Max was born and raised in Sacramento. He and his wife Nika now own a house in Chico. Max is a fifth-generation Californian and proud of his Central Valley roots. His great-great-grandfather Edwin Smith was the pastor of Chico’s First Methodist Episcopal Church during World War One. His brother lives in Redding, and lost his house to the Carr Fire in 2018.

Max served in the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division and did two years in Iraq in Baghdad and Kirkuk. He went on daily raids and patrols “outside the wire” as part of a four man squad and survived numerous IED and mortar attacks. He earned his Combat Infantry Badge in a firefight during an  attempt to rescue a female Italian journalist who had been captured by terrorists. Max ‘s leadership potential was recognized immediately by his superiors, and he was quickly promoted to Sergeant, becoming an acting squad leader during his second deployment. Even after leaving Active Duty, Max continued to put his skills and experience to use in the Army Reserves and he is now the First Sergeant of a Civil Affairs Company.

After completing his deployments, Max attended community college and then transferred to UC Berkeley.  There he earned his degree and met his wife, Nika, the daughter of a Cambodian refugee who came to America after the communist forces of Pol Pot seized his homeland. He graduated with High Honors in 2011.

Max joined the Foreign Service in 2012 as an economic generalist and served as a Foreign Service Officer in Honduras, Mexico, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and Washington, DC.  In Honduras, he was the lead American on agricultural issues, supporting the regional USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Officer based in Guatemala. In Mexico, he worked on visa issues and was the officer in charge of protecting the rights of Americans arrested in Baja California. His last overseas tour as an FSO was to the Sinai Peninsula, where he served not as a diplomat but instead as an observer with the multi-national force enforcing the 1982 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.  In Washington, DC, Max worked with USDA and USAID on our food security support to the United Nations. In 2019, he took a leave of absence from the Foreign Service to pursue a PhD in Policy Analysis at RAND, focusing on the intersection of diplomacy and development in the Western Pacific and Eastern Europe.

Max is a political centrist, who believes that the best solutions to America's problems wil be found in the middle. He fought for America in Iraq, and he will fight for District One in Washington. As an infantryman, he dodged IEDs and kicked down doors. As our Congressman, he will find common ground with Democrats and Republicans and fight to ensure the allocation of eight billion federal dollars to forestry and water projects in our district. It’s time to send a fighter to Congress, a soldier who has shared danger with Republicans and Democrats alike, , an American patriot who knows that we can work together to achieve common goals if we do not allow ourselves to be paralyzed into inaction by our political differences.

This is who I am:

I have washed dishes and dug ditches

all the while for poverty wages.

I drove trucks for a few bucks

and built houses through all of their stages.

After acts of defiance, I discovered science

and published research judged worthy by sages.

My greatest acheivement preceeded my greatest bereavment,

faithfully serving my mother each day through Alzheimer's rages.

I helped Mom make her last stand and held my mom's hand,

as she passed on into what heaven now engages.

There is no Freedom without Democracy and no Democracy without Truth

I remember as a boy, crawling into bed exhausted, well after my bedtime.  I pulled the covers over my head and began praying.  I had been watching television from that afternoon until late in the evening. 

It was election night 1968. Republican Richard Nixon was running against Democrat Hubert Humphrey, for the presidency.  When I finally went to bed, it looked like Nixon was losing.  I prayed "Oh dear Lord, please let Richard Nixon win the presidency..."  The next morning, it was as if my prayer was answered. 

Four years later, I said the same prayer.  It was pleasing to see such a lop sided victory, for the President I loved.  However, later in his second term I found out Nixon was involved with a criminal conspiracy, using his power as president to cheat in that election. I realized he did it about the same time I was praying for him. 

It was almost painful to learn the love for my president was misplaced.  He had betrayed his oath to the Constitution; that hurt me.  His Republican allies in Congress felt the pain too; I am certain.  However, they took their oath seriously.  Although they knew admitting the truth would hurt the Republican Party, they told President Nixon it was time to resign or they would vote to impeach him.  Republican leadership honestly determined Nixon tried to cheat our democracy, so he had to go, period.

To Nixon's credit he left office in disgrace, but peacefully, for the good of the nation.  I believed he wanted to help our nation heal.  Our democracy survived and acted upon lessons learned, with new legislation.

Sure enough, my Republican Party took a real pounding the next presidential election cycle.  There was a real House cleaning, that's for sure.  However, that cleared the runway. 

Only 5 years after Nixon was forced to resign, we elected Ronald Reagan who spear headed the modern conservative movement.  The Republican Party came back renewed, reinvigorated and stronger than ever. 

The Republican Party lived to fight another day,in a healthy democracy, because Republican leadership acted decisively to cut out the cancer, for the love of country over party. In the time of Nixon, the Republican leadership were people of honor.  They commonly had close friendships with Democrats in Congress. Everyone embraced their duty to protect our democracy, so our children will also have the opportunity to live in freedom.

Today much of my Republican Party has joined in on a big deal, a highly lucrative lucrative business model that brings in billion's of dollars each year.  The thing is, it is a deal with the Devil.  Republican leadership has discovered spreading fear and hate of fellow Americans with lies is a very efficient way to evoke donations.

In the two months after the last president lost the election, he gathered over one quarter billion dollars in donations.  He primed the prump with lies, even though they were thoroughly discredited in 63 court cases and by his own Attorney General.  The ex-president said the Democracts stole the election from him. 

After some 5 years of hearing lies about Democrats hating America etc, it made sense to many of us that Democracts might well have tried to steal the election.  We believed it because of the highly lucrative business model, that sucked money out of our pockets, by brainwashing us into believing that it is okay to hate fellow American's over policy differences.  And, since we convinced ourselves Democrats stole the election, maybe it's okay for us to steal the next one.

No, it is not okay!

I believe in Strong Borders, build the wall and make it tall.  I don't need to hate Democrats because they disagree.  We can argue the merits and let the voters decide, based on the facts.  That's the deal we sign up for when we swear our oath to the Constitution.  We tell our honest views, then the voters decide.  No do overs, no Mulligans.

Sure it's easier just to spread hate.  If you get enough people busy hating, they aren't thinking clearly.  If they're mad enough, they aren't thinking at all.

I've got a problem with that!  Because, a bunch of angry people no longer caring about what is true is the stuff of fascist dictatorships.  

Left hating Right or Right hating Left, it all looks very ugly to me. As we got use to this the lucrative business model, it has been rotting democracies. 

I've got a problem with that and I'm in this race to try my life's best effort to honesty begin the end of that powerful, extremely lucrative, business model. 

I have a novel legal concept that could give an emotional advantage to truthful congressmen against lying congressmen, one vicious lie at a time.  The basic idea is to leverage the judicial philosophy behind perjury laws.  Although the First Amendment gives powerful protection to vicious political liars, it gives no protection to perjury. 

I recently produced Youtube videos on this topic.  My idea's bottom line is to codify a law allowing a truthful Congressman to challenge a lying Congressman to a duel in court, about a specific public statement.  If the challenge was accepted, then each would have certified, under penalty of perjury, the opposite claims of truthfulness regarding a single specific statement.  As soon as the challenge is accepted, both go before a Federal judge and one of them goes to prison.  Everyone will understand that the likely liar would be the coward refusing to risk his life for his statement, by accepting the challenge.  Proving a cowardly liar in this manor, will at last give a primal emotional advantage to truthful leadership.

I believe this is our democracy's best chance for increased longevity.  Is it not clear that vicious liars spreading hate for profit are destroying our children's chance to inherit democracy?  At the very least, we need to pick up this discussion and get to work on something better. 

Rose decided to enter politics as an independent candidate. She believes that the two-party system that dominates our political process is harmful to the interests of the majority of Americans.
Rose’s campaign for Congress CA 1 is centered on Healthcare for All, College and Trade Schools for All, and Jobs for All. She believes in being fair, just and kind, but is tenacious and not afraid to fight. If elected, she strongly resolves to do the necessary legislative work, as well as engage in direct action, to advance these issues.