Donald Larson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Donald Larson has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Ohio Congressional Election 2016 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Undocumented citizens deserve all the legal accords of undocumented immigrants. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| The options to this question are too limiting. All items appropriations by the Congress deserve a robust debate and may be increased or decreased to balance the budget. The level of taxation and revenues collected determine the boundaries of that debate in the appropriations process. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Unions, corporations and thousands of other interest groups are part of the vast array of Americans participating in the Democratic process. | |||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| All three of these questions insufficiently describe the activity of the justice systems at the local, State and Federal level. For the limited level of criminal activity where an American citizen is charged for a Federal crime, deference to the State and Local authorities should be made. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Fundamentally any business retaining its own revenue and making investments or returning that money to owners or employees will spur job creation. That is a good thing. However the purpose of the tax code should be to generate revenue for Federal expenditures through the appropriations process and not to socially engineer the economic system of the country. | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support increased regulations on the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| The Keystone pipeline, Huron pipeline and other private infrastructure projects should be reviewed for compliance with existing regulatory restrictions and if in compliance, permits approved. Fundamental energy research, windmills to 100% efficient antimatter reactors is appropriate for the National Labs of the United States government. Mandating specific energy production is inappropriate. Increasing regulations on any industry must be strictly weighed against the cost and benefits of such regulations. Reductions in freedom, economic growth, national power, standard of living, quality of life and life expectancy to due any regulatory increase must not reduce prosperity. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Catastrophic climate change and mass extinctions are part of the geologic record. Carbon dioxide is transparent to broad spectrum radiation and reflective to infra red radiation. It has positive coefficient of feedback on the dynamic system of global temperature. Current climate modeling is unable to predict accurately any of the catastrophic climate changes in global history or even the little Ice Age of the last one thousand years. Given the high likely hood of civilization collapse or even human extinction in the event of an epochal ice age, climate research must be a priority of all people on the planet. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
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.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Defense | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Greatly Increase | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Small business taxes | ||
| Eliminate | d) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Eliminate | e) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | j) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | k) Payroll taxes | ||
| I want to privatize welfare, not eliminate it, means better welfare and expanded services | |||
| I plan to offset the reduced tax rate with a greater volume of taxes through economic expansion and I plan to increase funds to the government by federalizing the banking system (federal reserve) and change the way we create money | |||
| Re-negotiate foreign trade deals that allow for tariffs when imports exceed exports by dollar value with any foreign country. Energy - we need cheap and clean energy, not expensive renewable and biofuels that poison our lakes and streams. Will focus on greatly expanding safe nuclear energy and advanced natural gas and coal Ethanol - The ethanol policy has raised food costs, hurt the quality of our drinking water and is making us dependent on the rest of the world for food. I want to eliminate the Renewable fuels standard. |
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