Jay Whitethorn's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Jay Whitethorn has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Minnesota State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| No | 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 the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| Unborn children have committed no crimes against society and done no wrong to its individuals. Rape of a woman is a terrible crime that the unborn child did not commit and should therefore not be killed for. It is also one of many reasons rape of a woman is different from rape of a man. During my training in the U.S. Marine Corps we learned that one way to make killing the enemy easier is to dehumanize him in our minds. As a society we must resist all attempts to dehumanize our innocent, fragile and utter helpless unborn children. | |||
1) State Spending:Using the key, indicate 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 Taxes:Using the key, indicate 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 Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Minnesota's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| j) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Tapping into Minnesota's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| Yes | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| Yes | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| The reason these programs suffer is not due to lack of funds. It is due to a poorly designed system. If the system is poorly designed it will not accomplish what it is supposed to accomplish. This does not mean more money must be spent to make it work. It means the system must be fixed before more money is spent. If you have water in your boat because there is a hole in it, bailing out the water is a good idea but don't forget to fix the hole before you take it back out on the lake again. | |||
| I support the worker's right to engage in collective bargaining and the workers right to undercut a collectives offer through individual bargaining. The worker owns her labor and no one else. She may work for what she individually agrees on or collectively agrees to and can change her mind at any time for any reason. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | b) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| My wife is a first generation immigrant who resides in America legally. We have family members overseas we would like to have come to America. If we must do this legally so must everyone else. A violent crime committed by a minor should be considered for prosecution as an adult on a case by case basis. Minors sending sexually explicit or nude photos of themselves should be charged with an offense other than child pornography unless a child other than themselves was involved. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| No | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| One way government spending as a means for promoting economic growth can be accomplished is by giving the people back the money the government took from them in the first place. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Minnesota high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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 state funding for improvements to Minnesota's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. | |||
| 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) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | |||
| b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| According to Darwin's theory of evolution, any species not optimized for its own survival has marked itself for extinction. This has been condemned by the religious right as cold hearted and inhumane. If Darwin was right then humanity must take steps to ensure sustainable optimization of the species. If Darwin was wrong then his theory is inherently homophobic and must not be spread through our public school system as it will create hostility at the conscious or unconscious level towards members of the LGBT community. | |||
| 1) Parents and teachers must be put back in control of education. 2) Sustainable families must be optimized and incentivized through systemic processes. 3) More government programs must be used as short term solutions to their long term problems instead of pretending to be an end all be all solution to everything. Each government program must have a goal that the tax payer can measure so everyone knows if it is accomplishing what the politicians promised. Every level within the organization must do its part to accomplish that goal. Waste can then be found and eliminated within each government program. |
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