Issues we'd like Congressional Candidates to discuss....

"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
Colossians 1:16

This cycle, there are Six Open Congressional seats in Texas that are (essentially) safe for Republicans.  In those six seats, there are currently 55 candidates running on the Republican side.  Unfortunately, in an environment with this many candidates and this many open seats, there's no creativity or intellectual bandwidth.

Instead, everyone's running boilerplate Republican campaigns.  "Rah, rah, Patriotism; rah, rah, Constitution; rah, rah, Mom and Apple Pie."  Nobody stands out.

In that spirit, we present these issues and welcome...someone...anyone...to impress us:

• Constant Redistricting/Voter ID Lawsuits -- We discussed this last year in the context of the failures of Texas' current congressional delegation.  Well, a quarter of the current Congressional delegation is retiring.  Yet nobody running for the open seats is discussing the issue.
  
  The TL,DR version is that it's well within Congresses jurisdiction to shut down this nonsense.  All they have to do is amend the Voting Rights Act and a couple other federal statutes.  Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress are afraid of the race card and thus lack the political will.
  
  We are three years away from the next round of redistricting.  We can either fix this madness before the 2020 census, or we can expect another decade of this garbage.  Anyone wanna step up?!?
• [Sub-issue] Accountability for Judges Ramos and Rodriguez -- These constant federal lawsuits are primarily the fault of two specific Judges: Obama appointee Nelva Ramos of Corpus Christi and George W. Bush appointee (yay bi-partisanship!!!) Xavier Rodriguez of San Antonio.
  
  Congress has any number of tools to reign in rogue judges.  Examples include the bully pulpit, budget restrictions, and impeachment.  Yet nothing.
  
  While we're on the subject, the CD-21 (the Lamar Smith seat) covers San Antonio.  CD-27 (the Blake Farenthold seat) covers Corpus Christi.  Out of the 24 candidates running for those two seats, you would think that at least one of them would figure out this issue.

• Eliminating Federal Distortions in the Housing Market -- As this website has become more interested in #CodeNext and local land use issues over the past couple years, one reality stands out: Most of the issues we're dealing with at the local level are the natural consequence of various Federal policies.
  
  The recently passed tax law begins to curtail these distortions.  But plenty of ground remains to be covered.  Potential examples include restricting/eliminating the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie/Freddie, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  
  Also, let's not forget the role federal distortions of the housing market played in the 2008 financial crisis.

• Eliminating Federal Subsidies for Higher Education -- Conservatives loooooooooooooooooove to whine about political correctness on college campuses, yet nobody confront the fact the political correctness is the natural consequence of massive federal subsidies for higher education.
  
  In addition, student loan debt is a gigantic drag on the national economy.  Well, guess what?!?  The same federal policies that are subsidizing political correctness are also driving the student loan crisis.
  
  People can make fun of the Berniecrats for all of their "free college" talk...but at least they're proposing SOMETHING.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that, in the midst of vacuum, something beats nothing.  Where's the free-market alternative?!?

• Eliminating other Federal Departments/Agencies -- Housing and Higher ed might be this website's particular bugaboos, but we're not seeing much discussion about eliminating any other Federal Departments or Agencies.

• The Federal Reserve -- Don't get us started but, with 55 candidates running in 6 open seats, you'd think someone would hammer the issue.

Bottom Line: To have 55 candidates running for 6 open seats is an unprecedented opportunity.  Unfortunately, stale, uninspiring campaigns seem to abound.  If anyone wants to show creativity or intellectual bandwidth, here are some good places to start.