I am the youngest of three brothers born to a US Forest Service officer and a teacher. Raised in San Bernardino, California, I attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, Cajon High School, and Cal State San Bernardino where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics. I worked to pay for my university education as a camera salesman at FEDCO, a busser and waiter at Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant, and a soccer coach at Cajon and Aquinas high schools.I am a member of the Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe in the Owens Valley of California, a lay minister at Catholic parishes in the United States and the Philippines, and an amateur travel filmmaker, photographer, and writer.
People, freedom, and capitalism drive our economy. The government is often a powerful actor - so much so that it can easily become an impediment to prosperity and individual independence. Governments should remove economic barriers and excessive subsidies that inhibit growth. Inflation will self-correct if the government does not act to make it worse; we created this problem with excessive trillions of dollars of spending and prolonged inhibitions of markets. Our government should be expected to be able to balance a budget, but we have developed an unhealthy expectation of deficits and acceptance of an ever-accumulating national debt.