Dear Voter

Dear Voter,

I wanted to write a personal message to all of you so that you may better understand my commitment to serving you and our district. I recently heard a radio talk show host ask a guest if she thought America could ever restore TRUST in Washington; she gave a candid answer: "I don't know". As an eternal optimist, I believe that we, as Americans, CAN and WILL RESTORE TRUST in our Congress, but it won't be easy.

We need to elect people to Congress who are TRUE servants of the people; candidates who seek office NOT for power, money or personal gain, but rather, out of a sense of DUTY and SERVICE to the people they represent. Bottom line: we need to return the ordinary CITIZEN to Washington.

I, Patrick Miranda, AM this candidate. How can I prove this? It is simple:

First and foremost, I don't want to go to Washington to line my pockets with money from special interest groups. The only special interest groups that I care about are my family, my constituents and my country. As such, I am NOT receiving money from special interest lobbyists because I do not want to be tainted by their money. I govern my my values, not by financial gain. I would be perfectly happy to stay at home with my wife and children, rather than having to deal with politicians in Washington; however, I feel it is my duty to SERVE you now.

Second, I am a fierce advocate of term limits for politicians. It is appalling to me that we have people in Washington who are nothing more than "career politicians".

Third, I refuse to be beholden to ANY particular party. While I am running as a Republican, I am more truly a Reagan Conservative. I will vote on legislation NOT because a "partisan handler" tells me to do so, but because it agrees with what is written in our CONSTITUTION. I promise to govern with honesty and integrity and this includes weeding out corrupt politicians in BOTH parties. And, unlike other politicians, I want to PROVE to you that I mean every word I say, but I need your help:

IF, as a voter, you feel like I have failed in my obligations and duties as your Representative, please let me know. I will always be accessible to my voters both in Washington AND when I come home. If I still fail to live up to my promises, then I ask you all, with total honesty and sincerity, to PLEASE SEND ME HOME. What other politician ASKS that from voters? I WANT to serve all of you to the best of my ability, and I ask that you help me to REJECT the Beltway mentality in Washington.

It is the honor of my life to be a candidate in Tennessee's Fifth Congressional District, and I am humbled to have the opportunity to SERVE each of you. I ask that you put your trust in me and that you vote for me in the primaries and again in the general election.

Together, WE WILL restore TRUST and HONOR back in our nation's Capitol.

Thank you all and God bless you.

Patrick Miranda

Social Security

As we continue to see "Baby Boomer" Americans retiring, it becomes increasingly important to protect our senior citizens once they decide to enjoy "their golden years". However, with the current health care bill seeking to ration care and cut parts of medicare by almost $500 billion, our senior citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to live in comfort during their later years. Right now, the current Social Security system is broken and bankrupt; the seniors in the system are seeing their benefits DECREASE while our government continues to INCREASE spending, taxes and inflation. The promises made to American workers that they would get the money back that they put in while employed, is no longer applicable. It costs younger workers more money per senior citizen than at any time in our history, and that number will continue to increase. The current "solutions" such as raising taxes on benefits and increasing the age of retirement do nothing to fix the system. Thus, here are some of my proposals to protect our seniors once they retire:

First, the imposition of taxes on Social Security benefits is illogical and detrimental, not to mention downright theft. We MUST work to ELIMINATE any and all taxes on Social Security benefits which will lead to an increase in their standards of living.

Second, it is imperative that we STOP wasteful spending of money in ALL sectors of our economy, but especially in Social Security. As such, I believe that we should mandate that all money paid into the Social Security system is used ONLY for Social Security and not other spending programs.

Third, like welfare, it is inherently unfair to reward those who do not pay into the system. As such, we should completely ELIMINATE all people from the Social Security system who have not previously paid into the system; this especially means that we do not offer Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.

As a young worker, I have seen the possibility of receiving Social Security when I retire diminish with each passing year. It is imperative that we provide young workers the same opportunities to live in comfort once they retire. We must allow workers to invest their money TAX FREE in a Social Security savings account. This would include allowing easier access to investing in the market by eliminating capital gains taxes and by reducing payroll taxes so that our workers have more money to invest in their futures.

Finally, we MUST stop the excessive and reckless spending coming out of Washington. Congress should focus the excess money on special interest projects on helping to fund Social Security and health care for seniors. Also, with the increasing retirement population of baby boomers, I would mandate that ANY money spent on Home Health, Hospice, Assisted Living facilities, etc, should be completely tax deductible so that more individuals will be able to retire in comfort.

Home Schooling

As a father who has witnessed the education, or lack thereof, of my children in our public schools, I understand the importance and necessity of viable alternatives and options for parents who seek the best education for their children. A growing and increasing viable option for educating our children, and one that I wholeheartedly support, is home schooling (my wife and I are considering home schooling our girls next year). As the Federal Government continues to intervene in our education system, the academic progress of our students is falling behind that of several third world nations! Therefore, I am completely committed to keeping home schooling a viable and practical alternative for American families.

We, as Americans, MUST be able to return the control of our education to our families. I agree with Rep. Ron Paul who seeks to INCREASE and advance tax credits for families through the Family Education Freedom Act. This would allow individuals income tax credit of up to $5000 (adjusted for inflation) for EVERY student to cover expenses and tuition associated with schooling (private, parochial and public), including but not limited too extracurricular activities and home schooling.

Second, our politicians should work to ensure parity for home school diplomas and allow home school students equal scholarship opportunities when entering colleges and universities. We must also work to guarantee the permanency of the Department of Defense Home School Tier 1 Pilot Program which guarantees equal recruitment status for our home school children who wish to serve their country in our military.

Third, we MUST fight to keep the Federal Government, through the Department of Education, from regulating the activities and studies of home school students. This includes, but is not limited to, setting national standards and/or testing of home school students and families, enshrining a Home School Bill of Rights and guaranteeing that home school students will not be limited by the imposition of a national curriculum.

Fourth, as they do here in Nashville, home school families ought NOT to have to pay up to an additional $80 fee to the Metro Public School system for "permission" to educate or children at home. If our schools are failing to educate our children and our families exercise their right to home school their children, they should NOT be penalized for doing so. I would work to abolish this fee and any other "administrative" fee charged to home school families by our local government and the Department of Education.

Finally, I will ACTIVELY vote to OPPOSE any penalties or regulation on home school families by the Federal Government in an effort to undermine home schooling our students. It is up to American families to properly educate our children since they government fails miserably in this task, and we must ensure academic freedom throughout our nation for ALL families and ALL students.

A Note to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

As an American and now as a candidate for the US House of Representatives, I want to send you this personal letter as someone who had family members in the Armed Forces.

Mr. President, your treatment of our military in Afghanistan is utterly reprehensible. I do not know whether you simply hate our military, whether you are trying to appease your radical Leftist base or whether you are so single-mindedly naive and ignorant, that you are not fit to be the Commander of Chief of our great Republic. It should not have taken you more than one day to answer the request by YOUR general, Bill McCrystal; yet, it took you several months to finally come to a "decision" on troop levels in Afghanistan. The General even asked you for 40,000 additional troops and you only gave him slightly over 31000; that is deplorable! It is BECAUSE of INDECISIVE COWARDS like yourself that our too many of our young men and women die in combat.

Now, you will come on national television, your speech already written for you on your teleprompter, to let the American people know that you have FINALLY made a decision about our troops. To make matters worse, you will then lecture us on the importance of the fight in which we are engaged! I know that the majority of Americans voted for you, but do you really think of us as being so stupid as to not know why we are fighting?

It is you, sir, whose Cabinet has renamed our War on Terror an "Overseas Contingency Operation"; it is your Cabinet that calls the events of 9/11 a "man-made disaster". It is YOU Mr. President who failed to address the shooting at Ft. Hood and then had the gall to speak to our troops on the tragedy of that day. It is YOU who has made a mockery of Sept. 11 by allowing terrorist mastermind of 9/11 to be given a trial in New York City; and it is YOU, sir, who has moved enemy combatants from Guantanamo Bay and afforded them the same Constitutional rights granted to American citizens!

Mr. President, your policies are disgraceful and I will do everything in my power to defeat your radical agenda when I am in Congress. Lest you forget, it is those same troops who you claim to "respect" that are dying so that you may be our President!

So, in conclusion Mr. President, the next time our military and our Commanding General ask for additional troops so that we can win the War in Afghanistan, GIVE HIM WHAT HE NEEDS! It shouldn't take you 3 months to decide your course of action...American Troops have died because of your ineptitude.

Sincerely yours,

Patrick Miranda

Corruption and Transparency

American voters are skeptical of politicians in Washington because for far too long, our Congressional leaders believe that their seats of power and influence make them invincible and "above the law". Jim Cooper seems to have been a politician who has kept his nose out of trouble, yet, there are some key distinctions between our records on corruption and transparency in the government:

Most recently, Jim Cooper voted AGAINST the Rangel Amendment which would have stripped a sitting Congressman (who is embroiled in corruption charges and scandals) of his committee chairmanship. He voted in favor of Charlie Rangel, simply because his PARTY affiliation was more important that doing the right thing for the American people. I would have voted WITHOUT hesitation, or reservation, to remove Chairman Rangel from his position. For the sake of consistency, I would have also voted to throw out Governor Sanford in SC and ANY Republican that is involved with corrupt and/or dishonest activities. It is time that we, as politicians and Americans, put our party loyalties aside and actually FIGHT for the American people and strive to PRESERVE the dignity of the office that we seek.

My solution to this problem would be to begin impeachment charges against ANY and ALL politician that is known to have broken American laws simply because they are Congressional leaders. I would seek to make these leaders PAY BACK the American taxpayers for all of the money spent by this politician while in office. In Congressman Rangel's case, I would have asked him to repay all of his salary and bonuses to a school in need in his Harlem District. This would not only rid our Congress of a corrupt politician, but it would also benefit those who need help the most.

I would also seek to mandate that all Congressional activities are made public and COMPLETELY transparent so that our voters may be able to see what is going on in Washington. This includes ANY records of those Congressional leaders who are under investigation for illegal activities. Finally, if it is not already mandated, I would make it mandatory for our Congressional leaders and our President to dress in suits, coats, nice dresses, etc, when in the Halls of Congress or in the Oval Office. These are positions of respect and they deserve to be treated that way.

A fresh voice

I have been asked why I am running for Congress and my answer is simple: I believe that America is still a great nation but that we need news ideas, new voices, fresh faces and a fighting spirit in Congress. I am afraid that the greatest generation will be left without Medicare while my children will be left to foot the deficit created by our Federal government. Enough is enough!

My vision for America is that our nation is truly a "City Upon a Hill". The problem is the massive encroachment of government into every aspect of American lives and this creates a country with fewer freedoms.

I am running for office to protect and defend our American way of life...our freedoms and our liberties. I am running because I see the greatness of America in her people, NOT in the Federal Government. I understand that opportunity and growth are created by the free market and with American ingenuity. It is for these reasons that I am running to serve you in Congress.

Black Tuesday...for Democrats that is

My fellow Sons and Daughters of Liberty,

Tomorrow we will see the first shots fired in the war to take back our nation. We have overcome one obstacle by defeating the GOP in NY with their Leftist candidate; now, we must unite and get Doug Hoffman elected. Let's send a message not only to the Democrats in Congress, but also, to the party heads at GOP Central. Here is the message:

We want our country back! We want the Republic given to us by our Founding Fathers! We want limited government and free markets. We WANT to salvage the American dream. We can't do this with the current leadership in Washington OR in the Republican Party. While the Democrats veer more and more leftward, the National Republican Party wants to follow suit. Note to these people: WE THE PEOPLE are SICK and TIRED of moderates and Leftists destroying our nation! We will take our nation back...starting TOMORROW!

Voters in NJ, VA and NY, the choice is yours...continue on the same path which is ruining our Republic, or vote for candidates who will fight to restore our great nation. I send out my sincerest best wishes to Christie, McDonnell and Hoffman...let's roll!