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QUESTIONS FOR MACK
Many candidates for public office refuse to give a straight answer to a simple question - but Mack is committed to restoring accessibility & transparency to the 31st district. Below are frequently asked questions submitted by citizens of our district.
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QUESTIONS
What is the biggest problem facing our nation?
The biggest problem facing our nation is the national debt. If the debt turns over at our current interest rates, we will be paying over $1.5 trillion dollars in interest a year. That is nearly twice the defense budget. That is unsustainable. We are not only taking money out of the economy that would be used for growth, we are limiting our ability to fund our national defense.
What are your views on firearm ownership?
I grew up around guns. My dad was in the Army and I was taught at a very early age that gun safety is essential and that guns were a very useful tool for protection of your family, freedom, and country.
I was a competitive shooter in high school and trained with all types of weapons at West Point. In the Army, the effective use of firearms was my profession.
Do you support red flag laws?
I support a literal reading of the second amendment. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed” means everything from bump stock bans to red flag laws are unconstitutional. The Second Amendment is the protector of our other Constitutional Rights. We must defend it ferociously.
What’s your position on abortion?
I’ve always been pro-life. Ever since my wife Laura became pregnant, the issue has become much more personal and deeply ingrained in me. Our children are our most precious resource. I fully support the Texas laws banning abortion and the repeal of Roe v. Wade. We have won a massive victory at the federal level and here in Texas, now we have to win that fight in the other states across the country.
What is your foreign policy perspective?
We need to stop being the world's policemen. Nation building through war has never worked and will never work. If we want to make other countries more free, we can do that by setting an example and engaging in diplomacy. That being said, it is in our best interest to stop countries from invading other countries. That should be our red line. It doesn’t happen often and for the US military, it is an easy thing to stop. Once the norm is set on the international stage, it would rarely be challenged and we would have peace and prosperity.
To counter bad actor states, like China, we would facilitate the creation of local treaty organizations. The long term goal is that Europe would be in charge of European defense and Southeast Asia would be in charge of Southeast Asian Defense. With NATO, we can facilitate this transition by fading out funding and support, becoming a defender of last resort until they can fend for themselves. With a SEATO, the organization would be created without us in the framework at all.
Do you support NAFTA, USMCA, or other free trade agreements?
NAFTA and the USMCA are not free trade agreements. They are agreements to protect certain industries at the expense of workers and consumers. This is how the government picks winners and losers. These trade agreements have carve outs for very specific industries that don’t want to have to compete.
I truly believe that under a fair system of true mutual free trade, American businesses will absolutely thrive and show that free markets are the best way to compete. A true free trade agreement would let Texas become the manufacturing, financial, and technological epicenter of North America.
How can we create more jobs in America?
The government doesn’t create jobs, the private sector does. To encourage the growth of our economy, the best thing the federal government can do is get out of the way. This means lowering barriers to entry for new businesses, lowering taxes to increase available capital for investment, and cutting unnecessary red tape that makes it more difficult for businesses to operate.
Do you support Term Limits for Senators and Members of Congress?
I absolutely support term limits on Congressional members. Too many members of Congress have become self-servants rather than servants of the public. We don’t need any more career congressmen in office.
What makes you qualified to be a Member of Congress?
I understand economics through my education, I understand bureaucracy and business through my experience, and I understand freedom through seeing a world without it. I have cut my teeth in this world through learning and conducting warfighting. This is a different battlefield, but the skills are the same.
What should America’s energy policy be?
America’s energy policy should be an all-of-the-above policy. We need to eliminate subsidies and massively decrease regulation on energy production. The market will figure out the proper mix between fossil fuels, alternative energy, nuclear, and anything else it can figure out. The goal shouldn’t be energy independence. The goal should be energy dominance. The US should be the largest exporter of energy in the world.
Do you support a ban on members of Congress trading stocks?
The problem with congressmen trading stocks is that they can cash in on insider information to get rich off of the American taxpayer. When you ban stock trading for congressmen, they just shift that over to relatives. What we should do is build in disclosure and delay laws for congressmen. If a member of congress is buying or selling any investment, they have to disclose that purchase a certain amount of time before they make the transaction. This way, even if they are trading on inside information, the market beats them to the profits.
What are your views on the federal government’s handling of COVID-19?
The federal government completely mismanaged the handling of COVID 19. We should not have given indemnity to vaccine manufacturers. The market works because liability is real. When you strip liability, you strip any incentive to create safe treatments. Also, the federal government should not have bailed out anyone. If a state shut their businesses down, then that state should be on the hook for bailouts, not the rest of the country.
Is the VA system broken? What should be done about the VA?
The VA system is completely broken. If you took the VA budget and split it up over every veteran who has served even one hour in the military, you could give $20,000 a year to all of them. We need to start transitioning new veterans to a health savings account system where they can buy their own plans or supplement private employer insurance. The government will never be able to provide the level of care that the private sector can.
What is the biggest challenge facing Fort Cavazos (Ft. Hood)?
The two biggest problems that face Fort Hood are the extra layers of bureaucracy and the lack of commitment to the post. Because of its size, age, and the fact that it is dominated by conventional units, Fort Hood is the military post with the most red tape. This red tape increases corruption and decreases efficiency. Because of this, people start counting down the days until they leave as soon as they arrive. They don’t invest in making their units better and they don’t put down roots in the community. This is causing the great place to wither on the vine. Barracks and housing grow mold, soldiers are using unsafe vehicles, and units are constantly under trained for the deployments they actually go on.
How will you be a voice for servicemembers and veterans in the House?
I will be able to keep open communication with the leadership of Fort Hood while speaking their language. This will allow me to help them when they need it and hold them accountable. I will also be a safe, legal way for service members to report a problem that their chain of command is ignoring. I will know what issues are minor and what issues are severe. This is a really difficult thing for people who have not served to know.
Corruption and bureaucracy are actively hurting soldiers and veterans, but you would never know it talking to higher leadership. If you ask the General, the only thing wrong with the Army is the quality of the recruits. If you ask the VA, veterans aren’t getting treated because they don’t cooperate. I know the truth. The system is failing them. I can listen to their problems and solve the root problem, not just get them an exception.
What are your thoughts on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan?
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan was the most mishandled US operation since Somalia. While the Taliban already controlled most of the rural parts of Afghanistan, the Biden administration told the world that the Afghan government would stand through our withdrawal. We also gave up our largest and most defensible airport in the country. The third blunder was not prioritizing withdrawal of civilians and equipment before the personnel. These mistakes and lies all culminated in the disaster that we saw. This was very preventable and the 13 soldiers that died along with the 200 American citizens that we left behind were not the only casualties. We also left thousands of US allies behind to be summarily executed by the Taliban. That is not only morally wrong, but in our next conflict, local populations will be a lot less likely to work with US troops if this is how we treat our allies.
The US needed to leave Afghanistan. Nearly everyone agrees on this. The great nation building project had failed. The Afghan government was not stable or capable and the military had no desire to fight for their own country. All we needed is for a President to use logic when withdrawing from the country and we could not even get that. Those people died for no reason.
How should we handle the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
This war is not about Putin being a tyrant and a war criminal, although he is. This war is also not about Ukraine having a high level of corruption, but it does. This war is about one question. Is America safer in a world where large powerful countries freely conquer their smaller neighbors? It is not. As a country, we should be 100% against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
We are not the world’s police and we should not get involved in the internal politics of another country with military force, but Ukraine is not that. If Russia conquers Ukraine, America is less safe. We should send Ukraine our retired weapons and equipment in order to ensure that they can repel the invaders, but we can’t do that at the expense of our own future. Any aid that goes to Ukraine, must be offset and audited. We need to be fiscally conservative in every part of our government.
We also need to use this as leverage to get Europe to take control of European defense. It is about time that they pull their own weight.
What would you do about our education system in America?
The federal government should not be involved in education. Over the last 50 years of the Department of Education, we have fallen behind on every metric of academic rigor. We provide worse education for trades all the way up to preparing students for postgraduate degrees. On top of that, the Department of Education has pushed liberal "woke" ideology and inappropriate and sometimes even pornographic material through to our states in exchange for federal funds. This has to stop. We need to eliminate the Department of Education and allow states’ education systems to run without strings. This is the way to bring sanity back to our school systems.
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