Issues

Why I’m Running: The America we all grew up in could be lost to economic forces that have been ignored while we’ve been pursuing an ever increasing role for government in all our lives. We have precious little time to reverse this trend and save America for future generations. If we don’t, our jobless economic doldrums will continue. In the worst case we could even loose our Constitution to a government that services its debt by taking every dollar earned and then parsing out what it can to citizens who are indentured to the national debt. I’m running for Congress to lend my voice to the effort to return to a government that serves the people and to help us turn away from creating the opposite relationship. If you agree, please help me speak for you in Washington.

Getting America Back to Work: Government should explore ways to stimulate job growth right now, without establishing more costly overhead and bureaucracy. Here’s one way: A self-sustaining fund for capital investment could be created and managed by existing Small Business Administration resources. Let’s call it the Evergreen Fund. Money would be available to business for the secured purchase of new manufacturing tools and equipment. The government terms would permit the equipment to go to work immediately, and that would mean an immediate opening for an Operator, or an Engineer to design new products, or a Sales person to go sell them.

Evergreen Fund – An Outline (A Proposal by Mark Zaccaria to Stimulate Job Growth)

The Economy: A healthy, growing economy is the best long term solution to both the jobs crisis and the national debt. Today we have burdened our business community with an unending patchwork of often conflicting regulations that are directive in nature. Free the Economy! That’s how it works best. No company is too big to fail. The US Government isn’t structured to manage for-profit enterprises, so it should butt out. Smaller government is the answer here because it Costs Less so it will consume less of the fruits of your labors. More Americans at work means more Americans paying taxes. More tax revenue and a smaller and smaller government to support will leave us the real chance to retire debt.

Economic Statement – May 12, 2010 (An Economic Discussion by Mark Zaccaria)

Health Care:  Of course all Americans deserve access to health care. In fact anyone in our country today has access to the best the world has to offer in the medical arts and technologies. The problem is how to pay for it. The plan on the table in Congress today will simply amplify our current problems by adding another layer of costly overhead without actually making fundamental changes in the system. I won’t vote to pay more for the same service, and you shouldn’t either. I favor a lifetime Health Savings Account (HSA) for individuals that they and their employers could contribute to pre-tax. Add to that the nationwide availability of low cost – high deductible insurance policies to cover you in the event of catastrophic health problems and we will have a payment plan controlled by the individual, without any government intrusion.

Energy and the Environment: We are already reducing the output of pollutants here in the United States. That will continue at the most rapid rates when there continue to be economic incentives to spur technology and positive changes in culture and lifestyle. Cap & Trade will do nothing but fill the governments cash drawers at terrible expense to you and to every company that serves your needs. Instead government should spur research into improving the use of traditional fuels and accelerating the development of the green energy technologies that are our future. Drill Here, Drill Now for our immediate needs. Then aggressively promote the business of Wave, Wind, Solar, Biomass, and Hydrogen energy sources so that our newly reinvigorated economy can provide them as replacements at the earliest possible moment.

Education: Americans need to regain a real passion for seeing to it that their kids get a world class education. Government needs to help by supplying leadership for this cultural change. Government can also craft an environment where competition lowers the cost of education and where performance, both of students and their institutions, is highlighted, celebrated, and made a factor in achieving our goals. I want to help create that environment of education. I hope you’ll let me do that for you.

Immigration: America is great because it is a melting pot whose stew improves with the diversity of seasoning it gets from every new citizen that comes to our shores. America is a nation of laws, though, and these laws must be observed. The current debate is not about immigration but about illegal aliens residing in the United States. They are primarily forced underground by economic pressures – they need a paycheck, any paycheck. Illegal aliens are frequently not interested in blending into America as citizens. We need to count and control these visitors and encourage them, instead, to come through the front door and join us as citizens. I favor an easy-to-apply-for Guest Worker program that permits 9 months of legal residence and W-2 wages followed by 3 months back in the country of origin. This would keep families from being broken up and it would give us the chance to review who should be readmitted for another guest cycle, or as a permanent resident. This must be accompanied by the hard requirement that employers use E-Verify so that the economic incentive for working Under the Table is eliminated.

Sportsmen’s Issues: I support the 2nd Amendment. Everyone should. It’s settled law! It’s true that my wife and I are NRA Members and that we shoot skeet & trap when we can. But the real reason I support gun ownership and use is that I have faith in the citizens of America to exercise that authority with great responsibility. Every time I hear calls for gun control I can’t help thinking that some political power base is afraid to let the people adhere to this provision of the Constitution.

Abortion: Abortion is the taking of a life. The first and most fundamental responsibility of government is to protect the lives of its citizens. We must end abortion in the US. The question is how? Simply outlawing the medical procedures in clinical settings won’t accomplish that goal. It will simply drive some to our international airports and others to our back alleys. We need to begin a comprehensive program of leadership where we educate all Americans on the alternatives to abortion and their benefit. Patterned after the 40 Stop Smoking campaign, this initiative would have much more immediate effect since it’s not about personal addiction. No one wants to have an abortion.