By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — District 2 Congressional candidate Vikram Mansharamani made a stop in Newport at the Salt hill Pub for lunch while on the campaign trail on Tuesday, and took some time to speak with The Eagle Times about vying for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mansharamani, a Republican who hails from Lincoln, is the son of parents who immigrated from India in search of the American Dream.
“I am the son of two working class immigrants who came to this nation seeking a better life,” he said. “They came here legally, and me to this day, the proudest day of his life is becoming an American citizen. I’m worried about whether my kids will have the opportunities that I had.”
Mansharamani said there are many reasons for this concern, and one aspect that is glaring is inflation and the debt level. He said the American Dream is slipping from the lives of people who want to pursue an “opportunity-oriented future.
“I believe in equal opportunity and I fear what the country is going towards is equal outcomes,” he said. “Very different. Very different versions of the future. So, I’m going to fight for that world of equal opportunity for all. At the very highest level, that’s what I think is my motivating factor.”
He said in the early 1990s his father owned a gas station that he worked at pumping gas. He grew up lower-middle class, and the business went bankrupt. This led to his family’s home being foreclosed, which was disturbing to him in his teenage years. It also served as a form of inspiration.
“My mother said one thing to me: ‘Don’t worry about filling your pockets. Fill your head’,” he said. “You can never lose what you put in your head, so education became the mantra. It was a classic immigrant story. Educate yourself and that will be the bootstrapping way to a better life with more opportunity. Regardless of what your dad did, or regardless of what you had for money in your pocket, you too can rise based on your own efforts and abilities. So that is what I did.”
Mansharamani became an excellent student and “made lemonade from lemons.” He studied at Yale University where he studied Chinese history, Chinese politics and the Chinese military. He worked at the Chinese embassy in Beijing and graduated with a “pile of student debt” and worked to pay it off — something many constituents can relate to.
He and his wife both paid off their loans, and once they got in control of debt, they started a family, raising a daughter and son who are now 18 and 13. After graduate school he went into the private sector where he started an investment business, publishing business, and a consulting and training business. He dabbled in real estate and also taught at Yale and Harvard, and along the way he has written three books.
“I am a private sector guy,” he said. “I’m a guy who has signed the front of a paycheck and not just the back.”
Mansharamani said this experience gives him a unique skillset and base of experiences to draw upon, to address the issues facing the voters in this district.
“Almost every single person I have spoken with in the district has raised affordability and inflation as an issue they are upset about,” he said. “It is absolutely an issue that has been driven by government spending, borrowing and printing of money beyond our means. That’s it. This is what has created inflation. It is something I’ve studied and written about this and taught about this. I have ideas of how to stop this. There’s a recipe of how you generate inflation. Now let’s undo the recipe and contain inflation.”
With immigration, the number one need is to secure the border, he said. He stressed that he is not opposed to immigration, and he knows first-hand that immigrants have been vital to this country.
“The way I describe it is a tall wall with a wide gate,” he said. “A secure border, but a welcoming immigration policy. There are so many easy ways to deal with immigration reform that can help enable worker sponsored visas.”
Mansharamani also believes in energy independence, saying it is something that he cares about deeply. He does not think the U.S. government should cross subsidize.
“You should not have to pay, I should not have to pay, for inefficient energy because of some green agenda,” he said. “If it makes sense for solar to exist because you live in a sunny place like the deserts of Nevada, God bless you. That’s great. It makes sense for you. If you live in a windy place and want to have wind, great. I don’t want to cross subsidize that.”
He believes in nuclear power and fossil fuels, as well, saying it will help unlock energy independence.
“If we unlock American energy independence and keep pursuing all these energy sources, we will lower the cost that will help with inflation,” he said. “Number two, we will lower the price of energy and take away money from the countries that hate us. The enemies of America: Iran, Russia. This will be a good thing if we lower the price of energy for the world. I actually think ‘all of the above energy’ in America makes for a better environment.”
When it comes to what sets him apart from other candidates, Mansharamani said he has a breadth of experience to handle these issues, but also has different experiences to bring a fresh perspective and not be a career politician. He said this is a “tour of duty for public service,” and he will be back in the private sector when his work is done. He believes in term limits and does not think voters deserve to have politicians who “entrench themselves and don’t leave.”
“What I offer is a different set of experiences, a different set of perspectives, and therefore, a different set of ideas to solve problems and not just highlight them,” he said.
Voters will have the chance to cast their ballot on Sept. 10 in the Republican primary election.
