Who is Fred Thompson?

Fred Thompson seems to be an unknown in some areas. When his name is mentioned, some will say "Isn't he that actor on Law & Order?" Well, yes, Thompson did star in the long running series Law & Order, but he's much more than just an actor.

A little background:

Thompson was born in Sheffield, Alabama in 1942, but his family moved to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee shortly after and that's where he grew up. He was the first member of his family to attend college and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science at Memphis State in 1964 and his law degree from Vanderbilt in 1967.

Thompson was named an assistant United States attorney in Nashville in 1969, he earned the reputation of being a tough prosecutor during this time.

In 1973, Thompson was in Washington D.C. where he served as a minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.

Thompson actually fell into the film and television career by accident. It all started from a book that was made into a movie, where the producers wanted him to play himself. The book, Marie, was based on the lawsuit he filed on behalf of Marie Ragghianti, who was wrongfully terminated for her refusal to release felons who bribed the then Governor Blanton's aides in turn for early release.

Thompson starred in 18 films and the popular Law & Order series.

During his film and television career, Thompson continued his work as an attorney and a public servant. He served as special counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1980 and the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1982.

In 1994, the opportunity came to help the people even more, Thompson ran to fill the last two years of an unexpired Senate seat, his opponent was a six-term congressman. But Thompson refused to play the political game and even though he was down 20 points in the polls, he undertook what is now looked at as a legendary campaign. He went out to the citizens in a red pickup and talked to them from the back of it, it made him feel comfortable to do it that way and he won. Two years later, the voters returned him to that office again with more votes than any other candidate in the state's history.

Thompson Now

Thompson entered the Presidential race late, so he was far behind from the start and while he's not leading, he seems to be a very interesting candidate for the Conservative base and I'm wondering if he's behind because people don't really know about him. He doesn't have the same amount of money to campaign on as the other top GOP candidates, so he's not out there and in your face like the other top candidates are, but if you're Conservative, you may want to check out where he stands on things, should he be the Conservatives choice?

So where does Fred Thompson stand on this issues? Here's a small sampling to give you an idea of what type of candidate he is.

National Security - As Commander-in-Chief, the president must ensure the United States has the means to achieve victory. Presidential leadership requires talking to the American people about these stakes, mapping out a clear vision for success, and devising a comprehensive strategy for achieving it. I am committed to:

• A larger, more capable, and more modern military that can defeat terrorists, deter adversaries, and defend the U.S. and our interests.
• A missile defense system that can protect the U.S. and our allies from long-range ballistic missiles.
• An enhanced intelligence community, with robust human-intelligence capabilities, focused on terrorism and proliferation.
• A robust approach to homeland security that will protect our nation from terrorists and WMD, regardless of where they come from.
• A strengthened system of global alliances to better combat terrorists, proliferators, and traditional threats to our interests.
• A judicial system that deals with the realities of terrorists and unlawful enemy combatants.

Federal Budget and Spending/Budgetary Reform - reform is not only an economic necessity, it is a moral imperative that requires action now. I am committed to:

• Opening the government's fiscal books on this looming crisis for all to see and understand.
• Working with individuals of all political persuasions to develop a comprehensive solution to the pending fiscal crisis.
• Leading and making the hard choices necessary, to include cutting wasteful government spending, to safeguard our security, promote our prosperity, and protect our children and grandchildren from fiscal calamity.

Tax Reform - The U.S. tax code is broken and a burden on U.S. taxpayers and businesses, large and small. To ensure America's long term prosperity and economic security, I am committed to:

• Fundamental tax reform built on the principles of simplicity, fairness, and growth.
• A new tax code that gets the government out of our citizens' pocketbooks, while enhancing U.S. competitiveness abroad.
• Dissolution of the IRS as we know it.

Immigration - A government that cannot secure its borders and determine who may enter and who may not, abrogates a fundamental responsibility. I am committed to:

• Securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws. Amnesty is not an option and the toleration of "sanctuary cities" must end.
• Reviewing our immigration laws and policies to ensure they advance our national interests.
• Uniting Americans by welcoming legal immigrants willing to learn English, assimilate into our communities, and become productive citizens.

Education - the federal role in education is too intrusive and too bureaucratic, and has become part of the problem. State and local governments are closest to the parents, the kids, and the schools, and best situated to implement changes and innovations that best educate children. I am committed to:

• Giving parents more choices in education and schools less bureaucracy.
• Reviewing federal programs for cost-effectiveness, reducing federal mandates, returning education money to the states, and empowering parents by promoting voucher programs, charter schools, and other innovations that enhance education excellence through competition and choice.
• Encouraging students and teachers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math-fields that are crucial to our security, competitiveness, and prosperity.
• Promoting transparency to assess performance, promote accountability, and share innovations in education at all levels.

This is just a small sampling of where Fred Thompson stands on some of the issues, for a full view on his stand on different issues, you can visit his web site and read all about theme, some of them pretty in depth.

I guess we'll see in the coming months where he'll stand in the polls, but as of now, it's not looking too good. Why? I'm not sure, maybe because he's not campaigning as much as the other candidates, but I think he at least deserves a look.

From what I've read, I tend to like where he stands on a lot of the issues, do I agree with every single one of them? No, I don't think any one person can say they agree with everything their candidate stands for. I really like his stance on education and do agree that state's should have more control over it than the federal government. His budget reform stance looks pretty good too and I like the cutting of wasteful spending that has plagued our government. We need a President that will work with Congress, not just along party lines and that is something Thompson said he would try and do.

When voting in the Primary Elections and the Presidential Elections, I plan on knowing where each of the candidates stand on things that are important to me and if they were in office before, how they voted on things. Putting these two things together will help me make up my mind on who I want to vote for to lead our country. Will I vote for Thompson? Maybe, but I plan on looking into all the candidates before making my final decision on who to vote for. I mainly wrote this because I do like where he stands on some of the issues and I think he is being overlooked and since we are talking about who will be leading our country for four years, I don't think any candidate should be overlooked.

Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, I think you need to look at all the candidates, to find who you agree with most and who you think would be best to lead the country. Let's just forget about which party you usually side with and really look into each of the candidates so we all can make a good decision for our country, we'll be dealing with our decision for the next four years, so it needs to be a good one.

Note: Italics are quoted from Thompson's web site.