Brett Borden's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Brett Borden has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Washington State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| I support the option of abortion being legal early in pregnancy on personal choice grounds. I understand the sensitive nature of the issue and respect that good people differ in their opinions. Fundamentally, however, I find the idea of the government restricting personal medical decisions to that extent and criminalizing the practice to be a greater assault on liberty than more vague and non-demonstrable concepts like the question of when a fetus gains personhood. | |||
| Yes | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| My concern with the reliance on increased taxes to balance budgets is the inherent, regressive nature of taxation. In Washington, our tax system relies heavily on blatantly regressive options like the sales tax and "sin" taxes, as well as property taxes which are regressive in that they trickle down to poor and working people in the form of increased cost of living. A better solution is to limit taxation and seek societal solutions to problems that do not prop up expensive and wasteful bureaucracies that lead to more future tax hikes. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| While regulations are often overdone and placing restrictions on campaign finance is at-odds with literal libertarian philosophy, I recognize it may be necessary in order to ensure elections are as free and as fair as possible. In Washington, I do not see altering current campaign reporting laws as a priority, though election reforms to open up voter choice and ballot access are a key campaign issue. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Washingon? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| No | f) Should State Patrol agents be allowed to destroy firearms that have been confiscated in criminal investigations? | ||
| I support broad criminal justice reforms in order to make our justice system more just, effective, and equitable. This includes rolling back all victimless crime laws, ending cash bail, ending state-mandated theft via civil forfeiture, demilitarizing police, and generally realigning priorities and incentives to meet goals of rehabilitation and improving society. While these are all goals consistent with libertarian philosophy and the party platform, I do depart somewhat on private prisons simply because their incentives do not align with that of society. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Washington? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| No | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| No | h) Do you support occupancy restrictions on domestic residences? | ||
| As Washington does not have an income tax, point b) is moot. I certainly support reducing the tax burden elsewhere, however. On g) I absolutely do not support using the power of the State to grease the gears of big business at the expense of taxpayers. The best relief that can be offered to small businesses is to butt-out and allow them to operate instead of regulating them out of existence to where all we have left are big box and major Internet retailers. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Washington? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Washington? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Washington high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Insofar as there exists government funding for education, I support including charter schools towards increased school choice for parents. On c) the phrasing suggests the government mandate increased salaries and benefits, and I oppose such artificial manipulation of the market as it tends to have negative unintended consequences. This would be better achieved through collective bargaining agreements. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| No | d) Do you support restricting local waterway usage for commercial beverage production? | ||
| I recognize that some environmental regulation is prudent and accept it on a reasonable level. This is a place I differ somewhat from the party platform. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| As a state that has expanded gun control quite heavily in recent years, my focus is more toward ensuring the government does not further infringe on the right to self-defense. Given the heightened tensions between the People and the State over justice reform in recent months it has become more apparent than ever that Americans cannot depend upon the government for protection or to have our best interest at heart. | |||
| No | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| No | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Washington's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| I support increasing health options by ending the collusion between the State and the insurance industry that preys upon our people. Increased competition including insurance-free options serve to bring costs down while increased government mandates propping up big insurance increase harm. Toward this end, single-payer without mandatory insurance is preferable to the current system, but would still result in limited choice and costly bureaucracy. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Washington's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Washington's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support greater efforts by Washington state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| While anti-discrimination laws do run somewhat contrary to libertarian philosophy and its focus on voluntary relationships, I believe that in the public marketplace they have a useful function to ensure equal access. Voluntary relationships are still best in that it also works in reverse to be able to tell a bigot to get stuffed and disassociate from dealing with them, though there have been some situations where broadly ingrained attitudes can effectively block access to the market for an individual who is perceived as being the "other." | |||
| I stand for the civil liberties and individual freedoms of all individuals, no exceptions. I will be a firm supporter of broad criminal justice reform measures to make our justice system more just, effective, and cheaper. I support election reforms to maximize voter choice and allow us all to get what we want out of our leaders and hold them accountable. Lastly, I want to scale back excessive regulation that stifles our livelihood and freedom to improve ourselves, both at work and at home. | |||
| My top priority of meaningful justice reforms are not so much a question of how to fund it as to get the government out of the way and put and end to harmful government policies. Decriminalizing and instituting these reforms saves money rather than costs additional money. |
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