Biographical Information
County
Lancaster
Occupation
Airline Pilot
Education
4-year degree
Qualifications
Sixty years of life experience
What do you see as the most pressing issues facing the country, and how would you address them?
Most pressing right now is the influence of money in our politics. This is the mother of all other issues, because it corrupts our ability to develop good ideas and implement good solutions. Instead, we essentially put our politics out for auction and the results are quite distressing: our government is doling out favors to the richest among us, while adding another trillion dollars to the national debt every 100 days. It is not sustainable, it is wrong, and it needs to change.
What changes, if any, would you support that would help Congress function more efficiently and effectively?
It may sound radical, but simply limiting all lobbying to congressional committee hearings would have a huge effect. The First Amendment guarantees the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances," but doesn't say that this "petitioning" can be done out of the public eye. Too much lobbying is intertwined with influential amounts of money nowadays, and it's the money, n. The end result is a government which makes no one happy except those with the money to influence it. When the objective of individual members of Congress is primarily to raise funds, they will concentrate on that objective. Only by placing a tourniquet on the flow of influence money can we hope for a return to "government by good ideas."
What legislation would you support to protect voting rights and safeguard access to free and fair elections?
I would support any effective legislation presented which protects voting rights. Protecting voting rights and safeguarding access is essential to preserving our democracy.
How do you view the role of the US in responding to challenges facing the international community?
We have to stand up for our values, not just our interests. We need to demonstrate, in our foreign policy, that we walk the walk on human rights and that we do not see international justice as a negotiable principle.
I stand very much in favor of defending Ukraine and helping it survive as a nation. I favor Israel's pursuit of eliminating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but I would add that innocent Palestinian civilians should not be sacrificed in the process.