Varrin Swearingen's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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New Hampshire State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test
The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.
| X | a) Abortions should always be illegal. | ||
| b) Abortions should always be legal. | |||
| c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy. | |||
| d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape. | |||
| e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered. | |||
| f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period. | |||
| X | g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors. | ||
| If the life of the mother is in danger, doctors should not be subject to legal or governmental interference in the course of saving the life of the mother and the baby. Doctors should be entrusted with the responsibility of determining if separating the baby from the mother is the best course of action. Intentionally killing the baby, however, does not constitute a life-saving procedure and has no place in health care. | |||
State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.
| Eliminate | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Eliminate | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| c) Emergency preparedness | |||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Eliminate | h) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Vehicle taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | 1) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Yes | 2) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Education should be funded entirely locally. The only health care funding government should engage in is insurance for its own employees. I would need to study the emergency preparedness topic further to come to an informed decision as to whether funding should be changed. Separately from all that, I support facilitating continued voluntary payment of taxes for the above and other areas so that citizens can continue to support the kinds of state spending they truly want. If the citizens desire to maintain or increase spending, they should pay for it voluntarily. | |||
| Gas and vehicle taxes should be for the exclusive use of transportation (primarily roads). Other mandatory taxes should be eliminated once budgets are significantly reduced. However, allowing people to voluntarily pay those taxes to support the programs of their choosing should be facilitated if at all practical. | |||
| Fees for services should be applied in every case possible to reduce general taxation. The fees should cover the cost of providing the services. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?
| Undecided | a) Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Hampshire governors? | ||
| Undecided | b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Hampshire state senators and representatives? | ||
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) PAC | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Parties | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| No | e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns? | ||
| No | f) Should New Hampshire participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| Any contributions that are not truly voluntary should be prohibited. Political spending should not be a condition of employment as is the case with some unions. In addition to prohibiting political spending by government entities, political spending by government employees and government contractors should be disclosed and/or otherwise regulated. All other truly voluntary contributions, not made by interested parties (government, its employees, or its contractors) should be legal. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.
| a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff. | |||
| b) Support the death penalty in New Hampshire. | |||
| X | c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released. | ||
| X | d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. | ||
| X | e) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. | ||
| X | f) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | ||
| g) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | |||
| h) Support hate crime legislation. | |||
| Inmate education and training should be voluntarily funded to the maximum extent possible. Not all minors prosecuted for violent crimes should be tried as adults, but that option should be available if the conditions warrant it. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.
| a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs. | |||
| b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind). | |||
| c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students. | |||
| X | d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams. | ||
| X | e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school. | ||
| f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school. | |||
| g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | |||
| X | h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers. | ||
| X | i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. | ||
| j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of New Hampshire to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| Instead of vouchers for non-government education, I support a property tax credit for parents whose children do not go to a public school and are not truant, up to the cost of their local public school or the education portion of their actual property tax, whichever is less. I do support tax incentives for college education. I do not support (involuntary) tax funded financial aid. I do support allowing voluntary 'tax' payments for financial aid for all levels of education. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.
| a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market. | |||
| X | b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector. | ||
| X | c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses. | ||
| X | d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | |||
| f) Include gender identity in New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws. | |||
| g) Increase the state minimum wage. | |||
| h) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will. | |||
| i) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. | |||
| X | j) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. | ||
| X | k) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | ||
| I support tax credits only (not loans) for beneficial business related activities. I support increased funding for job training for welfare recipients only to the extent it provides a net decrease in welfare expenses and only as an interim step to eliminating involuntarily funded welfare programs. I support encouraging voluntary funding (through voluntarily paid 'taxes' and/or support of non-government organizations) for welfare and training for welfare recipients. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.
| X | a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology. | ||
| X | b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc). | ||
| c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops. | |||
| d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned. | |||
| e) Support funding for improvements to New Hampshire's power generating and transmission facilities. | |||
| f) Support funding for open space preservation. | |||
| g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming. | |||
| X | h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | ||
| I support eliminating regulatory barriers to energy production and alternative energy consumption. I support maximizing responsibility for pollution that harms any other person or property, even if those regulations exceed what is allowed by federal law. I support eliminating the regulatory burden in cases where no damage is caused, or damage is limited to the polluter's person and/or property. I support implementing an easier way for individuals to make claims for environmental damage and requiring polluters to pay full restitution. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| No | a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | c) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| No | d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| The only gun laws I support are those that limit the ability for convicted criminals to possess guns, those that make it illegal to use guns for any aggressive, criminal, and/or otherwise bad purpose, and those that tie responsibility for (accidental) damage caused by guns to the actual person who caused the damage. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.
| a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary. | |||
| X | b) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government. | ||
| c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. | |||
| X | d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs. | ||
| e) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality. | |||
| X | f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in New Hampshire. | ||
| X | g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | ||
| While I do not support arbitrary limits on medical malpractice awards, I do support raising the standards required to receive such an award so that doctors can focus on doing the best job they can without constant fear of a lawsuit. I support allowing releasing reports on infections without compromising confidentiality, but not requiring it. Physicians should not be prosecuted for murder when supplying their patients with medication they request if they are clearly sane and not under any form of duress. That said, I do believe all forms of suicide are immoral. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Yes | a) Should New Hampshire continue to recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | ||
| No | c) Should New Hampshire provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples? | ||
| Undecided | d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | g) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| No | h) Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions? | ||
| No | i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions? | ||
| No | j) Should New Hampshire continue affirmative action programs? | ||
| No | k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research? | ||
| No | l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it? | ||
| Other than issues relating to biological parenting, I believe government should end all regulations relating to marriage. All legal arrangements should be civil and not discriminated based on age (other than majority), family relation, gender, number, race, sexual preference, or any other criteria. Sex education should be academic in nature and include the fact that the only 100% reliable way to prevent STD's and pregnancy is abstinence. | |||
| 1: Cut mandatory state spending as much as practical, while cutting mandatory taxes as much as practical. 2: Implement a system of voluntary taxes to allow citizens to support the programs they prefer. 3: Return education funding and control to a completely local level. 4: Deregulate to the maximum extent practical so that citizens can live their lives the way they choose without interference from government. | |||
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