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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Contra Costa, Solano County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
Smart Voter

Camden "Cam" McConnell
Answers Questions

Candidate for
United States Representative; District 7

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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What, if anything, do you believe the federal government should do to control global climate change?

Nothing. It takes incredible hubris to believe that man's actions can stop the naturally occurring changes in climate. Only a hundred and fifty years ago, we were coming out of a mini-ice age. The Medieval Warm Period about six hundred years ago and the Roman Warm Period about two thousand years ago, with ice ages between, should show us that cyclic variations of the climate are to be expected. The best explanation of the cause of these changes is variations in the sun's radiation. Since we cannot reset the sun's thermostat, we should simply prepare for the change. This is an individual responsibility and not for government to address. If you believe that the ocean's level will rise twenty feet in your lifetime, do not buy waterfront property!

Archeological evidence shows the past migration of mankind up and down mountains and into and out of Greenland with changing climate. Alternating warm and cold periods are a part of known history and will be part of the future, regardless of individual or collective actions.

We are due for another warm period!

2. What should the federal government do, if anything, to ensure that every American has health coverage?

Stop providing health care to some (older, like me) Americans, and stop providing tax incentives for employer provision of "health care plans." These steps would return the consumer to the medical market and result in lower prices, including for true insurance. Note that a plan that pays the doctor when you see him for sniffles is not true insurance - it is a "pre-paid medical plan," and is akin to "insurance" to fill your gasoline tank - it is the most expensive possible way to pay for such care.

There is nothing that can be done for those who are willing to wait until diagnosed with a dread disease before applying for insurance. It is certainly not reasonable to require insurers to take on those with known conditions only to pay for expensive treatment. The very basis of true insurance is that the purchasers are a pool with a statistically predictable risk, but in which the individuals who will incur losses cannot be known in advance. It is perfectly logical for insurers to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

The transition out of socialism will be painful, but is necessary.

3. What, if anything, should the federal government do about immigration?

Repeal our present immigration laws and open the borders. The only good reason to object to unlimited immigration is the fear that the immigrants will immediately be accepted for benefits under our social programs that they have not paid into. Those programs, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, among others, are broke and about to result in the total collapse of our economy. They are failing because the underlying concepts are flawed, not because of immigrants. We need to address ending them as soon as possible. Again, the transition out will be painful, but necessary.

Immigrants are not the problem!


Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: August 22, 2008 12:08
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