Background
James Burkee was born in San Diego, California on January 11, 1968, but was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he considers his hometown.
James Burkee was born in San Diego, California on January 11, 1968, but was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he considers his hometown.
Burkee then attended Concordia University Wisconsin, graduating with degrees in business, marketing, and history in 1990. Burkee then worked in the manufacturing sector and other jobs while his wife was in graduate school at New York University. After attending Northwestern University’s graduate school, where he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in American History in 2003, Burkee began his career of teaching.
He is most notably a critic of many prominent national politicians who he characterizes as disconnected from the American public in both personal and political priorities, and he frequently speaks out on issues of fiscal responsibility in government.
Burkee is characterized as a political conservative, and while he identifies himself as a Republican, he often protests what might be described as the elite establishment of Washington, District of Columbia
Foreign example, in a January 2006 article in the Wisconsin State Journal, Burkee criticized Congress for the ballooning national debt, which he says is a product of politicians failing to address important issues for the sake of pleasing their personal political interests. He has also criticized leadership that push for more entitlements, like prescription drug benefits, which he says are unaffordable.
These views have led Burkee to describe most of Washington politics as the politics of irresponsibility, bent chiefly on serving personal interests and reelection rather than the interests of constituents. On January 15, 2007, he publicly announced the launch of Americans for Responsibility in Washington, a political action campaign, but he has since taken down the Internet site and redirected it to his congressional campaign website.