Larry Barber's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Maryland State Legislative 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) 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? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | h) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| I am a Conservative Republican but do not believe abortion should be abolished entirely. Some situations must be allowed this option. I do not believe the government should finance abortions in any situation. I remember as a teenager (when abortion was illegal) hearing about women having abortions despite being against the law. Women will still have them if they want it done and they will be done by uncertified doctors or by the women themselves. Those were terrible stories to hear about. I'd rather have a regulated program not funded by the goverment, done by licensed medical professionals. | |||
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 Maryland's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | a) Tapping into Maryland's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | ||
| No | c) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | f) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| Rather than increase spending on education programs, I want to see the lottery funds go to the Education fund as it was established to do and not be tapped afterward for the Maryland General Fund. That is why the Education funding never seems to get better. Our roads and the waterways also need to be improved. | |||
| Decreasiung corporate taxes and those on small businesses will stimulate job growth. This will amke Maryland more "business friendly". Likewise decreasing the sales tax will allow Maryland citizens paycheck go a little further and therefore spur growth particularly for small businesses. If a change in income taxes is to be done it must be done across the board. Reducing for one group and not another is ethically and morally wrong and unfair. | |||
| If we have a "rainy day fund" left maybe this is the rainy day when it is needed. Releasing criminals early for budget reasons is stupid. If that is the case should California release Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan? Some goverment services may work better if privatized. That is something that should be explored. | |||
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 Maryland governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Maryland state legislators? | ||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring first-time DUI offenders to install ignition interlock devices? | ||
| No | d) Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | f) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| With regard to alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, I would support this for first-offenders only. Even then I am leary of this. Someone who repeats his stupidity should be made to learn he was given a chance once and blew it. I fully support local and state police enforcing immigration laws to teh highest degree. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing wine to be shipped directly to Maryland residents? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the legalization of table games in Maryland? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support construction of the Purple Line light rail project? | ||
| No | i) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| I see no problem with table-games in Maryland but do not agree at all of a casino being buiklt next to a public shopping mall in close proximity to residential areas. Financing foreclosures and expanding unemployment are not fiscally responsible when Maryland is having fiscal problems. We need to work on job creation and not financial sustainment for Maryland residents. | |||
| Yes | 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 Maryland high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| The Merit based system for teachers is preferable to the useless old tenure system. A bad teacher with tenure was a problem, however the problem with the Merit system is teachers have to be aware if caught teaching 'the test" rather than teaching the curriculum will be unacceptable and costly tot hem if caught. Under no circumstances should "illegal immigrant" children receive any state funds for any education. They are here illegally, they should NOT be here so how the hell should they be graduating? They should be deported! | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to Maryland's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Regulations aimed at climate change? If mother-nature decides to give us an ice-age no amount of regulation is going to stop it. We can reduce our pollutants so we don't hasten it along, but that will only reduce the speed of it happening and not the effects. Climate change itself is a natual occurence. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a license for gun possession? | ||
| Restrictions such as only citizens who have no criminal record being allowed to own firearms is necessary. Background checks at gun-shows are ineffective. A simpler method would be to request the info from a valid Maryland driver's license upon purchase. Allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms should be allowed with some restrictions such as never on school grounds, into a bank, into a gun shop or into a police station. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | 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 Maryland? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| I have no problem with physician-assisted suicide to relieve the sufering of terminally ill patients. Seems this is more humane than forcing a patient to endure agonizing pain until death relieves them naturally. Also marijuana for medicinal purposes is OK if restrictions are made and enforced. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Should Maryland allow same-sex couples to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support state funding for stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the state's use of affirmative action? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Maryland's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Maryland's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Allowing civil-unions is a matter of semantics and just another name for almost married. Since we can now do stem-cell research from stem cells not derived from embryos there is no need for embryonic stem-cell research. As for llowing every difference to be a subject of anti-discrimination, where does this end? Next we will have anti-discrimination because someone is Conservative or an Independent or because they were born on 29 February. | |||
| I decided to run because of the dismal treatment of Veterans issues by the legislature over last couple years. I want to champion Vets issues and support the rollback of our state sales tax. I also think that by printing state forms in English only we will save money on printing and paper. |
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