Dan David
Office Sought: U.S. House (Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District
Political Party: Republican
Age: 49
Career: Financial research firm executive
Campaign Website: dandavidforcongress.com
No. of Tweets: 220
No. of Facebook Followers: 796
Biography: Dan says he's a "successful businessman who has fought to protect the financial interests of US citizens", and mentions a career of exposing threats to the American financial system. He's running for Congress to continue that fight.
On the Issues: "Fellow Americans with different political views aren’t our enemies; they’re people we need to talk with. I’ve seen our real adversaries and they are abroad. China and Russia want nothing more than to see our country divided and our leaders distracted. We can stand by our core values and still work with all sides to find solutions."
Defense
"A strong national defense is necessary to protect our vital national interests at home and abroad. Congress must ensure that our nation’s defense and national security programs are both cost effective and efficient in protecting Americans and offering every tactical advantage to our troops in the field. One of the most significant vulnerabilities to our security today comes in the form of cyberattacks by terrorists, rogue nations, or criminal elements. Our country must also realize that we are engaged in unconventional financial warfare with foreign states like China and Russia who pledge partnership but pursue their own agendas. Wars and conflict drain resources, and keeping us in discord appears to be a strategy they feel is in their best interest. It is crucial that we continue to identify and understand the nature and gravity of the threat the United States still faces from foreign and homegrown terrorists. With multiple affiliate networks around the world targeting the U.S. Homeland and our interests, we must remain as vigilant as ever."
Drugs and the Opioid Crisis
"After decades of progress made against drug abuse, opioid addiction is now epidemic. Heroin use nearly doubled from 2003 to 2013 and overdose deaths from prescription painkillers and other opioids have quadrupled. Montgomery County alone had 253 overdose deaths in 2016. Philadelphia has some of the purest and cheapest supply of heroin in the nation. This has been an epic failure by local politicians and State Representatives, who all seem to claim opioids as a top issue. We will fight this problem by attacking the root of the opioid epidemic by supporting alternative treatments for pain management and by funding better education and rehabilitation efforts to reduce demand. We should be treating addiction like a disease and applying the appropriate remedies. We must reduce the amount of heroin entering our country by better securing our borders."
Education
"The United States ranks 1st in the world in education spending yet we have fallen to 30th in math. Our children deserve better. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Common Core curriculum have not improved our global competitiveness in key STEM metrics. We will work to amend NCLB to allow more local input into curriculum decisions, while insuring students and teachers will be equipped to succeed in today’s global economy. Quality vocational education can provide students with marketable skills and excellent potential earnings. Progress in education must be measured by outcomes, not spending."
Environment and Energy Policy
"We believe our environmental policy must respect the objective findings of the scientific community, including that climate change is a concern for humankind. We need evolutionary—not revolutionary—change to combat global warming while preserving our quality of life, which depends on affordable energy. Too often, “green” energy spending has benefited a handful of politically connected companies and wealthy individuals. Regulations that result in sending high paying manufacturing jobs to less regulated countries are not helping our environment."
Equality
"We support equality for ALL Americans and will fight for and pursue equal justice and opportunity. Empowering individuals who have historically faced discrimination starts with understanding that all people are created equal under the law. We will fight for anti discrimination laws, programs that celebrate and enable our diverse communities to rise, and legislation that ensures equity for all Americans to achieve the American Dream."
Immigration
"Any national immigration policy should put the interests of our country and citizens first. We support securing borders and oppose any attempts to make either Montgomery or Berks a sanctuary county. While being a “sanctuary” sounds compassionate, we should realize this violates Federal law and comes at the cost of legal immigrants and American citizens paying more for less social services. We cannot pick and choose which laws we decide to follow – either we change the law or follow it. We should create a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants that protects their legal status. Immigrants who enter our southern border illegally are often forced to deal with drug cartels or other dangerous criminal elements that are involved with human trafficking. The current system fails these people and the American worker. I am the son of an immigrant and also have ancestors who fought in the American Revolution. I know immigrants have made great contributions to our county and culture and have overcome many obstacles. We should be selecting the very best from around the world that, like us, wish to pursue the American dream."
Israel
"We will staunchly defend the State of Israel. The United States should support the Jewish State’s right to defend itself through military aid and by backing Israel in the UN. Israel is an important ally in the war on terrorism and the most democratic country in the Middle East. Israel and her neighbors will best achieve peace through direct negotiations. Historically, support for Israel has largely been bipartisan and it is our sincere hope that will return."
Healthcare
"As a small business owner and consumer of health care, I see the cost of providing and accessing quality health care skyrocketing. Patients are the ones bearing the brunt of these costs in the form of higher premiums, co-pays, and prescription drug prices. The average family now faces $8,000 in out of pocket expenses above and beyond their premiums. The health care problems facing our nation today are the result of decades of ineffective public policy, a failure to pass meaningful tort reform and bad business practices. Obamacare has not delivered on its basic promises and should be replaced."
Guns
"We will uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms and support the protection of such individual rights recognized in recent Supreme Court decisions (Heller & McDonald). We believe that universal background checks and banning bump stocks do not infringe on our 2nd Amendment protections. Thorough background checks should help keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, but to be effective they require accurate information. Too often, authorities have missed obvious warning signs and dangerous individuals have obtained weapons. We must have better coordination between law enforcement and mental health professionals and a system of due process to remove guns from unfit owners."
Jobs
"The greatest issue affecting our country today is the state of our economy. Too many Pennsylvanians are underemployed and lack the skills to benefit from our growing economy. My experience will help us achieve better trade deals and ensure that America’s interests will be at the center of our policy. It is vital that we continue to support small businesses as they grow, innovate, and create the bulk of our new jobs. Businesses need certainty on tax rates, healthcare costs, and fair access to credit in order to successfully compete. To create sustainable job opportunities for all Americans we must remove job killing regulations that hit small businesses particularly hard."
Term Limits and Congressional Pay
"Too many career politicians focus on their own re-election and personal bottom line. I believe that term limits will help move constituents’ needs to the top of the agenda and instill in lawmakers our Founders’ vision of governance by citizen-legislators who are devoted not to their personal needs but to the national interest. I will fight to change the unfair method under which members of Congress are compensated. We should have a system that pays for performance. As it stands, our members of Congress are getting paid whether or not they show up for work. This is not an option for private citizens. Lawmakers should only be paid once a budget is passed and they should not receive back pay when there is a government shutdown."
