Randall Hinton's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Randall Hinton refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2012 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.
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.
Utah Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| No | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Abortion should not be federally mandated or endorsed/funded in any way shape or form. It is the taking of a life. The only time when that line could seriously blur for me is if another life is also in jeopardy. The mother is the only one qualified to make that choice and determination. Ultimately legislators should stay out of the operating room. | |||
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 | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Greatly Decrease | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 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 | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | f) Homeland security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Eliminate | h) Medical research | ||
| Eliminate | i) Scientific research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | m) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| 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? | ||
| Additional spending will not help us emerge from this Economic Crisis, We must seek to eliminate federal spending and allow individuals and business owners to retain their earnings and build the economy from the ground up rather than the top down. State and Local government should be relied upon to provide many of the services that we currently rely on the Federal Government to provide at a much more individualized level. Elimination/reduction of many of these government programs, although it may be difficult and painful initially will ultimately bear the greatest fruit for our economy by encouraging greater liberty. | |||
| Taxes across the board must be reduced or eliminated so that individuals can retain their earnings and put them to work rebuilding the economy. The people don't require being stimulated from an outside source, they are best able to determine what will offer adequate stimulation by themselves. Taxes are a form of control on the people, likewise the spending of those tax dollars also acts as an effective control on the behaviors of individuals. Removing many of these controls will provide significant stimulation for the economy, as has been evidenced throughout time and experience. | |||
| It is simply foolish to place burdensome taxes on individuals at their death. This is a time of grieving for the families of the deceased, and should be respected, allowing them to pass on their remaining legacy to their children and charities, without being taxed away. The budget should be balanced each year, but the methodology to bring that about could be problematic. Most Balanced Budget Amendment proposals could create more serious straights than we are in today, they will just print money, or raise taxes to make up the difference, The people must effectively check their representatives. | |||
| 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? | ||
| We must look to the removal/reversal of much of our regulations for a return to the principles that this nation was founded upon and preserve this great nation for future generations. I support individuals right to unionize, as I support anyones right to peacefully assemble and petition. But I don't support violent or coercive actions by a union to hold individuals and businesses captive to their policies or demands. An individual has the right to work without joining a union. Violent or coercive actions must be punished by law regardless of their source, individually or by a unionized group. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Campaign Finance Reform has at it's root the belief that the people are not smart enough to see through gobs of money paid for advertising, and actually look critically at the position of the candidates. This is an inditement against the people rather than the money that would come into the election. A free nation requires an educated and informed populace, otherwise we will lose it. A Line Item Veto and Signing Statements basically put the President in the position of Legislating, which is specifically forbidden in the Constitution, I support the intent of the founders by rejecting both. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| Violent offenses in many cases carry a lighter punishment than many non-violent or drug related offenses. These discrepancies must be addressed including the failed war on drugs. There are few cases where I would support capital punishment, but I think that it is a necessary part of our justice system, and I support the states having determination for the situations regarding it's use in their individual states. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Education should be handled as close to the students as possible. The Federal government should play no role in that education. We have seen many negative effects on education as a result of federal involvement in the classroom. Parents first, and State and local officials secondarily should be the ones determining all of these issues. We do future generations a disservice to follow any other path. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I support the individuals right to make choices concerning their consumption and stewardship for the environment. Coercive actions by government, however noble the cause are unconstitutional and will ultimately lead to undesirable results. Rather than forcing behavior through legislation, environmentally minded individuals should live their creed and seek to peacefully alter public opinion of other individuals. This is the only way to have the desired results and preserve personal liberties. However dangerous the perceived consequences of delaying governmental action, it does not justify the use of Federal power to abridge individual liberties. | |||
| 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? | ||
| The right to own property carries with that the right to protect that property. Gun restrictions only end up increasing rates of violent crimes. I respect the rights of individuals to defensibly protect their property and person through whatever legal means necessary. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Government is not the answer to our health care woes, it is the primary reason that we have many of them. Relaxing regulations, and exiting the medical arena entirely will serve to significantly drop the overhead in the medical field, reducing costs and allowing treatment to be more readily available to more people. I don't believe that tort reform is the answer to the litigation problem in the US. Individuals are the answer, we as a people must see all other people as individuals (doctors, lawyers, etc..) not piggy banks that we can break open at any perceived wrong. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| While I am saddened by the necessity of the Arizona immigration law, I support it's power as a state to protect the Lives, Liberty and Property of it's citizens. I support streamlining the naturalization process in such a manner that individuals that really want to come to our nation don't have to wade through endless minutia to complete the process. I support strengthening our border in as much as it is necessary to protect the Lives, Liberty and Property of US citizens. | |||
| 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? | ||
| The Congress has the constitutional authority to regulate international trade policy, It should not be abdicated to international organizations to "regulate". I support the view of George Washington that we should have a strong army, but it should be used for our defense not for offensive wars abroad. The current engagements are wasting the future of unborn generations on a quest that I believe to be unconstitutional. This is not the fault of our troops, they are just doing what they have been told is necessary to preserve our freedoms, the responsibility lies with the President and the Congress. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Government should not be regulating who and how people are married, that should be the purview of individuals and their clergy alone. A government that can dictate that a marriage is only between one man and one woman, can just as easily later mandate that every marriage must also include a gerbil, or however it sees fit to define it. The only protection for traditional marriage is ultimately in the removal of government regulation. | |||
| My first legislative priority would be to reduce Federal spending on all levels, so that we can save our children from the economic wasteland that awaits them if we don't. Secondly seek to implement a sunset for all federal legislation, requiring the congress to actively determine if legislation should continue and vote for it's continuance on a regular basis rather than remaining forever. Thirdly to eliminate unconstitutional federal bureaucracies that burden citizens through taxes and legislation. Forth to educate the people as to their responsibilities in regards to government. |
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.