I realize that some of my essays might leave voters with a slight sense of confusion about where I stand on issues. Hence, the following "for" and "against" table.

Please be advised that this is a work in progress.

Education

For:Against:
  • Better elementary and middle schools that stress the fundamentals: English, Math, Science, Civics, and History.
  • A strong focus on English as the primary language, and promotion of "All-American Melting-Pot" culture as the primary culture, of the USA and Maryland.
  • Afterschool programs where children and teens can enjoy supervised and learning-enriched safe spaces and places.
  • Preschool programs stressing vocabulary, coordination, health, and fun.
  • Elementary and middle schools which manage to lose a focus on the essentials by adding too many superfluous programs.
  • Lack of focus on Civics, Civility, English as the primary language of the USA; promotion of "multiculturalism" or "salad bowl" culture.
  • Educational planning which seems to prefer only college-bound and doesn't offer significant vocational-technical cirricula in high-school.

Workforce Development

For:Against:
  • Central collection and analysis of statistics to help guide assignment of workforce development goals.
  • State promotion of advanced vocational and technical schools and programs.
  • Development of State-certified vocational-technical courses which carry college transfer credit.
  • Certification and licensing on a per-skill basis, allowing for more specialization in sub-categories of home-improvement and related trades, rather than needing to qualify over very broad ranges of skills to get a general home-improvement contractor's license.
  • Requirements of citizenship or legal immigration status on all State licenses to practice vocations or trades.
  • Valid recent health certifications, for all food-service and "hospitality industry" workers, on file in a searchable central database. TB is now drug-resistant and is again a major health risk.
  • Development of day-laborer and hiring halls which check and verify credentials and assist only legal immigrants and citizens to find temporary work and get paid.
  • Failure to speedily and effectively prosecute, under the RICO Act, unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens, where the hiring is clearly willful and organized.

Transportation

For:Against:
  • Major-Intersection improvements in the form of grade-separated crossings at intersections such as Georgia Avenue intersecting Norbeck Road, to improve traffic flow and vehicle efficiency.
  • Increasing deployment of mass transit, whether rail or dedicated routes for surface-rolling vehicles such as busses. Putting busses on dedicated routes may provide levels of service comparable to running rail in underground tunnels, with far less construction costs.
  • Possible extensions of MetroRail along existing alignments not presently served by MARC.
  • Serious research on the feasability of a new heavy-traffic bridge, to include major mass-transit elements, across the Potomac River from near Seneca MD to near Sterling VA.
  • Doing nothing while problems only get worse.

Population Growth and Suburban Sprawl

For:Against:
  • Sensible policy inviting new major employers to relocate here only when there's existing housing for the employees they'll bring into the region.
  • Hard limits to growth of suburban Sprawl.
  • Moratorium on all development until infrastructure upgrades are sufficient to handle existing conditions.
  • Developers overly influencing political decisions.
  • Endless growth of population and suburban Sprawl.
  • Environmental degradation due to development or overdevelopment.

Public Health and Healthcare

For:Against:
  • Restoration of Maryland's Mental Healthcare Agencies
  • Basic Universal Healthcare
  • Mandatory Immunization of all students against all communicable diseases, where safe and proven regimes exist.
  • Marylanders without insurance to be billed at the same rates as are people with insurance
  • Public Assistance with catastrophic needs
  • Public Education on preventative health approaches

  • Funding and promotion of Maryland's Biotech, Nanotech, and Organonanotech industries, including stem-cell research.
  • Total lack of significant support for public mental healthcare outreach or assistance
  • Marylanders without insurance being billed at inflated rates
  • Non-immunized students on any taxpayer funded campus

Legal Reform

For:Against:
  • Continuing "Plain English" clarification of law.
  • Unquestioned right to self-defense in anyplace a person is legally permitted to be
  • "Shall Issue" laws which requires that all qualified law-abiding applicants for a permit to carry a handgun will receive that permit without unnecessary delay or costs
  • Obfuscatory language in the laws
  • "Duty to Retreat" which only emboldens criminals while condemning the law-abiding.
  • Licensing requirements for concealed-carry which leave too much discretion in the hands of judges

Men, Women, and Family

For:Against:
  • I am for Marriage, as an institution. Life partners, regardless of their genders, should be given special legal protections, especially if they act as parents.
  • Families, and family homes, should have a special place in society.
  • I support the rights of fathers, no less than mothers, to participate in the rearing of their offspring.
  • Women should have absolute right over their own reproductive capability, including the full range of contraception and abortions before the third trimester.
  • Contraception including "Plan B" or "morning-after" should be freely available, and without question or interference, to anyone who is of an age to legally make use of it under the laws of Maryland.
  • Limitation of the definition of "marriage" to include only traditional marriage. Times change, and traditions should be able to change with the times.
  • Rights of family shall in no case supersede individual rights, including right to counsel, assignment of power-of-attorney, declaration of executor, etc.
  • Presumption of fit parenthood should settle equally on man or woman, regardless of their sexual preferences, unless those preferences, or the parent, are criminal.
  • Criminalization of abortion, or any aspect of process whereby an adult may choose to abort an unborn child, and additionally, harassment or threats toward abortion facilities or workers should remain a highly criminal offense.