Liam O'Mara IV's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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Liam O'Mara IV has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
California Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Instead of banning abortions, we should work to reduce their frequency by expanding medical services to poorer Americans, offering free or discounted contraception (including IUDs), and ensuring adequate sex education to all teens so that they know the risks before they get involved. | |||
| 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 moving to a public system for insurance -- Medicare for all, as a single point of contact for payment -- and shoring up our national pension system (Social Security) in line with its original intent. No senior should live in poverty, and Social Security should not be taxed as income. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| I propose the following changes: -A system of public funding for political campaigns that removes the need for campaign contributions to candidates, using matching dollars for small-donor funds raised. -Clarification of bribery laws to include accepting or soliciting lobbyist cash. -Bans on the outside authorship of legislation. -A constitutional amendment to overturn the disastrous Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court. This would neuter the power of Political Action Committees, and combined with other changes to direct fund-raising by candidates, would lead to a clean system of elections in which elected officials would be beholden only to the American people. | |||
| No | Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct? | ||
| Far too often, the jurisdictions (and the taxpayers) are on the hook for the actions of those who depart from their training, or worse yet, have been trained by a system that fails to put a value on human life. Qualified immunity needs to end, so law enforcement and government officials know that they are personally liable for their actionsl. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| Far too much money is spent on the military budget. I will not support increasing the military budget. Too often, foreign policy is crafted to benefit the military industrial complex, and not the defense of the United States. I will not risk American lives just for the sake of government contractors. Instead, that funding should be directed to civilian projects. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| The real economy has plummeted in the wake of COVID-19. I support wage subsidies going directly to the working class and small businesses that have been negatively impacted. Every country that has recovered from the pandemic has done something like this. Why can't we learn from our neighbors? | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Yes, but not in the sense of standarized tests, but mainly in particular curricula (e.g., requiring civics again, support arts and trades, etc.) and in fact-based education (i.e., non-ideological materials). | |||
| 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 will stand behind the principles outlined in the Green New Deal, and will advocate policies which can realize its goals, to preserve the American way of life, with all its freedoms and prosperity, for our children. We have less than 10 years before we hit near-irreversible change in the environment. Industry will not spend the money to protect the planet unless federal regulation requires them to do so. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I am proposing three main areas of change. The first is to remove the pointless restriction on the CDC studying gun violence. Second, we need comprehensive background checks on all firearms sales -- an idea with broad popular support across party lines. According to Pew surveys, background checks for private sales are supported by 79% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats. Finally, I will propose a system of training, certification, and licensing for gun ownership, patterned essentially on the DMV. We need to require some basic licensing and competency for the possession of deadly weapons. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| Yes | Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| Yes, though not at their expense, but using federal dollars. Businesses should not suffer due to an unexpected national emergency. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Undocumented migrants have often been here for years, paying taxes, contributing to our economy. They have done so taking jobs that others would not, for the benefits of others. Often times, this country feels more like "home" to them. Why make them return when they are not causing problems, but frequently bettering society? | |||
| No | 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)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts? | ||
| Our interventions have nearly always had negative consequences, making people less safe both in the region and in the US. We should stop arming dictatorships and end our disastrous policies of armed intervention, and focus instead on human and economic development peojects. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| I do not oppose free trade, but I do oppose the neoliberal trade deals which have surrendered much sovereignty to corporate interests (e.g., WTO, GATT, NAFTA, TPP). I would rework these deals to end the surrender of power of labor, environment, finance, etc., to these multinationals, and allow states to act in their own best interest again. | |||
| I will support a universal basic income, single-payer health care, and a green new deal. The first can be paid for with a VAT on business transactions and via restoration of Johnson-era marginal rates along with slashing corporate subsidies and other waste, the second we are already paying for because our wasteful present insurance system costs almost twice as much, and the third would make money for the US economy by creating good jobs and stimulating industry as in the Space Race. |
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