{"id":10909,"date":"2012-04-17T10:21:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T14:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=10909"},"modified":"2012-04-17T10:21:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T14:21:26","slug":"u-s-house-district-2-richard-speer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/2012-primary-election-voter-guide\/2012\/04\/17\/u-s-house-district-2-richard-speer\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. House District 2: Richard Speer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Name:<\/strong> Richard Speer
\nParty:<\/strong> Republican
\nOccupation:<\/strong>Nuclear security consultant, currently working for Progress Energy although on leave to do campaign
\nTime in district:<\/strong> 23 years
\nEndorsements:<\/strong> None
\nAmendment 1:<\/strong> \u201cPersonally I believe that marriage is a religious institution not a legal institution. And as a religious institution marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What do you think is the central issue for this election?<\/strong>
\nI think the central issue for this election is the struggle between big government and private enterprise. And creating jobs. And the fact of the matter is, the larger the government, the fewer jobs we\u2019re going to create because government simply sucks up too many resources.<\/p>\n

What are the specific issues facing your district?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s very broad district. You get up into Lee County and you\u2019re more agricultural, you\u2019ve got brick manufacturing. Chatham County you\u2019ve got much the same, although you do have their power plant up there which is a big utility base, Progress Energy. You\u2019ve got Moore County, it\u2019s more tourism, if you will, associated. Golf is a big piece out there. So I think it\u2019s very varied and I think there are some interdependencies where those people. And as people don\u2019t have money, or don\u2019t have as much disposable income, generating tourism is more difficult. The environmental regulations that are laid out have certainly hurt places like around Siler City with the various agricultural activities in and the restrictions that have been placed on it. So I think it\u2019s really broad spread. <\/p>\n

Why should your constituents elect you?<\/strong>
\nI think the biggest reason is because when I tell them I\u2019m going up to Washington to do something, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do. We\u2019ve got to reduce the size of government and that\u2019s my number one issue. And that\u2019s across the board. Historically, we\u2019ve never been able as a country to raise more than about 18 percent of GDP in revenue. It doesn\u2019t matter how we going about trying to raise taxes on the rich or raise taxes on business. Ultimately, within a short period of time, actual revenue is back down to 18 percent of GDP. And the fact of the matter is right now, government expenditures are \u2014 depending what number you look at \u2014 are between 23 and 27, 28 percent of GDP. And as long as we\u2019re doing that, we\u2019re not going to create jobs and create opportunities for next generations. <\/p>\n

What are the biggest accomplishments and failures of U.S. House during the last two years?<\/strong>
\nI can\u2019t think a terrible lot of accomplishments. The biggest failures were the failure of the Republican House to stop the debt ceiling, the raising of the debt ceiling and to bring to the continuing budget resolution. Those were opportunities Congress had to stop the expanding role of government. And the fact of the matter is, they caved in on the issue. So I don\u2019t think we can point to a lot of successes, but certainly we\u2019ve failed. In that in just past, oh, three years, a little over three years, we\u2019ve raised the national debt by about 60 percent or about $6 trillion. That certainly is a failure. We\u2019ve not done anything with Medicare or Social Security and the fact of the matter is that if something serious isn\u2019t done those are two systems that are going to collapse and when that happens it\u2019s going to be calamity for a lot of folks. <\/p>\n

What’s your guilty pleasure?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know that I take a lot of time off to do that. I try to take evenings and relax a little bit.
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