First meets with Lebanon GOP members, discusses economy, military and foreign policy issues

Returning to a final gathering of Lebanon County Republican Committee members, Josh First spoke about the economy, military and foreign policy issues.

"As a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulator who worked in Washington, and who fled from it because the job-crushing culture there was incompatible with my own principles and because I lacked the ability to make significant change from within the agency, I have seen with my own eyes what bad things big government can accomplish, how regulation can crush the entrepreneurial spirit," said First.  "If I return to Washington, it will be on my own terms, in the capacity of a congressman, where I can make real change."

"America is an open-minded, tolerant nation, and that tolerance sometimes unfortunately leads us to question even simple things.  For example, America's military is not a science or social experiment.  Its role is to defend us.  Among other related issues, having mixed-gender crews on submarines and warships for six months at a time undermines unit readiness and cohesion.  This is common sense, not rocket science," he said.

Regarding foreign policy, "If America is going to survive as the nation that we and the world have come to know and love, then we must not be pulled around by the nose or bullied into the corner by the United Nations.  We must set ourselves free of that anti-democratic gathering and retreat to higher ground."