Marc Goodson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Michigan State Legislative 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) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| g) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | |||
| Yes | h) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| I believe life begins upon conception. All children born in America after the Supreme Court's Roe v Wade ruling, in 1973, were born only because their mothers chose to give birth. Because abortion is an option exclusive to the woman, men should not legally be held financially responsible for any of the children born. If a husband, boyfriend, or one-night fling has no say as to whether or not an abortion is performed, he ought not be responsible for the woman's unilateral decision to give birth. To justly hold men responsible, proscribe the woman's exclusive right to an abortion. | |||
1) State SpendingIndicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.2) State TaxesIndicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.3) Budget StabilizationIndicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Michigan's budget.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | a) Tapping into Michigan's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Instituting a tax on physicians | ||
| Yes | c) Extending the sales tax to more services | ||
| Yes | d) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | ||
| Yes | e) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | f) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | ||
| Yes | g) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | h) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| In light of our national resolve to subsidize failure and compensate NEED indefinitely, there are little or no expectations of personal responsibility for personal freedom. The predominant conviction is one of entitlement. We can eat, drink, and smoke ourselves sick and the public will pay for our healthcare. Public money is spent for our education, but we do not have to learn. We have been taught to vote for a living rather than insisting that a living be earned. Consequently, the fruit of all the money spent on public education is our culture of entitlement. Why keep spending? | |||
| Until we stop holding the public responsible for the consequences of personal choices, I will vote to raise "sin" taxes. When we come to our senses and make personal choices a personal responsibility, I will vote to lower or eliminate them. If we can choose our lifestyles, we should be willing to reap the consequences of those choices. | |||
| I would be willing to extend the sales tax to more services IF income taxes were significantly reduced or eliminated. In respect to non-violent offenders, I wish to be the one choosing who is released early and who is not. | |||
c) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions to candidates for state government?
| Yes | a) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Michigan governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Michigan state legislators? | ||
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | d) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Spending limits are arbitrary. I can't figure how one person's "feeling" of what's acceptable is better than another's "feeling". It is not as if we can objectively prove that one dollar amount is better than another. Despite all the limits, Americans generally elect those who promise more of other people's money. In the absence of noble principles, our future is perilous regardless of the limits. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | c) Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | f) Do you support repealing the state's motorcycle helmet law? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| I would support repealing the state's motorcycle helmet law provided that the public would not be held responsible for any healthcare expense resulting from head trauma in a motorcycle accident. I support enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police ONLY IF the federal government compensates state and local government for such enforcement. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state regulation of the auto insurance industry? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | d) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| If we continue to compensate need, misfortune, and failure, we will find more people wishing to be compensated for need, misfortune, and failure. We should eliminate minimum wages, reduce regulations on business so owners can control their destiny, and educate our citizenry for freedom rather than entitlement. | |||
| No | a) Do you support national education standards? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support using a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | f) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Michigan high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Several of my "Yes" responses are conditional. But first let me note that I do not read any allowance for a federal governing board of education in the U.S. Constitution. Because we have an inordinate number of functionally illiterate adults about us despite all the spending on public education, I have very strict standards for any future spending. These standards include the requirement to learn in exchange for such spending. It should also be noted that I prefer a voucher system. Finally, why on earth are illegal immigrants attending our public schools? | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to Michigan's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| We are not supposed to use government to take money from private industry for political entrepreneurship. We take more than enough to compensate need, misfortune, and failure already. Let us resist the desire to take even more to window dress job creation. We all know that one need not sweat a job because we are so liberal with our compensation for unemployment. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring a license for gun possession? | ||
| I believe felons should be prohibited from gun ownership. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Should individuals be required to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Michigan? | ||
| No | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| Public healthcare is the biggest blank check on America to date. We can eat, drink, smoke, copulate, and inject ourselves to all degrees of malady and charge the public for our healthcare. That is the fruit of an education for entitlement. There is no responsibility to change our ways to improve our person; there is just a public responsibility to compensate our need, misfortune, and failure. This is our resolve as voters. An education for freedom informs one's discretion so that he uses his liberty to do himself well. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Should Michigan allow same-sex couples to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the state's use of affirmative action? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | h) Should legal counsel for indigent defendants be managed by the state? | ||
| While the American culture of just principle has been subverted on virtually every front, cultural acceptance of homosexuality warrants comment. In support of that lifestyle, one claims an indifference to the intimate passions of men for men and women for women. For what reason, therefore, should we continue to separate genders in public facilities? If homosexuals use public facilities set aside for their respective gender despite their affections, why shouldn't heterosexuals be able to do so among the opposite gender? This assault on humane standards for appropriate coexistence is degenerate and speaks volumes of our national character. | |||
| (1) Stop financing need, misfortune, and failure indefinitely. (2) Quit subsidizing an education for entitlement that privileges each to the person or property of others. (3) Stop taxing and regulating businesses to closure. To implement my priorities, no additional funding is needed. In fact, considerably less money will be required to run our government. Vote Marc Goodson State Representative. |
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