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Mark Heacock's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.

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New Jersey Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test

Pro-choice a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life?
No 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?
This is an issue to be decided by only two people, the woman and her doctor. This is so basic a right for women that men should stay the hell out of it....including all those men on various Supreme Courts.

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.

Greatly Decrease a) Agriculture
Slightly Increase b) Arts
Greatly Decrease c) Defense
Slightly Decrease 1) Intelligence operations
Eliminate 2) Military hardware
Eliminate 3) National missile defense
Slightly Increase 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel
Greatly Decrease 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates
Eliminate 6) Research and development of new weapons
Greatly Increase d) Education
Slightly Increase e) Environment
Maintain Status f) Homeland security
Maintain Status g) International aid
Slightly Increase h) Medical research
Slightly Increase i) Scientific research
Maintain Status j) Space exploration
Maintain Status k) United Nations
Maintain Status l) Welfare
Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Greatly Increase b) Capital gains taxes
Maintain Status c) Cigarette taxes
Maintain Status d) Corporate taxes
Maintain Status e) Gasoline taxes
Eliminate f) Income taxes (low-income families)
Slightly Decrease g) Income taxes (middle-income families)
Greatly Increase h) Income taxes (high-income families)
No 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax?
Yes 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year?
6) Other or expanded principles
Unknown Position 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy?
a) agriculture: the susidies for corn and corn by-products (i.e. high fructose corn syrup) have led to a vast array of "food products" that are not really food. I would support subsidies for real food, but not for "manufactured food products" 4) while I support increases in pay for active duty personnel, and for those maimed and disfigured in war, the goal should be to eliminate the need for "active duty personnel" and injured men and women returning home not as they were. l) do you mean aid to the poor, or corporate welfare? the latter should be eliminated.
The top tax bracket used to be 91%....then 70%.....then 51%. Now it is 36%, and the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown ever wider as the top tax rate has gone down. In 1964, the average CEO was paid 25 times the average worker. Now the ratio is more like 475-1. If that's ok with you....fine. If it is not, please be aware that it did not happen by accident. These numbers are a direct result of public policy. Politics is about public policy.....and the policy can be changed through the will of the people.
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?
I support penalizing corporations that move manufacturing jobs to other countries in order to exploit cheaper labor. It may be closing the barn door after the horses have run away, but it still should be done.
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?
g) Other or expanded principles
Yes 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?
Prisons have become a big-time private industry in this country, resulting in the largest prison population per capita in the world. This is not surprising. When there is a profit motive in having more prisoners, more prisoners will be created. That's how Capitalism works.
No a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students?
Yes b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs?
Yes 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
Yes 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?
c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts?
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?
f) Other or expanded principles
Yes a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants?
b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country?
No c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language?
Yes d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
e) Other or expanded principles
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?
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?
j) Other or expanded principles
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?
d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs?
d) question is not specific enough
My top priority is to change US policy regarding war. It is not in the interests of the vast majority of our citizens to engage in wars such as Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars only serve the interests of the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us of fifty years ago. If we slash the military budget by 50-75%, we can better fund education, greatly reducing property taxes, crime, birth rates and drug use, while increasing the happiness of all. I will never abdicate the Congress' responsibility to declare war.

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