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| Mike Kolls - L US Congress District 24 of Texas, candidate |
AJ: I understand you are running for Us Congress out of Texas. Which District and what made you decide to run for the people of your district? Explain to the viewers what brought you into the political world?
MK: I would like to represent The People of US congressional district 24. This is NE Tarrant Co., NW Dallas Co., and a small portion of South Denton Co.
Our federal gov’t is out of control. It tries to do too much. And what it does, it does poorly.
We The People should have more control over our day-to-day lives. It’s really about bringing decisions back to kitchen tables and communities. We really don’t need any help, really! Give us Liberty, we can handle the rest.
I’m also struck by Albert Einstein’s observation, “We cannot use the same thinking to solve problems that we used when we created them”.
AJ: What is your definition of Liberty? What is your interpretation of the founding documents that birthed the US?
MK: Liberty - The ability to act without external controls (like government). It also infers authority to act against arbitrary or oppressive controls. It is similar to and related to Freedom and Sovereignty.
The Declaration of Independence explains what the Founding Fathers had in mind. The first third shares the future vision of free men (and women). The last two-thirds cites specific abuses committed by gov’t upon The People. More citizens should regularly read and re-read The Declaration of Independence.
The high-point of Freedom is expressed in the US Bill of Rights. The natural rights expressed are inherently ours; they are NOT a grant of “gift” from gov’t.
I wonder if we can work back towards The Articles of Confederation. The balance of authority between the Sovereign States and the (less powerful) federal union has been lost. This idea is expressed thoroughly in Federalists #42 through #47.
AJ: As one of your key issues which is defending personal Liberty. How would you use your experience to solve these issues of what's going on in Congress right now?
MK: “Follow the money.” How the federal gov’t spends OUR tax dollars tells the tale. It’s ironic… they use our money to limit our Liberty. Gov’t grows on the efforts of producers and individually-created wealth.
My plan to restore Liberty and make (real) politics more civil is to severely starve the federal gov’t. If Congress and the rest of the federal gov’t annually reduce spending by 4%:
- Waste, inefficiency, and fraud would be eliminated
- Tough decisions would be made, no more political correctness
- The People and the Sovereign States would receive-back social and economic decisions (where they really belong)
- Decisions and actions would be more effective – local convulsions addressed by the people directly involved
- The massive federal debt would be paid-in-full in approximately 40 years
- Individual income taxes would be 50% of 2015 rates; corporate taxes would be eliminated
AJ: You say the scope of government needs to be reduced. What programs or funding would you cut right off the bat? Where should we be at in 1 year or 4 years from now if you are elected?
MK: Gov’t does a poor job of “picking winners and losers”. To trim gov’t based on whim will trigger more ardent political battles and division. We need to reduce spending across-the-board at the same rate – a 4% annual reduction. This way the pain is evenly spread… and political battles become less fervently fought.
Comedian Groucho Marx quipped, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” I certainly agree.
AJ: What would we Mike Kolls tax policy? What current Federal level taxes would you work on?
MK: Our national scandal is NOT a poor tax policy, it is massive debt - $ 19,500,000,000,000. I recommend NO CHANGES to the US Tax Code until the federal debt is paid-in-full. We need federal receipts to pay the massive debt. We can take tax reform action near the year 2056.
Forty years from now, with forty years of annual spending cuts, we should be able to cut individual income taxes to 50% of 2015 rates and eliminate corporate income taxes. The details of my plan are at http://tellwashington.us/dDebt.html #plan.
AJ: When talking about the border and border issues since you live in a state that is connected with Mexico what is your stance on immigration? How would you address this to your constituents if elected?
MK: People that contribute to each Sovereign State and the nation at large should be able to stay and be part of us.
I favor open borders, but NO federal benefits to non-citizens. Taking away an unearned incentive may dissuade some taking advantage of US generosity. All immigrants must pay applicable taxes – federal, state, and local income taxes.
Immigrants reside in a Sovereign State. They must first become citizens of the state in which they reside. Each Sovereign State should be able to a) welcome or discourage immigrants and b) to set the criteria for state citizenship. A citizen of a state may then apply for US citizenship.
As a federal Representative I do NOT want to issue edicts to the Sovereign States. I offer the following suggestion to the states – each immigrant and/or his sponsor must fund the immigrant; there will be NO federal assistance. A sponsor must be a) a US citizen, b) a US corporation or business, or c) a US charitable organization.
AJ: Before we go, what kind of outreach are you doing for your campaign? Are you traveling around the state talking to people or is this a social media based campaign? What is the best way for people to reach you with any questions?
MK: Ideas should dominate political campaigns, NOT money. I have raised $0. That total will NOT change through Election Day.
The ideas of Libertarianism are orthodox Americana – individual Freedom and minimal gov’t. We the People are the reason government is established. Gov’t must zealously defend OUR Life, Liberty, and Property.
Third Party success will depend upon media coverage and access. With access, our Liberty-leaning vision/ideas can be heard (… we might have part of the solution). I am hoping for 5, 10, or 20 minutes of fame… to share a vision of a gov’t “…of the People, by the People, for the People”.
Please visit my campaign website – http://tellwashington.us (or http://tx24.us) to see and evaluate ideas on how to maximize individual Liberty. Also, start a dialogue with me; my campaign email is at the top of each webpage.
AJ: Thank you Mike for sharing with Liberty Chronicle. If you live in his district please take a look into him at his page and go out to vote.
