Richard Thripp's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Richard Thripp has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Florida Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I support the right to abortion and am opposed to government meddling and onerous restrictions such as the Hyde amendment. For pro-life voters, I note that we would actually reduce the numbers of abortion that occur by implementing progressive policies, such as Medicare for All, higher wages, maternal leave, sex education, etc. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| We need to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy and on high earners, including top corporations. Special interests buy off politicians and write the tax code to favor themselves. It's no accident that we've seen the greatest wealth stratification in modern history in the past few decades. We also need to fully staff and fund the IRS and reduce militarism. I support deficit spending, but it should go toward Americans who are hurting. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| There should be more regulations on funding from vested interests. Too many politicians are not free agents but rather corporate enablers, and it's very cheap to buy influence. The FEC doesn't even have a quorum to enforce federal election and campaign finance laws, which is insane. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| We're spending too much money and we're doing it really stupidly to benefit people like Michael Waltz (my Republican opponent in Florida's 6th congressional district) and businesses like Boeing, Blackwater/Xe, Lockheed, Northrop, etc. There is a place for military spending but we are overdoing it and should emphasize spending with better bang for your buck like diplomacy, USAID, etc. Our State department is in tatters. | |||
| 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? | ||
| We've really advantaged and privileged the big players like Amazon to the detriment of small and local businesses. COVID-19 relief should prioritize individuals and small businesses. Our monetary policy (Federal Reserve) gives crazy advantages to certain industries (banks and finance, for example). They are buying corporate debt (through a special-purpose vehicle), for the first time in history. That's "socialism" for those at the top of our economy. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Although states' rights are important, I think we need more standardization nationally and this can be done in a balanced way. We need to prioritize education at all levels with an emphasis on extra funding and support for disadvantaged students and regions such as those with low property tax revenues, urban areas, etc. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes on funding renewables. Removing subsidies for fossil fuels alone would help. When GHGs are emitted for free, that's a subsidy. Some estimates say we spend 10 times more on fossil fuel subsidies than education! Fracking is a financial and ecological disaster. Flaring of byproduct natural gas is insane. We need a Green New Deal. Resultant technological innovations will spread abroad. The USA needs to show leadership before it's too late. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I support red-flag laws, magazine capacity limit of 10, removing legal immunity from gun manufacturers, assault weapons ban, and other items that resulted in me being listed as a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate. One of my talking points is the NRA is stupid in its crusade against gun regulations. Rampant gun violence affects public sentiment toward law-abiding gun owners, too. As a husband and father, this is an important issue to me. I sat right across from the Tallahassee yoga studio murderer at Starbucks at Target in Orange City many times. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I support universal healthcare for all without required insurance, premiums, co-pays, networks, or deductibles. This is typically referred to as Medicare for All. As a step toward this I support expanding Medicaid in all 50 states (see H.R. 584). I'll support whatever incremental change we can accomplish, but let's aim high�we put men on the moon 6 times, we can do it! As for COVID-19, businesses like Amazon are ridiculous, requiring a positive COVID-19 test result from the worker in order to receive only 14 days paid leave. | |||
| 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? | ||
| The wall is a total red herring dog whistle. Returning unlawful immigrants to their countries of origin can be very bad for their health. Immigrants are a net positive and are being used as a scapegoat by this administration. Malcolm Gladwell has done writing and podcasting on the fact that if you make crossing the border easier, Mexicans come for the job opportunities and return to be with their family. Draconian policies are detrimental to Americans, too, and actually increase immigration (if that's what you're worried about) with entire families moving permanently to the USA. | |||
| 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? | ||
| The WMDs did not turn up in Iraq. It was an excuse. Follow the money to see who profits from these disastrous expensive wars. We need to leave the middle east and Afghanistan. Waltz (my Republican opponent) says the problem is we needed to a much bigger invasion force and presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think that's ridiculous. There are war hawks on both sides of the aisle, and examining FEC data quickly reveals why. | |||
| No | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| This is a difficult issue for me. I think we need to punish bad actors who flood our markets with goods made at low wages under horrible working conditions. The way Donald Trump has implemented tariffs has been foolish, haphazard, and disastrous for many hardworking Americans. International trade is important, but I think there's a place for protectionism, too. We have a wonderful retired professor of economics on our volunteer team who I will continue to consult with after I am elected to Congress. I'm a big fan of taking advice from experts. | |||
| Pushing toward universal healthcare for all first via getting Florida to expand Medicaid (H.R. 584) Best-in-class constituent services and replicating Alan Grayson's federal grant tracking system to help the district Work to expand social safety nets (push for UBI, expand SNAP, etc.) Expand and restore the IRS (including funding to overhaul antiquated computer systems) and other federal agencies Take the climate crisis seriously including co-sponsoring and advocating for a Green New Deal |
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