Rick Lewis' 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.
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Rick Lewis has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Washington Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
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| The policy focus on abortion should be on reducing the need, not punishing women or doctors. Compare how we have dealt with tobacco vs drugs. Tobacco use is at an all time low in the US, but we have an opioid crisis on our hands. Banning something we don't like doesn't stop it, it just makes us feel good when we punish a bad person. Lets try to fix the issue rather than just being righteous. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| This is the #1 issue which prevents progress on any other issue. Big money must be removed from the system before we can hope to fix any other issue. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| My background in Military Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence has shown me that we are undergoing a shift from high cost manned platforms to swarms of low cost unmanned platforms. Aside from the need to spend money to keep congressional districts happy (see campaign finance) I feel the money we have available is sufficient to extend our defensive and force projection capabilities. Military pensions & retiree benefits should be moved to the mandatory side of the budget though to fall in alignment with our national retirement and senior healthcare systems. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| There needs to be a minimum standard across the country and we should seek to increase that over time. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Why there is a debate over long term self-sufficiency in the energy sector is beyond my comprehension. I spent far too much time in military intelligence in the middle east to ever want to be dependent on those governments for the health of our economy. The greenhouse debate should be on energy efficiency not emissions. Efficiency improved the quality of life of our citizens while reducing emissions as a free benefit. Elon Musk and the electric car revolution he pioneered is on track to reduce CO2 emissions more than all of the signing nations of the IPCC. Efficiency always wins. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I would use an insurance based model to ensure that psychotic, murderous, evil people can't get their hands onto guns while a 19 year old girl being stalked while at college can. The best gun control is the one which keeps guns just out of the hands of bad people while allowing the good people to have access if they desire. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| All benefits including paid time off should be provided by the government, not a company. It reduces entrepreneurial risk taking activities, locks people into jobs they hate, and reduces the competitiveness of US labor. Our current system of employer provided benefits is inefficient and hampers economic growth. It also has a tendency towards concentrating wealth. | |||
| 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 Berlin wall which was manned by guards who would shoot people trying to cross it didn't work. Even East German, former SS guards couldn't frighten people away from crossing a wall to seek a better life. Our wall is nothing more than political theater. As for making people leave before applying for citizenship... why? We want people to apply for legal status. Making it harder to do so, doesn't make it more likely. Again, this makes no sense. | |||
| 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)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts? | ||
| I was in Military Intelligence. The only terror attacks you hear about are the ones we failed to prevent. Authoritarian regimes, terror cells and the like should not be allowed to have the capability to kill millions of people. Now if a non-aligned democracy wanted WMDs... They have the same rights as we do. We should strive for a peaceful world, but punishing India or Brasil for possessing the same weapons that we possess seems insane. The difference between authoritarian regimes and democracies is that one is a country while the other is a person. People don't need nukes. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| I would move environmental laws, labor laws, currency manipulation laws, intellectual property violations and such into a sin tax on consumption within the US while removing all other barriers. This would have all businesses involved in the US economy operating on a level playing field. This will provide the greatest value to american consumers without eroding labor conditions or environmental quality. If anything, it will improve those things abroad. The revenues from the sin taxes would be returned through an Alaska style citizen dividend every month. | |||
| As I specifically stated a few times, getting money out of politics is the top priority which must proceeds any other priorities in order for them to have a chance of succeeding. Our current system works great if you happen to be rich enough to be a large donor. Lets make it great for everyone else. Next we need to eliminate the tyranny of the 51%. While it only feels like tyranny if you are in the 49%, we have a toxic winner take all system which is gamed excessively. Fixing both of these are are achievable, and my plan. |
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