Edwin Farmer III's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Edwin Farmer III has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2021 Political Courage Test.
New Jersey State Legislative Election 2021 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | 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? | ||
| When it comes to abortion I'm a pragmatist. An outright ban would never survive women and girls dying during illegal abortions. But, the current state of late term abortion, lack of parental notification and other issues does severe damage to our nation and needs to be changed. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| The size of government can be reduced by attrition and the budget can be balanced through a combination of smaller government and economic growth. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in New Jersey? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Some individuals under 18 should be prosecuted as adults but it needs to be judged on a case by case basis. The police need to enforce the laws, if not, those laws should be repealed. Private, for profit, prisons are no better or worse than publicly run prisons. Both should be subject to the same oversight and the same treatment of prisoners. Non-violent crimes should not be subject to mandatory sentencing. Violent criminals should not be allow to plea to non-violent crimes. Crimes committed with a gun or while possessing an illegal gun should be subject to stiff sentences. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state taxes on businesses as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of New Jersey? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| The best thing that the government can do to promote economic growth is to get out of the way. New Jersey is currently rated as the worst state in the nation in which to start a business. The only reason that I support financial relief for the Covid emergency is that the government, unneccarily caused much of the economic impact. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in New Jersey? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in New Jersey? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from New Jersey high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring instruction on racial discrimination, social justice, diversity, and inclusion in New Jersey public schools? | ||
| The federal DoE should be disbanded. Funding should, for the most part, follow the student. Teaching isn't the low-paying profession that it once was. Performance should be rewarded and there should be competition for increases. Illegals should have to meet some requirements in order to qualify for in-state tuition. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| No | d) Do you support prohibiting single-use plastics in New Jersey like styrofoam, grocery bags and straws? | ||
| Energy generation that requires government subsidies to be competitive isn't "renewable". | |||
| No | a) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| Corporations and unions are groups of people who do not give up their right to free speech just because they are organized into a legal group. However, corporate management is already legally required to do what is best for their shareholders. Unions, on the other hand, are not required to do what is best for their members. Member should not be forced to have their union dues applied to political activism with which they do not agree. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Gun control legislation does nothing to prevent gun crime. Criminals, by definition, do not care about gun laws. Background checks should be universal, inexpensive and fast. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through New Jersey's health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | d) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid medical leave? | ||
| Opioid abuse needs to be combated on several levels from supply to sales to use. But, in the meantime, we need to have sufficient care for those who need treatment. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support greater efforts by the New Jersey state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| No | d) Do you support legislation that would hold guardians liable for damages caused by their child's bullying offenses? | ||
| Anti-discrimination laws should be greatly simplified. A list of identifying characteristics can never be complete and our society keeps inventing new characteristics they want included. It's time to end discrimination. It has been shown over and over that the pay gap IS closed. When comparisons include ALL of the relevant information (years of experience, education and performance, job selection and others) the gap all but disappears. | |||
| People are leaving New Jersey in droves. This needs to be stopped. It's policy that drives them away and those policies need to be and can be changed. This is my highest priority. New Jersey's gun laws are draconian. Recent changes have done nothing but make criminals out of otherwise law abiding citizens and they have made no one safer because criminals do not feel obliged to follow them. These regulations need to be rolled back and citizens need to be allowed to protect themselves. | |||
| Taxes, taxes, taxes . . . This is NJ . . . We are the highest taxed state in the union, the worst in which to start a business, our seniors can't afford to retire here and our college graduates can't afford to get started here. Reducing taxes, personal income, corporate and otherwise, will improve the business environment, create jobs and economic growth that will increase revenue and pay for itself. Too many believe that this can't be done, they believe that it's too late for NJ. It can and it's not. We need to get started. |
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