Issue Positions
We citizens are being asked to foot the bill for an unprecedented and un-Constitutional expansion of the federal government. Jeff Takada is convinced that the only way Congress will spend less is if it is given less to spend. That is why he will propose and support legislation that curtails spending and decreases taxes. Jeff Takada realizes this as his top priority: get the Federal government out of your wallet.
Cultivation is the vital link between the people and the land. This crucial flow has been obstructed for too long by litigation, regulation, and Federal obfuscation. A wilting of District 11’s rich farmland is the logical end to this story without Jeff Takada’s commitment to the re-growth of our multi-billion dollar farming industry.
Any government bailout of any private industry is unconstitutional and economically wrong-headed. These will be opposed and revoked by Jeff Takada, without exception.
The key to fixing the healthcare crisis does not lie in the hands of the government, but in the hands of patients and doctors. Jeff Takada recommends a healthy regimen of deregulation, tort reform, health savings accounts, and tax deductions. Congress, not the private sector, is to blame for the current snarl of insurance companies and HMO’s. Only when Congress stands aside can true healing take place.
Water is the primary resource of the Central Valley. Without a firm commitment to water stewardship and conservation, it will literally drain away. Jeff Takada recognizes this and will make accessible, cheap and clean water a prime legislative priority.
Civilized nations have always been judged by the care and compassion with which they treat their demobilized warriors. Jeff Takada has a battery of specific legislative initiatives that would ensure dignity, respect and superior care for our citizen-soldiers through their twilight years.
Federal directives and mandates have hamstrung classroom teachers with ineffective policies, damaging our children’s potential. As a career educator, Jeff Takada understands the needs of teachers, students and parents. He will champion local autonomy and school choice while returning the federal government to its sunny Constitutional perch and bring our kids out from under its shadow.
Simply put, the open border mayhem of the past decade has been harmful to both native-born and immigrants alike. In an environment of high unemployment, entitlement programs teetering on bankruptcy, and the spreading disarray in our neighbors to the south, America can ill-afford to continue on this same road. We must revise our immigration policies to empower the legal immigrant and discourage an undocumented labor force.
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Period.
Jeff Takada unequivocally opposes abortion at any stage as a moral outrage. The Tenth Amendment places Roe v. Wade and the abortion issues that followed firmly outside the scope of the Federal government. Constitutionally, the individual states must decide their own policies legislatively, not judicially.
America’s national defense has always been tied to economic, diplomatic and scientific leadership as well as a nimble global footprint. Only by returning to these core American values will we find the wherewithal to stand against the terrorists, dictators, and madmen who stand against us.
The United States is in a slow motion energy crisis. We are caught between stifling regulations on gasoline refinement and nuclear power, unreliable or dangerous oil producing nations, and alternative technology only now existing in the embryonic stage. Congress needs to remove the restrictions on the free flow of energy through our market based system, reduce our dependence on foreign oil sources with a comprehensive package of diplomatic, economic and scientific initiatives, and encourage the growth of alternative methods in the free market by tax credits for producers and consumers.
One of the few places where the federal government can play a useful and constructive role in regional affairs is in the creation and maintenance of infrastructure. Levees, bridges, highways, and public transportation are state and local initiatives in which federal money, freely granted, would greatly assist the general welfare of the American people. As an energetic and contentious Congressman, Jeff Takada will work to ensure that District 11 and other districts across the country are granted equitable economic assistance.