Sharmin Smith's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Sharmin Smith did not provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2022 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
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.
Presidential Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| My mother was a pro with a coat hanger and terminated multiple pregnancies, not all her own. She tried to terminate mine several times. I know what its like to be raised by a mother who does not want you and a father that wants you for all the wrong reasons. I will not force any woman who does not want a child to have one. I will support her right to make the choice that is right for her. That choice should be made privately, with the assistance of qualified medical professionals, procedures should be safe and legal. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| I support a flat tax across all income levels and industries, with no write-off's or deductions. I believe it's time to tax the churches and remove the non-profit status of corporations who are tricking the system. It's time to remove the income caps on Social Security and Medicare. I believe Medicare for all is fully achievable and fund-able today if we streamline the existing system and combine all of the government healthcare programs into one program paid for with our current tax deductions. I believe we make more than enough money in this country to pay for everything we need. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Americans have known for far too many years that politicians are for sale. Our current tax system is a perfect example of how it's cheaper to buy a politician than it is to pay taxes. Buy some cheap politicians, then write your own laws to avoid expensive taxes. These people are smart and creative and no matter how many laws are created to require disclosure, they will find ways around them. Unions were created as a way to protect our greatest asset, human capital. America is the greatest union ever created, it's time that it was run like one. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| As a military brat and spouse I can assure you that ensuring our military is fully funded and capable of defending our nation and its citizens is of the highest priority to me. I also assure that as a bill collector, fraud investigator and mortgage underwriter these numbers do not make sense and are not sustainable. The most difficult message I delivered as a mortgage collector was the need to reevaluate priorities. America, it's time for us to reevaluate ours. 50%+ of our budget is not working. Lenders do not want your house to be over 29% for good reason. | |||
| 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? | ||
| It's widely believed throughout the business world that in order to make money, you must spend money. I support creating a living wage with mandatory increases, doubling teachers salaries and repairing our infrastructure. I support creating jobs at home and closing the loopholes that allowed jobs to leave in the first place. I support a flat tax for corporations and citizens that is far lower than the current tax rate. I support removing the write-off's and deductions that have created the situation we are in today. If corporations are people, they can have the same tax benefits as our citizens. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Not only do I support federal education standards, I support creating programs nationwide for adults who regret not paying more attention when they were in school. We have to put as much effort into truthfully educating our adult population as we put into educating our children. Right now we have the ability and the knowledge to resolve every issue that plagues us. We simply need to reevaluate our priorities. We are living in the greatest time in history and we are all smart enough, stable enough and compassionate enough to work together for the life we deserve to live. | |||
| Yes | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| I support government funding for corporations to develop renewable energy. However, open ended tax cuts are not proving to be beneficial to our nation as a whole. We've all seen Shark Tank and we know when investors help companies the investor get something in return that exceeds their investment. If we the taxpayers are going to fund corporations development of new products, we the taxpayer should get a portion of profits. For years the American Taxpayer has funded corporate development without seeing a return on their investment. It's time for this relationship to be truly mutually beneficial. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| As a gun violence survivor I believe it's long past time for gun-control legislation. As someone who has had to use a gun to defend myself I believe every girl ought to have a gun and be comfortable using it. We need training, licensing, storage and insurance requirements for gun owners. All licensing should be tied to Homeland Security identification requirements and be stored in conjunction with state issued identification. Red flag laws need to be enacted, gun owners should be required to take annual anger management classes and we need a reward program for voluntary participation. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| I do support repealing Obamacare. I believe we can fully fund Medicare for All by combining all of the government healthcare programs into one. Rather than having a dozen government run programs with different sets of red tape, combine them all into one and provide medical, dental, vision and hearing for our citizens with our current payroll deductions. Remove the income caps for people making over $132,900 a year. Ensure all prescriptions and procedures are covered at 100% and they're being billed at a rate that is sufficient to cover the product or service and not bankrupt our nation. | |||
| No | 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 do not believe that we conquered a continent. We sure plowed a path straight through the middle of it. Our country has always been a nation of immigrants, 2020 is the 400 year anniversary of the Mayflower landing and as a Mayflower Descendant now is the perfect time to resolve our immigration issue. I believe we should extend citizenship to anyone who wants it. I do not think we should be sending criminals to other countries. If they are here, we should punish them while we have them. I support the death penalty for pedophiles, rapists and violent murderers. | |||
| Yes | Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)? | ||
| No | Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts? | ||
| In the last few years we have all had to acknowledge what the Nuclear Plan is - everyone shoot all their bombs at once and destroy everything. Whoever lives, it sucks to be you. Now is the time for every country on the planet to work towards getting rid of these weapons, safely. America has produced and used these weapons. No country is going to trust us while we still have huge stockpiles. We as a nation need to show how we are going to handle our weapons so we lead the way for other nations to follow the leader. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| America used to be referred to as the shining city on the hill and I believe it should still be a beacon of light for humans around the world. Along with that belief comes the painful reality that it is time to reevaluate our priorities. America should stand for something and it should stand for more than money. If we can use tariffs for Soybeans we ought to be able to use them to demand better behavior from the countries we do business with. High tariffs should be added to any country who doesn't prosecute rape or allows child marriage. | |||
| I support the death penalty for pedophiles. I believe this one issue has the ability to unite 2/3 of the voting population across political divides and brings us all together to resolve the rest of the problems that plague us. More unites us than divides us and what unites us should absolutely be protecting our children from sexual abuse. We can stand together and glow very brightly as a shining city on the hill for every nation on earth with a purpose worth following. We can demand accountability from other nations and protect humanity world wide with this one mission. |
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