Kenneth Hamilton's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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Kenneth Hamilton has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Arkansas Congressional Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I support the principles of Libertarians for Life(www.l4l.org). | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Defense spending should be reduced by instituting a noninterventionist foreign policy that emphasizes the interests of the United States. The income tax should be repealed and replaced by a national sales tax known as the Fair Tax(www.fairtax.org). | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Political contributions should be from people, not organizations such as corporations or unions. Individuals should be free to contribute as much money they want desire to candidates and political organizations with full public disclosure of the contribution and the amount. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| I have no problem in principle with the idea of capital punishment but it is used in an inconsistent manner and mistakes in the conviction of innocent people have come to light in the news. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I support Austrian economic principles and oppose Keynesianism/Mercantilism. The purpose of revenue collection should be to raise funds for the Constitutional functions of the federal government, not to attempt to entice various actions by people or organizations. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| There is no Constitutional warrant for the federal government to be involved in education. That is a state and local matter. | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| As long as eminent domain is used sparingly and fairly I support building the Keystone XL pipeline. Offshore drilling should be done in as environmentally friendly a manner as possible. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Human beings breathing out carbon dioxide is not polluting the air and plants need CO2 to produce oxygen that human beings breathe. Climate happens. The world is not warming; if anything, it is cooling. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| The second amendment is still operative in 2014 in restricting the actions of Congress. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Government involvement in health care services has vastly increased costs during my lifetime. The free market can much more efficiently and effectively deliver health care services to the American people. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| I support going to a state-based visa system where states can bring in immigrants based on the needs of the various state economies. The federal government would oversee the program to ensure that people such as terrorists or criminals are not allowed into our country. The federal government would continue to handle naturalization per the U.S. Constitution. Immigrants who are currently here illegally would have to be accepted into one of the state-based programs or return home. | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| There is no Constitutional warrant for the federal government to be involved in 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 war on a method of warfare known as the "War on Terror" has not succeeded and will never succeed. Unfortunately, as long as one person in the world is willing to die to kill innocent people terrorism will exist. The "War on Terror" has morphed into a war on the civil liberties of the American people. The campaign against Iran based on the idea that they are trying to build a nuclear weapon has been debunked by Gareth Porter in his book, "Manufactured Crisis". | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| Over a period of decades I would like to see the Social Security program eliminated in total and people allowed to handle their own retirement planning without federal government interference. | |||
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.
| Eliminate | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Eliminate | h) Medical Research | ||
| Eliminate | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Eliminate | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Eliminate | l) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Eliminate | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Eliminate | 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 | ||
| Obviously, a lot of this spending would have to be unwound over time, especially welfare. | |||
| I would like to see a transition to a national sales tax. Some taxes would have to be phased out such as payroll taxes. | |||
| 1. We should pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Yearly budget deficits over $1 trillion are not sustainable. 2. We should restore sound money through reinstituting a gold standard for the U.S. dollar. If it exists at all, the Federal Reserve should be nothing more than a currency board. 3. We should repeal the 16th amendment, eliminate the income tax, and replace it with a national sales tax to jump start the economy. |
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