Paul Drgos, Jr.'s Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Paul Drgos, Jr. submitted the 2012 Political Courage Test after the official deadline and release of results to the media. The candidate's late responses are provided here as a public service.
Maryland Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I believe that abortion is wrong. If my daughter came to me I would tell her not to have an abortion. However, I do not believe that it is the federal government or state's position to prevent the abortion. If the state chooses to prohibit abortions after viability it should be left to the individual states. | |||
| No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| The troops should be home today. The timetable should be immediate. | |||
Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.In order to balance the budget,
| Yes | do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| I support a fair tax. I would abolish the income tax, corporate tax, and payroll taxes. I would institute a national sales tax to provide for the necessary expenditures of the federal government. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Regulations are never an answer and will always have unintended consequences. We would never prohibit speech of the New York Times Corporation or ABC News. Other corporations should be treated similarly. Corporations are just an association of people. | |||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| In a very, very limited scope. The Constitution clearly makes capital punishment available. However, the disparate treatment of minorities is troubling. Further, I do not trust government to be efficient or judicious. The criminal justice system in this country is overburdened and probably should not be making these life and death decisions. However, there are clearly instances where capital punishment is warranted. Where it is undisputed that an individual has committed a horrible murder, such as that of James Byrd or the Petit family, then capital punishment is appropriate. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| Government does not create jobs. I support spending on infrastructure because we need infrastructure, not to create jobs. We need fewer regulations and less taxes. Every dollar that the government spends is taken from the taxpayers. We should not prop up some jobs at the expense of the taxpayers. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| Centralized reforms are not the way to run the education system. The Department of Education should be abolished. There should be absolutely no strings attached to any money coming from the federal government. Some states will use the money wisely, others will not. Once it is identified which states are doing what, then those programs can be implemented nationwide. | |||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| I support reducing restrictions on nuclear energy production. I support reducing restrictions on wind energy. I support reducing restrictions on hydraulic fracturing. I support reducing restrictions on oil drilling everywhere, including federal lands. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| I do not support "federal regulation" of greenhouse gas emissions. What I support is a carbon tax. Tax the emissions and let the market decide what is appropriate and can be afforded. Innovation will occur. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Restricting guns because of the way they look is nonsensical. Automatic weapons have been prohibited from purchase in this country since 1934. Semi-automatic weapons are not military equipment. A better understanding of the public of the definition of semi-automatic would scare fewer people. Guns are a tool. They can be used properly or abused. We need to look at the causes of violence. Legalization of marijuana and other drugs would, like the 21st Amendment, begin a process of reducing the violence in this country. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| I do not support an outright repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The affordable care act is 10,000 pages long. There are numerous provisions in it that are quite popular and beneficial. Simply stating that you are going to repeal the whole thing is partisan politics at its worst. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Yes | Do you support allowing illegal immigrants, who were brought to the United States as minors, to pursue citizenship without returning to their country of origin? | ||
| No | Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | ||
| We need to make it easy for individual to immigrate into this country. This nation was built on the backs of immigrants. We have a shortage of doctors in this country. Immigration could relieve this stress. Cities like Baltimore are emptying and losing a large tax base. Again immigration could help. Our society is aging and soon there will be more people collecting social security than paying into it. Immigration would help. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| I believe that marriage is an issue to left to the churches. The state has no role in marriage. Is a ceremony performed at a courthouse between a man and a woman, really marriage? I believe that states should not issue marriage certificates but instead, everyone, gay and straight, should enter into contracts that are recorded like deeds. This would eliminate many of the problems associated with these relationships and relieve much of the burden on the courts and other agencies. | |||
| 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 Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| The US did not use military force to prevent Israel from possessing a nuclear women. It did not prevent Pakistan, India, North Korea, China, Russia, England, or France from possessing a nuclear weapon. Why is Iran different? In the history of the world the only nation to use nuclear weapons in combat is the United States of America. Iran possessing weapons does not present an existential threat to either the US or Israel. Any use of nuclear weapons by Iran will result in the elimination of the Iranian nation. The threat of such use is limited. | |||
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.
| a) Agriculture | |||
| b) Arts | |||
| c) Defense | |||
| d) Education | |||
| e) Environment | |||
| f) Homeland Security | |||
| g) International aid | |||
| h) Medical Research | |||
| i) Scientific Research | |||
| j) Space exploration | |||
| k) United Nations | |||
| l) Welfare | |||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| a) Capital gains taxes | |||
| b) Corporate taxes | |||
| c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | |||
| d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | |||
| e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | |||
| f) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| i) Inheritance taxes | |||
| j) Payroll taxes | |||
| k) Other or expanded categories | |||
| My number one priority is to bring all of the troops home from abroad. This includes all troops, even those stationed in places like Germany, Japan, Korea, and England. My second priority is repeal the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA and the warrantless wiretapping provisions of the Patriot Act. No additional funding is required for any of my priorities. |
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