I am a husband, father, and grandfather. I teach Criminology and Criminal Justice, and American National Politics at University, my second career. I am retired after almost three and a half decades in government.
I believe the individual is responsible for their own actions and must be held accountable for them. The environment supplies circumstances and variables, but the choice to act—or not to act—rests solely with the person.
My moral outlook is shaped by Judeo-Christian principles. I respect the right of others to hold different beliefs, yet I reject suicidal empathy that would sacrifice truth, justice, or the well-being of the responsible individual for the sake of misplaced compassion.
Politically, I stand with the principles that founded the United States: the primacy of individual liberty, natural rights, and limited government. I find John Locke’s philosophy of individual rights and government by consent far sounder than Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s emphasis on the general will. A society that protects individual opportunity and growth will be healthier and more just than one that pursues a collective good by suppressing personal liberty.