Lloyd Clarke's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Lloyd Clarke submitted the 2010 Political Courage Test after the official deadline and release of results to the media. The candidate's late responses are provided here as a public service.
Michigan Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| No | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| Women should be able to have a safe, legal abortion without government interference. | |||
1) SpendingIndicate what federal funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.2) TaxesIndicate what federal tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Eliminate | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Maintain Status | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Slightly Increase | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Maintain Status | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Homeland security | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Medical research | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Scientific research | ||
| Eliminate | j) Space exploration | ||
| Slightly Increase | k) United Nations | ||
| Maintain Status | l) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax? | ||
| No | 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year? | ||
| No | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| Increase money for unemployment and fund a national job core to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. | |||
| Tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. | |||
| No bailouts for banks, insurance companies or speculators. | |||
| No | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| No | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing the federal minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the ability of workers to unionize? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| Stop rewarding companies that transfer jobs off shore. | |||
| No | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should candidates for federal office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support giving the President the power of the line item veto for items concerning appropriations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support limiting the President's ability to define how legislation is applied through the use of signing statements? | ||
| Congress should consider public funding of elections. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related training and job-placement assistance when released? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| Reduce funding for the U.S. prison-industrial complex. | |||
| No | a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students? | ||
| No | b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support international emissions targets aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing energy producers to trade carbon credits under a "cap and trade" system? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support strengthening fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles? | ||
| No | e) Do you support domestic oil exploration in federally-protected areas? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individual citizens to own guns? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? | ||
| I would support a single payer Medicare style healthcare for all program. A Single Payer national healthcare plan saves between $300 to $400 billion a year because the 30 percent administrative cost is gone. Obama's "Public Option" plan is a giveaway to the insurance industry and perpetuates their profits. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Employers should be penalized for knowingly hiring unregistered immigrants. | |||
| No | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| No | e) Do you support granting aid to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state? | ||
| No | g) Do you support increasing sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq? | ||
| No | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| Reduce military aid to Israel. | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| I support repealing the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. There is no compelling reason to not allow people to be who they are. There is no evidence that the presence of gays and lesbians in the military has a negative effect on the overall morale of other soldiers. | |||
| A two year national moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions is urgent. Extend unemployment benefits, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Fund (TANF). Helping our neighbors helps all of us. Stop bailing out banks and speculators. End "free trade" agreements that put American workers at a disadvantage and causes an imbalance in trade. Eliminate tax breaks that reward companies that move operations off shore. Stop aggression and endless wars that have cost more than a trillion dollars (and countless lives) and use the money that would be saved for human needs, jobs, and rebuilding our cities. |
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