Here are the responses to the Flashpoint Candidate Questionnaire from Alabama 5th District Congressional candidate Dr. David Maker:

General

1. As a freshman legislator you may be limited in the amount of legislation you can personally champion. Please list two or three specific bills that are already pending or that you would introduce that you would personally fight for in order to secure their passage.

Repeal of the China most favored nation trading law introduced in 1980 (This law resulted in most of the manufacturing job outsourcing)

Repeal of the law that says that SUVs are the same as farm trucks in terms of mileage standards. (Resulted in a lot more oil imports from the Mideast)

Introduce legislation encouraging the use of solar panels on residences.

Introduce legislation outlawing federal help in logging of national forests

Introduce laws encouraging mass transit in large cities.

2. NASA’s annual budget is approximately one half of one percent of the total federal budget. Do you believe this is adequate to meet the challenges they have been issued to return to the moon and eventually send a manned vehicle to Mars? There appears to be a looming gap between launch requirements and launch asset availability - how would you address this issue? Should their mission and/or funding be altered in any way?

Adequate money for the AresI an AresV should be allocated for sure. We need a space shuttle replacement (i.e.,AresI) as soon as possible. But these efforts to go back to the moon are essentially “reinventing the wheel” so a ‘future’ in space travel should be sought after as well such as single stage to orbit commercial airline type systems. For example the X-33 could have made orbit with payload with assisted launch. Two such efforts for a future instead of just a past in space flight are Burt Rutan’s aircraft assisted launch and pneumatic assisted launch.

3. Please provide a description of what you feel would be appropriate Constitutional gun restrictions.

The 2nd amendment to the US constitution is ambiguous on gun control, it appears to imply that only militias (e.g., national guard) should own guns. So does the right to bare arms exist for only the national guard or does it exist for everybody? In any case the constitution provides little guidance here.

But clearly the public should not be equipped with machine guns, mortars,…, essentially items that can be used for horrendous terrorist acts.

4. What makes you the best prepared candidate to represent the interests of Redstone Arsenal?

I have worked both for NASA and on missile defense. I am intimately acquainted with how both function and very sympathetic to both of their goals.

Economy

5. What is the role of the federal government in the Economy?

The federal government should, as a first iteration at least, not pass misguided laws that actually harm the economy. For example the most favored nation trading status for China law passed during the Carter administration is causing the outsourcing of our manufacturing sector. The law that says that SUVs are the same as farm tracks in terms of mileage standards is sending a huge amount of money to the middle east and thereby essentially providing terrorist’s their salaries.

Otherwise I subscribe to the mainstream Keynsian economic analysis: Spending more to take us out of recession, etc., Fed interest changes (ala Greenspan) to keep the stock market on track, etc..

6. During campaigns candidates are eager to talk about programs they want to create or expand, but something has to give. Would you be willing to eliminate or curtail any programs and/or raise taxes to address budget problems? Please provide specifics.

There are many types of subsidies to wealthy people that have to be curtailed. I would put the government back on the track it was on during the Clinton administration when it managed to obtain a budget surplus.

7. What is your position on free trade? How would you vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement? Do you support continuing NAFTA?

I support the repeal of the China most favored nation trading status that was passed in 1980. That is not protectionism, it is correcting a past mistake. Our manufacturing sector is disappearing because of the outsourcing it has caused.
NAFTA has both helped and hurt sectors of our economy. One beneficial feature is to increase the economic viability of Mexico and possibly thereby limiting illegal immigration into the United States. So I (reluctantly) support NAFTA.

Government Ethics & Corruption

8. What efforts would you make to increase the public’s trust in government?

The public’s trust in government is controlled by who the public elects to these positions. If they choose scoundrels then we will have scoundrels. I am running for office because I did not think the opponents of either party had positions that were relevant to solving our most important problems.

Unfortunately special interests always find a loophole to any campaign finance law we pass which then makes running for public office all the more difficult by adding so much to the paper work. In the end not much is gained. In any case we have campaign finance laws now that at least requires financial reporting.

9. Would you pledge to abstain from seeking or accepting earmarks as a member of Congress? Note: According to Citizens Against Government Waste there were five senators and ten representatives who received no earmarks in FY2008.

I lean in this direction. But needs some study.

Social Security

10. What are your thoughts on Social Security? Is it in trouble, if so, how do you propose to fix it?

The main task is to stop the pillaging of the social security fund by its redirection to financing wars and such. The social security fund actually would have been sufficient if it had not been for this practice. The next task is to make sure that seniors are not discriminated against on job applications so that they can continue on working.

National Security/War on Terror

11. What country or group do you believe poses the greatest threat to the United States? What actions would you take to secure our safety from this particular threat?

One group that does NOT pose a threat are individuals legitimately expressing their constitutional right to dissent on the war in Iraq. The security agencies should not be harassing these people.

In any case the greatest potential problem is from a radicalized Pakistan with nuclear weapons. Iran is also an ongoing threat since that country is governed by radicals already and is pursuing nuclear technology..

The most effective way to control future (very serious) terrorism is to allocate sufficient resources to efforts to decommission old cold war era Russian nuclear weapons. Every other effort to fight the war on terror should be secondary to this extremely important program.

Education

12. Does the country need more or less involvement from the federal government in educating our children? Do you support market based school choice programs such as vouchers or tax credits?

We must continue the effort of the Bush administration to insure baseline academic standards for schools. Otherwise too many schools will fall by the wayside, with the students being the victims. But “teaching to the test” is not necessarily giving students deep knowledge of academic subject matter either. Efforts should be made to at least make the tests cover ‘deep’ understanding of these subjects to identify which schools are merely teaching rote memorization of facts.

Health Care

13. What responsibility does the federal government have for health care? What are your thoughts on addressing the issue?

To obtain universal health care I would reform Medicaid and then extend its benefits to the working poor.

Iraq

14. What is your position on the Iraq War? Are we winning? When should we leave?

I was opposed to going into Iraq but not Afghanistan since that country harbored the terrorists.

But only a fool would know the answer to the question of whether leaving or staying there is the best thing to do: the administration has essentially put us into a catch 22 now on that issue. I am of course hoping we win and I am pro military. The military has suffered more under the Bush administration than any other in being misused for these misguided efforts.

Taxes

15. What specific measures would you support to change our federal tax code?

The tax system should be used to encourage the use of low mileage vehicles and solar panels on roofs.

Immigration

16. What should the federal government do about immigration? What impact have illegal immigrants had on Alabama?

The rule of law has gone by the wayside here. Businesses that employ these people should be fined.

Abortion & Other Social Issues

17. Which term best describes you: pro-life or pro-choice?

There is no simple answer here. Clearly Roe vs. Wade was a mistake since it encourages large scale abortions, thereby cheapening human life, and yet abortions have to be done in certain situations.

18. Would you address the issue of human trafficking and slavery in the US and worldwide?

We should have a trade boycott of countries that allow this activity.

19. Would you support an amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman?

Such a thing would trivialize the US constitution.

Energy

20. What should the federal government do, if anything, to decrease fuel prices and what should the government do to develop and promote sustainable alternative energy sources?

Repeal the law that says that SUVs are the same as farm trucks in terms of mileage standards. Use the tax code to encourage the purchase of high mileage cars. Jawbone energy conservation. Use the tax code in a powerful way to encourage the installation of solar photovoltaics on roofs.

Softball

21. Are there any questions you wish we had asked? Go ahead and answer it.

Ideology is the last refuge of people that choose not to think. A lot of your questions were ideological, demanding more thoughtful comments than the black and white responses you appeared to be asking for.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 10:40 am and is filed under AL-05 Congressional Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.