Gail Lightfoot'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.
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Gail Lightfoot has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
California Congressional Election 2024 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | Do you support the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade? | ||
| Individuals have a Right to the Pursuit of Happiness and their own body autonomy. Government should not interfere by banning medical procedures or medications. | |||
| No | Do you support expanding federal funding to support social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to balance the budget? | ||
| No | Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs? | ||
| I support decreasing Income taxes. I do not see how decreasing the income tax would balance the budget. If the income tax is not repealed, all taxpayers should be treated the same. There should be no exemptions or deductions every taxpayer cannot benefit from using. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Complicated regulations and confusing paperwork is one more way to stop candidates without big bucks [deep filled to the brim warshests funding their campaigns] and specialized accountants from seeking political offices. Even limiting contributions to individuals and/or small amounts by individuals can be collected at meetings of employees or members to get around the rules against corportations and unions. The practice of 'bundling' contributions is commonly used to avoid the rules in place now. | |||
| No | Do you support protecting government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct? | ||
| Other than reasonably carrying out the duties of their office, government officials need to be accountable for their actions at all times. At work, home or enjoying life, no one should be allowed to commit a crime. Punishment if found quilty should be the same for an individual able to hire several attorneys to defend them as is for the inividual dependent on a public defender. Sending one person to prison for life for murder and then sending someone else to prison for a few years or even month is unfair and not justice at all. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| Much of our military spending maintains jundreds of foreign military bases , stationing tens of thousands of Americans on foriegn soil and engaging in pointless military operations. This is offense, not defense. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal government increasing funding for affordable housing programs? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal government taking action, beyond those of the Federal Reserve, to alleviate inflation? | ||
| Although Americans think government is responsible for the economy, it is not. Interactions of individuals working, earning money and spending their money is how the economy adjusts to meet everyone's needs. Interfering in those exchanges is just that, interfering and liable to bo more harm than good. Governemnt spending takes your money by taxing earnings and spending so the government can spend it instead of you or yours and everyone else's. Spending drives inflation regardless of who spends the money. And there is no money other that the money individuals earn working or saving and investing. Government exists to protect their individual Rights, not their jobs, incomes, housing or pocketbooks. | |||
| No | Do you support the forgiveness of federal student loan debt? | ||
| A debt is a debt unless the debtor can turn to the court for relief individually. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Voter registration forms and/or Election Offices are the time and place to determine if the individual is legally permitted to vote, not the polling places. | |||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal government allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| Developing new methods and products happens in real world of the private sector where an individual, business or industry brings products to the public where they compete for a share of our spending dollars. Goivernment funding distorts this process unfairly. | |||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, boyfriend loopholes)? | ||
| There are already many, over overlapping, gun laws. Local Law enforcement is charged with enforcing those laws. If they cannot, perhaps we need to rethink what matters most. Stopping legal gun sales to law abiding citizens or stopping the sale and importation of guns on the street in the hands of the angry or rejected. | |||
| No | Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program, such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| Yes | Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| No | Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| Heathcare is a personal decision and responsibility. Medical care provided by Hospitals and Clinics supported by donations and and volunteers are better able to meet the needs of low income individuals and families without subjecting them to the whims of an untrained clerk reviewing government agency applications. Paid leave for any reason is a business expense and, even as a government program, is paid for by business. Therefore the business makes these decisions, not government agencies. Individuals are free to seek the best job including such benefits they might need. The benfits an employee feels should be part of t heir pay may be paid less weekiy inorder to fund the benefits they seek to have as part of their job. The government should not control the price of any product. Price controls have a history of failing again and again over time. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing security along the southern US border? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship, regardless of their immigration status? | ||
| Higher and wider fences are not the solution. Rational immigration policies are as well as taking a long hard look at why millions travel on foot from countires far beyond our southern border. Why are American companies setting up factories in the far east and not the south of the continental U.S.? What good does sending immgrants home after entry before naturalization do? Who would pay and how would they get back again and when? Nonsensical. | |||
| No | Do you support economic intervention as a means of resolving international conflicts? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the US providing increased offensive military aid to Ukraine? | ||
| Economic aid often ends up in the pockets of those closest to the government or the government officials themselves. The people do not get the help Congress hoped to see happen. Non government organizations are better able to reach the people and do much more with much less. The U.S. and other nations are partly responsible for the conditions in the Ukraine that led up to the current "war". SInce the U.S. interferes and continues to interfers, the U.S. ends up trying to fix the unfixable and supporting one side or the other in some conflict. It cannot be avoided so it must be done well. | |||
| No | Do you generally support increased regulations on social media companies (e.g. Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.)? | ||
| Users need to be able to target false information rather than some automatic test by the provider. We all need to be as selective of what we find on social media as we are of what we read and or research on line. We cannot trust the media to tell the whole truth. We have to look for facts from actual studies rather than opinions. If we do not do this we end up being led like sheep to slaughter. | |||
| 1. Protect and Defend the Constitution. 2. Protec the State of California from intusive federal legislation, rules and regulations. 3. Work towards all Bills of Congress covering a single issue and short enough to be read carefully in one day [assuming the individual has office time each day] prior to any vote. As a Libertarian I believe in individuals and their Rights. Every time an indvidual or group is given some benefit, another individual or group loses some of their Rights. You cannot pay for a government program without taking money from the taxpayers. This is why we say, In the End, individuals pay. It is always our pockets that fund programs and our Liberty that is reduced in order to give special treatment to others. The politicians that got us here need to be sent home, replaced with average everyday Americans who are not seeking a career. They merely wish to serve one or two terms and go back home to their "real" life with their families. No one, regardless of their wealth or IQ level is any better than anyone else to run the lives of others. Individuals should be free to run their own lives as they see fit without any busybodies telling them what to do or how to do it. Governement is full of busybodies ill equipped to tell others how to live their lives. The loss of Liberty for on is the loss of Libery for us all. Stop the growth of government and get back to a Live and Let Live Freedom based society. |
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