On The Issues

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I, Jack McConnell, support banning foreign countries, companies and individuals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents from owning U.S. farmland and abolishing overreaching agricultural regulations that plague our nations farmers and consumers (ex: federal interference in the interstate traffic of milk).

"It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance." - George Washington

I, Jack McConnell, support the following campaign finance reform measures:

1. Banning Political Action Committees (PACs).
2. Allowing only individual contributions from constituents within the representative area for which the candidate is running.

"I love to see honest men and honorable men at the helm, men who will not bend their politics to their purses, nor pursue measures by which they may profit, and then profit by their measures." - Thomas Jefferson

I, Jack McConnell, support the following reforms for the U.S. Congress:

- Banning insider trading for members of Congress.

- Banning members of Congress from serving as lobbyists after leaving office.

- Gradually phasing out the Congressional pension program.

- Allowing proper time to read bills before voting on them.

- Making bills available for the public to read before they are voted on.

- Ending the use of omnibus spending bills and requiring individual appropriations bills.

- Repealing the 17th Amendment.

"...a body of men, holding themselves accountable to nobody, ought not to be trusted by anybody." - Thomas Paine

I, Jack McConnell, am for U.S. energy independence through diversified sources including nuclear, solar and petroleum, with concern at the reports of environmental devastation and inefficiencies associated with wind energy. Additionally, I support downsizing the Department of Energy and merging it with the Department of Defense.

"The creed of our democracy is that liberty is acquired and kept by men and women who are strong and self-reliant." - Benjamin Franklin

I, Jack McConnell, fully recognize the rights of the American people as protected under the First Amendment and do not support any form of government or government-sponsored censorship. In Congress, I vow to be a fierce protector of freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press.

"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." - Benjamin Franklin

I, Jack McConnell, take after President George Washington's belief that the U.S. best maintain neutrality in world affairs that do not directly involve it. I believe that maintaining minimal foreign relations, along with providing consular services, should be the extent of our foreign engagement. I do not support foreign aid funded by U.S. taxpayers.

"The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest." - George Washington

I, Jack McConnell, support repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which has significantly increased the cost of healthcare for American families. There is no perfect healthcare system anywhere in the world, but the United States of America should have the most perfect system. I will work with healthcare professionals in Texas' 31st District and other members of Congress to determine what that system might look like, within the constraints of the U.S. Constitution. I am personally pro-life, with the opinion that, constitutionally, the issue belongs to the states. I am also against vaccine mandates.

"Without health there is no happiness. An attention to health, then, should take the place of every other object." - Thomas Jefferson

I, Jack McConnell, will work tirelessly to severely hinder the operations of human traffickers. I cannot understand how we, as a country, stand so complacent in the face of the horrific activities taking place within our own borders and internationally. Human traffickers can expect an uncomfortable retirement or early expiration if I am elected. Their victims, the ones that survive the unimaginable terror they endure daily, can expect liberation.

There are currently more people held in slavery around the world today than at any point in history. There can be no form of slavery within the U.S., and we must cut off all diplomatic relations with countries that enable its existence. In the U.S., we must begin by aggressively pursuing human traffickers and taking legal action against states that keep inmates beyond their sentences for free labor.

"Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country. As nations [cannot] be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities." - George Mason

I, Jack McConnell, support the following immigration and border security measures:

- Deporting all illegal immigrants in the U.S.

- Ending all forms of welfare for illegal immigrants.

- Building a border wall.

- Implementing severe criminal penalties for individuals involved in trafficking people and narcotics, such as fentanyl, across the border.

- Cutting off sanctuary cities form all federal funding and resources.

- Charging officials running sanctuary cities with criminal charges, if applicable.

- Investing in personnel, technology, and training to secure the border.

- Deploying special operations and intelligence personnel to eliminate targets responsible for violence, people, and narcotics spilling over the border into the U.S.

- Amending the U.S. Constitution to end future birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to foreign tourists or illegal immigrant parents.

- Requiring a civics test to obtain temporary or permanent residency.

- Moving immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to the front of immigration backlogs.

- Ensuring legal pathways to citizenship are clearly defined for those who believe in the principles of liberty and that previous illegal immigration makes an individual ineligible, with few exceptions.

- Preventing refugee visa fraud by stripping individuals of refugee status who visit the countries they are fleeing from before attaining citizenship and without special permission.

- Temporarily or permanently reducing the number of H-1B visas issued by 50% and drafting stricter guidelines for their issuance.

"To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens the moment they put foot in our country would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty." - Alexander Hamilton

I, Jack McConnell, support the abolition of the Federal Reserve System and the gradual return to the Gold Standard. The immediate return is prevented due to the massive amount of government debt and the amount of gold needed.

"Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice." - George Washington

I, Jack McConnell, will never vote to get the U.S. involved in another endless war. Conventional warfare is unnecessary and dangerous in the modern climate and can only be intentional or due to extreme mismanagement. The strength of our conventional forces serves as a deterrent to foreign adversaries who might be so reckless as to consider launching a conventional war against the United States in the modern day. Military personnel who work on procurement contracts should be banned from receiving employment or compensation from the organizations they do business with, when their military service expires.

I will work tirelessly to ensure our intelligence community and special operations forces are properly equipped to ensure the security of the United States and neutralize threats as they appear, before they spiral out of control, and to ensure that no American hostages are held overseas for an extended period of time.

"The end of government being the good of mankind, points out its great duties: It is above all things to provide for the security, the quiet, and happy enjoyment of life, liberty, and property." - James Otis Jr.

I, Jack McConnell, support introducing a Constitutional Amendment to outlaw property taxes in the United States of America. States can cut spending and increase sales taxes to make up for the lost revenue. In the case of Texas, with responsible spending cuts, the elimination of property taxes should result in a combined local and state sales tax rate of roughly 9%.

Additionally, I support amending the U.S. Constitution to end eminent domain.

"In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions." - James Madison

I, Jack McConnell, support the abolition of all existing forms of taxation in exchange for a system that uses a national sales tax and tariffs to fund the government. This transition would need to be gradual and require significant cuts in federal spending. The national sales tax rate would likely fall between 10% and 18% in its final implementation and could potentially exempt essential goods (e.g., produce, feminine hygiene products, water bills, etc.).

If implemented, the national sales tax rate should only be permitted to be lowered, never raised. Tariffs should be adjustable for temporary programs, but only with approval from a supermajority of Congress. If a majority of governors petition against a tariff increase, the supermajority among state legislatures—each state’s legislature counting as one vote—should prevent the raising, but not the lowering, of tariffs.

This system would provide a simple, constitutional, and moral way of raising government revenue that could not easily be evaded.

"...to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical..." - Thomas Jefferson

I, Jack McConnell, believe that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." In Congress, I will work to abolish ATF, challenge state firearm legislation and repeal all federal firearm legislation. This extends to firearm parts and accessories.

"...to disarm the people... [the] most effectual way to enslave them." - George Mason

I, Jack McConnell, support drastically cutting federal spending, closing the deficit, and introducing a balanced budget amendment. Federal spending can be cut by:

- Abolishing or greatly downsizing many of the 3-letter agencies.

- Abolishing the Department of Education.

- Downsizing the Department of Energy and merging what remains with the Department of Defense.

- Ending wasteful spending on outrageous military procurement contracts.

- Terminating employment of all nonessential government staff.

- Terminating all non-essential government programs.

- Ending all corporate subsidies and forms of corporate welfare.

- Gradually and responsibly phasing out welfare and benefits programs.

- Ending all foreign aid.

"There does not exist an engine so corruptive of the government and so demoralizing of the nation as a public debt." - Thomas Jefferson

I, Jack McConnell, will neither introduce nor vote for any legislation that is unconstitutional. I am a textualist and interpret the U.S. Constitution as it is written. If much needed reform is unconstitutional, I will propose or support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"My head, my hand, and my heart shall be at liberty to retrieve the loss of liberty and remove the defects of that system—in a constitutional way." - Patrick Henry