Interview with Dwayne Stovall, Candidate for US Senate (Texas)

An interview with US Senate Candidate Dwayne Stovall running against John Cornyn (TX).

I listened to this interview, and it didn't sound very polished. Fortunately, Texas will vote Republican in the general (especially with the interest at the top of the ticket: Wendy Davis v. Greg Abbott) so this race is a primary race.

Texas primaries you must win 50% of the vote or you go to a run-off with the top two candidates. There will already likely be a few high marquee run-offs: Lt. Gov, AG, Ag Commish, etc.

So a US Senate race in a run-off would be an interesting addition.

Often you will have some open borders candidate like Rick Perry or Cornyn attack someone because they happened to hire an illegal one time. While people like Perry refuse to make the state of Texas use Everify. There is a long section on his stance on amnesty. These are only excerpts.

http://www.texansforstovall.com/issues.php#amnesty

Illegal immigration is an issue I’ve seen here in Texas forever, as a citizen, as an employee, and as an employer. I’ve worked beside illegal immigrants on the job. As a state bridge contractor for 15 years, I unknowingly hired a few, either directly or through subcontractors.

Over the years, Supreme Court rulings forced the States to provide benefits and recognized birthright citizenship. These granted benefits added to our national debt and the economic strife we endure today.

This cycle hurts the State of Texas. We cannot allow illegal immigrants to instantly become legalized. The vast majority of them have no concept of a Republic or how it operates, nor do they understand why limited government is so important. If you bestow voting rights on people who have no concept of liberty, much less an understanding of how to protect it, the American way of life will be finished and the Republic of Texas will be no more.

The State of Texas has the right, without qualification, to determine which foreigners can be in Texas.

My take on the interview:

1. Mr. Stovall represents himself as a conservative and Constitutionalist and I think that, with some reservations on my part, he makes that case.

2. His promise to not raise debt, period. When the interviewer asked him about times of war or emergencies, his answer was essentially that if we cut out large parts of the government, we could accomodate those things. That’s a great sentiment, but unless the gov’t does cut off the EPA and Education, etc., that doesn’t really answer the question, i.e. given our CURRENT situation, would you vote for debt in times of war or national emergency? I think he side-stepped the question.

3. This is technical, but it matters to BECAUSE Mr. Stovall presents himself as a Constitutionalist. He made a comment about the President declaring war and the Senate “affirming” that decision. That might be a reference to the War Powers Act, but that’s not what the Constitution says.

4. I didn’t think his answers on foreign policy were very polished. As a US Senator, foreign policy is an important topic to be up on. He needs to work on that. Being asked about Iran or Syria should be stuff that he has down pat.

5. Finally, Mr. Stovall suggest that it’s a Texas Senator’s job to represent Texas. The interview asked him specifically if that still applies in a post-17th Amendment world, and Mr. Stovall affirmed that he believed it did. That’s an interesting take on the job.

Not a bad interview and a chance to get an in-depth look at one of the candidates for Senate.

Remember, a vote for ANYBODY except Cornyn reduces Cornyn’s vote totals, and if that gets below 50%, there’ll be a run-off. There’s no sense in trying to take down any of these candidates in the primary. Let them all run hard, and the winner among the challengers will hopefully get a run-off spot.

To my knowledge, no US Supreme Court decision has required birthright citizenship. Kim Wong Ark over a hundred years ago was the last case sort of on point that I know about: it granted citizenship to a child born of Chinese LEGAL resident aliens.

Birthright citizenship is a creation of the Executive Branch. I do not believe that either Congress or the Supremes have directly ruled on point.

Incidentally, this is an issue I have with Ted Cruz, who was on record during his Senate campaign as saying that birthright citizenship is the Constitutional law of the land. I disagree with that interpretation of the 14th Amendment, but otherwise, I’m a big fan of Mr. Cruz.

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