I Won't Apologize for My Education or My Values.

Someone recently questioned my conservative values because I have a Ph.D. from Berkeley.

I smiled.

If we've reached the point where we judge people by where they went to school instead of what they actually believe, we're making the very mistake we've criticized for years.

Yes, I earned my Ph.D. from Berkeley.

I also grew up in a family that knows firsthand what happens when freedom is lost.

My father was imprisoned by the Vietnamese communist government. My family came to America because this country offered something so many others couldn't: liberty, opportunity, and the chance to build a better life.

No university gave me those values. My parents did. America did.

I didn't go to Berkeley to become someone else. I went there to earn an education, challenge ideas, and strengthen my own.

Conservative principles don't disappear because you step onto a college campus. If anything, they become even more important.

I believe in personal responsibility.

I believe in limited government.

I believe parents, not bureaucrats, should raise their children.

I believe in secure borders, safe communities, affordable energy, and protecting the freedoms that make America exceptional.

Those beliefs weren't assigned to me by a professor. They were forged by my family's experience under socialism and by the gratitude I feel every day for the freedom and opportunity America gave us.

So, if you're wondering where I stand, the answer is simple:

I stand with freedom. I stand with common sense.

And I'll never apologize for getting an education, or for standing by my principles.

I'm Trinh Ha, and I'm running for Congress because Washington needs leaders with the courage to think for themselves.