Big John Smith IV's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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Big John Smith IV has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
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.
Tennessee Congressional Election 2016 Political Courage Test
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| There would need to be a limit to this if the offender continues to repeat the crime. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| The private sector must be the vehicle for job creation, not government. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I would support this, if students were being taught basic education such as science and mathmatics, things that will help them in the job market and their future, instead of indoctrination for the purpose of social engineering. With that said, a state has it's own sovereignty under our constitution and should be accountable to it's citizens control of how they want their kids educated, not the federal government because they give grants. No strings should be attached. After all, isn't the revenue generated by Tennessee that's sent to washington our money? | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| No | Do you support funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support increased regulations on the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| I believe in energy independence from the middle east. We must use our own resources, which is abundant. I also believe, nuclear energy has always been the energy for the present and future. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| There are other ways to reform our health care system without having the full force of government imposed on our citizens. One way would be, having insurance agencies compete across state lines. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| The progressives would say my stance is hateful, but I beg to differ, we are a country of laws and if we do not enforce or obey them, we might as well not be a country. I do not hate immigrants. In my heart I want people who are trying to escape tyranny or have a better life, come, but do so the right way. We must protect our borders, our country is all we have. People has died for it. | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| The tradition of marrige between a man and woman has been in effect for thousands of years. It's a shame that a person would be attacked as a bigot, intolerant, have their lives destroyed by people in political power or considered a person that hates gay's because they disagree with their life style. Who's intolerant here? Isn't it the right of an American to disagree? As for myself, because I do not agree with this subject doesn't mean I don't love as a human my friends that are gay, nor do I judge them. | |||
| Yes | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| Yes | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
SpendingIndicate what federal spending levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category; you can use a number more than once.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 | ||
| b) Arts | |||
| Greatly Increase | c) Defense | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Maintain Status | g) International aid | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Medical Research | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Small business taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | j) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) Payroll taxes | ||
| l) Other or expanded categories | |||
| My priorities if elected, is to push for the enhancement of national security in these areas, areas such as our electrical Grids to protect us from EMP attack and Cyber security. Another, is to improve the plight of our homeless. Many Americans are living on the street, this is unacceptable. But, the main priority would be, to protect our country and interest, obey the constitution and to render complete service and accessiblility from me to the people, to hear their problems and create solutions. |
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