Don Kissick's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
On The Ballot: Running, Libertarian for Governor (OH) with James Mills
Key
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This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Ohio Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| To be honest, I don't fully fall into either category. Life begins at conception, at the same time government's prohibition efforts rarely, if ever, work. Roe v. Wade is unlikely to be overturned in our lifetime. We could accomplish more to reduce the rate abortions are performed by making "the pill" available over-the-counter. I do support ending federal funding of Planned Parenthood as well agree with the SCOTUS decision in the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra this past summer. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No more 1,000+ page legislation. This is one of the key drivers of spending largess on Capitol Hill. Also, if we end our military occupations in the Middle East and close the majority of overseas installations, we can save well over $100 billion in military spending without having to reduce the size of our military or curtail training and weapons development. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| When it comes to our public elections, transparency is a good thing. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| I wish to see all taxes lowered. For personal income taxes, I advocate scrapping the tax code and replacing it with a flat tax rate. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| One-size-fits-all education does not work. Not all students learn the same way and not all teachers will teach the same way. Starting with No Child Left Behind, standardized testing was a conservative concept intended to counter the influence of unions in the education field, especially in failing school districts. Unfortunately, we are seeing the unintended consequences of this idea play-out in school districts across the country with schools promoting "teaching to the test." Returning education to state and local jurisdictions should be every elected officials' priority for this issue. | |||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| "...[T]he right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." | |||
| No | Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Both are unrealistic goals. I would favor a grace period upon successful enactment of immigration reform legislation enabling immigrants already here to apply for citizenship and finally get that done the right way. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes? | ||
| Across all levels of government, America will spend roughly $100 billion on the War on Drugs without getting any closer to resolving this problem. Marijuana Prohibition, in particular, has proven to be an enormous waste of taxpayer money and squanders law enforcement resources on restricting the use of a naturally growing plant product that actually is far-and-away less harmful than alcohol. In reality, alcohol consumption is more likely to lead to harder drug use... but from our own history we understand the destructiveness of alcohol prohibition's unintended consequences. Creating black markets never ends well. | |||
| No | Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| No | Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support? | ||
| Military interventionism always leads to unintended consequences, with each foreign policy decision leading to new consequences requiring another new military mission to deal with the unintended consequences and fallout of the previous action. This is an unsustainable cycle that our nation needs to break. All this places an undue burden on our men and women in uniform, whose commitment to our country deserves the respect that comes with only using that commitment to tackle actual threats to our nation's security and sovereignty. | |||
| My main priority is the national debt, which has eclipsed $21 Trillion. As stated previously, why aren't our elected officials talking about this anymore? There are two simple ways to get that ball rolling: Cut Spending Now coupled with No more 1,000+ page legislation. Tax reform is next. Scrap the tax code and replace it with a Flat Tax. Until that happens, I will pursue slashing diesel fuel taxes to further spur the economy. Finally, Civil Liberties and Criminal Justice Reform. The Bill of Rights is being treated as a forgotten relic. That ends with me in Congress. |
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