Republican U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke made a campaign stop Friday in Kalispell to speak on the issues he feels strongly about.

Addressing a group of about 30 at the Flathead County Pachyderm Club meeting, the Whitefish resident said his main message is that Americans are losing trust in government. He listed the issues he sees as most pressing to the country — budget and the budget deficit, foreign policy, energy policy and immigration.

“I don’t think many people trust the government — we need to correct that,” he said. “As Americans we need to have faith in our government.”

Zinke faces Democrat John Lewis in the November election in the race for Montana’s open U.S. House seat.

On his opponent, Zinke said Lewis is a former staffer for Sen. Max Baucus, who helped write Obamacare, and doesn’t have name recognition in the state.

“Whether you like me or not — most people at least know who I am,” Zinke said.

On the economy, Zinke said government needs to get out of business because the economy is in “shambles.”

“Our principal threat is ourselves,” he said. “We’ve let government expand beyond its intended mission. We let government intrude on business decisions that should be in the free market.”

Zinke said that the economy is suffering and that means full-time employment to support a family is in jeopardy. He pointed to what he called the No. 1 economy in the state in Billings, and noted that even that city has 500 homeless children.

“That tells me that the fundamental building block of America, which is the family, is under enormous stress,” he said. “We need to focus on making sure the family unit is whole, and viable of having a job and buying a house.”

Zinke said illegal immigration needs to be stopped and legal immigration into the U.S. needs to be reformed.

“It’s imperative that we shut the southern border,” he said.

Children are being effected in the immigration issue, he said, referring to an ongoing debate about how to deal with an influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border. He added that property owners on the southern border can’t enjoy their land because the U.S. won’t defend the border.

The U.S. needs to be more “thoughtful” on legal immigration, he noted. Zinke suggests that work visa limits should be determined not by county, but by skill set to keep jobs in the U.S.

Zinke said he supports constructing the U.S.-Canada Keystone XL oil pipeline, and believes it will be approved.

“Energy independence is a priority,” he said. “About 3.5 million barrels of gas are flared in North Dakota alone — wasting that volume of gas.”

On education, Zinke said schools, including in Whitefish, are struggling with change and getting technology into the classroom. Government has placed burden on teachers to complete compliance paperwork that keep them away from the classroom.

“Innovation in the classroom should be emphasized,” he said. “We need to give more authority to the local school boards. In Montana education is more of a local issue, but what I think I can do is ensure what comes from the sausage factory in Washington, D.C. doesn’t infringe and put added requirements on the local schools.”

Zinke said the Republican party has the opportunity to stick to the issues while running a positive campaign.

“There has to be a difference between the Democrats and the Republicans,” he said. “We, as Republicans, have to take the moral high round and make sure what we say is truthful. We need to stick on the issues and what matters to the country and to Montana.”

Raised in Whitefish, Zinke served as a U.S. Navy SEAL from 1985 to 2008 and retired as a commander. He served four years in the Montana Senate beginning in 2008 representing Whitefish.

In 2011 he unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor with gubernatorial candidate Neil Livingston.