The setting was a March 8 introduction of District 3 Congressional Republican candidate Kent Kingsley who laid out his platform to members and guests at a luncheon in Fayetteville sponsored by the Greater Fayette County Republican Women. The Milner Realtor and former Lamar County Commissioner is a believer in a balanced budget amendment, the Fair Tax and paying off the national debt. Kingsley will face Congressman Lynn Westmoreland in the July GOP primary.
Kingsley in his opening remarks spoke about his education and family and gave the audience a view of his political background.
“Like many people, I lost confidence in where we are going as a nation,” Kingsley said.
A part of the solution, Kingsley said, is his belief that he can contribute to the restoration of that lost confidence.
“Things have got to be done in Congress to turn the ship of state in the direction that Republicans think it ought to be,” Kingsley added. “The area I stress most is the national debt that is now at $15.4 trillion. I don’t believe we can keep kicking the can down the road. If you send me to Congress I will fight day and night to stop the mindless spending.”
The way Kingsley proposes to tackle the country’s financial issues is by a formula that requires a balanced budget amendment, adopts the Fair Tax and pays off the national debt.
Kingsley said next year’s interest on the national debt will be $500 billion. So he is proposing that Congress live up to the responsibility of handling the problem by paying off 1/25th of the national debt each year.
Contributing significantly to the budgetary and spending problems in Washington are those posed by lobbyists, Kingsley said.
“The vast majority of them are lobbying on the tax code. Eliminating the tax code would eliminate lots of lobbyists,” said Kingsley.
Along with what he described as a burning desire to see things change in Congress, Kingsley said he believes that everyone in Congress should be held to term limits. Those limits, said Kingsley, should include a maximum of 12 years for the Senate and House.
“If I can’t get things turned around in six years you need to fire me,” Kingsley said.
Kingsley is also pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment as well as being pro-marriage and pro-family.
Kingsley holds both a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science and is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College where he earned the designation of an Army Strategist. Following retirement from the Army he taught at Lamar County High School and Gordon College.
Kingsley retired from the U.S. Army in 1996 after serving in the first Gulf War, Korea, Germany and Panama. He retired in the grade of Lt. Col. Some of his awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist’s Wings and the Pathfinder Badge.
