Steven Puckett, Jr.'s Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Steven Puckett, Jr. has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Tennessee 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| In the instance of a woman's life being endangered, for me, the rules of triage would prevail, as both lives are equally valuable. To simply allow abortion based solely on the claim that a woman's life is endangered is reckless; as it would be abolishing the rules of triage by declaring that a woman's life is more valuable than the unborn child's. In the instance of rape, there has to be a dividing line at emergency contraception as rape victims already have enough negative stereotypes placed on them. My focus is defending a woman's right to choose life. | |||
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 Tennessee's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Tennessee's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| No | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| The state constitution states that the state will provide a "free public education." This does not mean that the federal and local governments provide the education, it means the state. It's time for Tennessee to stop using its students as federal guinea pigs and trading its sovereignty for federal tax dollars. It's time for innovative programs like a shared royalties program in K-12 schools that could help impoverished kids use their education to help feed the family. Positive innovation is key to success. Restructuring the welfare program into a WPA apprentice type program is another key to success. | |||
| I believe we should use a market based tax system, where the government sets a tax rate based on the number of instances a social cost is created. Example: The government sets a rate $1 for every DUI that occurs in a given year, now say 30 DUI's occur in a given year, then the tax would be $30 and the tax is applied to every industry that sells alcohol. This would allow the industries to lower their taxes by being responsible with their sales. | |||
| I would take a close look at the governor's economic development fund as the governor seems to be able scrape up a hundred million here and there for pet projects. | |||
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? | ||
| I believe PACs should be limited to advocating for issues not candidates. Also, the usage of shell corporations to hide political contributions should be put to an end. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Capital punishment should be reserved for those so dangerous to society that the possibility of escape is a clear threat to society. More study is needed before we start legalizing possession of drugs. All laws need to be enforced. I'm concerned about the usage of immigration laws to engage in labor importation where illegal immigrants a smuggled in to work and then are "discovered" the day before payment for their work is to be rendered. | |||
| No | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| I believe a WPA style apprentice type work program would help as well as an entrepreneur development program to help entrepreneurs gain quick access to the global economies of scale that is required to be successful. As far as providing the private sector with financial incentives for job creation, to me, that is the equivalent to paying customers to shop at your store. I, also, believe that the government should use a tax to recover any unintended subsidies provided to the private sector that is based on the means by which they are gaining the subsidy. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Tennessee high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| On the issue of Common Core, I don't support the state allowing the federal government to use tax dollars to intrude into our schools. The standards are another matter that should be weighed on their merits and not on whether or not federal tax dollars are attached. I don't support the private sector profiteering of tax dollars. Also, the state constitution say a "free public education" not a subsidized education. On principle, I consider vouchers unconstitutional in regards to the state constitution. I believe a merit pay system should include royalties off of student works not test score spreadsheets. | |||
| 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 Tennessee's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| I support alternative energy, but I, also, look at the cost as far as side effects and dependency issues. This is why I'm going to advocate for better emissions recycling from traditional energy sources, because I look at pollution as a wasted resource. I'm going to advocate for better methods of installation of solar power that takes into account firefighter concerns. As far as greenhouse gas emissions go, until we start placing tariffs on foreign producers of pollution; it is unreasonable to demand such standards here. Standards have to be reasonable and PRACTICAL. The practical part gets lost quite often. | |||
| 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 problem with guns is two fold: 1. Gun dependency. Too many people believe that a gun is the only way they can protect themselves and cure life's problems. 2. When guns are misused; people die. This can only be fixed with technology. We can land a man on the moon; but yet have not figured out how to create ammunition for a gun that will protect a person as well as a bullet, but not cause death. The closest we have gotten so far is the TASER, but we can do better. We just need a market incentive. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| No | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| I believe the government should cover all uninsured patients and a tax be levied on the insurance companies based the average cost of and the number of uninsured patients to encourage insurance to coverage patients. Medicaid to could be expanded to achieve the same coverage and recovery system, but allow patients to care their coverage outside of Tennessee. | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| The same-sex community has not yet explained the practical benefits to the human species of same-sex marriage, and the same-sex relationship for that matter. For the inclusion into Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws, I, also, want to add the status of violator of anti-discrimination laws as well because there are too many cases of anti-discrimination law violation accusations being used as an excuse to engage in discrimination and/or commit hate crimes. Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws shouldn't be used to "license hate," which seems to be the growing trend across the country. | |||
| My top priority is to put Tennessee on a path to fiscal sovereignty, where Tennessee is no longer dependent on federal tax dollars. I intend to achieve this through the usage of the innovative concept of market-based taxation and maximizing returns on invested tax dollars. My next priority is establishing a shared royalties program for our school system where student works are published and sold on the market and the royalties are shared. The start up cost would be paid for with economic development funding. My third priority is to refocus the economic development on local entrepreneurs not foreign companies. |
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