Randy Bergquist's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Idaho Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| Yes | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| b) But, only if a result of incest, rape, or life of mother is endangered and alternative counseling given. c) We should provide for adoption of the child, but we shouldn't further punish the pregnant woman by making her a criminal if she truly has been the victim. Every effort should be made to counsel keeping and adopting out the baby. | |||
1) SpendingIndicate what federal funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.2) TaxesIndicate what federal tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.
| Eliminate | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Maintain Status | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Maintain Status | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Eliminate | e) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | f) Homeland security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Scientific research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Eliminate | l) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax? | ||
| Yes | 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year? | ||
| No | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| 6) Other or expanded principles | |||
| 1) I realize all of these programs being eliminated could not be done so overnight without causing social unrest. So, I propose a target of 10 years, with the exception of Social Security, which will have to be longer to keep promises already made. | |||
| By greatly reducing spending above, taxes can be reduced in tandem, knowing this can't all be done in 1 year. If there is still a need for additional taxes once the income tax is eliminated, consumption taxes would be the fairest and easiest to administer. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing the federal minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the ability of workers to unionize? | ||
| No | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| All of these issues should be addressed at the state level, or even at the local level wherever possible. The cost would be much less as well as the chance for corruption. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| No | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| No | d) Should candidates for federal office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support giving the President the power of the line item veto for items concerning appropriations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support limiting the President's ability to define how legislation is applied through the use of signing statements? | ||
| a-d) These are all frees speech issues and should not be limited by the government. e-f) The President should stay within his administrative role according to the original intent of the Constitution, not trying to enact legislation. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related training and job-placement assistance when released? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students? | ||
| No | b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| All of these issues are best handled at the state and local level. The Constitution limits the Federal Government to certain enumerated powers, education not being one of them. Our student scores and achievement have steadily declined since the Federal Government became involved. The natural competition among the states, instead of an imposed national standard, would greatly improve education without the central planning that has been tried and failed. | |||
| No | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | b) Do you support international emissions targets aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing energy producers to trade carbon credits under a "cap and trade" system? | ||
| No | d) Do you support strengthening fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support domestic oil exploration in federally-protected areas? | ||
| No | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| Again, the best, proven system is open competition in the "Free Market", which we have not had for many years. Those who violate laws or damage their neighbors life or property can best be handled by our judicial system, instead of trying to punish and regulate everyone else who is not doing so. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individual citizens to own guns? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? | ||
| a) We haven't had a free market in health care for over 50 years, and that's why we're in the mess we have now. Let's not make it even worse, but go back to where we were. b) At the state level, not the federal. c) Should be totally open for everyone. d) Shouldn't be a federal issue. Leave it to the states. e) As long as patents are protected for those who have made the initial efforts. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| No | b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| a) I support a simplified guest worker program, elimination of welfare programs that entice people to stay, and then provide a way for those who have committed no other crimes to become legal guest workers, with the possibility to eventually become citizens by going to the back of the line of those who are already legally in line. d) We must secure our borders from invasion, even redeploying military troops in sufficient numbers from all other parts of the world to do so if needed. State and local police should assist as needed. | |||
| No | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| No | e) Do you support granting aid to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States? | ||
| No | f) Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state? | ||
| No | g) Do you support increasing sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq? | ||
| No | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| a-e) This is the longest conflict in U.S. history, but war was never declared by Congress. This is a continuation of many such conflicts since WWII, none of which have followed Constitutional law. We must return to a Department of Defense, not Offense, or we will be further weakened. g) We should have nothing to do with the United Nations | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| We must immediately set free the productive resources of our country, our families and small businesses. This will best be done by repealing Obamacare; bringing our troops home from Afganistan, Iraq, Korea, and many other nations; suspending all Foreign Aid: freezing spending for all entitlement programs now, and then systematically ending those not in accordance with the original intent of the Constitution; ending the Department of Education and transferring all public education matters back to the states. Complete audit of Federal Reserve to see where all our money has gone, and end all deficit spending to restore our currency. |
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