Candidate for
United States Representative; District 52; Democratic Party

RAY'S VALUES

Fiscal Responsible

Ray used to call himself a fiscal conservative, but today, that means you are going to be fiscally irresponsible, borrowing from future generations to pay last year's debt, and orchestrating taxes that don't cover expenditures. Regulators have allowed the securities markets to run wild, actively stopping requests for regulation and resulting in "derivatives" and other intangible assets that no one -- not even the experts -- really understand. Alan Greenspan, devotee of the free markets, had to admit his "model was incorrect."

But our current fiscal woes are due to more than just fraudsters such as Bernie Madoff, a derivatives market that was (and still is) unregulated, and sub-prime mortgages bundled and traded as if they were solid gold. Our nation has deeper problems, brought on by decades of evolution away from manufacturing and production and toward a culture of service and entertainment. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been sapping our treasury and has removed some of our most productive workers and placed them in parts of the world that have no direct impact on our economy.

Ray has a background in engineering and he understands how we can move toward innovative products and return self-sufficiency in our manufacturing and production sectors. We must turn this around. We can, and we will.

Jobs

Starbuck sells coffee. Gillette sells razor blades. The primary activity of any business is how it generates revenue. Our government generates revenue through income taxes from people who are gainfully employed. Creating jobs is therefore our government's primary activity, so it can get those taxes, balance it's budget, and lower our trade deficit.

Ray proposes a Jobs program that also attacks our energy woes, by constructing 500 new solar-panel fabrication plants to employ U.S. workers, increase tax revenues, and stop exporting our funds to oil companies or depleting our own nonrenewable resources.

Universal Healthcare Advocate

Small and large businesses alike are faced with tough decisions as they attempt to fund medical coverage. We must provide single-payer, universal healthcare coverage and turn our system from sick-care to health-care, with no one outside the system. Epidemics and disease don't care about paperwork.

Education Supporter

Our elected officials are put into office to make intelligent choices, not slash and burn cuts to education and important services. Ray will fight for funds keep our workforce employed in high-paying jobs that require an excellent education.

Immigration Reformer

Ray supports comprehensive immigration reform such as the Kennedy-McCain plan. Single-minded fence extensions are an environmental disaster and will do nothing to stop the border crosser flow without other reforms. Much of the migration pattern we see today is due to agricultural subsidies established in the Nixon administration and Ag Secretary Earl Butts to the avoid the boom/bust cycles in the Ag sector. These subsidies allowed farmers to be profitable even if grain prices dropped through the floor, essentially wrapping tax dollars around every bushel. When these products are sold under NAFTA in Mexico and other countries, they are so cheap that local farmers are driven out of business, their only recourse is to seek employment in the U.S. NAFTA must be repealed or drastically rewritten to eliminate the export of U.S. tax dollars that are wrapped around those exports by taxing such exports to recover those subsidies and bringing prices in line with market prices in Mexico. Dumping grain into Mexico hurts everyone.

Property Rights Supporter

Do you have a say about what goes on around your property? Should government use eminent domain to take your property away? Ray says you must have a say and should not be trampled by corporate interests. He has fought hard for residents who are faced with military training camps or huge power lines.

Strong Family Values

Ray believes in strong families and he wants the government to get out of important and difficult family decisions. End of life decisions should not be dictated by government. Pregnancy termination is the choice of the woman. Sexual orientation of partners is not a matter for governmental control. These are difficult decisions that can't be dictated by bureaucrats. Keep government out of the family and support a "strong family" ethic!

Safe Gun Ownership Supporter

Ray believes that you have a right to own a firearm, although he also believes the second amendment states that such ownership must be "well regulated." The goal of this regulation is obviously safety, and to keep guns out of the hands of ex-cons, mental cases and children. We must carefully balance the rights of the individual and the rights to a free and peaceful society. Automatic assault-style weapons have no place in a civil society.