Many have asked where I stand on the issues if I decide to run for US Congress in the MA 5th District special election.

Below are several of my positions.

Now, political operators say to stay away from the issues, to dumb down a (possible) campaign as much as possible.

This is why we see politicians with generic statements and mindless fundraisers while taking stands as little as possible. Others tell me a great asset is my photogenic young family or status as a veteran and that marketing gets more interest than ideas.

The effort of the political marketing machine is get us to like politicians and candidates based on superficial traits so they can take stands on issues only as a last resort and do so in a way that retains as many voters as possible: usually with a non-committal, washed-out statement that can easily be back pedaled or tailored to various audiences. People driven to win avoid saying anything meaningful because each position stated risks losing a vote.

We can do better than typical politics today and I do not submit to those rules.

Here is where I stand on some major issues:

Wars and foreign intervention:
We must stop being policeman, or worse, imperialist to the world. Our military misadventures worldwide have tarnished our name, increased our risks and cost far too many lives and too much money. We’ve had more time to end the failed war in Afghanistan than the time of the entire US involvement in both WWI and WWII combined from start to finish. Our troops deserve better. We should cease bombing campaigns and aggression globally unless faced with a direct threat and then only fight when we have a Constitutional declaration of war.

Militarization of our streets:
Free countries are not characterized by armored personnel carriers, tanks and heavily armed soldiers marching the streets. This leads to abuses such as the many 4th Amendment violations we saw in Watertown and elsewhere after the Marathon bombings.

TSA and DHS:
The Department of Homeland Security now numbers over 300,000 people yet has done little to nothing to stop terrorism and a great deal to violate the rights of citizens. They are expanding their influence far beyond airports and can be seen at non-border checkpoints and even shopping malls, they should be abolished.

The IRS:
The IRS has been used as a political tool against citizens, this is unacceptable.

The First Amendment:
The government has increased its violations of the First Amendment in recent years with “protest zones”, censorship of political and other speech and other unconstitutional acts. This needs to be reversed.

The Second Amendment:
People like Mayor Bloomberg and Vice President Biden don’t actually want less guns, they want many guns….but guns only in the hands of people under orders of the State and out of the hands of citizens they are supposed to represent. I call this “gun discrimination”. An imbalance of power between citizens and the State is not the hallmark of a free society. Humans have a natural right to self defense. A world without guns means that might, strength and numbers will always win and the weak, elderly or single individual will always lose against superior numbers. Firearms enable women, the weak and those outnumbered to have a fair and reasonable chance of survival if attacked by those with superior physical strength or numbers.
If we compare Boston and El Paso we will note that despite a much larger police force, much larger law enforcement budget, higher income and education levels, and lower population, Boston has more crime in every single area tracked by FBI crime measurements. Like Chicago and other areas with strict citizen defense restrictions, Boston suffers from more violence than similar sized cities who more closely follow the Constitution.
It is understandable if someone dislikes firearms and chooses to not own or use one in defense. It is the right of a human to choose to not fight back if attacked. It is even their right to choose to die if attacked or to choose not to call police because they dislike the guns the police use. But it is not the right of any person to take that right of defense away from another person. Ironically, to take that defense right away, those who seek to take guns would have to resort to using force, including guns, against peaceful citizens. I believe in peace and non-aggression just like Martin Luther King Jr., who was a gun owner (see Huffington Post etc.). Lastly, the purpose of the 2nd Amendment was not as much to protect against civilian criminals but against abuses of the State. I defend the 2nd Amendment for these reasons.

The Fourth Amendment:
People have a right to be secure in their homes and a right to privacy and control of their belongings. The government has no right to read mail or email, listen to phone calls or enter homes and cars or search citizens without a warrant.

The Patriot Act:
This Act, signed by President Bush and then re-signed by President Obama is one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern history and violates our rights. The Patriot Act should be repealed.

Education:
We have more than two administrators for every teacher and a great deal of inefficiency in our education system. The Federal government offers little tangible value to students and parents. Education should be managed on a local level as much as possible with the focus placed less on standardized tests and more on helping the teachers in the classroom have the resources they need when dealing directly with students.

Health Care:
It would be ideal for every citizen to have health care but it is immoral to force, at the threat of imprisonment or worse, others to pay for it. It also does not work. The major problems with our medical system are that regulations and red tape make competition difficult, efficiency lower and cause far higher prices than many other places in the world. Doctors often spend a third of their day focused on paperwork rather than patient care. Prescriptions in the US cost far more than in other countries and some effective treatments are delayed for years by bureaucracy. In the film Sicko, Michael Moore highlighted some of the real problems with our healthcare system. Unfortunately the solution he supported, Obamacare, has been a windfall for exactly the companies he criticized in the film. Go and review the companies he highlighted and how their stock prices have performed since Obamacare. Essentially, well meaning Americans were fooled into giving huge windfalls to exactly the companies Moore identified as the worst offenders. If we want better medical care we need to provide those giving care more freedom to do so.

Abortion:
No one has a right to tell a woman what to do with her body. Likewise, unborn humans have rights as well. At some point a decision is not just about the life of an adult woman and her body but an unborn child as well. This is why we, as a society, generally agree that if a mother in the ninth month, one week or one day before birth, decides to abort her child this is unacceptable. We need to recognize the sanctity of life while also understanding our Constitution.

Fifth and Sixth Amendment:
People have a right to a fair trial. To say that “terrorists” don’t deserve a fair trial is to say that anyone with the label “terrorist” placed on them by a government worker is guilty because some government worker said so – this is not justice. When the mere accusation of a crime becomes the conviction we are one mistake, one bad election or one bad government worker away from a system we no longer recognize which violates rights.

The Drug War:
The “war on drugs” has failed and creates more crime, feeds cartels and gangs and is counterproductive to dealing with addiction. We should end the drug war and decriminalize drugs. From a crime, economic and moral standpoint this would be better for America. Once again we must look at peace and freedom. We may dislike drugs. Personally I have both seen first hand the great harm drugs can cause and have never used any drug myself, I wish drug abuse was non-existent. I also recognize that criminalization both worsens the problem and is a moral dilemma because it is not my right to take money from citizens and send people in uniforms with guns to do harm to those using drugs no matter how we may feel about the issue.

Immigration:
If we ask what is great about America, many will say that we allow people from all over the world to come here and pursue the “American dream”. Sadly, this is not true any longer as very few people can come here legally as our forefathers did to pursue a better life. This is wrong and turns our back on one of the great things about our country.
It is also wrong to allow people to break the law or sneak into this country while others follow the rules. Furthermore we must face the complex reality that there are millions of people here who are part of our society and also here illegally while sometimes having children who are legal citizens. The solution is clear. We must crack down on illegal immigration and must also embrace our roots and offer more means of legal immigration to allow people to come here lawfully as we did in our greatest decades.

Jobs:
The government does not create jobs. Politicians who say so are mistaken or worse, dishonest. All government has the power and ability to do is regulate citizens and industry and take money from citizens (by force) and give it to others. The best way to create jobs is for government to get out of the way and let private industry create jobs.

Bailouts:
It is immoral and it is bad economics to take money from citizens to support banks or other companies who would not survive on their own. The economy will be healthier if companies are allowed to succeed and fail based on their merits.

NDAA:
Aspects of the NDAA allowing for indefinite detention of citizens without trial are unconstitutional and a violation of our rights.

Gay marriage:
Government should not be in the business of marriage and should make no laws preventing people from being married (or doing anything which harms no other). Every person should be free to pursue happiness as they see fit regardless of sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Each church or other private organization should be free to recognize and allow or disallow whatever ceremonies they wish and encourage or discourage whatever family, relationship, sexual or moral practices it sees fit.

Spying on citizens:
Free countries do not spy on citizens without warrant. This must stop. We should also never allow our government to declare a whistleblower or other person they disagree with politically to be a traitor based on that alone.

Economic policy:
The Federal Reserve should be audited and we should stop the cycle of quantitative easing and creation of new money.

Sanctions:
Sanctions against other nations should be ended. The best way to foster freedom and good global relations is to have free trade with all nations not isolate and alienate them and ourselves.

Taxes:
Taxes should be lowered and eliminated whenever possible. Government is far too large and it is unethical to force babies born today to pay debt and interest for expenditures made before their birth.
It is important to remember that taxes are taken by force and threat of force. This is a violent act against the people and should never be taken lightly.

Overall:
Overall I believe in freedom, peace and avoidance of the use of force by government against citizens. Many who believe they are peaceful end up supporting governments which are extremely violent. Many of us have slowly seen our nation drift from what makes us great. We can do better.

Background:
I am a global financial advisor and economic strategist, I worked for a major investment company then founded my own company which was the first full service investment firm to use the Internet. I’ve traveled the world and studied economics in depth across the globe and at home for two decades. I’ve done billions of dollars in transactions and had the pleasure to meet a variety of people ranging from the poorest to the richest, from soldiers to victims of our bombings to world leaders and global business figures. I’ve studied the Middle East extensively and focused on that region for many years with significant time spent in the region. I respect all humans and opinions. I’m a father of four children aged six and younger, I’m an amateur martial artist, techie and strategy game hobbyist geek and happily married to the woman I first dated 21 years ago. I served in the US Navy and graduated Bentley College in Waltham.

I’m evaluating this run for office because I want to see a higher level of discourse in political campaigns and I want to see substantive candidates who speak in depth about real issues. I want to see leaders who reflect the will of the voters who are, in general, weary of war, corruption and a reduction in our freedoms.

Why do I want to run?
I don’t. What I want is for us to have good candidates to select from whose views reflect what most citizens want which is, at the very least, more peace and more freedom.
If a reasonably good candidate comes forward with a good chance of winning I will endorse that person and gladly go back to my happy and private life with my young family and my career.
But if no one can come forward and represent the Constitution and the citizens then I may have little choice but to try to make a difference by running.

If I do decide to run, the experts tell me my odds are low and I’d need a large fortune in campaign funds. I like to believe that ideas still matter and that the voice of the people could still be heard in a grass roots effort.

Please share this and consider helping me, be it as a candidate or not, to make America a better nation for all.