Joe’s Vision for Texas

With his executive orders since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Abbott picked financial “winners” and “losers,” and hundreds of thousands of Texans found themselves on the losing side. By denying employers, their employees, and their customers the ability to adapt the way that they knew best to a crisis, Abbott pushed Texan workers into economic ruin and ensured that thousands of small businesses around the state would close their doors forever.

The Democratic leadership in Dallas County has been even worse on this issue. I will be the only “anti-mandate candidate” on your ballot for the Texas House in November, and when elected, I will fight in Austin every single day to make sure that this kind of government overreach never happens again.

I will introduce bills to repeal “qualified immunity” laws that protect law enforcement officers who commit violent criminal acts in the line of duty.

I will work to outlaw “no-knock warrants” that often result in innocent people being mistakenly killed by the cops who are supposed to protect them, and I will vote to eliminate laws against consensual and “victimless” activities, so that limited police resources can be directed to those who are truly dangerous to other Texans.

I will introduce bills to end “civil asset forfeiture,” the practice of police seizing money and property from private citizens simply because the amount looks “suspicious.” 

Texas prisons are heavily populated with people – predominantly the poor and people of color – who are locked away and removed from their families for the victimless “crime” of possessing or selling a substance. The government’s War on Drugs – like its other “wars” against social issues – has been an utter failure, creating much more crime than it has ever prevented. I will sponsor legislation to end the government’s oppression of those who choose to consume a plant, to free those in prisons for non-violent drug offenses, and to clear their records.

Taxation is government theft of your hard-earned money. I will end the practice of the government taking away the property that you rightfully own unless you “pay up.”

However, reducing or eliminating taxes doesn’t work on its own: the state must stop spending our money on things that we don’t need, or on things that can be done better and more cheaply by individuals and businesses. I will vote for every tax cut and vote against any spending bills that do not reduce the overall expenses of the state government.

I was a teacher in Texas public schools for 25 years, and I learned a great deal about what is wrong with education during that time. No one should be forced to send their children to unsafe, inadequate schools based on where they live. In almost every other area of life, people and companies compete for our business (and our dollars), and the consumer always ends up better-off as a result.

You know better than the government what is best for your families, so I support the privatization of schools and the right of parents to choose the best educational options for their children (including homeschooling) with no government strings attached.

Throughout our nation’s history, immigrants have come here to find freedom and better lives for them and their families. In turn, they have contributed in great ways to our economy, through their hard work and entrepreneurship. Today, however, legal immigration is a long, expensive bureaucratic mess, and our state government wastes billions of our tax dollars trying – and failing – to keep out peaceful people who would be a net benefit to all Texans.

I oppose Governor Abbott’s wasteful and xenophobic border walls, and I will fight to make legal immigration as easy as it was when “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” were welcomed here without all of the red tape. It is a “win-win” for both immigrants and the Texans who will benefit from their contributions here.