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Mark Gamba's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Office:

On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for State House (OR) - District 41

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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
What is the Political Courage Test?
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.

Oregon Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test

Pro-choice Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
I generally support the supreme court decision in Rowe V Wade. Medical decisions of all sorts should be between a woman and her doctor. This is a class issue, wealthy women have always had this ability because they could afford to pay a doctor enough to do it, poor women often died as a result of botched operations done in non-medical facilities by untrained people. The solution to reducing unwanted pregnancies is better sex education in schools and more available family planning everywhere.
Yes In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
Yes Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
On the first question, I absolutely believe that the wealthy and large corporations should be paying their fair share and are not currently paying anything even close. I believe taxes and the poor and middle class could be reduced somewhat if the wealthy were paying appropriate amounts. On the second question: Social Security has not been keeping up with the cost of living. There should be no cap on payment into the system as there currently is, if that were the case, we could afford to pay seniors enough to live with dignity in their retirement.
Yes Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
Corporations are not people and money is not speech. Our current system has become such that campaigns are effectively a test of the ability to raise money rather than a process for determining who would make a better representative. It is clear in the complete dysfunction of congress that this is not a good system for establishing a governing body. Where money is less an issue, the elected bodies tend to be less dysfunctional. (small city councils, etc.)
No Do you support increasing defense spending?
We spend more than the next 10 largest militaries in the world COMBINED, 6 of which are our allies, and yet we claim not to have the money to make sure everyone has healthcare, or homes or enough to eat. Our infrastructure is crumbling and we haven't done anything to solve the actual worst threat facing America, that of climate change. So, yes I think we can reduce our military spending, remain perfectly capable of defending from threats from other countries and begin to defend against the other above mentioned threats to our citizens.
No Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
Yes Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
Unknown Position Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
The answers to one and three are: it depends. If we are talking about huge payouts to major corporations so that they can do stock buybacks, then no. If we are taking about restarting our economy by putting millions of Americans to work building out the infrastructure we need to stop climate change, then yes. Small businesses are another matter, some system of helping those that are still viable and who did their best to keep their employees paid should be created.
Unknown Position Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
If our federal standards were better, more designed to fully educate every child to the greatest degree possible and in consideration of the whole person, then yes. As it is now, with the Federal standards causing us to teach to the test and not even attempting to maximize the full potential of each child, to nurture their creativity and problem solving capabilities, then children in many states would be better served under a better state run system.
Yes Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
Yes Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
Climate change is the greatest existential threat of our time. The US has an outsized responsibility for the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere planet-wide, and an out sized ability to cause the fastest change. We could and should be the leaders in this effort.
Yes Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
We absolutely need expanded background checks, national red flag laws, safe storage laws, the renewal of the ban on the sale of assault weapons and more. I would not vote to outlaw all guns and forcibly collect them.
No Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
Unknown Position Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
The answer to number two is: up to a point. More generally we need a universal health care system like all the rest of the industrialized nations. We spend twice as much as most countries do on healthcare and yet somewhere between 20% and 50% of our population receive poor medical care due to their personal lack of finances to either afford insurance or the high deductibles. I would think that America should be able to do at least as well as the rest of the industrialized world if not better in providing health care for our people.
No Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
No Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
Many of those people have been here for decades, working hard doing jobs that other Americans refuse to do and paying taxes. Many have never known "their countries of origin" They are on the front line in this Covid 19 moment producing our food and doing other critical jobs. Our immigration system needs a massive overhaul. Farmers and others have need of the workforce and those folks should not punished, they should be given a reasonable path towards citizenship.
Yes Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
No Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
In answer to the first question: Very Rarely. Only with the declaration of war by congress. I don't believe preemptive wars are moral and our record on that front is pretty poor. I would leave it on the table only so that our negotiations have that as a possibility.
Unknown Position Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
This subject is far too complex for generalities. Due to unfettered capitalism we have exported millions of family wage jobs in a race to the bottom, and we have exported a great deal of pollution. In this Covid-19 moment I hope we recognize that we have also lost our ability to respond appropriately to emergencies like pandemics. We currently have critical materials being exclusively produced by a country that many consider an enemy. I strongly believe that we need to bring back a great deal of manufacturing to this country if that requires tariffs and quotas, so be it.
Medicare for all - the increase in taxes would be less than premiums, deductibles and co-pays. Green New Deal. The perfect way to get out of the recession that will be caused by Covid-19. Reduce military spending, carbon tax, end fossil fuel subsidies, raise taxes on the billionaires and large corporations to rates similar to what they were in 1960. Get money out of politics: reverse "citizen's united" create publicly funded elections, end gerrymandering.

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