Stephanie Watson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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North Carolina State Legislative 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | h) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| Abortion cases should be decided in the judicial system, not the statehouse. We already have murder laws, and it should be up to the courts to determine if an individual case constitutes murder or other rights violations. If the legislative branch steps in, they'll be obligated to set a mark as to when a fetus becomes a person with individual rights. Because that's a moral decision that varies tremendously across our country, and even within our state, a one-size-fits-all approach will never work. Right now, let's at least preserve a woman's right to control what's underneath her skin. | |||
1) State SpendingIndicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.2) State TaxesIndicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.3) Budget StabilizationIndicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing North Carolina's budget.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | h) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | a) Tapping into North Carolina's "rainy day" fund | ||
| Yes | b) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | ||
| Yes | c) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | f) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| The state needs to stop its trend of tax incentives for select businesses or industries. Such incentives create an unequal playing field for business in North Carolina, causing all other businesses pay higher taxes to make up for it. When a business gambles with incentives, they will just as easily leave when the gamble doesn't pay off (we saw this with Dell). True, sustainable business and job growth is only present when a business comes to N.C. for the right reasons: when its research indicates it could be profitable. The only sustainable jobs government can "create" are government jobs. | |||
| While we should greatly decrease the tax burden on all North Carolinians, the only way to do this is to get spending under control and to eliminate incentives which discriminate against some people who will carry a heavier burden because they didn't qualify for the given incentive. | |||
| Before we can reduce tax burdens, we have to control spending. Balancing the budget is an essential part of this, showing harsh discretion in who gets taxpayers' money. Examples of this discretion include eliminating programs which are wasting money on frivolous purchases, cutting line items going to localized cultural projects like museums and public art, and sponsoring expensive university programs that benefit only a small, select number of students. The bottom line is that the state should be responsible with your money and spend it in ways that are appropriate and beneficial to the most North Carolinians. | |||
e) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions to candidates for state government?
| No | a) Should eminent domain be used to seize property for the purpose of economic development? | ||
| Yes | b) Should a city be required to gain the approval of a majority of affected voters before it is allowed to annex their land? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support limits on the number of terms for North Carolina governors? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support limits on the number of terms for North Carolina state legislators? | ||
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | f) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| No | g) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| The North Carolina League of Municipalities serves the governments of municipalities across the state, including fighting to preserve their annexation privileges in the N.C. General Assembly. Unfortunately, those who are annexed by municipalities have little recourse. Organizations like Stop N.C. Annexation have worked to give them a voice for meaningful annexation reform, a voice I hope to echo loudly in the N.C. Senate when I'm elected. The only meaningful annexation reform is reform that protects the rights of those annexed. See "Issues" at GoLiberty.net for a list of meaningful reforms that must be present for valid annexation reform legislation. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | c) Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized? | ||
| No | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | f) Do you support increased inspection and oversight of dog breeding facilities? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| The state should not only decriminalize marijuana possession, but it should legalize it to reduce an expensive, dangerous, and unnecessary burden on law enforcement and an equally dangerous and unnecessary burden on families and communities across the state. The most urgent change, though, needs to be protecting the legal possession of marijuana for an individuals' medical use, allowing patients to use a safe, effective treatment for pain management and other disorders in place of dangerous, addictive prescription narcotics or psychotropics. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| The state must change its perception that providing government assistance is an act of philanthropy. On the contrary, when the state provides assistance to private individuals and businesses, it does so at the expense of other private individuals and businesses who might otherwise provide charitable assistance at a much lower overhead. This is all just a very high-level, philosophical way of saying that our state needs to reform its entitlement programs to be true limited-resource needs-based programs for the purpose of keeping the state's economy afloat, not charities that can freely give as much as necessary to individuals. | |||
| No | a) Do you support national education standards? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support using a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a statewide ban on corporal punishment in public schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from North Carolina high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| We need to adjust our perception of public education. Education is a means of exchanging information for the purpose of learning. Education of children should be, first and foremost, the responsibility of the parent, not the state. Public education should be viewed in its original role: a public-funded option for parents who had no other options to educate their children in certain academic and vocational skills. It should remain just one "option," and parents who pay into the system should have the option to take their money elsewhere if the public option isn't working for their children. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to North Carolina's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of wind farms in coastal areas? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the development of wind farms along mountain ridges? | ||
| The state's primary role in enhancing clean energy development is in reducing regulations that discourage that development on private property and in certain areas of the state. For a short time, a modest and well-placed investment in certain clean energy resources could prove a benefit to the environment in the state. However, this should be a one-time, short-term investment with careful management. Plus, I recommend a moratorium of 6 years for any additional investment, allowing time for the state to evaluate the effectiveness of the original investment without grounding projects for a lack of timely funding. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | b) Do you support requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a license for gun possession? | ||
| Guns used in criminal activities are, most often, obtained in illegal ways. The most compelling research on the impact of gun regulation is that the more restrictive the law for those following it, the more likely the occurrence of criminal activity involving guns. Why? Because the criminals with the guns know that the law-abiding victims probably aren't armed, and thus are an easy target. To discourage this disparity, I support the right to keep bear arms, concealed or not, with as few barriers as possible. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Should individuals be required to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support legalizing physician-assisted suicide in North Carolina? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| One of the biggest problems with the health industry is the amount of government regulation on it. It's those regulations that are making it more expensive for businesses to provide health care and, thus, more expensive for patients to obtain it. The true, sustainable reform needs to come in the area of regulation; anything else is just a bandage on a wound that won't heal. | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should North Carolina allow same-sex couples to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the state's use of affirmative action? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Anti-discrimination laws are a misnomer: they create discriminatory practices for the sake of protecting certain classes of citizens. They also violate an private individual's rights to select who they want to do business with. While current anti-discrimination laws remain, I wholeheartedly support including sexual orientation and gender identity as being among the classes whose rights are equally protected under the law. In the long term, though, this legislation should be limited to ruling only on state/public employment so that ALL individuals' rights are truly equal under the law. | |||
| My top priority is to bring an end to the trend of selective tax incentives that create an unequal playing field for businesses and gamble with the jobs of thousands of North Carolinians. Second, I want to put all options on the table to increase choice for parents in educating their children, lifting the cap on charter schools and evaluating options like vouchers or tax breaks that allow parents to move their money to a school that meets their kids' needs. Third, I'm ready to fight for meaningful annexation reform that prevents municipalities from violating our personal and property rights. |
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