Michael A. Donihe

Name: Michael A. Donihe
Date of Birth: 05-03-1964
E-mail address:
Campaign Web site: http://www.freewebs.com/michaeldoniheforcongress2008
Party affiliation: Democratic Party
Office that you are seeking: Tennessee First District Congressional Seat
Please answer the following questions about your background:
1. What is your educational background, including the highest degree you attained (high school, college, advanced degree, etc.) and the year it was attained?
I received an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Computer and Information Technology from Northeast State Technology Community College in 2004.

2.  What is your professional background, including your present employer and job description and other significant posts you have held in the past? If you are retired, what was your most recent employment?
My professional background is in computer repair and network systems. I currently work for the City of Kingsport in the Building Maintenance Department as a general laborer. I held no significant posts in politics. 

3. Are you married? If so, please list your spouse’s name and occupation and any elected office they hold or have held in the past (if applicable).
My wife, Debra Donihe, is employed as a Residential Assistant at Elm Croft of Kingsport. She has not held any elected position.

4. Do you have children? If so, how many and what are their ages? Do they (or did they) attend public schools?
I have two children, my daughter, Rachel is nineteen years of age. She graduated from Sullivan North High School in 2006. My son Nathan is 13 and will be attending Sullivan North High School in the fall 2008. 

5.  Do you presently hold an elected office or have you held one in the past? Please list all elected posts and the years you were in office.
I currently do not and have not held any elected office.

6.  Have you ever been an officer in a political party on the local or national level, worked in a campaign or been a delegate to a political convention? If yes, please provide details and names of candidates for whom you worked.
I worked for the Ron Paul presidential campaign both 2007 and 2008 in local Meetup groups.  In addition, I have worked locally in for Howard Phillips Presidential Campaign for the Constitution Party in 1996, and again in 2000.

7.  Who are your three biggest campaign contributors? How much money have you raised in your campaign? Have you taken any special interest or PAC money? How much money do you expect to spend in your campaign?
At present, I have no campaign contributors. Moreover, I will not receive any special interest, PAC money, or federal funding for my campaign. I will only receive individual contributions. I believe if I could raise $150,000 dollars for this campaign, I would win the election.

8. Do you volunteer your time or give money to local causes? If so, please list them.
I volunteer my time each year to the Sullivan County Youth Baseball League, for which my son participates as a player. 

9. Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony crime as an adult? If yes, please give jurisdiction and details. You may explain if necessary.
I have no prior misdemeanors or felony convictions. 

10. Have you ever filed bankruptcy? If yes, please explain.
Yes, in February 2000, I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, due to an employment change and a one-month waiting period to receive my first payroll check; this put me severely behind with creditors.

11. Have you served in the military? If yes, please provide details including branch of service, highest rank, years of service and date and terms of discharge.
I did not serve in the military.

12. Have you or your business ever been the subject of a lawsuit, lien or foreclosure? If yes, please explain.
I was involved in a company lawsuit, which was more than eighteen years ago, due to automobile accident.

13. What ties do you have to any business or organization that could profit from action as a congressman or senator, no matter how slight the ties or the action? Please explain your plan to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest.
Gratefully, I can say, I have no ties to any business or organization, but only to the citizens of the first district of Tennessee.
Please answer the following questions about the issues:

1. The nation is in the grips of an energy crisis. What specific steps would you take to improve our energy independence and to reduce the strain of high prices on consumers? How would you balance these plans with the need to protect the environment?
First, as surprising is this may sound, ‘We have no real energy crisis!’ Not only have oil discoveries been found off the Gulf of Mexico and ANWR Alaska, but also in Montana, the Dakota’s, Colorado and Kansas. These are not preexisting oil reserves, but untapped oil reserves yet to be drilled.
Secondly, I believe in order to really improve our energy independence and to reduce the strain of high prices is the return of competition in the oil industry. We have approximately five oil companies that have cornered the market and are working in unison, setting the price for fuel. We must remove government regulations, which restrict competitiveness in the oil industry, so as to breakup this monopoly. Economics 101: with competition comes competitive pricing. 
Moreover, we must abolish the Federal Reserves, (the central bank for profit) which does not act in the interests of the average American. If we cannot abolish the Fed, then we must pass legislation to have the US Treasury issue a government monetary unit backed by gold and silver, so as to compete with the Federal Reserve Note. This will drive down the cost of gasoline and inflation in general. 
In regards to protecting the environment, the technology has existed in recent years for drilling for oil with the least amount of upset to the environment.

2. What can Congress do to help the U.S. economy recover from the present downturn?
In the words of Ronald Reagan, “Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem.” The major cause of economic downturn is government interventionism. Were a true free market capitalist system to exist there would be no unemployment or economic downturn. Because of government regulations, subsidies, and prohibition in the market place economic downturns have occurred. Government always acts at the behest of special interests or groups; therefore other groups suffer as a direct consequence of government interventionism. The only area, in which I believe government needs to intervene, is competition in the market place. Otherwise, the federal government should adopt a Lazzie-Faire approach to free markets.  In doing this, it will help the small businessman or woman who wishes to expand his or her base of operations without the restrictions of government regulations; this will in turn create jobs and a stronger economy. 

3. How will you ensure that health care remains affordable and accessible for all?
I will answer this in simple economic monetary terms, which is entirely overlooked and left out of political dialogue. We need the return of honest money with intrinsic value such as gold and silver. Gold and silver have always retained their value. The Federal Reserve Note, which is solely fiat paper money, has no backing to tie to it, loses value year after year. The prime reason this is happening is that the Fed is creating money out of thin air to cover loans and debt services of both the government and consumers. The direct results are inflation, and higher costs, not only in health care but also in every commodity in society.  The only way to make health care and other consumer services more affordable and accessible is through sound money.  Without addressing our monetary problem first, we can never fix health care to be more affordable or accessible. 

4. How will you shore up Social Security and Medicare for the next generation?
One of the best ways to shore up Social Security and Medicare is to bring our troops home from Iraq, and other countries around world! Whereby with this savings of over one trillion dollars annually, we will be able help our elderly and disabled persons already dependent upon the system. Moreover, I would sponsor legislation to help our young people opt out of the system to save for their own retirement and medical plans. Hopefully, within one generation we will be able to get rid of these socialist programs and restore individual economic freedom to the American people.  However, in order to do this, people must first change the way they think regarding the proper role of the federal government. If we think that government is to take care of us from cradle to grave then we can never get rid of these inefficient programs.
“Government is the great fiction, though which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.”
Frederic Bastiat  

5.What should be done to realize the vision of the No Child Left Behind law?
Just a few years ago the plan was to give our children a head start, now it is no child left behind. Somewhere we are losing ground! These programs simply do not work. Today we have many of our young people graduating from high school who can barely read the diploma they receive upon graduation. We have the lowest tests scores in math, science, reading etc. Seventeen other countries from around the world are producing more scientists than the United States.  The educational system needs to be restored at the state and local levels. More specifically, restore to the parents to decide whether to send their children to public, private, or home schooling.

6. What can be done to reduce the national debt? (Please be specific).
Again, as mentioned earlier, bring our troops home from abroad would produce a savings of over one trillion dollars a year! Putting this money toward better use toward helping our dependent elderly, disabled and veterans. While cutting other wasteful spending would reduce the national debt and lower taxes further over a short period of time. 

7. Should the tax code be simplified? Explain.
Constitutionally, we should not have to pay a personal income tax! Historic evidence has come to surface that the sixteenth amendment was never properly ratified by the states. In addition, several Supreme Court rulings never give the federal government through the sixteenth amendment the power to tax an individual personal income. Absolutely I believe the existing system should be simplified. In addition, the government should add more tax credits for hard working Americans, so they may keep more of their hard earned dollars. 

8. What is the proper balance between protecting the nation’s natural beauty and using natural resources? What will you do to maintain the balance?
I believe our nations natural beauty is best protected under private property rights. We as property owners know we cannot violate our neighbor’s property. We cannot pollute their air, their water or dump garbage on their lawns. Far too often, conservatives and liberals alike, resort to having the federal government, through the EPA, take care of environmental concerns. Allowing the EPA to regulate how much you can pollute, I just don’t particularly care for this type of approach. I believe, polluters as aggressors should not be granted immunity or otherwise insulated from accountability. The enforcement of private property rights through Tort Law would better hold people and corporations accountable, and would better serve environmental concerns.

9. What programs would you put in place to ensure that America ’s young people remain competitive in math, science and engineering?
I believe the best way to improve competitiveness in math, science and engineering for our young people would be to get the federal government out of the educational system altogether, and restore it back to states and local government levels, as the constitution prescribes under the 10th amendment. Moreover, allowing the American family autonomy over their child’s educational development whether it be public, private or home schooling. One-study showed that, some of the best and brightest students who attend Harvard University and other Ivy League Colleges were home-schooled children. They tend to do equal or better, and in addition these children cost less to educate compared to their counterparts. The federal government control of our educational system is costly to the taxpayer and very inefficient in its outcome. I support education tax credit for families to send their children to the school of their choice. This in itself would improve our young people’s competitiveness in math, science, engineering, and every other field of study. 

10. What local projects would you support with federal funding?
First we have to ask ourselves, where does this funding come from? It comes as result of taxation, which is done in a collectivist matter from all states of the union. I believe in the citizens in our state and local municipalities. I believe it is responsibility of our states and local governments to work at bring in business growth to generate the revenues to fund these projects, and not from the federal government with strings attached funding. Receiving federal funding for state or local pet projections is unconstitutional. 

11. How will you meet the needs of a diverse district that includes both rural areas and urban centers?
As the saying goes, “The government that governs least governs best.”  The best way to meet the needs of our entire diverse region is to let the people, not Washington DC take care of business. First, for example, we need to get the government out of agricultural business. What the federal government can do is help to enhance market competitiveness for our farmers, by providing them with greater markets with competitive pricing for goods and services. In addition, we should supply them with greater markets, in which to sell their produce for the highest profits. I believe this will help encourage growth in our rural areas.
However, in our urban areas, we need to focus encouragement of industrial growth. This in turn will help strengthen not only our local economies, but also will help raise the national GDP, increase overall revenues, and strengthen the dollar.

12. Do you support a Constitutional ban on gay marriage, and should such a ban be extended to civil unions? Explain.
I would oppose all federal efforts to redefine marriage, whether defined as a union between one man and woman, or defined as including anything else as well. I believe that recognizing or legislating marriages should be left to the States respectively, and not subjected to the federal government or judicial activism. This is clearly a 10th amendment issue, which should be resolved at the state level, where the individuals reside.

13. What is one piece of legislation you plan to introduce in your first (or next) year in congress? Why?
The first piece of legislation that I would introduce would be the abolishment of the Federal Reserves system. Some people think the Federal Reserves is an US government institution. It is not… it is a privately owned banking cartel, which preys upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves, their foreign and domestic swindlers, and predatory moneylenders. The ransacking of the United States by the Fed during the last ninety-five year of its history is the greatest crime every perpetrated on the American people. Over the years every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its real powers, but the truth is the Fed has usurped the government. Because of its monopoly over the issuance of our currency and the economy through fractional reserve banking, they control what you and I make, what our house payment will be, what your car payment will be, and if you have a job or not! I submit to you that is full control! We need to restore the principles of sound money and sound banking in America.

14. Should illegal immigrants be deported? How would you accomplish this?
Yes, I would accomplish this by simply not subsidizing them. If you subsidize something, you get more of it. If we quit, they will leave on their own accord. Secondly, I would put strict penalties on businesses that are in the practices of hiring illegal aliens. 

15. Should there be a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who work, pay fines and back taxes and learn the English language? Explain.
I ask why should we show special consideration over others who have come here legally? They should wait their turn, just like everybody else, and go through the legal process. 

16. Should parents get vouchers to send their children to any school, public or private? What about a tax credit? Explain.
I would not support federally funded vouchers. However, I would support large tax credits for the American people to send their children to the school of their own volition.

17. Does the U.S. have a clearly defined foreign policy? What would you do differently?
Over recent years, US foreign policies, if anything, have been clearly defined by the international bankers and the military industrial complex that profiteer at our expense through the use of government interventionism and by the entangling alliance aboard. I would seek to change this policy, by restoring friendly relationships with nations through free trade, (Not manage trade that favors the elite) through negotiations, and stay out foreign alliances abroad. Lastly, I would shut off all foreign aid around the globe. This would create savings of hundreds of billions of dollars annual to the taxpayer. 

18. Should the U.S. set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq? Explain.
If it were left to me, I would bring them home immediately! However, I would vote to bring them home by the quickest and safest means possible. 

19. Has the war in Iraq distracted the U.S. from the war on terror? Explain.
I believe it has; if we truly are in a war on terror, why are our borders left wide open to the foreign invasion of illegal aliens? Why are illegal aliens given free checking accounts, credit cards and subsidies without proper identification? And why are we the American people subject to searches, RFID chip driver license, RFID chip credit cards etc? It makes the war on terror look like a farce. 

20. Should smoking in restaurants and other public places be banned? Explain.
I for one am tired of nanny laws. If anything what should be done is to allow restaurant businesses to expand. A course we would need to change the present day building codes, so as to accommodate smokers. Give adequate space and consideration to non-smokers as well.