Donald Rients' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Illinois Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I am fully pro-life. I believe that life starts at conception and that fact should become law. Compromising the life of a child at any other time, whether it be the 3rd trimester or even over 20 weeks, is a travesty. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| I believe that better management and less waste in military spending is a way to get the same amount of bang for your buck. It would only be a slight reduction due my belief that the military is one area that our Federal government is suppose to be responsible for and maintain to a level of great security for its citizens. I am not sure that we can get to a balanced budget without at least some cuts in the military or possible charging those who we protect. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| The elected officials of the United States should represent their constituency, i.e. individual persons. These individuals should not be overshadowed by large and/or rich organizations. The influence of money from wealthy organizations can influence politicians to vote on issues that they would otherwise not vote for. This is due to the money that can help the politician heighten their chances to win an election. These decisions may not be in the best interest of the individuals of the district. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Federal money can be used for infrastructure improvements to promote economic growth. A law was just passed that did lower the corporate taxes significantly. This tickle-down theory means that more money in the system provides for more hiring, research, etc. and the ability to tax that money more often as it is produced as income and spent. Hopefully corporations don't behave badly and give the money as larger bonuses to executives, etc. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| It is unconstitutional (10th amendment) for the federal government to control or "bribe" the States for education standards. The system of education should be left up to the States to determine what is best for their geographical area. It is also wrong for the federal government to obtain identifiable test scores and other such personal information on the citizens of this country. | |||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Some research in the development of renewable energy may be good to do, but subsidies for installation and competition against other forms of energy I do not support. Let the free market decide. I believe that the dangers of greenhouse gases are not at the level of urgency or degree that the Al Gore's and global warming community would have us believe. There have been too many manipulated reports from these folks. An extensive, unbiased study would need to occur before we go off the cliff hurting our economy (while our competitors are given a pass). | |||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| The second amendment is there for a reason. The reason is to not just protect ourselves, for competition and sport, but to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government. I am not saying that the citizens should be able to have a nuclear bomb, but we should not be burdened when it comes to exercising our second amendment right to own arms. I do support some limited control to protect the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of us citizens. We need to be reasonable. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| What a terrible plan, or should I say motive. This plan has helped destroy the fragile medical system of this country. Our premiums have sky rocketed. This "plan" in no doubt meant to get us to a one payer system, i.e government health care system. It makes this socialist system look very good after a while when one can no longer afford health care. The system needs to have free market competition. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? | ||
| Yes | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| We are a country of laws. These laws protect the citizens of this country. To allow otherwise is to undermine our great American society. We have been down the road of pardoning illegal immigration many times. This is definitely not the solution. If we stopped pardoning this illegal activity then the expectations for being pardoned would also drop and we would have less of a problem. | |||
| No | Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes? | ||
| Very hard question. Eight states currently go against the federal government and "legalize" Marijuana. It should definitely be used for controlled medical purposes. I think that it is possible to leave it up to each of the states to legalize it, otherwise what does the federal government do to the states that currently allow it? I could see advantages as it would undermine organized crime, be taxable, reduce prison populations, and be a safer product than the street bought versions. At the end of the day though my conscious would lean me to vote against the idea of legalization. | |||
| Yes | Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| Yes | Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support? | ||
| As a coalition with other countries, stopping the proliferation of nuclear arms would be something I would be willing to vote yes on. There are currently treaties in place, NPT for one, that allow for actions if needed. For the Middle Eastern conflicts, I would generally say let them fight against themselves and step back a little. There may be times where we might need to have boots on the ground for humanitarian ,weapons of mass destruction reason, or world energy supply reasons. I also support protecting Israel strongly. | |||
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