Exclusive Interview: Van Taylor, Iraq War Veteran and Republican Candidate for the House of Representatives

Texas Congressional District 17 (based in Waco, TX) looks to be the site of one of 2006's most competitive political contests. Several prominent Republicans are vying neck and neck to win a crowded primary for the right to challenge the seat of eight-time Democratic incumbent Rep. Chet Edwards.

TheSolidSurfer.com recently caught up with perhaps the most prominent of these challengers, recent Iraq War veteran Van Taylor. A 7th generation Texan running in his first national election at age 33, Mr. Taylor is a former U.S. Marine Captain and intelligence officer, Harvard graduate, independent business owner, and husband and father. In an exclusive interview for this site, he spoke candidly about the congressional race, his views and positions, Iraq and the war on terror, and what needs to be fixed in America.

TheSolidSurfer.com: Van, thank you very much for joining us. Let's start out by discussing the coming elections. You're facing a very tough primary race against some conservative Republicans with similar positions on many issues. How do you stand out?

Van Taylor: Thank you, glad to be here. Around the district, people are really excited to support someone whose life experience as a marine and as a businessman speaks to the challenges of our times. My focus is on issues that truly affect our lives, such as winning the war on terror, securing our borders, restoring fiscal discipline to Washington, growing our economy, and fighting for traditional family values.

Solid Surfer: Sounds great. Let's discuss some of these positions. On supporting traditional families, what specific ways do you have in mind?

Taylor: I believe in the sanctity of marriage and will vote to support it. I'll support a constitutional amendment for that as well. I'll also work to eliminate the marriage penalty and the alternative minimum tax, and increase the per-tax child credit, and I'm going to vote for traditional family values, defend faith in public life and won't attack it, and defend religion.

Solid Surfer: How about taxes in more detail? I know you want to cut taxes in general, but any specific tax or taxes that especially stand out?

Taylor: It's really important to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, particularly the capital gains tax. Clearly it was too high, and cutting it has given both taxpayers a lower tax rate and the federal government more revenue. When we lowered it by 25%, revenue from it doubled from $300 billion to $600 billion in two years, and I think we should cut it down even further. This is what I like to call the Wal Mart strategy – lower prices every day. When your prices are too high for capital gains, people are afraid to take profits on long term investments, and fortunately the president stood up for it and voted for it, and everyone has been a winner.

I'm shocked and appalled, though, that certain Democrats want to raise the tax rate despite knowing all this evidence. The returns are indisputable - there is no question that lowering the tax rate on the capital gains tax has pushed revenue up. But for partisan reasons, a lot of Democrats want to charge higher tax rates and lower our treasury revenue, and this is a sad statement on politics in Washington today. But I'm going to fight for the right thing, which is to lower tax rates to benefit us all.

Solid Surfer: On a similar note, where do we have opportunities to eliminate wasteful spending, and what is your strategy?

Taylor: Unfortunately, there is a culture in Washington of wasteful spending, i.e. vote for my wasteful project and I'll vote for yours. Due to this, we've seen many significant wastes of money like a bridge built to nowhere, $50 million for an indoor rainforest in Iowa, half a million dollars to paint a fish on the side of an airplane, and so on. Those are galling examples of bad spending policy, and as a member of Congress I'll fight to root that out and to say, look let's be careful here and spend this money as if it's our own personal savings. Part of that means reforming how we do earmarks, if not eliminating them completely; that’s a path of corrupting power and wasteful spending that we should avoid.

Solid Surfer: What about border security? How should we beef it up?

Taylor: We need to implement the physical infrastructure necessary to secure our borders, shift the focus of the border patrol away from interdiction and towards prevention, and reform our immigration code internally inside the U.S. We should also work to replace our illegal labor force with a legal labor force. The problem on our U.S.-Mexico border is accelerating; as a Marine, I served on that border eight years ago, and not only did we not control it then, but it's worse today than it has ever been. Last year, one million people crossed our southern border illegally, which is a very serious problem that must be fixed. Without border security, you can't have national security.

Solid Surfer: Speaking of that, as a former soldier you have a significant insider perspective on the war on terror. How, in your view, is America is doing? Do you think we’re winning, and what can we improve?

Taylor: I have tremendous confidence in our men and women in uniform as they serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world defeating terrorists wherever they may be. I am concerned, however, about opportunistic politicians trying to implement bad military strategy and practice on the troops on the ground, such as tying their hands with benchmarks, milestones, and timelines. This really only serves to encourage and help the enemy, and it won't help keep America safe or free. I intend to make sure that our troops don't have their hands tied by politicians in Washington, and that they receive the latitude they need to successfully accomplish their mission, which is to provide for our common defense.

Solid Surfer: On a similar token, having been in Iraq, do you think the mainstream American media has been reporting the war fairly and accurately?

Taylor: Well, newspapers do what they do – they report exciting stories that are going to sell. Same with the broadcast media. But look at what happened (last) Friday. Iraq officially announced the successful conduct of its elections, released the results, worked out all the corruption issues, and not a single reporter showed up. Here is one of the great moments in Iraqi history, and not a word about it in the newspaper.

Of course the papers had plenty of words instead about a terrorist massacring eight innocent civilians in a mosque, but the media often tends to gravitate towards shocking stories and ends up missing the big story. And the big stories in Iraq over the last year have been three successful elections, the creation of a strong Iraqi military which by this June will control half the country, and the courage of the brave young men and women who serve every day in the war on terror with tremendous success.

Solid Surfer: How do you feel about America's prospects for achieving President Bush's goals of energy independence from Middle East oil? Is it realistic and how can we as Americans contribute to that effort?

Taylor: I think ultimately the market will solve this problem, just as it did in the 1970s, when we actually faced a much more severe energy crisis than we do today. High oil prices meant for high profits, and that prompted entrepreneurs to come in and create more supply, as well as causing consumers to consume less. As a result we have become twice as efficient with each unit of energy as we were 30 years ago.

The best thing the government can really do is to stay out of it. Every president since Richard Nixon had his own plan to reduce energy dependence through some kind of progressive new fuel or new technology, and they all failed completely. That said, we should always continue to keep trying. The federal government does have a small role to play, but the private sector’s role should be much larger, as ultimately they will be the ones to solve this problem. I don't agree with people who say the federal government should solve everything; I think they should create a level playing field and let the rest of us play on it.

Solid Surfer: Any other issues or positions you want to discuss, or more on the campaign itself?

Taylor: In my own story, people have come up to me and said, "Van we're excited to support you, not only because we share your beliefs and not only because you have real world experiences and will work to make Washington more responsive, but because you have a lifetime of leadership, from being an Eagle Scout and Senior Patrol Leader in Boy Scouts, sports team captain in school, Marine Officer, building and running your own company, bringing together business deals, and now running a political campaign."

I think when you talk with people involved in the campaign or who served with me in Iraq or have been in business with me, you’ll find a consistent theme that I have always sought out the opportunity to lead, and have been blessed with success in doing so and in helping others to be successful and developing themselves as well.

Solid Surfer: That all sounds great. To conclude, what's in store for you leading to the election, and how do you feel about your chances for success?

Taylor: I've been overwhelmed by the tremendous support across the district and really across the country as well, from small campaign contributions to emails on my website saying 'keep going'. I just talked to my platoon sergeant from Iraq ten minutes ago and he said, "My wife and I are going to be walking blocks for you on Saturday. We’re there for you. You kept me alive in Iraq, and I’m going to work to get you elected to Congress." And it's wonderful having people I've never known before come off the street and say "I want five Van Taylor bumper stickers and two yard signs, and how can I help and what can I do?" It's great to see such response to our message that experience matters, that experience can make a difference in your life. It's resonating across the district in a meaningful way, and I'm very excited.

Solid Surfer: Van, thank you very much again. It’s been a pleasure to speak with you and to have you on TheSolidSurfer.com.

Taylor: Thank you too, and I appreciate it.