Parents Should Form Study Groups Rather Than Have Their Children Participate in National Indoctrination Day

09/08/09

I have no problem with a President of the United States addressing school children, even in the classroom. But when the Department of Education formulates a lesson plan asking teachers to glorify the Office of the President and calls for students to read books about presidents “and Barack Obama,” the line is crossed between a nonpartisan speech and partisan political indoctrination.

An address by any president has an impact on a child. Those who grew up in the late 1980s anywhere in the western world likely remember hearing the words of Ronald Reagan. As a nine year old child, I remember hearing his speech on judicial activism and his summation that judges should uphold the law, not invent it. Those words had an affect on me and on my generation, albeit a mooted one, as most 30-35 year olds have yet to understand conservative philosophy.

The difference was that we chose to watch those political speeches or newsclips on our own time and hopefully under the supervision of parents. Subjecting all children to a speech in which presidents play up their agenda issues absent parental input is a problem. The Obama speech does touch on such issues and teacher guidance will likely highlight these points. This, however, would admittedly be inconclusive were it not for the lesson plan put forward by the Department of Education.

The lesson plan, which calls for teachers to glorify the Office of the President minutes prior to the President’s speech, is a subjective form of indoctrination that should be shunned. The same ultra liberals who think that the speech and the accompanying Obamacentric lesson plan are good ideas would have rightly been mortified had President George W. Bush announced a speech to the nation’s students on the day before a vote on Medicare Part D and further ordered the Department of Education to draw up lesson plans asking for students to be taught “what it takes to become president” and read books on presidents “and about George W. Bush” moments before the speech. If that had ever happened, their outrage would be justified. Yet that’s exactly what the current administration has done with this misguided “lesson plan.”

Do they not realize that the next Republican president will likely be pushed to do the same? Does anyone believe that this is healthy on any level?

Democrats should recognize the harm in this just as Republicans do. Central to our citizen based government is that we do not have a ruler - rather, citizens elect a president to lead them for a specific duration of time. Use of phrases like “Obama will begin to rule” by advisors such as Valerie Jarrett prior to the inauguration were problematic. Today’s glorification of the current office holder is just plain ridiculous and shameful.

In light of this, many have called for parents to take their children out of school for the day, but I do not believe in additional days off.

What I propose instead is that parents form study groups for their child’s class and invite all other students to participate. Failing that, parents should spend the day helping their children with necessary academic work. At the very least, parents who work should leave a study schedule for children to complete at home so that the day is spent learning, not merely taking off from school.

It is truly a shame that the White House has so politicized the address with a partisan lesson plan aimed to glorify Barack Obama and further a cult of personality from which little good can emerge. Parents should rightly avoid the process.

But what is shocking is that while a statewide solution is easy, no one in the nation has seen fit to propose one.

Florida (and any other state) can and should prohibit public school administrators and any other public school employee from engaging in subjective comments before or after the speech, including those outlined in the outrageous lesson plan provided by the US Department of Education. The course outline is suggestive and the Department of Education is actually prohibited by law from enforcing any specific type of material, so issuing a state decree that schools are prohibited from entering any suggestive comments prior to or after the address is a simple matter that any state can legislate.

Which bears the question: Why has no state done so and why is my campaign the first to propose this?

On another note, I’ve heard a lot of calls from numerous candidates essentially asking parents to let their kids skip school. None have advocated for organized study groups that will help children further their education or master the 3 Rs.

Well if my campaign is the only one to put forward a sound proposal, then that’s exactly what we’ll do.

Lastly, this is not an isolated issue. Our schools must be nonpartisan. This was true when schools canceled class to watch the inauguration of President Obama, while the second inauguration of President Bush was met with deafening silence in the halls of academia. (His first inaugural was on a Saturday, but there’s no reason to believe that schools would have aired that one had this not been the case). This is true when students are berated by staff for not supporting the candidate of their choice and this is especially true when school employees wear partisan political pins on school premises.

Most Republican and Democratic voters alike want to achieve a better standard of living for all, even if elitist Democratic politicians don’t. We argue only over how to get there. It’s important that schools allow parents and students to lead that debate without rigid or dogmatic interference. And when the federal Department of Education sees fit to thrust itself into the debate, such a move must be opposed by all citizens across the board.

Only One Way to Fix the GOP Brand

09/02/09

As a party, we should own all of the issues. Republicans, not Democrats, organized the most comprehensive homeland security overhaul in the aftermath of 9-11 as Democrats sat back and wondered what to do. Some were even thankful that there was a Republican administration – Remember, I’m talking about right after 9-11, when Democrats realized that we were in danger and before politics clouded the national security debate, causing them to oppose the same measures they themselves had co-authored, albeit only after Republicans pushed for a needed overhaul.

Republicans, not Democrats, sounded the alarm in 2002 about the pending mortgage crisis and the abuses of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Democrats accused the Republicans of trying to curb homeownership at a time of record growth. Republicans were sensible. Democrats were not. But Republicans were assigned blame.

And the list goes on. Republicans, not Democrats, put forward sensible prescription drug coverage for seniors that did not rob them of all healthcare options or put them under the control of statist non-doctor panels. It should be noted that Republicans did this after decades of Democrats doing nothing, yet Democrats have the temerity to call themselves the party of compassion.

So it is not the positions which we advocate for that are the problem, rather it is our failure to properly advocate for those positions.

Do you get sick watching those Sunday political shows? When Maxine Waters yells out that whatever the Democrats are doing is better than those “tax cuts for the rich?” The last I checked in the tax cuts she was referring to Republicans cut taxes on the poor by a third while only cutting a few points for the wealthy, and those cuts to the upper brackets stimulated near record job growth. By contrast, Democrat congressmen, like Charlie Rangel who doesn’t pay taxes anyway, and Diane Watson, who praised Fidel Castro as the ideal fair arbiter of income distribution, fought to raise taxes on the lowest income bracket from ten percent back to 15.

Republican economics work. Republican solutions work and Republican values work, but we need to be able to articulate them as a party. These are not federal or state issues. They are issues that affect our brand name across the board, and local leaders must finally set the record straight.

But here are some of the state issues that are absolutely central to any campaign and should be part of the GOP message:

Current property tax rates are unsustainable and assessed values must come down to reality. A 1.35% property tax cap would be a good start, but we can do even more to stop exacerbating the foreclosure crisis.

Educational reform is key to our nation’s success. Spreading my lifeskills course is just one thing that needs to be done and that I will work on as we seek new methods to improve student motivation and to achieve success throughout the state.

Criminal justice reform, with shorter but harder labor sentences is key to stopping first time and nonviolent offenders from becoming career criminals. Long sentences, aside from being wrong and useless, have allowed radical Islamists to recruit within the prison system. There is a better way that focuses on rehabilitation while allowing the corrections system to fill necessary labor contracts. As always, society benefits from simply doing the right thing.

Furthermore, taxes are a family values issue. This is so because we must never allow the government to increase the burden on those who work hard to provide for their families and pay for their children’s education. It’s just a shame that it takes a candidate for State House to say so.

And speaking of missed opportunities, for some reason I’m the first candidate in the nation to make an issue of the simple fact that our shores are the frontline in the war on terror and that their proper surveillance should be priority number one.

This point is absolutely critical. Right now, anyone can take a ship from Saudi Arabia, or from anywhere else in the world, park 12 nautical miles off of our shores, load up a small yacht and we treat it as if that yacht had just come in from Chesapeake Bay. Am I hesitant to mention this? No – because this fact is well known to our enemies. The only question is, “What are we going to do about it?”

We must also be keenly aware of the need to stand up on all issues and all matters of importance.

Had local politicians and the equivalent of state representatives stood up in Chile in the late 1960s there would have been no radical government of Salvador Allende that terrorized the populace.

Had local politicians stood up in Venezuela in the early 1990s, there would have been no Hugo Chavez.

And had local leaders raised their voices in Cuba in the 1950s, the murder squads of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara would have gone to Russia instead of wreaking havoc 90 miles off of our shores.

We need to be keenly aware that failed dogmas have been allowed to take hold on every continent of our globe because local leaders have failed to articulate their sound beliefs.

So when Obama and his fellow socialist Democrats pledged to ration healthcare and relegate seniors to the backline, I called State Sen. Carey Baker and gave my input, as he was about to propose an amendment that would protect Florida from Obamacare.

You see, the way that we treat seniors says a lot about who we are as a society. I may not yet be elderly and I am not infirm, but I am the father of two small children and I don’t want them growing up in a society that does not value its senior citizens or fight for the infirm. Such an attitude is the exact opposite of American values. Such an attitude also cheapens the medical profession and stops doctors from realizing that their mission is to save lives across the board. Simply put, when you tell doctors whose lives they can and cannot try to save, you destroy motivation in a professional where staying motivated is crucial.

When the federal government decides to do all it can to return a communist thug to power in Honduras after the democratically elected dictator’s own party removed him from office and their courts declared his power grab unconstitutional, Florida can and should do what it can to help the people of Honduras as they do the right thing. We can promote sensible trade. Even our words of encouragement can make an untold difference.

If Obama’s team, the same people who prevented the CIA from communicating with the FBI before 9-11, now dares to harm our CIA agents who stand on the frontline in keeping our nation safe, we must withhold all Florida law enforcement resources and file amicus briefs on behalf of our agents.

And there’s no reason that every Republican in the nation shouldn’t be pushing with tremendous force for all of the same things.

All in all, local officials must raise the rallying cry against the advocacy of seductive yet harmful policies and against the demagoguery that is the hallmark of today's political left. I will do this without fail, because it is the responsibility of each of us to do so across the board; especially those who are running for office.

Our nation is in need of solutions if we are to continue to remain strong and vibrant. The answers are clearer than one would be led to believe and are routed in common sense and in a willingness to do what is right. That is what my campaign is about.

Lastly, I can tell you this:

We Republicans often take a lot of flack from friends, coworkers, employers and even employees. But as I stated earlier on, it is not the positions that we advocate for that are the problem; it is our failure to advocate for those positions.

When we’re asked by others why we are Republican, let me propose a few clear answers:

I’m a Republican because I believe that hard working people should be encouraged to make jobs for others, not hindered in that task. That’s why I’m a Republican!

I’m a Republican because I believe that seniors are our most valuable members of society and they deserve far better than second rate government rationed so-called healthcare. That’s why I’m a Republican!

I’m a Republican because I believe that people should be protected and that madmen should be stopped. That’s why I’m a Republican!

Lastly, I’m a Republican because I believe that age old values and wisdom are better than feel good momentary fixes. That’s why I’m a Republican.

When we see that in some areas more teens were dropping out of school than were graduating, we need to do something about it. I wrote a motivational course that was used by local schools and the United Way, but each of us, all creative Republicans, can do our own thing to find innovative solutions.

When we see issues that are in need of solutions, we must propose sensible ones and when we see the need to speak out, must do so. That’s representation in action that will trump the Democrats each and every time. That’s the kind of representation that we owe our nation and that’s the kind of representation that will rebuild our party.

Stand With Rifqa Bary

Rifqa Bary is an Ohio teenager who recently fled to Florida claiming that her father seeks to murder her in an “honor killing.” While the media seeks to report the matter as a he said, she said story, there are some very disturbing details that back up her story.

For starters, Rifqa’s parents are members of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center. The Center was home to resident scholar Salah Sultan, who calls himself a ‘friend and pupil’ of avowed terror supporter and advocate of suicide bombings Yusuf Qaradawi.

Qaradawi is designated by the United States as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist.’Sultan most recently attended an event honoring Qaradawi where the two of them shared the stage with Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas. Sultan has also attended a Hamas rally and has publicly blamed the United States for the 9/11 attacks.

It is deeply troubling that the Noor Center would choose this man as a resident scholar. TheNoor Center has also hosted Hassan Mohamud, another advocate of terror. That is part of what makes this situation unique. Other facts relate more specifically to the case of Bary and her parents.

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs rightly points out that Rifqa posted a message about her Christian beliefs on MySpace over two years ago. Geller’s report that her father officially dissolved his successful jewelry business days after her disappearance, as well as reports of a previous instance of bruising add to the suspicious nature of this case and force all caring people to, at the very least, err on the side of caution.

So what can we do? We can advocate for two simple changes to the law that would help Rifqa and other teens in clearly dangerous situations while not affecting cases in which there is no significant or immediate provable cause for concern.

Florida law, as laid out in Section 743.015 of the Florida Statutes, currently allows for emancipation petitions to be filed by a parent of a minor, 16 years of age or older. When both parents have not signed the petition, notice is given to the other parent informing them of the filing.

While many states allow minors to file their own petitions, after which a detailed emancipation hearing is held, Florida is correct in not allowing most minors to initiate the process. In so doing, the State of Florida upholds the rightful place of parents and also prevents the courts from being clogged up with frivolous petition filings.

But when a child no longer lives with their parents, waiting for a guardian ad litem to be appointed to initiate the process clogs up the very court system the statutes were designed to relieve. Moreover, restricting a 16 year old child’s ability to file, when both parents no longer play a vital role in the child’s upbringing, ends up being a fairness issue. It makes sense that parents who have abdicated their responsibilities and who no longer raise their child should not be turned to as the sole initiators of a petition on the child’s behalf.

There is a second needed change to the law as well. A second proposal should assertFlorida’s jurisdiction in custody hearings in cases where a minor had fled to Florida to escape a parent with provable ties to an organization that has promoted violence within the past ten years. The definition of such an organization would be based on one or more of its leaders advocating violence or claiming to be a follower of or in joint cause with a known advocate of violent acts.

Some contend that no changes to the law are necessary. In doing so, they fail to recognize that legal experts were divided as to how the judge would side with regard to jurisdiction in the most recent case of Rifqa Bary, precisely because the law is unclear. A girl’s life hang in the balance and it is unfathomable that other children may face similar circumstances due to a lack of clarity in the law.

The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of making these necessary changes to the law.These two proposals I have proposed have no bearing on well over 90% of cases, and are purposely limited in scope, but they make a world of difference to the children who need them most.

Lastly, this case is a human rights issue. All concerned people need to take part in safeguarding teens from terror.

Florida House District 91 in good hands

In good hands with Maymon or Postelnik

http://www.redcounty.com/florida-house-district-91-good-hands?taxonomy=24

(of course, I have a preference - but I'm admittedly biased)

When Attending a House of Worship, Make Sure to do What the One Who We Worship Wants of Us

The following is a joint statement of two religious leaders who have become politically active and who have longstanding reputations of fighting for our moral values. Rev. O’Neal Dozier is the Founder and Reverend of The Worldwide Christian Center and Yomin Postelnik is a candidate for Florida State House District 91 and an ordained rabbi who runs the Jewish Learning Network and its array of Biblical and theological classes. The statement concerns the vital importance of choosing the right place of worship:

It is true that worship is one of the most fulfilling aspects of an individual’s life as well as an integral part of family living. But real worship must go beyond prayer and recognition. It must be a sincere desire to connect with our Creator.

On the simplest level, one wouldn’t greet a member of their favorite sports team and present them with the jersey of an opposing team. One would not go to the White House to ask a favor of a Democratic president and begin their supplication by telling the President what a great Republican they are, or vice versa. The same holds infinitely more true when giving supplication to the Almighty, to the King of Kings, who is all powerful and who can bring blessing, healing and salvation in every aspect of one’s life.

Worship, if it is to have true ramifications and if it is done sincerely, must have an effect on the lives of the worshipers. This is because worship is first and foremost a resolution to connect with the Almighty and to fulfill the will of God. This being the case, the need to pray with a congregation whose focus is on following the will of God, and thereby connecting with the Almighty, is the most important factor when choosing a congregation.

God’s will is not obscure. The Almighty put it in a book and made it crystal clear. Following God’s will is the right thing to do. It is a conduit for all blessings, it brings eternal life and it is relatively simple.

Today, we are confronted by two important battles: the struggle for our nation’s moral fortitude and the War on Terror. The two are connected, as God’s blessing brings peace and protection. Faced with these challenges, we as individuals must realize that we all play a role in this fight. We must also realize that where we worship is of primary importance for us to derive the strength and inspiration needed to meet these challenges.

There are far too many who have falsely claimed the mantle of modernity for views that are in fact as old as the societies that were destroyed by their proliferation. Ancient Rome, Greece and many others fell after hedonism became rampant and brought apathy in its tracks. At face value, moral uncertainty is a coward’s choice, as the sanity of time tested values is obvious even to a young child. It is indeed these values that have allowed societies to grow and to flourish since the dawn of man.

Unfortunately, many promoters of the hedonist lifestyle that history so thoroughly discredits seek to do so in the name of religion. They set up houses of worship in which the Word of God is questioned, if not totally shoved to the side. If they found some other and more honest outlet for their agenda, that would be at least more honest and more deserving of respect. Using God and the Bible to go against God and against the Bible is neither truthful nor admirable. More importantly, it should not receive the support of anyone who wishes to pay their respects to the Lord.

When choosing a house of worship, we urge you to do that which is, in truth, so obvious that it seems strange to give it mention; to choose a house of worship, a church or a synagogue that stands with God and the Bible on the seminal issues of the day: the struggle for morality and the War on Terror. It is indeed obvious that such a course must be followed by all who wish to serve God, as we can only serve the Creator as the Almighty has so clearly set forth. But given the promulgation of false notions and the number of institutions that believe that one can serve God while actively promoting agendas that fly in the face of everything the Bible stands for, this “obvious” statement about where to worship becomes one that is absolutely necessary.

If a pastor or a rabbi tells you that God’s word, as so clearly expressed in the Bible, is irrelevant, ask them two simple questions. Ask them if they are blind to the lessons of history. Then follow that by asking why they’ve chosen a profession that has as its central goal the spreading of God’s word when they stand in opposition to the clear Word of God. Then find yourself a new spiritual advisor, one who will give you strength to serve God as the Almighty so clearly laid out.

There are many churches and synagogues that stand at the forefront of the struggle for family values and for a moral way of life. Christians may well want to join churches similar to Rev. O’Neal Dozier’s Worldwide Christian Center, whose website is www.twwcc.org. Having fought for moral values for decades, Rev. Dozier also leads the fight against the spread of radical Islam in Pompano Beach.

Jewish people have an array of synagogues to go to where moral values are fought for, including Chabad Houses, which stand at the forefront of the Jewish return to values and who offer classes on the Oneness of God to Jew and Non-Jew alike. Yomin Postelnik runs the Jewish Learning Network where classes are given on God’s message. Postelnik has written about how hedonism leads to apathy and on the difference between authentic Kabbalah of two thousand years ago and the shameful star-studded mess that falsely claims Kabbalah as its mantle and that in reality has nothing to do with Kabbalah or with God. He offers Bible classes, discussions and a weekly newsletter. He is also running for the Florida House of Representatives on a platform of family values, security and education at www.abetterflorida.com.

Pastor Dozier and the Worldwide Christian Center may be reached at (number) or pastordozier@twwcc.org. The Jewish Learning Network may be reached at (954) 701-7167 or jewishdiscovery@gmail.com.

We All Must Fight Against Socialized Medicine, Especially on a Local Level

Socialized medicine has become the talk of the day. This is not only unfortunate. It is harmful and we have a responsibility to speak out.

Socialized medicine has led to a drastic reduction in services and in quality of care in every nation it’s been tried. The elderly and the infirm are always the hardest hit.

When Barack Obama was asked about this by the media, he openly admitted that the elderly and the infirm would not be priorities. How shameful it is that the media did not see fit to call him out on this. Can you imagine their reaction had a Republican president said the same thing?

Failure to care for the elderly and the infirm is a failure in society as a whole. It’s un-American and it lacks compassion. It is our responsibility to speak out against this, vocally and constantly. It is also our responsibility to gather civic groups and candidates throughout the nation to rally the public against this monstrosity.

Obama’s loyalists have organized themselves into groups that act locally. Obama’s team coordinates directly with them as they take their message to every county in the nation. While this is unfitting for a president and threatens the foundation of democracy, we must learn from them and speak out on a local level. Truth can easily destroy fiction if only it raises its voice in protest.

With that in mind, consider the following. Here are just some of the horrors that are socialized medicine:

The typical wait for hip surgery in Canada is 14 months.

In Canada’s Province of Quebec, patients in need of a 30 minute procedure to cure urinary tract infections are on a three year waiting list!

Children with significant hearing problems are denied access to cochlear implants.

Arthritis treatment in the United Kingdom has a waiting period of up to nine months. Also in the UK, a 22 year old man just passed away because the government refused to allow him to receive a liver transplant.

Is this the so-called compassion inherent in socialized medicine?! In a word, yes.

Patients across the spectrum are denied access to thousands of necessary medications, which are deemed “too costly” or “unnecessary” by non-doctor bureaucrats.

We cannot and will not allow this type of devastation in America. Our seniors deserve better. The infirm deserve better and society as a whole deserves better.

Most of all, protecting health care options for seniors is a sacred trust. These options are only available under a competitive system that at least attempts to force doctors and hospitals to be at their best.

Can health care by fought on a local level? You bet it can! But we all need to get involved in the fight.

All issues can be fought in the battle of ideas. And that battle starts locally.

I’m at least pleased to say that my State, Florida, is leading the fight. Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein has labeled the bill the "Send The Seniors Home To Die Bill.”

This is partly because Florida’s economy relies heavily on our seniors and on continued migration to the State. For these conditions to continue, access to the quality health care that stems from a competitive system is a must. But it’s also because Floridians recognize the inherent inhumanity of any system that harms the elderly and the frail first and foremost. And we refuse to tolerate it.

Solutions:

I understand that we must make health care affordable. But we don’t have to throw the proverbial fish out with the tub or resort to governmental micromanagement of our healthcare system to get it right.

A large part of the massive cost of health care, and the main reason that our system is failing, is because government health programs like Medicare are caving over due to the size of their bureaucracy. We can streamline costs and augment care by simply doing away with much of the red tape. That’s not a solution, but it’s an important ingredient in any viable plan to fix the system.

Republicans and Democrats agree that the current health care system has become too complex, too bureaucratic and woefully inefficient. Like the tax code, no matter what side of the political aisle you are on, all agree on the need for simplification and for less bureaucracy.

Cutting unneeded red tape and focusing on necessary and effective oversight should be a prime goal of fixing the health care system. If government would simply concentrate on being effective rather than being large, it would be amazing what we could accomplish in all areas of society.

Governors throughout the nation are shocked by the trillion dollar costs of the proposed federal bill, much of which is being passed on to the states. Governors like Bill Richardson, who is certainly no political foe of Barack Obama, have expressed shock at the amount that the latest healthcare bill would cost, especially its cost to the states.

As we look for solutions, let this much be clear: Government run healthcare is government rationed healthcare.... and it helps no one!

Socialized medicine is as failed a doctrine as is socialism itself. It needs to be fought and I am committed to leading the fight on our local level, right here in our district.

Most of all, we will look to keep competitive options available to seniors and families regardless of what the federal government does. Good health care, complete with competitive market based options that force providers to offer the best care available, is worth protecting. The future of America’s health and economy depend on it.

On all issues, we will provide real common sense conservative solutions that bring true improvements to society, not another socialized bureaucratic mess or a fiscal nightmare that all taxpayers are forced to bear the brunt of.

*Endorsed Candidate*: Fighter Pilot Tom Garcia Announces Challenge To Suzanne Kosmas

Former Navy Fighter Pilot Tom Garcia has announced that he is running for Florida’s 24th congressional district against Democrat Suzanne Kosmas. Garcia, a member of numerous Republican groups and coalitions throughout the State of Florida, is the former recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Medal for his work at the Naval Safety Center in reducing error and saving lives. During his tenure at the center, Garcia saved the Navy an estimated $147 million by reducing the mishap rate of Navy and Marine aviation units.

Garcia is a bright candidate who has been described as bringing a keen sense of certainty to the issues. At a recent speech at the South East Volusia Republican Club, he started off by explaining to the audience that as an American patriot of Hispanic heritage who is fiercely against amnesty for illegal immigration, he has the potential to be “the Democrats’ worst nightmare” on the issue of amnesty.

Garcia also brings business sense to the table. After analyzing various proposals, he has developed a plan to increase the quality of healthcare by keeping the system competitive while eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. His proposed model is similar to Dr Dejerome’s “The Cure For The American Healthcare Malady” with added input from local physicians and health care administrators. His approach to education is to cut the amount of government testing and to stipulate that the majority of federal aid be spent directly in the classroom. On all issues, his proposals combine key business sense with compassion and a resolve to get to the root of the problem.

Tom Garcia’s vision of government is one that involves the active participation of his constituents. “When I was a Navy Commander, I didn’t just lead my troops. I worked with them. I listened to them and made sure that their concerns were taken into account and that their needs were met,” says Garcia. “Similarly, I’m not running for a seat in some House of Lords. I’m running for the House of Representatives and my job will be to represent the needs of my constituents and to uphold the trust of those who will have voted for me and bring tangible results to my district.”