I applaud U2’s Bono and others for personally investing $30 million in the ONE Vote ’08 anti-poverty campaign; however, as a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, I cannot support the concept of our federal government spending our citizen’s hard-earned money abroad without first having our domestic house in order.

As Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic and its first president, once said, “Peace at home, peace in the world.” There are over 2,000 homeless each night in Brevard County, Florida where I reside.

Helping the poor is indeed a national security issue, so let’s start the effort right here at home. Passage of HR 25, the Fair Tax Bill, will afford each of us the opportunity to use our own money to fund charitable organizations who assist the less fortunate.

We will be able to “give from the heart” instead of giving for the benefit of a chartible deduction that the federal government uses to improperly manipulate us. Let’s set an example for other nations to follow.

Of course, any U.S. citizen who has been blessed with private wealth and who voluntarily shares it abroad in a charitable manner should be applauded for doing so.