Bob King

[{"question": "Ballotpedia survey responses", "answer_html": "<p>See also: <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a></p>\n<div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-xs-10 col-md-6 col-xs-offset-1 col-md-offset-3\"><p><a href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\"><img align=\"middle\" alt=\"Candidate Connection\" src=\"https://cdn.ballotpedia.org/images/8/88/Candidate_Connection_Logo.png\" width=\"90%\"/></a></p></div></div>\n<p>Bob King completed <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a> survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by King's responses.</p>\n<p><span class=\"expand-all\">Expand all</span> | <span class=\"collapse-all\">Collapse all</span></p>\n<div aria-multiselectable=\"true\" class=\"panel-group\" id=\"accordion\" role=\"tablist\"><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWho are you? Tell us about yourself.\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse-bio-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI'm a native Texan, a Christian, a libertarian and a constitutionalist.\r\n<p>My professional background includes a first career in energy corporate finance, and a second career as a nonprofit executive and consultant.\r\n</p><p>I am age 62, have been married for 38 years, and have two grown sons living independently.\r\n</p><p>We have to do something different if we want to give our country to our children and grandchildren in any kind of survivable condition. Right now we are failing that test.\r\n</p>\nSo I have decided to do something about it, and run for Congress.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tPlease list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse-key-message-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><ul><li>Government is far too intrusive into our economic liberties. Spends too much, taxes too much, and redistributes in a corrupt, inefficient and ineffective manner.</li><li>Government is far too intrusive into our personal liberties. Stay out of our bedrooms, stay out of our medical decisions, stay out of our educational decisions.</li><li>Enough interventionism! Time to again speak softly and carry a big stick. Both parties favor getting involved, either directly or by proxy, in too many wars.</li></ul></span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading1-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse1-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading1-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse1-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe two parties and their mutual intolerance, aided by the corporate media which makes money off rancor and crisis, have given us the worst national divisiveness since 1865. We MUST look for structural ways to tone down the rhetoric and the vitriol.<br/><br/>\n<p>I am not a secessionist, and I do not favor the red vs. blue national divorce idea. But we must acknowledge that either of those is better than the second civil war the two major parties are driving us towards.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nI favor a renewed commitment to Federalism: let California be California, let Texas be Texas, and let citizens vote with their feet. Federalism is already in the US Constitution, enshrined in the Tenth Amendment, and it is the solution to the problem. We must find ways to restore it as the least worst way to resolve our societal rancor.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse2-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading2-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse2-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse2-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWho do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading2-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse2-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tHistorically, I guess the three figures I admire the most are Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill. Jesus because he taught us to love one another and in doing so to follow God; Jefferson because he laid out the arguments for freedom from excessive government; Churchill because his backbone of steel saved the world.<br/><br/>\n<p>In my life I have my parents, of course, and three other mentors:<br/><br/>\r\n1. My high school football coach, Oscar Cripps, who taught me never to quit, and not to care who gets the credit.<br/>\r\n2. The CEO of Seagull Energy, Barry Galt, who gave me my biggest break in life when he made me his corporate treasurer at age 29.<br/>\n</p>\n3. My dear friend Wright Moody, who helped to guide me through a career change in my early 40s away from the oil and gas industry and towards a more spiritually rewarding career in nonprofit service.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse3-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading3-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse3-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse3-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tIs there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading3-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse3-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides, by Arnold Kling.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse4-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading4-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse4-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse4-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading4-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse4-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tIntegrity and humility.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse5-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading5-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse5-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse5-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading5-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse5-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tAdequate financial background to understand budgets and economics.<br/><br/>\n<p>A clearly articulated set of principles that would guide every decision and every vote.<br/><br/>\r\nA balance of business sector and nonprofit sector experience.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nI have been a taxpayer for over 40 years.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse6-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading6-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse6-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse6-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading6-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse6-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\t1. To know the consensus views of constituents and to represent them as faithfully as possible in the deliberative process of lawmaking.<br/>\n<p>2. To advocate for the minimum government intrusion into the economic and personal liberties of the people.<br/>\r\n3. To know the Constitution and to abide by it, even when its restrictions work against one's objectives; and to jealously guard the powers and prerogatives of the legislative branch from usurpations by other branches, most especially by the executive branch.<br/>\r\n4. To diligently serve on assigned committees and to exercise competent oversight of government operations.<br/>\r\n5. To negotiate and ultimately to approve a budget that forces the government to live within its means.<br/>\n</p>\n6. To provide constituent services that assist citizens of the district in their efforts to interact with massive, bloated, inefficient, ineffective and politicized government agencies and bureaus.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse7-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading7-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse7-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse7-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat legacy would you like to leave?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading7-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse7-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tTo demonstrate that a regular citizen, properly educated and properly motivated, can still make a difference in the national discourse.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse8-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading8-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse8-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse8-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading8-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse8-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI grew up in a football family. The very first historical event I can remember was when the Dallas Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers in the Ice Bowl. I think that was in 1967. So I was age 6.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse9-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading9-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse9-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse9-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat was your very first job? How long did you have it?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading9-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse9-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI had odd jobs like mowing yards for neighbors since I was about 10. My first paycheck job was at age 16 at a Whataburger in Houston. I had it all summer before my sophomore year in high school.<br/><br/>\r\nBTW, Whataburger is way better than In and Out.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse10-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading10-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse10-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse10-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat is your favorite book? Why?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading10-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse10-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe Godfather, by Mario Puzo.<br/><br/>\n<p>It is an easy read for those who have seen the two movies, but it has so much rich detail that the movies never get into. It is endlessly fascinating and can be read for entertainment over and over just as the films can be enjoyed over and over.<br/><br/>\r\nWhile Don Vito Corleone is a criminal, he has a code of honor that can still be respected. While his son Michael has all the intellect in the world, he lacks the humanity that his father showed.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nIt's a fantastic exposition on the duality of such characters. Nobody is all good or all bad.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse11-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading11-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse11-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse11-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tIf you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading11-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse11-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tDoes it have to be fictional?<br/><br/>\r\nI wish I could be Kirk Herbstreit, be as expert as he is and as articulate as he is, and spend my Saturday mornings on college campuses across the country. Pony Up! and Geaux Tigers!\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse12-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading12-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse12-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse12-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat was the last song that got stuck in your head?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading12-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse12-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI am a geek about college fight songs. Although it is not my alma mater, nor my rooting interest, I had \"Fighting Jayhawk\" (Kansas University) stuck in my head this morning.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse13-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading13-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse13-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse13-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading13-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse13-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tIt is the voice of the people, it is close to the people, and Article I of the Constitution gives it the power of the purse. Any tax law must start in the House.<br/><br/>\n<p>The House is noisy and rancorous and even uncivil at times, but it is where 435 representatives must come together to do the nation's business.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nIn recent years, with the failure to pass a budget and the constant continuing resolutions, they haven't been doing their jobs. No congressman should get paid a nickel without the House passing a budget and all of its attendant appropriations, on a department by department basis. No more continuing resolutions.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse14-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading14-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse14-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse14-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tDo you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading14-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse14-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tExperience is certainly beneficial to getting one's self elected.<br/><br/>\n<p>But if we can judge by results, NO, a Congress full of long-tenured political pros certainly does not seem to be getting the job done.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nThe experience that I think is more important: 40 years of being a taxpayer.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse15-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading15-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse15-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse15-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading15-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse15-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tWe have a $34 trillion funded debt and another $80 trillion in unfunded entitlement liabilities. That total, when divided by the number of individual taxpayers in America, amounts to $800,000 per taxpayer!<br/><br/>\n<p>That's not something the Republicans or Democrats want you to focus on, because they collectively gave us this problem. It's worse than bad economic policy -- it is sinful for one generation to steal the wealth of its children and grandchildren the way we have. We must take drastic action to shrink the government, and do it soon, before our dollars are worthless. It's just a matter of time.<br/><br/>\r\nThe second great challenge is the degradation of our national discourse. The Red tribe and the Blue tribe hate one another and it's getting worse. Both sides' answer to how we end the national rancor is for them to cram their ideologies down the throats of the other side.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nIf we want to avert a second civil war (which of course would look nothing like the first), we need to find a way to tone it down. The Constitution has the answer, Federalism, but we haven't been following it. Let Texas be Texas and let California be California. We need to bolster the 10th Amendment to make this happen.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse16-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading16-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse16-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse16-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tDo you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading16-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse16-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tYes.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse17-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading17-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse17-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse17-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat are your thoughts on term limits?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading17-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse17-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tIf we didn't have gerrymandered districts, we would not need term limits.<br/><br/>\n<p>But since we have the gerrymandered districts, we DO need term limits.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nIf elected, I agree not to serve more than three terms in the House of Representatives.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse18-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading18-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse18-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse18-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tIs there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading18-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse18-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tBarry Goldwater and Ron Paul.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse19-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading19-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse19-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse19-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tTell us your favorite joke.\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading19-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse19-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tWhy did the libertarian chicken cross the road?<br/><br/>\r\nA: None of your damn business! Am I being detained?\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse20-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading20-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse20-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse20-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tDo you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading20-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse20-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tWe are seeing the fruits of failure to compromise.<br/><br/>\r\nOf course, PRINCIPLED compromise is necessary. I believe in small government but not zero government. Any action that moves us in the right direction is something we should take advantage of.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse21-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading21-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse21-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse21-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tThe Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading21-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse21-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tTaxation is an inherent violation of the basic libertarian principle of non-aggression. We own ourselves and we also own the product of our labors. Government does not own it. Taxation is expropriation, and while it is legal, that does not make it proper.<br/><br/>\n<p>Unfortunately, we have grown tolerant of government using its power to imprison us to coerce us into paying taxes, voluntarily or otherwise. This abuse of power is wrong, and that wrong must be minimized to the smallest extent possible.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nWhat is taxed is discouraged. At present, we are taxing income, which is tantamount to taxing productivity. If we have to tax something, it would be less bad if we taxed consumption, which is avoidable by consumer choice, and secondarily if we taxed inheritance, which is unearned. Again, all taxation is confiscatory and wrong, but some taxes are less damaging to the economy than others.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse22-214605-2023-12-20\" id=\"heading22-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse22-214605-2023-12-20\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse22-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tHow should the U.S. House use its investigative powers?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading22-214605-2023-12-20\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse22-214605-2023-12-20\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tFirst, it should investigate members who engage in corrupt behavior. Citizens should expect its representatives to be servant leaders, not people who use public office to feather their nests.<br/><br/>\n<p>Second, the House should investigate the waste of taxpayer money. Waste must be ferreted out and must count against future appropriations for any department or function of government.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nLastly, the House must be judicious in the use of its investigative powers. In recent years, both parties have been responsible for the misuse of investigative power for partisan purposes. While true wrongdoing in high office is scandalous and must be investigated, the politicization of investigations leads to an unnecessary and corrosive environment that prevents factions from coming together to resolve issues for the benefit of the people.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div></div>\n<div class=\"small\" data-nosnippet=\"\"><p><i><b>Note:</b> Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.</i></p></div>", "answer_text": "See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection\n\nBob King completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by King's responses.\nExpand all | Collapse all\nWho are you? Tell us about yourself. I'm a native Texan, a Christian, a libertarian and a constitutionalist. My professional background includes a first career in energy corporate finance, and a second career as a nonprofit executive and consultant. I am age 62, have been married for 38 years, and have two grown sons living independently. We have to do something different if we want to give our country to our children and grandchildren in any kind of survivable condition. Right now we are failing that test. So I have decided to do something about it, and run for Congress. Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Government is far too intrusive into our economic liberties. Spends too much, taxes too much, and redistributes in a corrupt, inefficient and ineffective manner. Government is far too intrusive into our personal liberties. Stay out of our bedrooms, stay out of our medical decisions, stay out of our educational decisions. Enough interventionism! Time to again speak softly and carry a big stick. Both parties favor getting involved, either directly or by proxy, in too many wars. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? The two parties and their mutual intolerance, aided by the corporate media which makes money off rancor and crisis, have given us the worst national divisiveness since 1865. We MUST look for structural ways to tone down the rhetoric and the vitriol. I am not a secessionist, and I do not favor the red vs. blue national divorce idea. But we must acknowledge that either of those is better than the second civil war the two major parties are driving us towards. I favor a renewed commitment to Federalism: let California be California, let Texas be Texas, and let citizens vote with their feet. Federalism is already in the US Constitution, enshrined in the Tenth Amendment, and it is the solution to the problem. We must find ways to restore it as the least worst way to resolve our societal rancor. Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why? Historically, I guess the three figures I admire the most are Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill. Jesus because he taught us to love one another and in doing so to follow God; Jefferson because he laid out the arguments for freedom from excessive government; Churchill because his backbone of steel saved the world. In my life I have my parents, of course, and three other mentors: 1. My high school football coach, Oscar Cripps, who taught me never to quit, and not to care who gets the credit. 2. The CEO of Seagull Energy, Barry Galt, who gave me my biggest break in life when he made me his corporate treasurer at age 29. 3. My dear friend Wright Moody, who helped to guide me through a career change in my early 40s away from the oil and gas industry and towards a more spiritually rewarding career in nonprofit service. Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy? The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides, by Arnold Kling. What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official? Integrity and humility. What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder? Adequate financial background to understand budgets and economics. A clearly articulated set of principles that would guide every decision and every vote. A balance of business sector and nonprofit sector experience. I have been a taxpayer for over 40 years. What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office? 1. To know the consensus views of constituents and to represent them as faithfully as possible in the deliberative process of lawmaking. 2. To advocate for the minimum government intrusion into the economic and personal liberties of the people. 3. To know the Constitution and to abide by it, even when its restrictions work against one's objectives; and to jealously guard the powers and prerogatives of the legislative branch from usurpations by other branches, most especially by the executive branch. 4. To diligently serve on assigned committees and to exercise competent oversight of government operations. 5. To negotiate and ultimately to approve a budget that forces the government to live within its means. 6. To provide constituent services that assist citizens of the district in their efforts to interact with massive, bloated, inefficient, ineffective and politicized government agencies and bureaus. What legacy would you like to leave? To demonstrate that a regular citizen, properly educated and properly motivated, can still make a difference in the national discourse. What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time? I grew up in a football family. The very first historical event I can remember was when the Dallas Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers in the Ice Bowl. I think that was in 1967. So I was age 6. What was your very first job? How long did you have it? I had odd jobs like mowing yards for neighbors since I was about 10. My first paycheck job was at age 16 at a Whataburger in Houston. I had it all summer before my sophomore year in high school. BTW, Whataburger is way better than In and Out. What is your favorite book? Why? The Godfather, by Mario Puzo. It is an easy read for those who have seen the two movies, but it has so much rich detail that the movies never get into. It is endlessly fascinating and can be read for entertainment over and over just as the films can be enjoyed over and over. While Don Vito Corleone is a criminal, he has a code of honor that can still be respected. While his son Michael has all the intellect in the world, he lacks the humanity that his father showed. It's a fantastic exposition on the duality of such characters. Nobody is all good or all bad. If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be? Does it have to be fictional? I wish I could be Kirk Herbstreit, be as expert as he is and as articulate as he is, and spend my Saturday mornings on college campuses across the country. Pony Up! and Geaux Tigers! What was the last song that got stuck in your head? I am a geek about college fight songs. Although it is not my alma mater, nor my rooting interest, I had \"Fighting Jayhawk\" (Kansas University) stuck in my head this morning. What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution? It is the voice of the people, it is close to the people, and Article I of the Constitution gives it the power of the purse. Any tax law must start in the House. The House is noisy and rancorous and even uncivil at times, but it is where 435 representatives must come together to do the nation's business. In recent years, with the failure to pass a budget and the constant continuing resolutions, they haven't been doing their jobs. No congressman should get paid a nickel without the House passing a budget and all of its attendant appropriations, on a department by department basis. No more continuing resolutions. Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics? Experience is certainly beneficial to getting one's self elected. But if we can judge by results, NO, a Congress full of long-tenured political pros certainly does not seem to be getting the job done. The experience that I think is more important: 40 years of being a taxpayer. What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade? We have a $34 trillion funded debt and another $80 trillion in unfunded entitlement liabilities. That total, when divided by the number of individual taxpayers in America, amounts to $800,000 per taxpayer! That's not something the Republicans or Democrats want you to focus on, because they collectively gave us this problem. It's worse than bad economic policy -- it is sinful for one generation to steal the wealth of its children and grandchildren the way we have. We must take drastic action to shrink the government, and do it soon, before our dollars are worthless. It's just a matter of time. The second great challenge is the degradation of our national discourse. The Red tribe and the Blue tribe hate one another and it's getting worse. Both sides' answer to how we end the national rancor is for them to cram their ideologies down the throats of the other side. If we want to avert a second civil war (which of course would look nothing like the first), we need to find a way to tone it down. The Constitution has the answer, Federalism, but we haven't been following it. Let Texas be Texas and let California be California. We need to bolster the 10th Amendment to make this happen. Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives? Yes. What are your thoughts on term limits? If we didn't have gerrymandered districts, we would not need term limits. But since we have the gerrymandered districts, we DO need term limits. If elected, I agree not to serve more than three terms in the House of Representatives. Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after? Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul. Tell us your favorite joke. Why did the libertarian chicken cross the road? A: None of your damn business! Am I being detained? Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking? We are seeing the fruits of failure to compromise. Of course, PRINCIPLED compromise is necessary. I believe in small government but not zero government. Any action that moves us in the right direction is something we should take advantage of. The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected? Taxation is an inherent violation of the basic libertarian principle of non-aggression. We own ourselves and we also own the product of our labors. Government does not own it. Taxation is expropriation, and while it is legal, that does not make it proper. Unfortunately, we have grown tolerant of government using its power to imprison us to coerce us into paying taxes, voluntarily or otherwise. This abuse of power is wrong, and that wrong must be minimized to the smallest extent possible. What is taxed is discouraged. At present, we are taxing income, which is tantamount to taxing productivity. If we have to tax something, it would be less bad if we taxed consumption, which is avoidable by consumer choice, and secondarily if we taxed inheritance, which is unearned. Again, all taxation is confiscatory and wrong, but some taxes are less damaging to the economy than others. How should the U.S. House use its investigative powers? First, it should investigate members who engage in corrupt behavior. Citizens should expect its representatives to be servant leaders, not people who use public office to feather their nests. Second, the House should investigate the waste of taxpayer money. Waste must be ferreted out and must count against future appropriations for any department or function of government. Lastly, the House must be judicious in the use of its investigative powers. In recent years, both parties have been responsible for the misuse of investigative power for partisan purposes. While true wrongdoing in high office is scandalous and must be investigated, the politicization of investigations leads to an unnecessary and corrosive environment that prevents factions from coming together to resolve issues for the benefit of the people.\nNote: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it."}, {"question": "Campaign website", "answer_html": "<p>King’s campaign website stated the following:\n</p>\n<div style=\"height:400px;overflow:scroll;border:1px solid gray;margin:20px;padding:10px;\">\n<table data-nosnippet=\"\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; border: none;background-color: transparent; auto; ;\">\n<tbody><tr>\n<td style=\"border:none; color:#B2B7F2;font-size:35px;font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; padding: 10px 3px;\" valign=\"top\" width=\"20\">“\n</td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 4px 10px;\" valign=\"top\">\n<p><b>Bob Has Solutions</b><br/>\nPractical, workable ideas that solve problems. You won't hear them from Bob's status quo opponents.\n</p><p>1. <b><u>Propose a \"Re-Awaken Federalism\" amendment to the US Constitution.</u></b> Let's let California be California, and let Texas be Texas, and stop trying to force one solution on everyone. Not every issue needs to be settled in DC and jammed down everyone's throats. <i>Benefits: more localized decision-making makes for better government, less incivility and reduces the threat of national civil instability. It will also result in far less federal spending, which means far less federal taxation. More money in your paycheck.</i>\n</p><p>2. <b><u>Propose a “Right to Privacy” amendment to the US Constitution</u></b> that keeps government out of our bedrooms, limits its ability to interfere in procreation decisions, and gives parents primacy in educational and healthcare decisions affecting their minor children. <i>Benefits: eliminates threats of government intrusion into your personal and family matters, more freedom to pursue happiness as you define it.</i>\n</p><p>3. <b><u>Give tax credits (rather than deductions) for contributions to \"safety net\" charitable organizations.</u></b> In so doing, get the federal government out of managing bureaucracy-heavy relief programs. Send that capital to the more innovative, more nimble, and more responsive private charitable sector, and watch it flourish! <i>Benefits: encourages more charitable giving while also allowing us to massively reduce wasteful and corrupt government spending, and eliminate deficit spending. Also clears out huge swaths of federal government bureaucracy, while providing better dollar-for-dollar outcomes for beneficiaries of safety net programs.</i>\n</p><p>4. <b><u>Break up the massive and entrenched DC bureaucracy</u></b> by eliminating several federal departments, slashing spending in others, and relocating most of them away from Washington in a competitive process among relevant cities across the country. <i>Benefits: will reduce government costs by hundreds of billions of dollars, allowing us to further reduce taxes coming out of your paycheck; will TRULY drain the DC swamp of an east coast ruling class telling us how to live our lives.</i>\n</p><p>5. <b><u>Link the implementation of expanded and simplified legal immigration to progress in reducing illegal border crossings and adjudicating asylum requests.</u></b> <i>Benefits: more immigration but better managed immigration means more economic growth with lower inflation. It allows more people to live free and achieve their dreams without creating an unbearable strain on social services. It allows Americans to experience the benefits of legal immigration without the national security threats, human and drug trafficking that we are currently experiencing.</i>\n</p><p>6. <b><u>Bring home our forward-deployed US ground troops</u></b> and change their mission to a defensive one, versus continuing to subsidize the defense of other nations, instigating regime change wars, and asking the Army to occupy foreign lands. <i>Benefits: reduce defense spending without adversely impacting our safety, reduce our provocations that contribute to wars around the globe, and make military service be about national defense rather than interventionism.</i>\n</p><p>7. <b><u>Stop the incarceration of drug users who commit no violent crimes.</u></b> End the counterproductive \"War on Drugs\" that has failed since the Nixon Administration to reduce the addiction problem, and has instead created – just as during Prohibition – a massively profitable landscape for violent criminal enterprise. Attack drug abuse as a medical problem, not a criminal problem. <i>Benefits: ends the counterproductive drug wars, reduces violent crime, reduces incarceration costs, puts more fathers back home in families where they can stop the cycle of poverty and crime.</i>\n</p><p><b>Solution #1: Re-awaken Federalism</b><br/>\nNeither Republicans nor Democrats in Washington believe in federalism in practice. Far too often they want to force their ideologies down the throats of everyone in all 50 States. <i><b>Two parties trying to jam mutually objectionable ideas of big government upon the other is a recipe for another civil war. Let’s settle things down by returning to a more robust concept of federalism, and then free citizens can vote with their feet.</b></i>\n</p><p>Federalism already exists in the US Constitution. The problem is that we haven't been following it faithfully in the past century.\n</p><p>We have ignored the simple language of our constitution’s Tenth Amendment, which says:\n</p><p><i>\"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.\"</i>\n</p><p>This clear expression has been gutted by overzealous partisans in Washington, aided by an overly expansive reading of the Interstate Commerce clause in Article I of the Constitution. We should clarify this conflict in favor of more authority reserved to the States, with an amendment to the Constitution as follows:\n</p>\n<dl><dd><dl><dd><i>“The power of Congress to make all laws that are necessary and proper to regulate commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall not be construed to include the power to regulate or prohibit any activity that is confined within a single State, regardless of its incidental effects outside the State.”</i></dd></dl></dd></dl>\n<p>Congress would, under this amendment, still have the power to regulate interstate commerce (that is, transactions crossing state lines) and to regulate toxic emissions that cross state lines. But this simple clarification would cause the courts to rule as unconstitutional literally hundreds of unnecessary federal regulations and laws, take power out of DC, and place it closer to the people, as the Founders intended.\n</p><p><b>Absent a return to a robust concept of Federalism, the only way to resolve our current national disunity without bloodshed would be a negotiated national divorce,</b> as we saw in the 1990s when Czechoslavakia peacefully broke into the independent countries of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.\n</p><p>The hyper-partisan direction in Washington has many Americans of various political persuasions fearing a potential second Civil War. It has also led some citizens of Texas to contemplate secession (i.e. \"Texit\"), which precedent would suggest could lead to CW2.\n</p><p><b>A commitment to federalism is a far better solution, and it already exists in the Constitution.</b> We just have to re-awaken it.\n</p><p><b>Solution #2: A Right to Privacy Amendment</b><br/>\n<i><b>Parents, not government, should be free to create and raise families as they see fit. A simple Right to Privacy Amendment can guarantee that.</b></i>\n</p><p>There is more to a Right to Privacy than just the abortion issue.\n</p><p>From 1973 (Roe v Wade) until 2022 (Dobbs v Jackson), America operated under the presumption that there existed in the Constitution a \"right to privacy\" in sexual, procreation and family matters. Even though sending the issue back to the States may have a proper decision from a jurisprudence point of view, Dobbs has the adverse effect of taking that happy presumption away. \n</p><p>I'm not saying Dobbs was a bad ruling. A right to privacy wasn't in the Constitution. It was nowhere to be found.\n</p><p>However, <b>the vast majority of Americans believe in a right to privacy, and that if there isn't one written, there should be.</b> This is not a left vs right issue. All sides would benefit from a constitutional right to privacy. So why haven't we defined it?\n</p><p>The answer is that extremists on both sides of the abortion debate, like my opponents, have no interest in finding a solution. They raise way too much political money pandering to the extremist 10% on each side, and as a result, we never make progress.\n</p><p><b>If elected, my first act will be to introduce a constitutional amendment defining sexual, reproductive and parental rights, as follows:</b>\n</p><p>The rights to (i) privacy in the pursuit of happiness in domestic relationships among consenting adults, (ii) dominion over decisions affecting the creation (excluding the abortion of any unborn children capable of sustained life outside the womb) of families, and (iii) authority over the disciplining of and healthcare and education decisions for minor children (provided that the States can still define and punish child abuse), shall not be abridged.\n</p><p>This amendment gives us a written definition of our right to privacy, which we need, and it would be acceptable to all but the extremes on both sides of the abortion issue. Why hasn't it been offered up by Republicans and Democrats? Isn't it obvious?\n</p><p><b>Solution #3: Use the Tax Code to Supercharge Private Charity</b><br/>\nA just society has a moral obligation to provide basic social safety nets that offer food, housing, medical care, education and disaster relief to “the least of these” among us. The Gospel of Matthew in fact describes how Jesus commanded it of us. <i><b>But Jesus did not suggest that we outsource that obligation to Caesar.</b></i>\n</p><p><b>Government as an intermediary in the provision of a social safety net brings corruption, a bloated bureaucracy, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and virtually no flexibility or adaptability.</b> No matter how badly it performs, it never goes away. In fact, failure in the public sector is automatically used as an excuse to ask for more money.\n</p><p>In contrast, <u>rivate charity is far more responsive to changing needs, is generally more effective and efficient on a dollar-for-dollar basis</u>, and must compete and continually perform in order to fundraise effectively and survive. \n</p><p>We can dramatically improve outcomes while reducing the government’s role in our lives by shifting who provides the social safety net from government to the private charity sector. <i><b>All we have to do is institute tax credits, rather than tax deductions, for defined US safety net charities.</b></i> It will redirect hundreds of billions of dollars away from government programs and towards charitable programs.\n</p><p>It also gives each taxpayer a choice: do I believe private charity is more efficient, or do I trust the government to re-distribute my money? We all know where the vast majority of Americans would come out on that question.\n</p><p>Transitional issues can be managed. The implementation could be phased in. Charities would be required to meet specific guidelines for both mission definition (food, shelter, health care, education and disaster relief for Americans below the poverty level) and financial transparency (similar to corporate SEC reporting rules) in order to have their contributions qualify for the credits.\n</p><p>Nonqualifying charities would still have 501(c)3 status and its donations would still be eligible for tax deductions. Religious organizations would qualify only to the extent of contributions to entities that meet the mission and transparency guidelines.\n</p><p>Within a reasonable time the massive capital shift will result in better outcomes for recipients and taxpayers alike. And <b>this will make a substantial dent in our deficits very quickly.</b> As funding flows towards charitable solutions, Congress will have to shut down the duplicative programs, and redirect what public capital is left to corners of the safety net that remain underfunded.\n</p><p><b>Solution #4: Disperse the Bureaucracy</b><br/>\nDid you know that <u>five of the ten wealthiest counties in the US are suburbs of Washington DC?</u> Does that make you angry? It should. It is a direct result of the unchecked growth of the governing class in our nation’s capital.\n</p><p>They create nothing, except taxes to keep them employed and wealthy, and regulations to keep us under their thumbs.\n</p><p>Bureaucracies are inherently slow to adapt to change; they are ineffective in achieving outcomes and are inefficient on a per dollar invested basis when compared to private sector alternatives; they are corrupted by political influences rather than prioritizing economic objectives; once established, they are focused to an absurd extent on the accumulation of power and the growth of its mass; and, if they are based almost exclusively in one location, they create an entrenched ruling class that lives within its own bubble fails to understand the people over which they exert control.\n</p><p>We can break up the massive, entrenched and often redundant DC bureaucracies by\n</p>\n<ol><li><b>Eliminating entire departments,</b> shifting those responsibilities to other departments or to the States,</li>\n<li><b>Slashing spending in others,</b> reducing the scope of their activities, and</li>\n<li><b>Relocating what remains away from Washington </b>through a competitive process among relevant cities.</li></ol>\n<p>Lip service to the contrary, most Republicans are no more interested in doing this than Democrats. Because they live in the same swamp, in places like my Republican opponent's home, Loudoun County, Virginia.\n</p><p><b>Let's use the Energy Department as an example.</b> What does the DOE and its 109,000 employees and contractors do? (<u>Click here to see the absurd org chart of the DOE</u>)\n</p>\n<ul><li>In short, the Energy Department has one critical function, the management of nuclear waste coming from the military's nuclear weapons program. No one would argue this doesn't need to be a government function. But it should be housed in the Department of Defense, not in its own bureaucracy.</li>\n<li>The DOE holds one important regulatory agency, the FERC, which regulates interstate natural gas and electricity transmission. This can be an independent agency, or can be reassigned to a different department, such as Commerce.</li>\n<li>Apart from these, the DOE is a science and technology research organization. These functions should be conducted by the private sector and by research universities, perhaps for a limited time granting a like amount of funding to such universities, then phasing those grants out to shift the economic burden to the private sector.</li>\n<li>By moving the handling of military nuclear waste to the Pentagon and making the FERC an independent agency, and eliminating the other functions, we can then eliminate the department.</li>\n<li>But if we are not successful in eliminating this department, at least we should disperse it to a location away from Washington DC. Why not ask Dallas, Houston, Tulsa and New Orleans, cities with ample expertise in energy issues, to compete for the relocation of this department?</li></ul>\n<p>We should go through this same process with each federal department. <b>Not only will we save billions of dollars necessary to reduce our deficit spending; we will also break up the permanent ruling class</b> that controls this country, that sends its kids to Ivy League schools and gets them jobs in their congressman's office, in DC lobbying, law firms and special interest groups, thus perpetuating the power of the ruling class. \n</p><p>This power does not need to forever reside in Washington DC. They have been ripping us off long enough.\n</p><p><b>Solution #5: Link Expanded Legal Immigration to Progress in Reducing Illegal Immigration</b><br/>\nOur border calamity is a result of two parties who have put partisanship above solutions for the American people. We have a lawless president who refuses to enforce laws that he doesn't agree with. And we have extremists on both sides of the aisle in Congress would rather have the unsolved problem, in order to 1) deny the other party credit for resolving anything, 2) help them inflame Americans and 3) raise money, than to arrive at an obvious and simple solution:\n</p><p><b>Negotiate to expand and simplify LEGAL IMMIGRATION to the United States that would go into effect only if and when we have (1) regained functional control of our borders, and (2) adjudicated 95% of the 2+ million provisional asylum cases that the Biden Administration has admitted without control into the country.</b>\n</p><p>This proposal would make adherence to the rule of law the ALLY of expanded and simplified legal immigration.\n</p><p>Additional thoughts:\n</p><p><b>I believe in EASIER LEGAL IMMIGRATION as a fundamental principle.</b> The US is a nation of immigrants, and virtually all of us are descendants of immigrants from other countries. The vast majority of immigrants come here to work hard and to make a better life for themselves and their families. They generally make wonderful citizens. Lastly, in the long run, our economy will have a huge need for more workers in all kinds of jobs.\n</p><p><b>But we also believe in the RULE OF LAW</b>, and we acknowledge that the country does not trust the government to liberalize legal immigration until and unless we get the current border mess under control. In order to return to a principle of easier legal immigration, we must do a far better job of committing permanently to the principle of much stricter enforcement of immigration laws.\n</p><p><b>We must close off the Provisional Asylum program</b> until we have worked through the massive backlog (2 million?) of unadjudicated asylum claims. Sadly, this will take many years, but that is the fault of those who allowed this to get out of control.\n</p><p>We must balance the CBP and other law enforcement’s legitimate need to stop, question and/or detain suspicious persons with the due process protections that we are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. We cannot let the response to the massive influx of illegal migrants violate the rights of citizens and legal immigrants who happen to share a Hispanic heritage.\n</p><p>We should <b>work cooperatively with Mexico to help them secure THEIR southern border.</b> This migration problem is hurting Mexico as badly or worse than it is hurting the US. Investments in Central American economics and in Mexican border security will be pennies on the dollar compared to what we will have to spend to clean up President Biden's mess on the border. And if handled correctly, with humility and cooperation, it should greatly strengthen our vital relationship with Mexico rather than strain it, as we are doing now.\n</p><p>We should NOT designate the Mexican cartels as FTOs <b>without provisos that under no circumstances (1) will we violate Mexican sovereignty without a specific congressional declaration, and (2) under no circumstances will American citizens or legal residents be subject to surveillance without a court order</b> specific to the individual.\n</p><p>Militarizing the drug war, especially on the other side of the border, would be massively counterproductive. It would 1) drive the cartels and the Mexican government into greater mutual cooperation; 2) drive the Mexican government to pursue stronger diplomatic ties with China; 3) make kidnapping targets out of the 1.6 million US expats living in Mexico, who are currently not targeted and in fact are diligently avoided by the cartels; and 4) create violent kinetic responses by the established gangs here on the US side of the border.\n</p><p>We should create a four-tier approach to legal migration for when we do open up: \n</p><p>a) citizen track,\n</p><p>b) refugee track,\n</p><p>c) guest worker track, and\n</p><p>d) Dreamers.\n</p><p>We should <b>establish easier paths to citizenship for legal immigrants, legitimate war refugees and Dreamers; establish a simplified path to legal residency (but not citizenship) for guest workers.</b>\n</p><p><b>Solution #6: Bring Home the Ground Troops</b><br/>\nThe Pentagon's planning scenario is to fight three wars at the same time: one in Europe, one in Asia, and one in the Middle East. Is this really necessary? \n</p><p>The last presidential military budget request of $773 billion included $177.5 billion for the Army, $194 billion for the Air Force and Space Force, and $230.8 billion for the Navy and Marine Corps. The sum of our defense spending is about 40% of all the defense spending on earth, <u>according to the 2022 SIPRI Military Expenditure Databas</u>. By contrast, China spends about 13% and Russia about 4%. So we are currently outspending China by 3:1 and Russia by 10:1. We have room to safely reduce military spending.\n</p><p>Add to these facts that our European allies, without us, are outspending Russia by 4:1; our Asian allies are spending nearly as much as China (82%), and the Middle Eastern regimes generally friendlier towards us are collectively spending more than Iran.\n</p><p>It's time for us to begin downsizing the Army and bringing those troops (Marines, also) home, giving them a more defensive mission. We should have learned in recent decades that being an occupying / pacifying force is not our distinctive competency. Let the UN do that.\n</p><p>We can continue to support our European, Asian and Middle Eastern allies with our best-in-class Navy and Air Force. We can continue to invest in the best strike forces on earth (Marines, SEALs, etc.) to carry out missions on foreign territory when necessary. And of course we must maintain a nuclear deterrent that dissuades anyone on earth from provoking us. \n</p><p>We can do this without abandoning our contractual allies. But they must create more self-sufficiency in their national defense, as has Israel. Our assistance to allies should involve diplomatic support, selling them defensive armaments, sharing military intelligence, providing air and naval support. We can no longer afford to give near-unlimited armaments to our friends.\n</p><p><b>Solution #7: End the Drug Wars</b><br/>\n<u>The 50+ year War on Drugs is an abject failure.</u> It has created far more problems than it has solved, and should end immediately. \n</p><p>Our experience with Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s should have taught us that we cannot effectively legislate morality. Just as during Prohibition, the Drug War has created a massively profitable landscape for violent criminal enterprise.\n</p><p>At the Federal level, we should:\n</p>\n<ol><li>Decriminalize the possession and distribution of marijuana and similar herbal recreational substances as soon as possible.</li>\n<li>Decriminalize the non-prescribed possession of commonly prescribed drugs (examples: Adderall, Ambien, Methadone, Valium, Xanax, etc.). Make them easier to get at the pharmacy where the chances they will be tainted with fentanyl are near zero.</li>\n<li>Encourage states to do the same thing. Prison cells not filled with drug possession convicts are prison cells that can be used to incarcerate violent criminals for lengthier sentences.</li>\n<li>Continue to enforce laws against the illegal smuggling and distribution of truly harmful/addictive nasty drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.).</li>\n<li>Treat fentanyl in a wholly different category. Fentanyl deaths are almost entirely the result of unintentional ingestion, and thus are more akin to poisoning than the intentional use of a recreational drug. Distributors of fentanyl-tainted drugs should be charged with murder for any deaths of their users.</li>\n<li>Reduce incarceration costs by commuting drug possession sentences to time served.</li>\n<li>Cease the practice of negotiating with defendants to accept guilty pleas on personal use drug charges rather than face trial for violent crimes. Doing so blurs the line between victimless drug crimes and violent crimes against others. It also creates the argument that mass releases of drug felons would be a de facto release of violent criminals.</li>\n<li>Treat drug abuse as an educational and health care problem, not a criminal problem.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-quotedisclaimer_2-0\"><a href=\"#cite_note-quotedisclaimer-2\">[2]</a></sup></li></ol>\n</td>\n<td style=\"border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right; padding: 10px 1px;\" valign=\"bottom\" width=\"20\">”\n</td></tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"cquotecite\" colspan=\"3\" style=\"border: none; padding-right: 4%\"><cite style=\"font-style: normal;font-size: smaller; float: right;\">—Bob King’s campaign website (2024)<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-3\"><a href=\"#cite_note-3\">[3]</a></sup></cite>\n</td></tr></tbody></table>\n</div>", "answer_text": "King’s campaign website stated the following:\n“ Bob Has Solutions Practical, workable ideas that solve problems. You won't hear them from Bob's status quo opponents. 1. Propose a \"Re-Awaken Federalism\" amendment to the US Constitution. Let's let California be California, and let Texas be Texas, and stop trying to force one solution on everyone. Not every issue needs to be settled in DC and jammed down everyone's throats. Benefits: more localized decision-making makes for better government, less incivility and reduces the threat of national civil instability. It will also result in far less federal spending, which means far less federal taxation. More money in your paycheck. 2. Propose a “Right to Privacy” amendment to the US Constitution that keeps government out of our bedrooms, limits its ability to interfere in procreation decisions, and gives parents primacy in educational and healthcare decisions affecting their minor children. Benefits: eliminates threats of government intrusion into your personal and family matters, more freedom to pursue happiness as you define it. 3. Give tax credits (rather than deductions) for contributions to \"safety net\" charitable organizations. In so doing, get the federal government out of managing bureaucracy-heavy relief programs. Send that capital to the more innovative, more nimble, and more responsive private charitable sector, and watch it flourish! Benefits: encourages more charitable giving while also allowing us to massively reduce wasteful and corrupt government spending, and eliminate deficit spending. Also clears out huge swaths of federal government bureaucracy, while providing better dollar-for-dollar outcomes for beneficiaries of safety net programs. 4. Break up the massive and entrenched DC bureaucracy by eliminating several federal departments, slashing spending in others, and relocating most of them away from Washington in a competitive process among relevant cities across the country. Benefits: will reduce government costs by hundreds of billions of dollars, allowing us to further reduce taxes coming out of your paycheck; will TRULY drain the DC swamp of an east coast ruling class telling us how to live our lives. 5. Link the implementation of expanded and simplified legal immigration to progress in reducing illegal border crossings and adjudicating asylum requests. Benefits: more immigration but better managed immigration means more economic growth with lower inflation. It allows more people to live free and achieve their dreams without creating an unbearable strain on social services. It allows Americans to experience the benefits of legal immigration without the national security threats, human and drug trafficking that we are currently experiencing. 6. Bring home our forward-deployed US ground troops and change their mission to a defensive one, versus continuing to subsidize the defense of other nations, instigating regime change wars, and asking the Army to occupy foreign lands. Benefits: reduce defense spending without adversely impacting our safety, reduce our provocations that contribute to wars around the globe, and make military service be about national defense rather than interventionism. 7. Stop the incarceration of drug users who commit no violent crimes. End the counterproductive \"War on Drugs\" that has failed since the Nixon Administration to reduce the addiction problem, and has instead created – just as during Prohibition – a massively profitable landscape for violent criminal enterprise. Attack drug abuse as a medical problem, not a criminal problem. Benefits: ends the counterproductive drug wars, reduces violent crime, reduces incarceration costs, puts more fathers back home in families where they can stop the cycle of poverty and crime. Solution #1: Re-awaken Federalism Neither Republicans nor Democrats in Washington believe in federalism in practice. Far too often they want to force their ideologies down the throats of everyone in all 50 States. Two parties trying to jam mutually objectionable ideas of big government upon the other is a recipe for another civil war. Let’s settle things down by returning to a more robust concept of federalism, and then free citizens can vote with their feet. Federalism already exists in the US Constitution. The problem is that we haven't been following it faithfully in the past century. We have ignored the simple language of our constitution’s Tenth Amendment, which says: \"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.\" This clear expression has been gutted by overzealous partisans in Washington, aided by an overly expansive reading of the Interstate Commerce clause in Article I of the Constitution. We should clarify this conflict in favor of more authority reserved to the States, with an amendment to the Constitution as follows: “The power of Congress to make all laws that are necessary and proper to regulate commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall not be construed to include the power to regulate or prohibit any activity that is confined within a single State, regardless of its incidental effects outside the State.” Congress would, under this amendment, still have the power to regulate interstate commerce (that is, transactions crossing state lines) and to regulate toxic emissions that cross state lines. But this simple clarification would cause the courts to rule as unconstitutional literally hundreds of unnecessary federal regulations and laws, take power out of DC, and place it closer to the people, as the Founders intended. Absent a return to a robust concept of Federalism, the only way to resolve our current national disunity without bloodshed would be a negotiated national divorce, as we saw in the 1990s when Czechoslavakia peacefully broke into the independent countries of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The hyper-partisan direction in Washington has many Americans of various political persuasions fearing a potential second Civil War. It has also led some citizens of Texas to contemplate secession (i.e. \"Texit\"), which precedent would suggest could lead to CW2. A commitment to federalism is a far better solution, and it already exists in the Constitution. We just have to re-awaken it. Solution #2: A Right to Privacy Amendment Parents, not government, should be free to create and raise families as they see fit. A simple Right to Privacy Amendment can guarantee that. There is more to a Right to Privacy than just the abortion issue. From 1973 (Roe v Wade) until 2022 (Dobbs v Jackson), America operated under the presumption that there existed in the Constitution a \"right to privacy\" in sexual, procreation and family matters. Even though sending the issue back to the States may have a proper decision from a jurisprudence point of view, Dobbs has the adverse effect of taking that happy presumption away. I'm not saying Dobbs was a bad ruling. A right to privacy wasn't in the Constitution. It was nowhere to be found. However, the vast majority of Americans believe in a right to privacy, and that if there isn't one written, there should be. This is not a left vs right issue. All sides would benefit from a constitutional right to privacy. So why haven't we defined it? The answer is that extremists on both sides of the abortion debate, like my opponents, have no interest in finding a solution. They raise way too much political money pandering to the extremist 10% on each side, and as a result, we never make progress. If elected, my first act will be to introduce a constitutional amendment defining sexual, reproductive and parental rights, as follows: The rights to (i) privacy in the pursuit of happiness in domestic relationships among consenting adults, (ii) dominion over decisions affecting the creation (excluding the abortion of any unborn children capable of sustained life outside the womb) of families, and (iii) authority over the disciplining of and healthcare and education decisions for minor children (provided that the States can still define and punish child abuse), shall not be abridged. This amendment gives us a written definition of our right to privacy, which we need, and it would be acceptable to all but the extremes on both sides of the abortion issue. Why hasn't it been offered up by Republicans and Democrats? Isn't it obvious? Solution #3: Use the Tax Code to Supercharge Private Charity A just society has a moral obligation to provide basic social safety nets that offer food, housing, medical care, education and disaster relief to “the least of these” among us. The Gospel of Matthew in fact describes how Jesus commanded it of us. But Jesus did not suggest that we outsource that obligation to Caesar. Government as an intermediary in the provision of a social safety net brings corruption, a bloated bureaucracy, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and virtually no flexibility or adaptability. No matter how badly it performs, it never goes away. In fact, failure in the public sector is automatically used as an excuse to ask for more money. In contrast, rivate charity is far more responsive to changing needs, is generally more effective and efficient on a dollar-for-dollar basis , and must compete and continually perform in order to fundraise effectively and survive. We can dramatically improve outcomes while reducing the government’s role in our lives by shifting who provides the social safety net from government to the private charity sector. All we have to do is institute tax credits, rather than tax deductions, for defined US safety net charities. It will redirect hundreds of billions of dollars away from government programs and towards charitable programs. It also gives each taxpayer a choice: do I believe private charity is more efficient, or do I trust the government to re-distribute my money? We all know where the vast majority of Americans would come out on that question. Transitional issues can be managed. The implementation could be phased in. Charities would be required to meet specific guidelines for both mission definition (food, shelter, health care, education and disaster relief for Americans below the poverty level) and financial transparency (similar to corporate SEC reporting rules) in order to have their contributions qualify for the credits. Nonqualifying charities would still have 501(c)3 status and its donations would still be eligible for tax deductions. Religious organizations would qualify only to the extent of contributions to entities that meet the mission and transparency guidelines. Within a reasonable time the massive capital shift will result in better outcomes for recipients and taxpayers alike. And this will make a substantial dent in our deficits very quickly. As funding flows towards charitable solutions, Congress will have to shut down the duplicative programs, and redirect what public capital is left to corners of the safety net that remain underfunded. Solution #4: Disperse the Bureaucracy Did you know that five of the ten wealthiest counties in the US are suburbs of Washington DC? Does that make you angry? It should. It is a direct result of the unchecked growth of the governing class in our nation’s capital. They create nothing, except taxes to keep them employed and wealthy, and regulations to keep us under their thumbs. Bureaucracies are inherently slow to adapt to change; they are ineffective in achieving outcomes and are inefficient on a per dollar invested basis when compared to private sector alternatives; they are corrupted by political influences rather than prioritizing economic objectives; once established, they are focused to an absurd extent on the accumulation of power and the growth of its mass; and, if they are based almost exclusively in one location, they create an entrenched ruling class that lives within its own bubble fails to understand the people over which they exert control. We can break up the massive, entrenched and often redundant DC bureaucracies by Eliminating entire departments, shifting those responsibilities to other departments or to the States, Slashing spending in others, reducing the scope of their activities, and Relocating what remains away from Washington through a competitive process among relevant cities. Lip service to the contrary, most Republicans are no more interested in doing this than Democrats. Because they live in the same swamp, in places like my Republican opponent's home, Loudoun County, Virginia. Let's use the Energy Department as an example. What does the DOE and its 109,000 employees and contractors do? ( Click here to see the absurd org chart of the DOE ) In short, the Energy Department has one critical function, the management of nuclear waste coming from the military's nuclear weapons program. No one would argue this doesn't need to be a government function. But it should be housed in the Department of Defense, not in its own bureaucracy. The DOE holds one important regulatory agency, the FERC, which regulates interstate natural gas and electricity transmission. This can be an independent agency, or can be reassigned to a different department, such as Commerce. Apart from these, the DOE is a science and technology research organization. These functions should be conducted by the private sector and by research universities, perhaps for a limited time granting a like amount of funding to such universities, then phasing those grants out to shift the economic burden to the private sector. By moving the handling of military nuclear waste to the Pentagon and making the FERC an independent agency, and eliminating the other functions, we can then eliminate the department. But if we are not successful in eliminating this department, at least we should disperse it to a location away from Washington DC. Why not ask Dallas, Houston, Tulsa and New Orleans, cities with ample expertise in energy issues, to compete for the relocation of this department? We should go through this same process with each federal department. Not only will we save billions of dollars necessary to reduce our deficit spending; we will also break up the permanent ruling class that controls this country, that sends its kids to Ivy League schools and gets them jobs in their congressman's office, in DC lobbying, law firms and special interest groups, thus perpetuating the power of the ruling class. This power does not need to forever reside in Washington DC. They have been ripping us off long enough. Solution #5: Link Expanded Legal Immigration to Progress in Reducing Illegal Immigration Our border calamity is a result of two parties who have put partisanship above solutions for the American people. We have a lawless president who refuses to enforce laws that he doesn't agree with. And we have extremists on both sides of the aisle in Congress would rather have the unsolved problem, in order to 1) deny the other party credit for resolving anything, 2) help them inflame Americans and 3) raise money, than to arrive at an obvious and simple solution: Negotiate to expand and simplify LEGAL IMMIGRATION to the United States that would go into effect only if and when we have (1) regained functional control of our borders, and (2) adjudicated 95% of the 2+ million provisional asylum cases that the Biden Administration has admitted without control into the country. This proposal would make adherence to the rule of law the ALLY of expanded and simplified legal immigration. Additional thoughts: I believe in EASIER LEGAL IMMIGRATION as a fundamental principle. The US is a nation of immigrants, and virtually all of us are descendants of immigrants from other countries. The vast majority of immigrants come here to work hard and to make a better life for themselves and their families. They generally make wonderful citizens. Lastly, in the long run, our economy will have a huge need for more workers in all kinds of jobs. But we also believe in the RULE OF LAW , and we acknowledge that the country does not trust the government to liberalize legal immigration until and unless we get the current border mess under control. In order to return to a principle of easier legal immigration, we must do a far better job of committing permanently to the principle of much stricter enforcement of immigration laws. We must close off the Provisional Asylum program until we have worked through the massive backlog (2 million?) of unadjudicated asylum claims. Sadly, this will take many years, but that is the fault of those who allowed this to get out of control. We must balance the CBP and other law enforcement’s legitimate need to stop, question and/or detain suspicious persons with the due process protections that we are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. We cannot let the response to the massive influx of illegal migrants violate the rights of citizens and legal immigrants who happen to share a Hispanic heritage. We should work cooperatively with Mexico to help them secure THEIR southern border. This migration problem is hurting Mexico as badly or worse than it is hurting the US. Investments in Central American economics and in Mexican border security will be pennies on the dollar compared to what we will have to spend to clean up President Biden's mess on the border. And if handled correctly, with humility and cooperation, it should greatly strengthen our vital relationship with Mexico rather than strain it, as we are doing now. We should NOT designate the Mexican cartels as FTOs without provisos that under no circumstances (1) will we violate Mexican sovereignty without a specific congressional declaration, and (2) under no circumstances will American citizens or legal residents be subject to surveillance without a court order specific to the individual. Militarizing the drug war, especially on the other side of the border, would be massively counterproductive. It would 1) drive the cartels and the Mexican government into greater mutual cooperation; 2) drive the Mexican government to pursue stronger diplomatic ties with China; 3) make kidnapping targets out of the 1.6 million US expats living in Mexico, who are currently not targeted and in fact are diligently avoided by the cartels; and 4) create violent kinetic responses by the established gangs here on the US side of the border. We should create a four-tier approach to legal migration for when we do open up: a) citizen track, b) refugee track, c) guest worker track, and d) Dreamers. We should establish easier paths to citizenship for legal immigrants, legitimate war refugees and Dreamers; establish a simplified path to legal residency (but not citizenship) for guest workers. Solution #6: Bring Home the Ground Troops The Pentagon's planning scenario is to fight three wars at the same time: one in Europe, one in Asia, and one in the Middle East. Is this really necessary? The last presidential military budget request of $773 billion included $177.5 billion for the Army, $194 billion for the Air Force and Space Force, and $230.8 billion for the Navy and Marine Corps. The sum of our defense spending is about 40% of all the defense spending on earth, according to the 2022 SIPRI Military Expenditure Databas . By contrast, China spends about 13% and Russia about 4%. So we are currently outspending China by 3:1 and Russia by 10:1. We have room to safely reduce military spending. Add to these facts that our European allies, without us, are outspending Russia by 4:1; our Asian allies are spending nearly as much as China (82%), and the Middle Eastern regimes generally friendlier towards us are collectively spending more than Iran. It's time for us to begin downsizing the Army and bringing those troops (Marines, also) home, giving them a more defensive mission. We should have learned in recent decades that being an occupying / pacifying force is not our distinctive competency. Let the UN do that. We can continue to support our European, Asian and Middle Eastern allies with our best-in-class Navy and Air Force. We can continue to invest in the best strike forces on earth (Marines, SEALs, etc.) to carry out missions on foreign territory when necessary. And of course we must maintain a nuclear deterrent that dissuades anyone on earth from provoking us. We can do this without abandoning our contractual allies. But they must create more self-sufficiency in their national defense, as has Israel. Our assistance to allies should involve diplomatic support, selling them defensive armaments, sharing military intelligence, providing air and naval support. We can no longer afford to give near-unlimited armaments to our friends. Solution #7: End the Drug Wars The 50+ year War on Drugs is an abject failure. It has created far more problems than it has solved, and should end immediately. Our experience with Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s should have taught us that we cannot effectively legislate morality. Just as during Prohibition, the Drug War has created a massively profitable landscape for violent criminal enterprise. At the Federal level, we should: Decriminalize the possession and distribution of marijuana and similar herbal recreational substances as soon as possible. Decriminalize the non-prescribed possession of commonly prescribed drugs (examples: Adderall, Ambien, Methadone, Valium, Xanax, etc.). Make them easier to get at the pharmacy where the chances they will be tainted with fentanyl are near zero. Encourage states to do the same thing. Prison cells not filled with drug possession convicts are prison cells that can be used to incarcerate violent criminals for lengthier sentences. Continue to enforce laws against the illegal smuggling and distribution of truly harmful/addictive nasty drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.). Treat fentanyl in a wholly different category. Fentanyl deaths are almost entirely the result of unintentional ingestion, and thus are more akin to poisoning than the intentional use of a recreational drug. Distributors of fentanyl-tainted drugs should be charged with murder for any deaths of their users. Reduce incarceration costs by commuting drug possession sentences to time served. Cease the practice of negotiating with defendants to accept guilty pleas on personal use drug charges rather than face trial for violent crimes. Doing so blurs the line between victimless drug crimes and violent crimes against others. It also creates the argument that mass releases of drug felons would be a de facto release of violent criminals. Treat drug abuse as an educational and health care problem, not a criminal problem. [2] ” —Bob King’s campaign website (2024) [3]"}]