Mike – Co-founder The Founders Principles
I wasn’t always interested in politics. Growing up in the Bronx during the 70’s and 80’s, my parents never mentioned anything about Congress, the Senate, or the President for that matter. Like many young boys, I was interested in cars, bikes and playing stick ball in front of my house. In school I was taught history and political science, but it never mattered to me nor had I ever heard about the Founding Fathers the way you read about them on this site.
When I was 17, my parents and younger sister moved to Florida for a better life. I decided to stay behind in New York. I never thought I had many options other than to work hard and pay bills. I worked as a busboy in a local restaurant and then as a waiter full time to make ends meet. Eventually, I saved enough money to buy a delicatessen and I thought that was how my life was supposed to be. I paid my own health care expenses and I tried to save some money for a rainy day. Well, as it turns out, my rainy day proved to be a storm and to make a long story short, I had to sell my business to pay off a tax lien the previous owner had accumulated from not paying his taxes. I decided to change the course of direction of my life by going back to school and changing careers.
Today, I am a Magna Cum Laude college graduate and I work for a great company. I’m also pursuing an MBA. I have an amazing, beautiful wife and we own our home. By the way, I’m also still saving for a rainy day.
I believe that the very same things that made me who I am today are what made this country great — Things like hard work, sacrifice and the courage to persevere. I started this website with my good friend Ken because we believe there needs to be a place where hard working Americans can come together and help to inspire one another in their pursuit the American Dream. This website is dedicated to all Americans who believe in tradition, hard work, sacrifice, courage and perseverance. Americans who believe in free markets, free people, capitalism, and limited government can use this forum to discuss their ideas and opinions to help their country. The Founding Fathers believed in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and so do I.
Ken – Co-founder The Founders Principles
I was born and raised in the middle class suburbs of NYC. My father is a war vet who worked two jobs until his retirement. Despite his hectic work schedule, my father also served both in the National Guard and as a volunteer helicopter pilot for the county in which we lived. My mother stayed at home with my sister and me during our formative years after which she went on to a career as a teachers’ assistant. I learned a lot from my parents. From my father, I was instilled with a strong work ethic and love of country. From my mother, I learned about compassion and responsibility. For these gifts, I will always be grateful as they have largely contributed to the person I am today.
After graduating high school, I went to a local college full time and worked as many hours as possible to offset the costs. In my junior year, I made the decision to postpone my college education and open my own business. In 1997, with the support of my family, I opened a successful franchise pizzeria. After many years growing and managing my client base, I came to realize that any business profits I made seemed to benefit the government more than they did me or my employees. Instead of allowing me to re-invest the profits into a second store and the hiring additional staff, it seemed that the government preferred to tax my business as much as possible in an effort to fund what I deemed to be unnecessary programs and expansion. Disheartened but not defeated, I sold my business in 2001, and returned to college and the corporate world. Shortly thereafter I met my wife and started a family of my own.
As a husband, father, and main breadwinner, I began to re-evaluate the role of the government in the lives of the average tax-paying citizen. My family is the reason I have decided to do more to further advance the conservative values and principles that this country was founded on. Our founding fathers had a plan for this country and it was a plan based on freedom, limited government and the individual’s right to pursue happiness. I want all of those things for my family and as well as yours so I decided to start this website with my good friend Michael. We each have families of our own and we no longer feel good about sitting on the sidelines. We feel compelled to remind and educate others about what made this country great. Hard work, personal passion and a love of country still mean something to many of us out there. I encourage you to visit our site often and join us in our effort to take back our country.
