John Thompson Parker
Peace & Freedom | California
Candidate Profile
Far Left
BIOGRAPHY
Name
John Thompson Parker
Party
Peace & Freedom
Election Year
2026
Election
Primary
Race
U.S. Rep., Dist. 37
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
New York University; Los Angeles Trade & Technical College, New York; Los Angeles, none, 1979 -80; 2013-15
WORK & MILITARY
Union organizer, UFCW boycott campaign volunteer, volunteer, 1973-1979
Restaurant worker, journalist, editor, community organizer, dishwasher; writer, coordinator, 1980 - present
AFFILIATIONS
Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Coordinator, Struggle for Socialism Party
Co-coordinator, Struggle La Lucha for Socialism publication, 2018-2026
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Consultant on injunction vs Ralphs, 2021-2022
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Chairperson of Empowerment Congress Southwest Area Neighborhood Development Council, 2014-2016
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
U.S. Senate, 2018-2022
Congress District 37, 2024-2026
President, 2004-2004
ENDORSEMENTS
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (6)
Peace & Freedom Party
People's Power Assembly network
We are All Gaza, We are all Palestine
Harvard Blvd Block Club
Union of Progressive Iranians
OTHER INFORMATION
Articles about the candidate on the Struggle for Socialism (La Lucha por el Socialismo) website.
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.
Disagree
Women have the right to choose what goes on in their bodies. Human life from birth to death should be protected legally and especially in face of a genocide that we see today - from the bombs of the U.S. against the people and babies in Iran and used by Israel in Gaza.
The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.
Choose not to answer
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
When a woman decides to have an abortion, it should be allowed.
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
Healthcare should also be increased - and paid for from the military budget, which does nothing for humanity and increases the scarcity of basic necessities.
The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.
Strongly Disagree
This is an attack on women, especially Black and Brown women who have a greater incidence of death when denied abortions, due to a disproportionate lack of healthcare.
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Disagree
The main contradiction we face is that profits we create from our labor goes not to what we decide is needed, but to the owners of that wealth -the ruling class. As working people who don't own the factories, machines and land or any vital means of production, we either will continue to become more and more impoverished and repressed by police and ICE who enforce inequality, or we can fight back and build a movement to take over that ownership and build the society we want - not war and poverty.
People who can afford to pay more taxes should do so in order to provide relief for working families.
Agree
Yes, and let's start with owners of the banks and military industrial capital, and other billionaires.
The government should cut spending in order to reduce the national debt.
Strongly Disagree
Cutting spending usually means austerity cuts that greatly harm our working class. What needs to be cut is the military budget and the welfare of the 1% that live off of our labor and determine the priorities of society - that must stop.
List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
1) Stop the military spending: Trump recently asked for another $400 billion for the war on Iran that encourages not only theft of resources and the lives of the targeted in sovereign countries – but a most careless and dangerous incitement to a World War III. The Pentagon budget should be cut to zero. 2) The U.S. has the greatest concentration of industrial capital - from aeronautics, steel to auto: use that for needs not for gambling on Wall Street. 3) End corporate welfare
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Agree
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
Religious views and non-religious views should be respected. Everyone should receive equal treatment and rights in state functions - not based on religious beliefs but on universal rights of humanity for shelter, education, healthcare, opportunity, employment with a respect for science in education, healthcare and social progress.
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
Healthcare should be guaranteed and funded by the government as a right for everyone, documented or undocumented.
The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.
Strongly Disagree
NATIONAL SECURITY
With regard to America's foreign policy, which view most closely resembles yours: A) The United States should intervene whenever freedom is threatened. B) The United States should selectively help countries trying to grow democracy and fight tyranny. C) The United States has become too involved in others' policies and should remain focused on issues regarding our own sovereignty unless in imminent danger. D) The United States should stay out of foreign conflicts completely.
The United States should stay out of foreign countries ability to maintain their sovereignty and natural resources and instead provide help and reparations for damages done by U.S. imperialist policies of economic and military warfare to the Global South.
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Disagree
The main threat, as stated in the document of the Secretary of Defense 2022, is China - not from military danger but from competition. Conflicts in the Indo-Pacific and arming Taiwan against China is the U.S. plan as was written. China is very focused on providing mutual benefit with the Global South - allowing self-owned infrastructure and less debt to the IMF. China brought 850 million people out of extreme poverty in record time. The real threat: challenges to U.S. dominance and profit.
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
Israel is a fortress of empire — a U.S.-armed garrison planted in the heart of West Asia to protect capital’s most prized assets: oil, trade routes, and regional dominance. Behind the rhetoric of democracy and security lies a simple truth. Israel is the outpost through which U.S. power projects itself across the region. Pentagon planners have long called it “our unsinkable aircraft carrier,” Israel’s role is not to defend itself, but to defend the global reach and profits of US monopoly capital.
Islamic terrorism is a threat to the United States' national security.
Strongly Disagree
IMMIGRATION
Who should be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and under what circumstances?
Most of the migration from Mexico and Central and South America is due to both economic and military wars waged by the U.S. against these regions, forcing workers to come over the border risking life and faced with constant terror of being deported. ImMigrants in this country contribute to the vast wealth of this country without benefit of social security or pensions, yet they pay taxes. Who should be allowed? All of those hit by U.S. economic & military attacks. Reparations should be considered
I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.
Strongly Agree
EDUCATION
I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.
Strongly Disagree
Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.
Neutral
VALUES
Attempts to physically or socially transition a child to the opposite sex constitute child abuse.
Strongly Disagree
Stop the war on trans people! Make Los Angeles Children’s and other hospitals reopen gender-affirming treatment for children and youth. Make hormone replacement therapy (HRT) over the counter and at cost for anyone who needs it. No to bathroom bans, book bans and sports bans, from schools to the Olympics. California must be a genuine sanctuary state for trans and queer refugees from other states – including housing assistance, guaranteed income and healthcare.
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Strongly Disagree
It is 2026, correct. Trump and the ultra-right think that we are back to 1950. Sorry, not happening. A good example of the definition of family can be found in the Cuba Family Code - a great leap for society and our LGBTQIA+ community.
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am an atheist who's heart is in touch with the feelings of our religious fighters like Harriet Tubman and John Brown; and will remain in solidarity and collaboration with all who put their beliefs in step with the needs of humanity.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Agree
EQUALITY
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Disagree
Stop the war on trans people! Make Los Angeles Children’s and other hospitals reopen gender-affirming treatment for children and youth. Make hormone replacement therapy (HRT) over the counter and at cost for anyone who needs it. No to bathroom bans, book bans and sports bans, from schools to the Olympics. California must be a genuine sanctuary state for trans and queer refugees from other states – including housing assistance, guaranteed income and healthcare. Pass the Trans Bill of Rights intro
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Science must be the determining factor on how to build a new, global system of sustainable energy. Coal, fracking and offshore oil drilling must end, oil pipelines must be shut down. Profit as a guide in energy production must be eliminated.
ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
Have not.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
Have not.
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Very Liberal
Why is not socialist or communist a category - that's me ... both.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
Government has a responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation during online activities.
Strongly Agree
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
Gun violence has been normalized by the daily killing by police, especially against Black and Brown youth. We must create better systems for keeping guns out of the hands of those who's mental or moral capacity does not warrant the ownership of a gun, and that must include banning guns from cops.
