My vacation book is Citizen Soldier by Stephen E Ambrose about the foot soldiers perspective of the European Theater in WWII. You see my father was a veteran of that war. He was an infantryman in Company B of Patton’s 3rd Army. He went through pure hell so all of us could enjoy our great country, our family traditions and our freedoms. He and my Mother raised a family on a working man’s pay in Oak Ridge. He taught me a lot about what it means to be a Christian, an American, a good citizen, and ultimately what family values really count.

Of late the term family values has been hijacked by political ideologues that use high emotion descriptors  like conservative principles and religious right to espouse their extreme or special interest motivated views on others. In many cases the view these political ideologues publically decry for others runs counter to how they live their lives.

They do not highlight issues that mean something to the average American family like sustainable jobs, good schools, a clean safe community or affordable health care. Instead they concern themselves with wedge issues that are “red herrings” pushed by Washington-based political action groups with nearly unlimited bags of influence money. I am ashamed of the current acrid and non-sensical political environment in Knoxville and that is precisely why I am running for the 2010 District 7 State Senate to bring common family values back to the forefront and common sense for a change to our government.