Replacing Robert Hurt in VA 5th District -- Tom Garret? [vanity]

While the presidential primary is over in Virginia, we still have other primaries. Here in the 5th District, I know of three republican candidates:

Tom doesn’t need to talk about what he will do; he can talk about what he has done. The 2nd Amendment says “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”, and Tom has protected that right in the Virginia Senate. He was a patron for SB 48, a ‘constitutional carry’ bill, and he co-sponsored SB 610 to restore reciprocity for gun owners when they are out of state.

Tom has received top marks from the NRA and the VCDL, including the highest VCDL scores for any senator in Virginia for 2013, 2014, and 2015. “I have kept my promises to stand up for our gun rights as a State Senator, and I will continue to do so in Congress.”

Life is sacred and begins at conception. All individuals have the right to life, and Tom is committed to doing everything he can to protect it. Tom has worked hard to protect the unborn through legislation like SB 826, a bill he patroned to repeal taxpayer funding for non-federally funded abortions. His efforts to protect innocent unborn like have won him kudos from various pro-life organizations. The Family Foundation of Virginia, one of the Commonwealth’s leading pro-life organizations, said of Tom: “…The Family Foundation would like to extend its utmost gratitude to Senator Tom Garrett for his bravery and impeccable defense of life through his willingness to patron and actively advocate on behalf of SB 826.”

Providing for the national defense is the Federal Government’s first responsibility, and should be one of Congress’s foremost concerns. As a former Army artillery officer and six year active duty veteran, Tom knows firsthand the importance of making sure our military has the best training, the best equipment and the best leadership in the world. At the same time, he knows there is plenty of waste in the Defense Department, and will work to cut the fat and waste from the budget.

Our civil liberties are a critical part of what makes America great. Infringement of our rights to due process, privacy, and property are part of what launched our War for Independence. Tom’s concerns over abuses of things like civil asset forfeiture are what prompted him to co-patron SB 108 to require that citizens be convicted of a crime before law enforcement agencies can confiscate and sell their property. Tom has voted to protected our civil liberties in Richmond, and will continue to do so in Washington. “Protecting civil liberties is one of the cornerstones of maintaining a free country. When any government begins cracking down on civil liberties you end up with a citizenry that fears its government. When a citizenry fears its government, no good can follow. Protecting and maintaining civil liberties is mandatory to preserving a free society.”

As a prosecutor, Tom knew that if he wanted to see a suspect’s personal information he needed to get a warrant. The idea of collecting bulk data from millions of Americans without a warrant of any kind is unconscionable and unconstitutional. The Bill of Rights protects us from our government by limiting what our government can do. If the government wants to see what is in a person’s phone records, text records, email records, photographs, bank records, or anything else, Tom believes it must obtain a warrant. To quote Ben Franklin, those “that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Tom will join the Freedom Caucus in fighting to protect you from warrantless domestic spying.

The 10th Amendment to the Constitution clearly states that those powers not expressly given to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people. In short, if the federal government is not expressly authorized to do it, it should not be done. Many of the problems caused by the increase in size and scope of government are caused by a usurpation of the 10th Amendment. Much of the federal budget problem, and all of our executive overreach problems would be solved by returning to a strict adherence of the 10th Amendment. Not only would our lives be freer, but our wallets would be fuller with the corresponding tax cuts.. The 10th Amendment gives a clear mandate on this, and in the Virginia Senate, Tom has voted to uphold the it, including Bill Stanley’s SB 732, that reserved a patient’s ‘Right to Try’ for experimental drugs and other medical treatments.

Federal taxes are too high. High taxes are a barrier to job creation and economic growth. Tom will fight to cut them and end the tax burden placed on us by corporate welfare subsidies. By cutting the size and scope of government we can lower taxes across the board and keep more money in the hands of the people who earn it. Tom has voted against tax increases in Richmond, and he will fight higher taxes in Congress.

Our federal education department has done more to get in the way of good education in this country than any other entity. From ‘No Child Left Behind’ policies, to forcing the adoption of Common Core standards and other improper anti-conservative initiatives on our children, the Department of Education has had a disastrous impact on education in this country.

The father of two children, Tom stands wants to provide the best possible education for our children, be it in public, private, or home school. That’s why Tom supports school choice, and why he thinks parents should have the final say in how their children are educated, not Richmond or Washington. Tom carried ‘Tebow Bill’ legislation in the General Assembly that allows parents who choose to homeschool their children the ability to receive the benefits of their tax dollars. Tom carried that legislation his first year in the senate, and this year SB 612 passed through both the House and the Senate, and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

The Department of Education has presided over the long slow decline of our education system, and it is safe to say that we would be better off managing our education systems at the state and local level. Our children deserve better than to have edu-crats in D.C. micromanaging every aspect of their education. Tom will support efforts to reduce, roll-back, or eliminate the Department of Education and its onerous demands that get in the way of us determining what is best for our children and their educations.

Our federal budget is a disaster, and everyone knows it. We’ve somehow managed to end up with a $19 trillion debt even though Republicans controlled the House of Representatives for the past 6 years (although we’ve only controlled the Senate since the election of 2014). Instead of passing budgets under “regular order”, Congress has resorted to omnibus spending bills, which give the president too much power and promotes bigger and bigger deficits.

Tom is not afraid to voted no on bad budgets, even those supported by Republican leadership here in Richmond. Last year he was the only vote against a budget that was too big, and used tax payer money to help the state compete directly against small business owners in the Commonwealth. Tom didn’t put up with it in Richmond, and he won’t put up with it in D.C. Tom will continue to do the right thing and vote for fiscal responsibility and less spending in Congress.

There are too many federal regulatory agencies that do try to do too much, and spend too much money, and under Obama a bad situation has gotten worse. Washington’s regulatory agencies cost Virginia millions in economic activity each year, and thousands of jobs. The undue burdens all these regulations put on farmers, small businessmen and anyone involved in productive activity stifles job growth, kills innovation and costs American taxpayers billions.

There are few examples of government aggression and ineptitude like our federal regulatory agencies. Who needlessly and recklessly polluted an entire river system in Colorado? The EPA. Who needlessly persecutes farmers in the west on land that the federal government arguably should have no control over? The Bureau of Land Management Who wages armed raids on rural farmers guilty of selling raw milk? The USDA and the FDA. The list goes on and on.

Tom has a strong record fighting against regulatory over-reach, like the outrageous abuses perpetrated against farmers in Virginia like Martha Boneta. That why he has voted against onerous state regulations and sponsored the Farm & Food Freedom constitutional amendment here in Virginia to protect the right of farmers to sell directly to Virginia families.

We are blessed to live in a country rich in natural resources. We should be energy independent and not be held hostage by other countries for our energy needs.

If we simply unleash our energy companies to do what they do best, we will have an improved economy, more jobs, and lower energy costs.

Tom supports efforts to let Americans drill, dig and produce energy. He opposes any subsidies or tax credits for oil, gas, wind, or solar companies – to include ethanol subsidies. The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers, and our previous engagements in these types of activities have led to higher prices, less consumer choices and lower productivity.

No country can survive if it cannot control its borders. Tom favors tightening our laws and our borders to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country. He opposes amnesty for illegal aliens. Tom has led the fight in the General Assembly against illegal immigration and the use of taxpayer dollars to reward illegal immigrants who break our laws. Last year, Tom voted for SB 722, which prevents in-state tuition rates from being extended to illegals. This year, the GA passed Tom’s bill, SB 270, that strips funding from sanctuary cities.

“I will continue to oppose any benefits, incentives, short cuts, special programs, or any other action that rewards illegals for breaking the law and thumbing their noses at our nation, our citizens, and our laws.”

We must return to our free market roots in order to help restore economic prosperity. A jumbled mishmash of special interest loopholes, incentives, subsidies, unneccesary regulations and other attempts to manipulate our national economic marketplace have led to a malaise of stagnant economic growth and poor job growth.

We should end subsidies of companies and industries that cannot survive on their own. If they have a product that provides a legitimate good or service that people want to benefit from, they will survive without any help from the taxpayers. Further, we’ve seen time and again how government attempting to pick the winners and loser only ends in disaster. Obama’s failed energy subsidies and billions in losses in tax payer dollars are evidence enough of that. No government program or czar can match the billions of individual everyday decisions made by our fellow citizens. Consumers are the finger on the pulse of every industry and product, and the free markets always drives innovation for better products that cost less, and are available to more people.

We cannot be the world’s policeman, and we should not try. We cannot rashly send our best and brightest into harm’s way to be involved in unnecessary military conflicts. Our military servicemen and service women have gladly volunteered to join our military and are willing to sacrifice the lives, bodies, dreams, and futures for our sakes. We owe them the assurance that we will not take that sacrifice lightly, and that when we do call upon them that we will send them there to win, quickly, with every bit of support we can muster, and then bring them home.

“As a veteran who served in one of those foreign engagements which lacked a clear purpose,I have a unique perspective on what we are asking our fighting men and women to do when we send them overseas. We owe them a Declaration of War when we ask them to fight, a legitimate national defense situation, a defined enemy, a realistic plan for defeating that enemy, and a quick journey home once we have defeated that enemy.

Uups ... misspelled his name: Garrett. [’tt’, not ‘t’.]

Here is is issues page web address ...
http://www.tomgarrettforcongress.com/issue-positions

He is part of recent compromise legislation in the state senate ....

[quote]

Garrett Fights for Gun Laws

[Governor] McAuliffe strikes deal with VA Republicans on gun reforms RICHMOND (WSLS 10) – Governor Terry McAuliffe announced Friday what he calls a historic step forward for the Commonwealth in gun reform. He has struck a deal with several house republicans to pass two additional gun laws at the price of dropping the fight against concealed carry reciprocity agreements. McAuliffe says it …

Garrett apparently had a row with his COS and considered retirement and Gunzburger keeps tweeting about how “bizarre” he’s acting but after a “bizarre” press conference he confirms he’s staying in the race.

The seat isn’t as Republican as it could be but the rat in nutty anti-semite journalist/author, low danger.

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