Iran and utilizing the dollar as the reserve currency, it has once again created a geopolitical divide.

It is a mistake to believe we can restart a new relationship with Russia as President Obama believes. We must continue to pursue the deployment of missile defense systems in Europe to counter the Iranian threat while pressuring Russia to join extreme international sanctions against Iran.

Concurrently we must firmly communicate that we uphold the rights of post-Soviet states to sovereignty and any intervention will be met by a strong U.S. response. Russia will be forced through economic stress to align itself with Armenia as a way to extend influence in Georgia. This can only trigger a chain reaction of instability as Azerbaijan and Turkey react to this intervention. The region is fragile and it is important that we are firm with Russia.

Veterans

We Must Honor Their Sacrifice

My father James S. Ward is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was a WWII veteran and earned a Purple Heart as an Army medic with the 7th Infantry Division serving on Kwajalein, the Philippines and Okinawa. My uncle William J. Kiefer fought in the Battle of the Bulge under General Patton in the 11th Armored Division and earned a Bronze and Silver Star. My grandfather, William Ray Kiefer, fought in WWI, yet he always admitted that part of that service was looking for submarines in the Chicago River.

I grew up in an environment that honored the sacrifice that every veteran has made to this country. I support every effort to pay our veterans the debt we owe them through retirement benefits and healthcare at taxpayer costs, not theirs. We need to make sure every veteran is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, that we vigilantly ensure that those who are injured receive the best possible care and that those who are homeless find the respite they so deserve.