Stephen Dolgos' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Arizona Congressional Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| I think that the unbalanced budget presents one of the greatest national security threats that our nation faces. We need to pay our bills or not obligate ourselves to the spending. I think that a large amount of the budgetary shortfall can be covered through a line by line review that aims to consolidate any duplicate government function. We need to focus on eliminating fraud, waste and abuse to help the budget. I also think that the income tax system is inherently unfair and needs to be replaced with a national sales tax like the "Fair Tax" model. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| The Supreme Court has been fairly consistent, in striking down campaign finance regulations, that campaign donations are a form of free speech. I do not support any regulations regarding the size of contributions, however I would support any regulation that would mandate full disclosure of the source of the funds. That way, those that are inclined can follow the trail of funds and make inferences from that themselves. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| I have absolutely no moral opposition to capital punishment. Some crimes are so reprehensible that death is the only proper punishment. More importantly though, when the state imposes the ultimate punishment, we must be absolutely certain, without any shred of doubt, that the person is guilty. As a result, the economics of capital punishment simply do not make sense to me. It is a cheaper and better punishment to keep a murderer locked away, with no chance of parole, than to waste the tax payer's money and the court systems time on capital punishment. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a way of promoting growth in the economy? | ||
| No | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| The federal government needs to get out of the way of business as much as possible. A complete laissez-faire is best in theory, however the system is way to reactive when problems arise. The damage will already be done. Regulation is necessary to ensure fairness and consumer safety, but it shouldn't be used to play favorites and stifle competition. Taxes should be as flat and fair as possible, meant only to pay for the legitimate operations of the government. Taxes shouldn't be use to transfer wealth amongst individuals or corporations as political favors. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| Having a national standard for education is not necessarily a bad things. We live in a competitive global market place and making sure that our citizens meet a minimum standard is important to keep our place as a leader of nations. With that being said, education is local issue. It is something that should be controlled at the lowest level possible. Preferably at the school district level, but definitely not beyond the state level. Competition to encourage improvement is great, but used as a tool of compliance with federal authority is inappropriate. | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| Increasing energy production leads to cheaper energy across the board. One of the greatest engines of economic progress is built off of cheap and reliable energy sources. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| The best way that we can minimize the impact of global warming, while at the same time ensuring that we do not have a drastic change in our quality of life is to take a fresh, open-minded and serious look at nuclear energy. Certainly situations like Fukushima are scary, but they are extraordinarily unusual events. Nuclear power is the best combination of clean, cheap and safe energy that we have. Of course it is not perfect in any one of those ways, but it is very good in all of them. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| The 2nd Amendment is abundantly clear on our right to keep and bear arms. There are sufficient, potentially excessive gun laws on the books already. I would be very hard pressed to find a new gun law that is needed. I think that it is a better use of Congress' time to work on examining the gun laws that get in the way of proper enforcement and roll those back, rather than add new laws. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| I am on record as saying that I would not have voted for the Affordable Care Act if I had been in office at the time. There are some good parts to the law and bad parts to the law. On balance it did too much to address access (a good thing) and not enough to address affordability (a bad thing). Now that it is law, I believe that it is a much better use of Congress' time to work on fixing the problems rather than tying to scrap the program and start over from scratch. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Illegal immigrants have broken our laws. They need to be held to account for that crime, but if they are here to work hard and be productive members of society, then I believe that we can work out a reasonable legal framework and path to citizenship. I propose some combination of fines, community service, and/or paying of back taxes in lieu of deportation. I also propose a robust guest worker program to prevent this in the future. If the illegal immigrant is a criminal or unable or unwilling to pay the fines though, they should be deported immediately. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Marriage is between two people and God and is therefore an issue that should not be the concern of any civil authority. If, as it has, a civil authority chooses to impose its will on marriages, then it must grant equal protection under the law. As a result, I do not believe any marriage is a concern of government. Since government has taken it upon itself to make marriage laws, I do support same-sex marriage. | |||
| No | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| The United States needs to maintain a top quality defense of our nation, including that we protect our interests abroad, but our foreign policy is much to interventionist in its nature. Rather than being a protector of freedom through our actions and example, our excessive militarism is causing us to be viewed around the world as bullies and making us the bad guy. That is not the United States that I grew up in, love and proudly served in the United States Navy. We need to step back and reevaluate all of our National Security priorities. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| I would allow this so long as the individual that chooses to take this option signs a legally enforceable contract that they are choosing to opt out of the program and will not be eligible to receive any benefits from the federal government unless they buy back into the program to make up for the time away. I have been in financial service for thirteen years and during that time I have learned that the vast majority of people do not handle their money well, but that does not mean that we should prevent those that want to try. | |||
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.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Medical Research | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Slightly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Eliminate | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| My number one priority is to get our nation on a firmer financial footing based on a federal budget that is balanced and working toward paying off our national debt. In order to make that happen, we need to make drastic cuts to all areas of the federal budget. It is not a question of if to cut, but how much and in what prioritization. We are all in this together. Every area of American Society will need to tighten the belt to get out of this mess. | |||
| Some amount of government is necessary to maintain order within the society. It takes money to run those functions, so we cannot get rid of taxes entirely. I would eventually like to see us move to a National Sales Tax like the "Fair Tax" model. My answers listed above are the best way that I can explain that model using the options given in this questionnaire. | |||
| My number one priority would be to balance the budget, immediately and for all time moving forward. We need to make sure that we keep our promises as a nation and my second and third priorities both relate to that. It is crucial that we ensure that our Veterans are getting the appropriate treatment for the injuries that they have received on active duty protecting our freedom. Then we also need to make sure that we are working with, but respecting the sovereignty of our Native American brother and sisters. |
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