Burt Thakur

Burt Thakur was born in New Delhi. He served in the U.S. Navy from 2000 to 2006. His career experience includes working as an engineering project manager, a nuclear reactor operator for the US Navy, and a power plant operator and manager.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Burt Thakur was born in New Delhi, India and raised by his maternal grandparents, Jagdish and Indira. He came to America legally in pursuit of the American Dream in the late 1980s. Burt attended Valley Forge Military Academy and, at 17, Burt enlisted in the US Navy. He earned his American citizenship while serving on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, where he operated nuclear reactors.

After his service, Burt worked in operations and management for power generation. He is now an engineering project manager and works in the construction process for building large data centers. He lives in Frisco, with his wife, and envisions a better future for ALL Americans.

Burt received national attention as a Jeopardy! champion, during host Alex Trebek's final season, when he shared his personal story of learning English at a young age by watching the show with his grandfather. Burt's moving story inspired and reminded countless Americans of the importance and impact of empathy, family, and the American Dream.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

FIX OUR BROKEN BORDER - BUILD THE WALL

Fix our broken immigration system. Immigration is not the same as invasion. Require Voter IDs for voting in federal elections.Raise minimum skill. Bring back AMERICAN MANUFACTURING. Reduce our $34 Trillion dollar debt immediately.REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT. Reduce the size of the federal government and provide real oversight of various 3 letter agencies as well as significantly reduce their size and scope. END UNNECESSARY WARS.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ensuring we fix our immigration system and optimizing legal immigration.

Ensuring we fix our aging infrastructure and modernizing our power grid and pipelines.

Lifting the moratorium on fossil fuels and fast-tracking nuclear.

Ensuring mental health and substance abuse treatment for veterans regardless of discharge status.

Making healthcare less expensive.

Fixing our student loan system with zero interest, principal only federal loans.

Encouraging trade schools and critical infrastructure manufacturing in the USA.

Stopping the "New Silk Road" (One Belt & Road) objective of the Chinese Communist Party by creating an alternative to BRICs.

Regulating Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency.

Space exploration.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus - the farmer who got power, and then after his duty, gave it up and went back to being a farmer.

General Washington deferred to Cincinnatus as the exemplar for his precedent - if he's good enough for our 1st president, he's a great enough role model for me.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

My political philosophy has been shaped by American and world history. A few books which have helped shape my political beliefs (aside from the first, in no order):

1. The Declaration of Independence & The Constitution of The United States of America

2. Common Sense

3. Democracy in America

4. The Federalist Papers

5. The Prince

6. Plato's Republic

7. On War

8. Animal Farm

9. The Forever War

10. The Governance of China

11. Profiles in Courage

12. Diplomacy

13. The Communist Manifesto

14. The Economic Consequences of The Peace

15. The Bible

16. The Bhagavad Gita

17. The Dao De Ching

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

There's a poem by Rudyard Kipling - "If" - I say it to myself every morning as a guide for the politician I want to be every day. My grandfather would often recite this poem to me. As I am running for Congress, these words strike a very deep chord for the principles I strive for. I changed the last four words:

'If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be an American!'

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I enjoy problem solving and creating teams. I don't see doom and gloom - I see a tremendous hope for our future. Yes, we have a number of problems - however I view them as magnificent opportunities to create solutions. We can not only work together to build our spirits up, but we can raise our standards and start dreaming bigger.

I expect good things to happen, and I want us to start playing to win instead of playing not to lose.

The only deficit I see is one of inertia and I intend on being the push which can get our proverbial ball rolling.

One aspect I think would make me effective is the ability to communicate ideas with others. I think this is a crucial ability because it allows for a united vision.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution defines the roles and responsibilities:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions..............

Omitted in order to abide by the 2000 character text limit

........................To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

What legacy would you like to leave?

A better world after I die with less pain and suffering.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Challenger Explosion - I think I was three

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

McDonalds - long enough to know that I was so excited to get my first paycheck - then I saw the taxes taken out and I got sad. I loved working though, and I still remember the people I worked with.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Article 1 Section 8 lays it out.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

No. I believe that the framers of the Constitution intended for citizen-legislators in the House.

I believe that is why an ENORMOUS amount of power was delineated but only for two year terms, and was for the youngest members.

I believe that the House was intended to ensure the portion of the preamble "..in order to create a MORE PERFECT union.." due to the high possibility of "fresh" ideas being introduced.

Along the way with more power consolidated, monolithic political party systems, and a bureaucracy which dwarfs the imagination - Congress has turned into a lifelong career which results in immense personal profit and personal power which is selfish in nature as opposed to selfless. As opposed to vampiric, the role is intended to be altruistic.

Our system of government was designed for anyone with good ideas to enter it - our Republic is designed to be the antithesis to a monarchy. When you have people who have been in the House or Senate longer than I have been alive, what is the difference between them and a Duke or an Earl? Then, when someone like Biden (who has been in the federal government since 1972) becomes president - what is the difference between him being put up as the king? Obviously our election systems are designed to mitigate this, but throw in the cost to run for office - the common man is disenfranchised.

I believe more people who have never been in government should run for government. We have had nothing but professional politicians running our country for years - look at us now. Are you happy with the result? I'm not. So, I am running, and if I can do it, so can you.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

1. We have over 22 million (probably on the low end estimate) illegal immigrants in our country, and that number will substantially increase this year. This is an unprecedented socio-economic burden.

2. Polarization of the political system by the consultant class for winning elections has created a kakistocracy and plutocracy. What the radical leftist Democrats weaponized with fervor to ensure they remain in power is an erasure of the American ethos of greatness. We are witnessing refusal to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance by members of Congress. The consultant class have realized that it is infinitely easier to get paid and remain in power if an election becomes a moral one, as opposed to a substantive one based off policy. We have to suture the anti-American divide or our nation will not exist.

3. The $34 Trillion debt.

4. Our aging infrastructure and power grid.

5. Medicare is running out of money as is Social Security. Within 10 years we will have a senior citizen class which won't have healthcare and will be without Social Security. Let's fix this in one cycle of Congress. When $7 Trillion of our debt is owed to Social Security, I say we pay THAT back first.

6. The OBOR initiative of the Chinese Communist Party - I believe this is the existential threat towards Western Civilization.

7. With major instabilities around the world with a disastrous foreign policy under Joe Biden, we have lost our footing as a dependable world superpower. I believe an invasion of Taiwan is inevitable - that has the potential to be our Suez moment.

8. We have to regulate AI and also harden our network infrastructure against vulnerabilities.

9. We cannot have another COVID type situation with detrimental supply chain issues. We must rapidly start up our manufacturing infrastructure.

10. We have unelected bureaucrats in various agencies who are more powerful than elected leaders and the States themselves due to deferred supremacy - time for oversight.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I signed a pledge for term limits.

I believe in a 3/2 term limit system.

Three (3) terms in Congress (two as an incumbent) then a cycle off, and a Congressman can run again.

Two (2) terms in the Senate then (1 an an incumbent) then either a cycle off, or the ability to run against the other senator in the midterm.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

I read somewhere that Harry Truman would knock on the doors of defense industries and audit their books - I always liked that story.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

By door knocking, I learned about our issues instead of just wishfully thinking what they could be. It changed me. I got 560 signatures for my petition in lieu of filing. I spoke with so many people and their faces live in my memory and their stories in my heart.

Here are a few:

When I met a young mom (22 years old) in Justin, who is worried about being able to get a good job and raise her two year old son. Or when I met cowboys in Sanger gathering food for children who can’t stand that we care more about Ukraine than our children. Or a 72 year old mother named Colleen in Decatur, who cried on my shoulder because her son died from Leukemia or when I met the owner of Little Lions daycare in Ponder who was watching hundreds of kids and told me how most of the parents, who work at Peterbilt right down the street, couldn’t afford the daycare. Or when I spoke with a police chief who told me he needs to hire 8 more officers but their budget is capped at $4 million. Or when I met a 68 year old working in a movie theater who worries about her social security. Or a 17 year old waiter in Little Elm who isn’t optimistic about his future because there aren’t many good paying jobs. Or when I met a dad in Muenster, whose 18 year old son will be going to state prison for fentanyl possession and wants me to fight its distribution, or when I met veterans at the VFW who are fighting for benefits … I mean the list goes on, but it shows me that our current political class is more interested in staying in power & fund raising than actually fixing problems.

Tell us your favorite joke.

What kind of ships do vampires sail on?

..

...

....

(In a Count Dracula voice) Blood Vessels....ah...ah...haa..

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Absolutely - we are not a monarchy or dictatorship (regardless of what Joe Biden believes)

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

We must use said revenues to pay off our debt - and restrict raising MORE revenue (as in NO MORE NEW TAXES) and raising LESS revenue (getting RID OF EXISTING TAXES) as one of my top priorities.

How should the U.S. House use its investigative powers?

Perform actual OVERSIGHT.

AUDIT spending.

Reign in 3 letter agencies.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Died Suddenly

Various Precinct Chairs in CD-26

What committees interest you?

Oversight Committee

Ways and Means

Foreign Affairs

Veterans Affairs

Select Intelligence

Energy and Commerce

Judiciary

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Financial transparency is paramount. Congressional oversight is requisite.

The DoD failing its sixth audit for $3.8 Trillion is unacceptable.

With a $34 Trillion debt with over $1 Trillion in interest, we need to have immediate accountability for every dollar spent. When nearly $7 trillion of that debt is owed to Social Security and, now that the program is running out of money - I say it is high time we demanded accountability and scrutiny for our government's books.

Additionally, while I understand the need for certain black budget programs - unaccounted programs can not be lost in oversight because of their compartmentalization.

Campaign website

Thakur's campaign website stated the following:

IT'S TIME TO PLACE AMERICA FIRST

Strengthen our National Defense

Ensure our children receive the best education on the planet

Comprehensively audit resources being spent, with the focus on needs of Americans

Get out of needless foreign wars and conflicts

Invest in American growth instead of American debt

Protect the Constitution

Plan for our future, with an emphasis on technological advancement

COMMON SENSE CONSERVATISM

Secure our borders. Period

Reform federal immigration laws and enforce them

Protect our elections through ballot security measures & voter ID

Invest in new technologies to utilize our local natural resources, and address water shortages

Fix our aging utility infrastructure

Fund trade schools & STEM programs to raise workforce skills

Create jobs

Increase federal services and resources for veterans and military families

Have a strong foreign policy which includes strengthening the ties between the USA, Israel and India to stop the influence of the CCP[2]

—Burt Thakur’s campaign website (2024)[3]

Video for [the profile publisher]

Video submitted to BallotpediaReleased May 17, 2022

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am an immigrant, a U.S. Navy veteran and now, I am a project manager.

I was spurred into action, and decided to run for Congress, after witnessing the way in which our leaders take away freedoms while demonstrating obscene hypocrisy. Instead of working on ideas that advance our country, our world, and all of mankind, they instead, choose to be myopic and raise the political temperature to remain in power.

My intention is not to be a career politician – it is to be someone who solves major issues and then gets out of the way for someone new to take over.

Our office will do everything possible to suture the wounds of division. I will work diligently to pass bi-partisan ideas and reach across the aisle to help remind people that we serve the people – we are servant leaders, and we must put forth policies that benefit Americans, not just the individual parties.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

As opposed to just raising minimum wage, we must raise minimum skill.Let’s start debating the efficacy of solutions as opposed to the morality of issues.The only deficit I see is one of inertia, and together we will be the force to get the ball rolling!

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1. Raising minimum skill. From trade schools to manufacturing to providing grants for STEM degrees, we must prepare the next generation for an ever evolving technological world.

2. The border/immigration. Shoring up the border with smart technology & drones. Call stations on the border for those fleeing traffickers as well as water. Signs which show the closest legal entry. A new visa for seasonal/migrant workers - we have an economy of illegal immigrants who are being used for effectively slave labor - forget politics for a second, this is inhumane.

3. The Salton Sea & New + Alamo Rivers. Let’s end this ecological nightmare by action. Let’s build desalination plants, waste treatment, pipelines and geothermal power plants. Not only would this provide fresh water, but will create thousands of jobs, mitigate the ecological disaster and will give us access to the 25-40% of the world’s supply of lithium.

4. 40,000 Homeless veterans. Completely unacceptable. I will work hard to ensure we have rehabilitation as well as mental health counseling and job placement for veterans.

5. Healthcare. Our district has a need for healthcare centers as well as specialists. In addition, getting funding for research for public hospitals. Affordable health care for not just acute but long term/chronic conditions. Lower priced medication.

6. Lowering the deficit and balancing the budget.

7. Getting out of foreign wars.

8. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Lucius Cincinnatus - Roman farmer who was called to leadership during a time of war. After he won the war, he relinquished his power and went back to being a farmer.

To me, government service is just that - service. Right now my district is hurting. I have some ideas that might help.

My goal is not to have a ‘long and distinguished career,’ but to help fix some issues I can add value to and then make way for someone else.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Ethics

Integrity

Honesty

Servant leadership

Compassion

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

I believe the role of Congress is to ensure the preservation of America, and to put forth legislation that prepares the next generation. A congress that does not know about infrastructure and technology, or worse doesn’t care about it will get us nowhere.

In addition, oversight and following the powers enumerated in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution are imperative.

Ultimately Congress must legislate, and not leave it to the executive or the judiciary to make laws.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to fix the Salton Sea and clean up the New & Alamo Rivers.

I would like to inspire everyday people to run for elected office.

I would like to help fix the divide between the Democratic and Republican parties.

He said, ‘The Japanese are hardworking, the Germans are punctual, but an American? You can trust them with a handshake.’

Those words still ring true.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Little Prince, because it’s beautiful.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

The ability to legislate and have oversight. Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, which enumerates tremendous responsibility to Congress, shows it’s uniqueness.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Per the constitution, the only requirement is to be 25 and a citizen for at least seven years.

I believe the framers of the Constitution intended for citizen-legislators.

I believe anyone with good ideas, regardless of party, should attempt to serve in government.

We need dreamers and those who take action.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Obviously I would serve any committee I would be assigned to. The Defense Appropriations and Energy committees would be two where I might be able to add my experience in those fields to help.

However, it would be an honor to serve on the Veterans Affairs committee. Between homeless veterans, and those seeking help after their service, I would be privileged to be able to assist and fight for their rights and benefits.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Harry Truman when he was a senator - because of his oversight.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Absolutely.

A one party system is not good for the Republic. Compromise and being solutions oriented for the betterment of our country is necessary and will be an ethos I will carry with me.

Yes, there will always be disagreements - but on major issues, bipartisanship is necessary.

Campaign website

Thakur's campaign website stated the following:

Education

As opposed to raising minimum wage, let’s focus on raising minimum skill. Period. We can pass legislation that raises the 8% manufacturing in the USA. IF COVID taught us anything, we are at the whim of the global supply chain. In addition, we have a large sector of our workforce who aren’t trained in skill based jobs. So? We incentivize STEM degrees with government grants. We build public-private partnerships with companies for training and equipment.

The Salton Sea - Renewal and Innovation

WE MUST FIX THE SALTON SEA. In addition to being a huge environmental disaster, I see this as a way to not only drive the economy but with the correct legislation, a source of a tremendous natural resource. My idea? Let’s build a pipeline from the Sea of Cortez, build a desalination plant, and power it using geo-thermal energy. Not only will this provide fresh water and fix a large environmental issue, but we can effectively create power with a minimum carbon output. The tremendous benefit is that this will allow us access to the estimated 25% of the world’s supply of lithium in addition to newly discovered rare earth mineral deposits. For essentially a capital project with a $5Bn (adjusted for bloated quotes) cost, we can have a revenue stream that generates $15Bn in lithium per annum and offset the $37Bn water cost for CA. This will also spur innovation in water management, power as well as create thousands of jobs that will provide a bedrock of skill for our future. .

Immigration

Aside from the usual rhetoric, a fundamental issue is human trafficking and slave labor. My idea is to create a seasonal/migrant worker visa. We have H1B/EB5/O1 etc. that are for skilled workers. How about a different one for the minimum wage/apprentice skill based jobs? From farmhands to hotels to hospice to even internships, this can provide a way for all who are seeking a better life a way to legally enter and also for those here, a way for them to be able to bring the best talents from their countries her