ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH

November 8, 2001

I have chosen to make my announcement at this VFW Hall because I want to honor the servicemen who have defended our nation in the past, and those who are defending our nation in this present war against terrorism.

As a teenager, my dream was to one day run for Congress and serve my country as a politician, which to me is a public servant. John F. Kennedy's message and his book, Profiles in Courage, strengthened my motivation to one day run for office. However, Kennedy's assassination and life's circumstances interrupted my goal. The turmoil of the 1960s shattered my dreams. Then, a few years ago my desire to run for public office re-ignited, so I am here today to declare that I am fulfilling my dream and Kennedy's legacy to serve my country by running for Congress in District 15. I am running as a Republican instead of a Democratic because I believe at this time, a Kennedy Democrat is closer politically to a Compassionate Conservative than to the present Democrat Party. As President Reagan said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me."

I am running for Congress because I want to participate in reviving the American spirit by inspiring heroism and encouraging unity. Today more than ever, our nation needs heroes. We need examples and models of the kind of sacrifice, resolve and courage required to win this war on terrorism. Sadly and yet thankfully, we have new heroes to emulate. We have the firefighters and policemen who lost their lives doing their duty at the World Trade Center, and those men and women on Flight 93 who gave their lives to save our Capitol. Also, we have our soldiers here and in the Middle East, who are providing for the common defense and insuring domestic tranquility. These heroes are reviving the American spirit-they have sacrificed and are sacrificing themselves for the common good.

As inspiring as these heroes are and have been, still the ongoing campaign against terrorism, with its continuous threats and acts of destruction, requires political heroes as well. These dangerous times require bold, unselfish leaders who can help our country become lastingly united. We have a new kind of enemy: one who values death more than life and who will jeopardize any and all life. Such an enemy requires a new kind of politician: one who models him or herself after earlier courageous leaders who saw political office as a higher calling, sacrificing personal ambition for a greater good. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence, many of whom lost their lives and fortunes, were the first of many examples for us to follow. Those men and the Founders of our Constitution lived what they believed, sacrificing their own interests for the cause of forming a more perfect union.

My goal is to not only follow their example when I am in Congress but also in how I run my campaign. At this time, money and endorsements play too large a role in politics. Political experts have told me that money is the most important part of a campaign. I disagree. We cannot have political heroes if most of a candidate's time is spent getting money and endorsements instead of communicating their ideas and issues to the public. For that reason, although I respect the importance of money and endorsements and will pursue both, they will be placed lower on my list of priorities.

I will follow the same strategy I used to win my school board race against great odds. I will win based more upon what I know rather than who I know; I will win based more upon what I say rather than how much money I raise; I will win based more upon my knowledge of the issues rather than upon pleasant sounding generalizations. Handing out flyers at supermarkets and going to businesses and door to door requires sacrificial, personal effort and an army of committed volunteers, but it saves money and emulates the tradition of earlier political leaders.

Why do we so gravely need individuals with integrity in office? Because, in order to defeat our present fanatical enemy, Americans will have to be united. We all know that united we stand but divided we fall. We may be united at the moment, but our union is very fragile. The cultural revolution since the 1960s has made us divided at the root of our social, moral and political value system. For years in our culture and schools we have emphasized multicultural diversity and tolerance. We thought that by emphasizing our differences and by preaching tolerance we would somehow become united. Sadly, tolerance with its politically correct terminology has failed to unite us and the emphasis on diversity has divided us. September 11 awakened us to the fact that only by emphasizing our common goals and heritage can we stand united. The majority of Americans immigrated to this country in pursuit of their common goal, freedom-freedom from oppression, political and religious persecution, and poverty.

The last presidential election revealed that the nation is culturally and politically split in half. Even though the cold-blooded attacks of 9/11 united us, still, deeply rooted division cannot completely vanish in one day. As the war is prolonged, the root of our dividedness will resurface. To prevent a rupture of our unity, Americans will have to immediately pull together the fabric of our society that has been unraveling. The traditions of civility and the principles of freedom upon which our nation was founded have to be reintroduced into our culture. For example, the ideas of liberty, equality, and human rights for all people, not just for the aristocracy and the rich, are a product of the best of western civilization, formulated and fashioned through centuries of pondering and reflection. These are the traditions and principles that have united us for over two hundred years.

In order to reestablish those principles and values, we will have to put aside the childish, self-indulgent ideas derived from the cultural revolution that encouraged us to pursue pleasure, self-gratification, and self-importance at the cost of starving our souls and fragmenting our nation. I know that the goals and values of the cultural revolution were childish and self-indulgent because I participated in their initial manifestation in the hippie movement, and these hippie values have since permeated our mainstream culture.

Another obstacle to unity is using the classroom to teach our children Anti-American sentiments. Recent reports about professors using class time to propagandize against America, is deplorable. These attacks on our patriotism are not new. They just expose what has been taking place in schools since the 1960s. The basics in reading, writing, math, and American history have taken a back seat for years to the progressive goals of changing the social values of our children. The reason honoring our flag feels so satisfying and uplifting is because the critical tone against our nation in many of our public schools and much of the Media has denied us pride in America. In fact, many of the failures in public education have been caused by too much time spent training our children's attitudes about environmentalism, diversity, feminism, recycling, global warming, sexual orientation, school to work, and animal rights instead of educating their minds. Improvement of education will be one of my goals as your Congresswoman.

So far I have spoken about the spiritual threats to our safety and security as a nation-selfishly ambitious politicians, deeply rooted divisiveness, and social engineering in education. However, there are practical concerns as well. We have become lax in protecting our borders and indiscriminately opening our doors to foreign visitors. I support the anti-terrorist legislation that enables us to unite internal agencies for the common defense of our homeland (my opponent Mike Honda voted against this legislation). Student Visas should be restricted until we have a system in place to guarantee foreign students' are valid students, not terrorists in disguise. Also, the control of our borders needs to be rethought and revamped. Responsible civil liberties do not threaten the public's well being.

Out of concern for homeland security, as your Congresswoman, I will direct federal funding to the understaffed and under-funded local firefighters, police, and sheriff departments. These departments have been neglected for years, and too little money has gone to city and county departments that provide the more essential government services. In addition, I will support bringing federal housing programs to Silicon Valley that will provide affordable housing for government employees. Longevity and loyalty are increased when firefighters, policemen, teachers, and other public employees are able to live where they work.

In conclusion, the spirit of America can only be revived if Americans remain united during this war. To be able to sustain our unity, politicians will need to rise to higher levels of service and unselfishness, educators and the Media will need to support or at least not work to undermine our newly found patriotism, and national security will need to become a united effort of all levels of government. Politically correct thinking has suppressed patriotism and freedom of thought and speech for over thirty years. Now, our hearts are stirred and united when we sing "God Bless America" and we honor our flag again. A lid has been lifted off of our spirits, and we are relishing our new-found patriotism. In order to sustain this unity and patriotism, our minds will have to be reintroduced to the best of American ideas and ideals. Then, we will be able to continue loving our country without feeling embarrassed or ashamed because, what we truly love when we are loving our country are our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and our heritage of freedom and justice for all.