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Ron Curtis' 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.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Ron Curtis has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2024 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

What is the Political Courage Test?

Issue Positions

For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2024.

  • "Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? Pro-Life" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "In my core values, I believe we are all free to do as we chose unless it causes harm to someone else. I apply this to government as well. So I will always vote pro-choice based on the position that government should do no harm. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. In my pro-life stance, I am for passing legislation to support and encourage parents to carry their babies to term by offering medical assistance, maternal care assistance, and adoption assistance if wanted. This issue is better handled by family and community rather than by government." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? Pro-Life" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "In my core values, I believe we are all free to do as we chose unless it causes harm to someone else. I apply this to government as well. So I will always vote pro-choice based on the position that government should do no harm. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. In my pro-life stance, I am for passing legislation to support and encourage parents to carry their babies to term by offering medical assistance, maternal care assistance, and adoption assistance if wanted. This issue is better handled by family and community rather than by government." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Fiscal policy - Government is inept and wasteful because it has grown too big to be adequately managed or overseen. Health policy - ACA, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and the Veterans Health Administration. We need one, efficient and effective nationally-guided healthcare system for everyone in the US." (ballotpedia.org)
  • "Government is wasteful and inept because it has grown to the point that it is too big to be adequately managed or overseen. Government is responsible to balance the budget by eliminating waste and reducing spending before raising taxes. Before any law or regulation is enacted, the economic impact should be calculated fairly and disclosed publicly. I have the skill sets and outside-the-box thinking in innovation and change management to deliver or improve efficiency and effectiveness in government while significantly eliminating or preventing waste. Government always takes the easy path of increasing taxes over process improvements to eliminate waste." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? No" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Government exists to protect our inalienable rights, to defend our sovereignty and borders, and to provide infrastructure for the common good. Based on the Constitution, the government that governs least, governs best. Government, at any level, should not perform functions which are better and less expensively performed by individuals or private organizations. Government enforces laws that allow for a prosperous free market; it does not compete with nor over-regulate the free market." (ballotpedia.org)
  • "Biden wants the wealthy to pay their 'fair' share of taxes. Define 'fair'. More than the 87%? Per CNBC: The top 20% earners ($150K+) will pay 87% of the income taxes. The top 1% ($730K+) will pay 43% of the income taxes. The top 0.1% ($3.2M+) will pay 22% of the income taxes" (x.com)
  • "Government is wasteful and inept because it has grown to the point that it is too big to be adequately managed or overseen. Government is responsible to balance the budget by eliminating waste and reducing spending before raising taxes. Before any law or regulation is enacted, the economic impact should be calculated fairly and disclosed publicly. I have the skill sets and outside-the-box thinking in innovation and change management to deliver or improve efficiency and effectiveness in government while significantly eliminating or preventing waste. Government always takes the easy path of increasing taxes over process improvements to eliminate waste." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? No" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "The wealth tax is already in effect. The top 20% of wage earners pay 87% of the income taxes. The top 1% of wage earners earn 21% of the income, but pay 43% of the taxes. @elonmusk just paid the highest individual income tax in US history, over $11 billion." (x.com)
  • "Campaign focus: campaign finance reform" (roncurtis808.com)
  • "In adhering to my stance on campaign spending reform, I self-funded my campaign finances in the 2018 primary election and spent less than $2000. We prevailed in the eight-candidate US Senate primary election on a strong message, not by spending a large amount of money." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "Our election process has become more about fund raising than about the issues. The lobbyist and special interest impacts in our elections have grown beyond the point where they can’t be properly vetted and candidates are unknowingly accepting donations from lobbyists that represent bad actors." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "We need to take back control of our elections from lobbyists, special interests, and foreign entities. Our government is meant to be "of the people, by the people, for the people"…..not of the few, by the few, for the few, for the special interests, for the lobbyists." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "Justice is only just when it is available to everyone." (x.com)
  • "This trial is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. Who is the injured party? Whether Donald Trump and family lied about the value of assets is irrelevant. Any Trump family assets used to secure loans or investments would be appraised by 3rd party assessors prior to receiving the loans or investments. "We are a nation of law, not of men." -nor of politics" (x.com)
  • "I'm America First, but not an isolationist. We have a major role in the world, but it's not the our responsibility to police the world, it is an international collaborative effort. No nation building." (x.com)
  • "In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? No" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? Yes" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Federal government should remand services and programs to private enterprise wherever possible in the form of ?managed competition? in providing those services and programs. We should also use this approach to restrict the size and growth of government to match the private sector. Competition drives excellence." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Government is wasteful and inept because it has grown to the point that it is too big to be adequately managed or overseen. Smarter legislation. Competition drives excellence." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "Government exists to protect our inalienable rights, to defend our sovereignty and borders, and to provide infrastructure for the common good. Based on the Constitution, the government that governs least, governs best. Government, at any level, should not perform functions which are better and less expensively performed by individuals or private organizations. Government enforces laws that allow for a prosperous free market; it does not compete with nor over-regulate the free market." (ballotpedia.org)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Inflation Creation Act" -Doug Burgum" (x.com)
  • "Inflation Reduction Act hoax." (x.com)
  • "We need to address the affordability of a college education today and in the future. When looking at cost inflation from around 1990 to today we find that housing costs have gone up 50%, health care costs have gone up 100%, and college tuition+books have gone up 200%." (roncurtis808.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "CO2 contributions from human activity impacting climate change is a hoax and false flag to effect a transfer of power among "elites"." (x.com)
  • "Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? Yes" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "In 2020 much of the world went into extreme lockdown for 2 years and global industry came to a halt. Carbon-based fuel consumption declined by ~5% - where is the decrease in atmospheric CO2? It didn't happen!!! Human contributions to CO2 rate of increase is a false flag." (x.com)
  • "Through some early research, the most practical approach appears to be a transition to smaller neighborhood or community renewable energy farms that are managed from a central location. We need to protect the beauty of Hawai’i and respect our natural ‘Aina in the implementation of this approach." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "CO2 contributions from human activity impacting climate change is a hoax and false flag to effect a transfer of power among "elites"." (x.com)
  • "In 2020 much of the world went into extreme lockdown for 2 years and global industry came to a halt. Carbon-based fuel consumption declined by ~5% - where is the decrease in atmospheric CO2? It didn't happen!!! Human contributions to CO2 rate of increase is a false flag." (x.com)
  • "Do you generally support gun-control legislation? Yes" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "I support gun-control legislation that is not overly intrusive or too broad in scope. I support mandatory background checks for all means of gun purchases. The age related gun ownership laws are arbitrary when trying to assign maturity and responsibility to an age. We entrust our 18-year olds with guns to defend our freedoms in our military. Many states ban them from owning a gun until they are 21. Hypocrisy. The minimum requirement to serve in the military is being 18 years old and having a high school diploma or GED. Make that the same for gun ownership." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Rated 23% by Gun Owners of America (GOA) (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • " We need to take action to replace ACA as soon as we can. I have a comprehensive health care reform approach that takes incremental steps to gradually migrate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and eventually, the Veterans Health Administration into a unified nationally-guided health care system of private health care and health insurance providers covering all Americans." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "A common view is that since every other advanced country has a single-payer system, and the advantages of these schemes are pretty clear, the only real obstacles are a lack of imagination, or irresponsible Democrats and their donors. But the reality is more complicated." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is going to implode. ACA was rushed legislation ahead of a mid-term election cycle. It is over 2300 pages of an inefficient and ineffective legislation mess. It did provide insurance to many people who were previously uninsured, but with ineffective sustainability it rapidly became the Unaffordable Care Act" (roncurtis808.com)
  • "Under the current Medicare-for-All proposals, we would be forcing over 70 percent of the adult population—including tens of millions of people who have decent coverage from their employer or their union, or the Veteran’s Administration, or the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program—to give up their current insurance for Medicare. " (roncurtis808.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? Yes" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "I propose a dynamic needs-based immigration policy that allows for a higher immigration rate when unemployment is low and a lower immigration rate when unemployment is high. I propose making the immigration process more like an application for those jobs where the market data indicates the need. I propose prioritizing the needs-based immigration in accepting immigrants from countries that are under represented in America’s population diversity over those that are more highly represented. I propose capacity based compassion for humanitarian immigration." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "I support increased border security along the Mexican border including a wall where it makes sense. I am not for blanket amnesty for the over 11 million known undocumented immigrants, but having them all return to their country of origin doesn't seem very feasible, efficient, or cost effective. Paths to any type of permanent residence should be based on how and why they got here and their actions since arriving in the US. I also support an overhaul of our immigration policies. My approach to a dynamic Needs-Based Immigration Policy is posted on my website." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? No" (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "I propose a dynamic needs-based immigration policy that allows for a higher immigration rate when unemployment is low and a lower immigration rate when unemployment is high. I propose making the immigration process more like an application for those jobs where the market data indicates the need. I propose prioritizing the needs-based immigration in accepting immigrants from countries that are under represented in America’s population diversity over those that are more highly represented. I propose capacity based compassion for humanitarian immigration." (roncurtis808.com)
  • "I'm America First, but not an isolationist. We have a major role in the world, but it's not the our responsibility to police the world, it is an international collaborative effort. No nation building." (x.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
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.
Pro-life Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
In my core values, I believe we are all free to do as we chose unless it causes harm to someone else. I apply this to government as well. So I will always vote pro-choice based on the position that government should do no harm. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. In my pro-life stance, I am for passing legislation to support and encourage parents to carry their babies to term by offering medical assistance, maternal care assistance, and adoption assistance if wanted. This issue is better handled by family and community rather than by government.
No In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
No In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
Government is wasteful and inept because it has grown to the point that it is too big to be adequately managed or overseen. Government is responsible to balance the budget by eliminating waste and reducing spending before raising taxes. Before any law or regulation is enacted, the economic impact should be calculated fairly and disclosed publicly. I have the skill sets and outside-the-box thinking in innovation and change management to deliver or improve efficiency and effectiveness in government while significantly eliminating or preventing waste. Government always takes the easy path of increasing taxes over process improvements to eliminate waste.
Yes Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
As much as we can, we need to take money out of government politics. We need to take back control of our elections from lobbyists, special interests, and foreign entities. Our government is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, for the people" - not of the few, by the few, for the few, for the special interests, for the lobbyists. We also we need to repeal the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). There is "no" reason for foreign entities to have "any" influence over our elections. We have ambassadors and embassies for interfacing with foreign entities.
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 government should remand services and programs to private enterprise wherever possible in the form of ?managed competition? in providing those services and programs. We should also use this approach to restrict the size and growth of government to match the private sector. Competition drives excellence.
No Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
Federal standards tend to be too broad in scope and not focused enough on the more individual needs of our diverse student population skill sets. In my experience, programs like common core standards under-serve our students by preparing them more for standardized testing than for their post high school career paths. The students would be better served by focusing more on the processes of learning, reasoning, problem solving, troubleshooting, researching, and analyzing. This approach prepares the students better than standards based test knowledge for any path they choose post high school.
Yes Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
Yes Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
We need to transition to a more distributed utility grid to help protect the grid from disasters and bad actors. Research indicates that the most practical approach is a gradual migration to small neighborhood or community renewable energy farms that are managed from a central location. A government guided renewable energy development policy to drive this vision seems reasonable. I support federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions up to the point where it starts causing significant economic harm.
Yes Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
I support gun-control legislation that is not overly intrusive or too broad in scope. I support mandatory background checks for all means of gun purchases. The age related gun ownership laws are arbitrary when trying to assign maturity and responsibility to an age. We entrust our 18-year olds with guns to defend our freedoms in our military. Many states ban them from owning a gun until they are 21. Hypocrisy. The minimum requirement to serve in the military is being 18 years old and having a high school diploma or GED. Make that the same for gun ownership.
Yes Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
ACA is going to implode. Repealing it and replacing it is the best option. I have a comprehensive health care reform approach that takes incremental steps to gradually migrate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and eventually, the Veterans Health Administration into a unified nationally-guided healthcare system of private healthcare and health insurance providers. My approach is based on expanding the scope of the bipartisan Healthy Americans Act bill that was introduced in the Senate in 2007 and 2009.
Yes Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
No Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
I support increased border security along the Mexican border including a wall where it makes sense. I am not for blanket amnesty for the over 11 million known undocumented immigrants, but having them all return to their country of origin doesn't seem very feasible, efficient, or cost effective. Paths to any type of permanent residence should be based on how and why they got here and their actions since arriving in the US. I also support an overhaul of our immigration policies. My approach to a dynamic Needs-Based Immigration Policy is posted on my website.
Yes Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
I don't condone the irresponsible use of any legal or illegal drugs that puts others in harm's way. The problem with illegal or controlled substances, including marijuana, is threefold; crime, money, and addiction. In general, I favor legalizing, controlling, and taxing the industry to remove the crime and money problems related to illegal and controlled substances. Much like the repeal of prohibition, but with global benefits in the reduction of crime and cartels. We then need to use the taxes raised from drug legalization to fund social programs to address the drug awareness, abuse, and addiction problems that remain.
Yes Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
No Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
I support the limited use of military force in surgical strikes to take out the hostile's nuclear weapons programs. Your Middle Eastern conflicts question is too broad and I would have different answers for conflicts in different regions of the Middle East. The issues are far to complex to address here, but they include Shia vs Sunni differences, theocracies vs monarchies, Kurdish state establishment, national vs cross-nation tribal actors, and traditional religious beliefs vs global world values of today. I think the best long term role the US can play is in diplomacy as a mediator or arbitrator.
1) Reduce the high cost of living in Hawai'i through the repeal of the Jones Act with federal bailouts to the US shipping industries until they are competitive in the global market once again. 2) Reduce corruption in federal government through Campaign Spending Reform, Term Limits, and a constitutional Line Item Veto. 3) Hold government accountable to eliminate waste and inefficiencies through a Balanced Budget Amendment, Transparent Accountability, and Remanding services and programs to private enterprise wherever possible.

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