Mike Taylor's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Texas Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| It is very difficult to give definitive answers on this issue. I am personally pro-life but feel the government should not be involved so long as the unborn child cannot survive outside the womb. | |||
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 | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Slightly Increase | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Maintain Status | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Maintain Status | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Slightly Increase | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Medical research | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Scientific research | ||
| Greatly Increase | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| It is the duty of the federal government to provide for the common defense and little else. Education, science/space travel and medical research can help strengthen the federal governments ability to live up to this duty. | |||
| Some form/level of taxation is needed to maintain the duties of the government. The legislative and executive branches of government should work to review and repeal all pointless, failed or failing pieces of legislation and projects in order to reduce the need for higher levels of taxation then take steps to reduce taxation, overall. | |||
| The federal government has already shown an inability to manage 'stimulus' ideas. The U.S. have a resilient economy and can recover on it's own with greater strength. When government gets involved with bailouts, we only learn we can get away with mismanagement rather than allowing companies to fail so others can learn from their mistakes. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Chile have a hybrid Social Security system that gives people choice for federal or private system utilization. People should be free to choose. Though I do feel that unions have outlived their usefulness and have become over bloated and no better than those they were developed to protect workers from, I do feel that workers should be allowed to form unions. Their are plenty of laws and regulation in the U.S.. We don't even follow the rules that are in place...why add more? | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| If we allow anyone to give any amount to candidates, you end up maintaining a government filled with people that represent only those with money to spend. That, to me, does not follow the spirit of equal representation. | |||
| 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? | ||
| One of the reasons for higher crime rates would be, in my opinion, due to poor education that results in poor readiness for young people to move into the real world after high school. Many criminals are criminals based on needs and circumstance, again this is my opinion. If given a feeling of purpose and skills to be proud of, many, once they've paid their debt to society, should be prepared to reenter society as a more productive member in the work force. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| As I've said before, it is the duty of the federal government to provide for the common defense and to protect against all enemies both foreign and domestic. The best way to help protect against domestic enemies is to empower the people with education. I believe in funding of education by whatever method possible and acceptable by the community however, I do not agree with federal legislation for education. That duty is best served on the state and local levels. | |||
| No | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| Though I am not one to believe in the 'man-made' global climate change (not to any significant level) I do believe we should try and keep our air and water clean. I also support sciences that would improve our abilities to provide stronger defensive capabilities. Development of more efficient fuel sources can help with that and whatever new fuel sources or improvements can then be released to the private sector, as well. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| I believe that the founding fathers had it right. The people need to able to protect themselves from any number of threats. Another thing we must consider is the duty of the federal government to provide for the common defense. Allowing private citizens to own firearms is one of the most potent ways of ensuring this duty is being fulfilled. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| The federal government is restricted to certain duties that are outlined in the constitution. Restricting the choice of U.S. citizens is not among those duties. Imposing federal fines and/or restrictions on the citizens is far from being conducive to what the federal government is charged to provide. People have the right to free thought and should be allowed to choose for themselves what type of individual health-care they have if any. Some religions do not allow for modern medical practices. Government health-care infringes on the religious rights o individuals to refrain from modern health-care systems. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| If people are here illegally, they have already committed a crime. Criminal activity should never be encouraged or rewarded by the government. This nation was built on immigrants. Immigration is not the issue, illegal immigration is. If the state and local law enforcement agencies wish to assist federal law enforcement, I see no reason they shouldn't be allowed to do so. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| I believe the U.S. was justified in the initial actions taken in Afghanistan. I believe we still have some work to finish up in Afghanistan. The Afghan military and police should be trained and equipped enough, by now, to start taking on responsibilities for their own defenses. The people of Afghanistan do not want to live under an oppressive regime, again. I feel they will not allow terror training camps once we are gone. Pakistan still has terror cells operating in the Northern mountainous areas. They cannot seem to handle this. It must be handled. Iraq is another story. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| The word 'marriage' is use loosely in a number of ways. We marry companies or inanimate objects. There is nothing in the word marriage that is indigenous to any religious belief system. Marriage is simply a way to describe the joining of two entities. The legality of marriage between people is little more than a legal contract just as domestic partnerships or purchase agreement for a house or vehicle. Love should never be regulated by government when deal with consensual agreements between entities of the same species. | |||
| My main priority is to locate all failed, failing or pointless pieces of legislation and begin a campaign to repeal anything that is wasting tax payers money. My second priority will be to reduce or remove any taxation that is no longer needed to fund failed, failing or pointless legislation. I believe the people can spend their money better than government. It's time we start moving away from incumbency and start looking for real, positive changes for our future. |
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