Steven Stoltz's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Arizona Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | 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? | ||
| The Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision depends on the notion that a woman's 14th amendment right to privacy overrides a State's right to protect the life of the unborn. The decision leads to many philosophical debates about when life first begins and what the state's role is in protecting the rights of unborn life. I am of the personal opinion that the soul enters the body at conception. However, since (a) the soul that entered the fetus has not invested that much time in that body, since (b) it has not taken its first breath outside the womb, and... | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Agriculture | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Arts | ||
| c) Defense | |||
| Maintain Status | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Maintain Status | 2) Military hardware | ||
| 3) National missile defense | |||
| Maintain Status | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Maintain Status | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Maintain Status | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Homeland security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical research | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Scientific research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | 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? | ||
| According to article 1 section 8 of the Constitution, the federal government can only manage interstate commerce. Since states already fund their own education through property taxes, it is hard for the Federal government to be involved in Education without giving one state an unfair advantage over another, and per article 1 section 9 of the Constitution "No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to ports of one state over those of another". The federal government's job is not to let a small number of bureaucrats decide how to fund their own "pet projects" or... | |||
| The Federal government must pass laws that are equally enforceable, and not engage in wealth re-distribution consistent with the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Consistent with the 5th amendment, private property shall not be taken without due process of the law, and hence the 16th amendment (income tax) should eventually be repealed. The Federal government's role should be strictly limited to its smaller, constitutionally defined scope. A smaller federal government would be easier to fund via excise taxes rather than income taxes. Consistent with this, excise tax could be placed on transportation of gasoline, and other items, across... | |||
| Any money awarded by the Federal government to encourage industries to work together must be awarded under a competitive bid. Decisions to award competitively bid contracts must be made by temporary non-partisan panels that include representatives from a wide variety of businesses that might stand to benefit from the bid... | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| Regarding e, and other types of government funding - the government should strive to structure things like this as loans that should be paid off. And rather than coerce banks into making these loans, the Federal government could offer tax incentives to industries that make such loans. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| The ability to contribute to a campaign is an exercise of free speech. However, corporations and unions which receive federal aid should have restrictions applied to how much they can donate to campaigns, because of the conflict of interest. There needs to be a balance between the rights of individuals and the rights of corporations similar to the definitions of balance between Federal, State and individual rights in the 10th and 14th amendments of the Constitution. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Regarding b and c, as a Libertarian I want to reduce Federal spending. I am in favor of vocational and substance abuse programs so long as they are fiscally responsible. Regarding d - Libertarians believe that government's role is to protect the life, liberty and property of its citizens. Hence Libertarians are against victimless crimes - i.e crimes that penalize for behavior when there is no clearly defined victim. There should be no prison sentence for such offenders. If a non-violent offender damages someone else's property, then - their sentence can be reduced contingent upon their ability to compensate the... | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Per the enumeration of Federal powers in Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution and per the 10th amendment, education is primarily the responsibility of the states and not the Federal government. For the most part, states fund education through property taxes. The Federal government should work with the states to offer citizens maximum freedom to pursue life liberty and happiness, but should not place restrictions of the pursuit. I believe that Federal government should avoid conflicts of interests by trying to politically indoctrinate children, and I am against Senator Barbara Boxer's position to ratify U.N convention on the rights... | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| I am not totally convinced that climate change exists in the first place. As a PhD physicist, I am not convinced that the physics is sound. The U.S should never allow its sovereignty to be eroded by international bodies. Fuel efficiency standards cannot be imposed if they are physically unrealistic or too costly to implement . Federal funding for alternative energy must focus on competitively bid products that can be brought to market and will have an immediate positive effect on the economy. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| I will work to repeal the new health care bill, but I support Ron Paul's HR 5444 Private Option Health care act, and believe that access to health care can be expanded by offering medical doctors up to 100% income tax immunity proportional to the number of pro-bono clients they take on. The government take-over of health care gives the government and health insurance companies too much power to tell people what they can do with their bodies | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Even though I support enforcement of federal immigration laws, I believe that SB-1070 is not the correct way to do it. Those who support SB-1070 say that it merely enforces the law and doesn't change anything. It actually does change the laws for due process. Changing the law for due process does not violate the 5th amendment, so long as it is applied equally to everyone, but it can encourage a disregard for the principle in the 4rth amendment that guarantees the right for someone to be secure in their person. The way they want to enforce immigration laws through... | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 U.S. should try and stay out of the affairs of other nations. The idea of free trade is that it is free and unregulated. If something is unregulated, then why would there be a need to have an agreement to support it? An agreement suggests regulation which gives unfair advantage in trade. If we feel that Iran is doing something we don't like - we are free to impose trade sanctions on Iran, but - we should not do it because the U.N tells us to, we should do it because it is in the best interests of the... | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | |||
| d) Undecided e)The Federal government has no say in moral issues like marriage. The 1st amendment forbids the government from establishing a religion, or in a broader view - imposing its morality on its citizens. The 14th amendment says that U.S citizens shall enjoy the equal protection of the law. if the law is not equally enforceable, then it is un-Constitutional. Gays should have the same rights as heterosexuals. Funding for stem cell research would have to be justified in terms of the interstate commerce clause of the constitution. Not sure that it can be. I believe bans should be... | |||
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