Congressman Kenny Marchant had a round table discussion with his constituents tonight in his Valley Ranch district office. There were 7 of us there: Don, James, Pamela, Tibor, Tuan, myself, and Tim along with Kenny, his district director Susie, and two staffers: Steve and Ben.

We each took turn to discuss with Kenny the most pressing concerns that we have. Don is a member of the Republicans for Environmental Protection and he believes that the congress should pass legislation to require more efficient car with better gas mileage. The rest of us disagreed with him. Tim proposed direct credit for those who buy hybrid efficient car instead of more government regulation. That would make it a personal choice and not the government forcing something down people's throat. The five of us were for that. Afterall, we Republicans are for limited government and free market.

Immigration dominated the discussion. James, Pamela and Tibor all spoke regarding that matter. Tibor mentioned the Landmark Legal Foundation as a great source of reference for him. The need for lower federal spendings, limited government where the federal government should focus only on national defense and interstate commerce and nothing else. Eliminating voter fraud was also discussed. I also learned of the Main Street Partners.

I quickly ran through the concerns:

one regarding a provision in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 unnecessarily requires having ballot in languages other than English.

Not only do we have ballot in other language, as an election judge, I have to find bilingual clerk all the time. Now it's only Spanish but eventually Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, ..., things will become rather messy. Why don't we just eliminate that provision altogether since you are required to be able to read and write English sufficiently to become citizen and only citizens can vote.

the need for an individual to be able to carry over from year to year his Health Savings Accounts balance.

the need for FairTax which would tax spending and consumption while encourages savings and investments at the same time.

the need for religious freedom and human rights discussion to be on the table when the US sit down to have dealings with some of the countries where people are persecuted for their faith, some even paid with their lives.

the need for Social Security reform, particular personal accounts.