The single most important institution in the United States is the family. Far too often, the policies that come out of Washington threaten it, and much of what the politicians have done is destroying it.

Too many kids in America are growing up in homes without a father. Forty percent of children raised by single mothers live in poverty. Children who grow up in single-parent families are more likely to have mental health problems, perform poorly or drop out of school, attempt suicide, commit crimes, end up in prisons, and struggle in life to join the workforce. Even scholars from the Brookings Institution now concede that the breakdown of the American family is the root cause of our generation’s societal ills.

Our welfare system needs to be rethought and turned upside down. It penalizes parents who stay together, fails to lift people out of poverty, and traps too many in a cycle of dependence that often lasts for generations. The goal of welfare and public assistance should be to keep families together, quickly get the needy back on their feet, and to a place where they are no longer dependent on the government for help.

Our tax code is an abomination of special interest tax breaks and loopholes purchased for Wall Street equity firms, banks, multinational corporations, and companies that export American jobs to foreign lands. The ones who need tax relief are the parents trying to raise a family, the struggling small business owner trying to survive, and middle-class Americans who can’t afford health insurance or the cost of raising children.

Too many of our children are trapped in failing schools. Too many of our children are being indoctrinated to hate America, hate our history, and hate our culture. We need to give them a choice…vouchers to attend a charter school, a private school, or a public school with higher standards — schools that teach the truth of our history and graduate kids properly schooled in math, science, and English. That is why I authored several bills in the Iowa State Senate, such as SF 2206, the “Iowa Student Opportunity Act,” which created an education savings account to give students in low-performing schools as an alternative. I have also taken the issue of protecting children seriously, authoring active shooter legislation to require schools to have a plan in the event of a school shooting, as well as prohibiting gender identity instruction in schools without parental consent and protection from students using bathrooms that do not correspond with a person’s biological sex. 

My campaign will foster economic opportunity, eliminate wasteful and ineffective systems in order to better help those in need, and work to create quality education and more choice for Iowa families.