ACTION

My name is Joe Gilbert. I am a candidate for Congress in NY's 21st Congressional District.

I am a retired US Army officer with 3 combat tours in Iraq and 2 Bronze Star medals. I have served 11 years total overseas throughout my 24yr military career. I have commanded a platoon, 2 companies and a battalion. I commanded the reconnaissance company for the Iraq Survey Group in 2003 and over 1700 Soldiers in Al Anbar Province for 15 months and brought all my Soldiers home from all three tours with no casualties.

After my retirement from the Army, I was a civilian intelligence contractor with the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY and then the Director of Emergency Services for St. Lawrence County, NY.

I have been a Tea Party supporter since there was a Tea Party. I was the Boston Tea Party Examiner in 2009 and then the Watertown Tea Party Examiner. I even founded my own Tea Party group, the Northern NY Tea Party (nnyteaparty.org).

I am also a gun owner (my favorite is my Springfield M1A rifle), pro-life, a member of the National Rifle Association, a Son of the American Revolution a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and AMVETS. I live on and operate a farm in Dekalb Junction in St. Lawrence County in our heavily agricultural district. I believe a true representative republic has nothing to fear from an armed populace.

The number one agenda item on my platform is the restoration of the rule of law and the Constitution being once again the supreme law of the land. This administration and the vast majority of our "representatives" in Washington no longer represent the will, traditions, history or values of We the People at all. They pick and choose which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore. They choose winners and losers in our economy and use our tax code and the IRS to punish their enemies. We are spied on, lied to, misled, divided into groups and pitted against each other, abandoned on the battlefield and then vilified if we dare to speak out. The IRS, NSA, EPA and other government agencies have been turned into weapons and turned on the American people. And the Constitution and our Founding principles are shredded in the process. I took the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic when I was 18 years old. It never came with an expiration date. The one campaign promise I will make is that I will fight to my last breath to defend our God given rights. Chief among those is our right to be simply left alone. I will fight to restore this great republic for our future generations.

I believe in smaller, fiscally responsible government bound by the limits set forth in our Constitution. Smaller governments are cheaper. I also believe in a balanced budget amendment. The government can't continue to spend, spend, spend and then print $85 billion a month out of thin air and expect our country to remain solvent. This needs to stop.

Our economy is burdened with crushing laws and regulations that kill jobs, slow the economy, discourage hiring, and make it harder and harder for small businesses to get started, grow and survive. I will fight against this! The first thing that needs to happen is the full repeal of Obamacare.

Recent events have demonstrated that we still live in a very dangerous world. Russia is invading of the Ukraine and testing ballistic missiles. North Korea continues to threaten its neighbors with nuclear weapons. China is conducting gun boat diplomacy across the Pacific rim. Iran is still pursuing nuclear weapons and is supporting the civil war in Syria. On top of everything, after so much precious American blood and treasure, Al Qaida and the Muslim extremists and terrorists control more territory than ever before.

I am the only veteran in this race. I am the only candidate who has stood on the wall facing the Soviet Union in the Cold War and served on the DMZ in Korea. And I am the only combat veteran who has actually led Soldiers in the fight against the jihadists in this world who are plotting to kill us every day. I still hold a current and active security clearance. With recent events when you think of your representative on the armed services, intelligence or foreign affairs committees, I will bring over 25 years of experience and training to bear.

I am a conservative in my beliefs, my convictions and my actions. While the Director of Emergency Services, I cut my government budget by over 20% in the first 18 months while improving emergency operations and public safety that will actually save lives. I have written, reviewed and pushed resolutions through a legislature dominated by the opposition party. I did this by leading. I reached across the aisle and argued my position without sacrificing my convictions and got my bills passed. I will do all of this again for you in Washington.

I am running as a purely grassroots candidate. I know I can win. I am one of the Americans who is fed up with those in Washington thinking and behaving as though they are a permanent ruling class. We the People are not serfs to be ruled, but a free and sovereign people. That is my vision for New York, this district, and America. Future generations will remember what we do right now with this moment in history we have been given.

Thank you,

Joe Gilbert

https://www.facebook.com/JoeGilbertForCongress?ref=hl

http://joegilbertforcongress.org/