About Me

I was raised in a conservative Christian home in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I grew up in a middle-class, white-collar family and went to a public school that was fairly conservative.  I have attended church every Sunday for the vast majority of my life. I volunteer when I can and work with youth, animal rescue, and military veterans transitioning out of service and back into civilian life.  I have also volunteered for environmental causes. As far as my education I have an Associate’s Degree in Science from the Community College of Aurora, a Bachelor's Degree in Latin American Studies from Colorado State University, a Master's Degree in Military Studies from the American Military University, and an MBA from Washington State University.  I currently work as a Marketing Manager for an International Motorcycle Company. I am a retired Army Veteran.  I've been married for 26 years and have a litter of children. One is in the military himself.  One is in college. The other three still live at home.  That's me and my background.  I'm an upper middle class white guy living in a small town just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In writing I probably look like a cookie cutter Republican. 

I have been a lifelong Republican.  I registered as a Republican when I was 18 years old. My parents are and always have been registered Republicans. I've voted Republican nearly my entire life. I voted for Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election vs Bill Clinton.  I voted for George W. in the 2000 and 2004 elections. In 2008 I voted for John McCain. In 2012 I voted for Mitt Romney.  

I must admit that at the local level my voting record is a bit more varied.  I have voted for Democrats, Libertarians and Independents.  You see, I have always voted for people whose character, morals, and political ideals are most closely aligned with my own.  I'm not so much concerned about WHO is right as much as I am concerned with WHAT is right and who aligns themselves most closely with my moral compass. 

Today I describe myself as a Centrist. I’m still registered as a Republican. I am a fiscal conservative and more of a social liberal. I tend to align more with the Democrats on the environment and in many cases I even believe that the Green Party’s stance on the environment is closer to where we need to be. What’s more important than clean air and clean water? Fiscally, I am more inline with Republican ideals. We need a balanced budget. We need spending caps. We need more oversight on spending and taxes. We also need a strong military, with the best trained, best equipped, and most advanced military in the world.

I think everyone deserves the right to choose and that defending that right to choose is one of the most important jobs of the government. We may not like the choices made with that freedom, but it is vital that we protect it, otherwise the very foundation of what this country is built upon will crumble. We need more freedom, not less. For once it is legislated away, it is very, very difficult to ever get it back. 

And that is me and my background in a nutshell. I think it is important for readers to understand where my biases are, and why I believe what I believe.