Here’s my summary of “Why Elect Me?” — published in the NewsVirginian — just in case you missed it!
By: NEWS VIRGINIAN STAFF | News Virginian
Published: June 03, 2012
For the first time in twenty years, Congressman Bob Goodlatte faces a challenger from within his own party. I’m Karen Kwiatkowski, and my battle cry is “Less government, more prosperity!”
I’m a veteran and a farmer, a mother and a grandmother, a teacher and a lover of the Constitution. I am someone very much like the people the incumbent has taken for granted in the past twenty years.
Our differences go far deeper than whether or not I am a lawyer (I’m not), and if served in the military (I did). Our differences go beyond our opinion on whether a series of public debates should be held (I’ll debate, he refuses). Our differences are more substantial than my fundamental opposition to Bob Goodlatte’s two decades of borrowing, spending and regulating.
While Mr. Goodlatte is a Republican, he’s grown and expanded government for nearly twenty years. He’s added to the federal debt, he’s grown the list of unfunded mandates and entitlements, and he’s increased the regulatory burdens we face in agriculture, in education, in energy, in transportation – while consistently voting to reduce our civil liberties and internet freedom.
He calls this “conservative;” I call it being entrenched. He calls this “pragmatic;” I call it “kicking the can.”
We live in a congressional district filled with intelligent and patriotic people who embrace traditional values and liberty. We are people who love and understand farming, education from preschool to grad school, and entrepreneurialism. Yet we seem stuck with a congressman who blindly compromises and goes along to get along. Instead of working for us, day in and day out, he votes 94% of the time with Ohioan John Boehner, and 93% of the time with Richmond’s Eric Cantor.
The incumbent has spent years promoting complicated legislation favoring Midwestern agricultural corporations, while failing to listen to our opinions on NAIS, GIPSA, and corn-burning ethanol. He takes money from Hollywood and tries to pass unwise Internet regulations like SOPA, ignoring the entire under-40 crowd of educators, students, and entrepreneurs in the Valley. He tinkers with EPA process and promotes a cap and trade style “nutrient credit” scheme while failing to cut any fat from the EPA budget. He voted for No Child Left Behind, and has done nothing to help repeal that bill in a decade. He insists that he voted against Obamacare, while he voted three times to fund and pay for a bill that, as Nancy Pelosi said, “had to be passed so we would know what was in it.”
There is a better way to be represented, and there is a better representative for the 6th District of Virginia.
First, I’m going to Congress to clean house and fight for the Constitution. It’s really that simple. Having lived in southern Maryland and northern Virginia for my last three tours (at NSA and the Pentagon), I am no fan of D.C., or the region’s bedroom communities that constitute the federal government wealth redistribution project. I love my Shenandoah County farm, and I love the Republic I grew up believing in. That Republic is in danger. The Constitution has been ignored for too long by Congress and the President. I’m planning to do something about that.
Second, I’m going to cast conservative and Constitutional votes, and you’ll always know how I’m voting. I’ll be voting “No!” to more spending and borrowing, and “No!” to greater centralization of federal power as seen in the NDAA, the PATRIOT Act, NCLB, ethanol subsidies. I’ll vote “No!” to omnibus bills that include unconstitutional spending. I’ll vote “No!” to government growth, and I’ll cajole, convince and shame my fellow congressmen into opposing this growth of government as well.
Third, I cherish our God-given rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are very clear. Freedom of speech, of religion, of association and assembly. Freedom from government interference in our rights to own and be secure in our property, papers and persons. The right to have fair trials, to have an independent judiciary, and the right to never be abused by your government. I could never conceive of voting for the PATRIOT ACT, SOPA, CISPA and the current NDAA. I am repulsed by many of the president’s executive orders that seem to contradict and constrain our liberties. Unlike the incumbent, I’ll fight these unconstitutional trends, and I’ll fight those who promote them.
As your representative, I’ll cut spending and work to keep the federal government honest. I’ll sponsor or co-sponsor Read the Bills, Write the Laws, and One Subject at a Time (OSTA) Acts. I’ll co-sponsor FairTax legislation and work to repeal the 16th Amendment. I’ll promote decentralization of power to states and to the people, and I’ll fight for food and farm freedom. I’ll work to get the federal government on a more limited constitutional track, off your backs and out of your way.
Beyond that, I’ll reverse the disconnected constituent contact and response system that has evolved over the past twenty years. We’ll be immediately implementing a new level of staff discipline, to ensure that my office and I provide rapid, direct, and honest responses to your questions and concerns, each and every time. We’ll inspire, innovate, and invite your inputs, and we’ll work hard to solve your problems with federal government agencies quickly. We’ll make sure you know what I’m doing in Washington in real time, all the time.
With your vote on June 12th, the 6th District of Virginia is going to try something so old it almost seems new: Constitutionalism, liberty and limited government!
- Karen Kwiatkowski
Candidate for 6th District of Virginia
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