The Issues

Focused on Texas Families

Texas Strong on the Issues that Matter

James Buford supports the Constitution of the United States as it is written, including the freedoms of speech and religion, the second amendment, and the right of all Americans to make their own health decisions.

Second Amendment

On December 15, 1791, in the District of Columbia vs. Heller, the Supreme Court affirmed for the first time that the rights belonged to the individuals for self-defense in the home. On May 17, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that warrantless gun confiscation from Americans' homes is unconstitutional, voting unanimously on the side of the Rhode Island man, whose firearms were taken by law enforcement without a warrant, after his wife expressed concerns that he might hurt himself. Make no mistake, the government is coming for our guns.

Texas has seen this before in 1836, the symbol of a cannon and the logo of the words “Come and take it!”, is a symbol of our freedom. William Barret Travis stated, “I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism, and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch. ...VICTORY OR DEATH”. I make a commitment to you to push back on anyone who is trying to take away our freedoms to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects these rights and I intend to fight and remind our government that we indeed have the right to keep and bear arms.

Border Security

It is clear to me and to fellow Texans that the Biden administration is doing absolutely nothing to secure our southern border. The current administration is completely ignoring the border and are essentially promoting an open border policy, totally disregarding our national, state, and local laws. Today our border-town mayors, sheriffs, county judges, and frontline law enforcement officers, along with the residents, are being overwhelmed and overrun by the number of immigrants illegally crossing our Texas border.

So far this year there have been more than 1.1 million apprehensions, which doesn't include those that walked across unimpeded. If elected to be your representative, on day one, we must put forth legislation to secure our borders, not only for Texans, but for the United States. We will not have time to sit around. We will need to step into action immediately.

Economy, Mandates, and Lockdowns

Texas has experienced the steepest drop in economic activity in modern history due to the mandatory shutdowns:

Sales tax revenue down 5%
Oil production - down 45.5%
Natural gas production - down 25%
Hotel occupancy - down 48.5%
Texas unemployment - skyrocketed 13.5%; nearly 1.2 million remain unemployed
The Restaurant Association estimated 15% of the state's 50,000 restaurants have closed permanently.

The hardest hit by the shut downs were our retailers, healthcare providers, electronics, clothing and home furnishing stores. The statistics go on, and the reality is, shutting down our country and state was catastrophic.

Federal, state, and local governments were making decisions on essential and non-essential workers. I find this totally preposterous. Who is the government to tell us who is essential and non-essential? Who can or cannot work?

This is the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. This should never happen again! We must have a plan of action to ensure that this never ever happens again in our nation and in the great State of Texas.

If I am elected and this issue arises again, I would vote against any mandates or shut-downs. This is a prime example of government overreach and against our Constitution. The federal government does not have any authority to impose this on us, the people.

The Federal Budget, CISA, and Government Censorship

The federal budget is not a budget at all right now. The government spending is out of control. They need to reduce the federal budget to pre- COVID numbers. It has has been decades since someone has ran their campaign on balancing the budget and for stating our government needs to stop spending. If we, the people, have to budget and live within our means the government should as well.

CISA and government censorship is Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. A constituent of district 6, reached out and asked, "Would you vote to shut down CISA and any other effort by the federal government to restrain free speech?" Yes, absolutely without a doubt I would vote to shut it all down. Our forefathers fought and wrote one of the greatest documents known to mankind, our United States Constitution. We should never have to worry about our God given rights and freedoms being infringed upon by any local, state, or federal goverment.

Parental Rights

The Supreme Court issued a parental rights ruling in a free speech case on June 30th, 2021. This case was about schools being able to police our children off campus. Justice Alito stated, “Our society, parents, not the State, have the primary authority and duty to raise, educate, and form the character of their children”.

The far left would try to convince you that there is nothing to see or worry about when it comes to critical race theory, better known as CRT. Let me assure you that this is the most toxic curriculum being taught in public schools and major corporations across this nation. No one should have to apologize for the color of their skin.

Texas Family Code Sect. 469.877.9143 declares the following: "A state agency may not adopt rules or policies or take any other action that violates the fundamental rights and duty of parents to direct the upbringing of the parent's child.” The parent(s) in the State of Texas have the right to raise their children as they see fit. The Texas courts have repeatedly recognized the right that parents have to oversee their children’s education, medical, and spiritual well-being.