Morris Markovitz's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Rhode Island State Legislative Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| 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) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| The questions require a flat yes/no answer and I simply cannot say either for all cases in certain of the questions. The Qs are too general and too absolute. The context of a specific situation covered by some of the questions might be such that I would answer yes in certain cases and no in others. I tend to feel that in some areas of this topic the law should be decided locally by each state. | |||
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 Rhode Island's budget.
| Greatly Decrease | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Rhode Island's "rainy day" fund | ||
| Yes | b) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | ||
| Yes | c) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | f) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Again, my views are a bit "out of the box" and can't be properly reflected by answers to these standard questions. I believe that unfunded federal mandates should be eliminated, and I also believe we need pension reform. Bottom line I think education can be vastly improved while costs can simultaneously be significantly reduced. So my advocacy of reduced spending does not imply what it would usually be construed to mean. We need to return decision-making authority to LOCAL teachers & parents and allow for diversity/competition/parental choice in more schooling options. | |||
| We're slave to special interests, our political process corrupted. REVERSING the vicious cycle of rising taxes/spending is the ONLY solution. Budget deficits are "cured" by raising taxes, which kills jobs, reduces revenue -- creating ANOTHER gap cured by another tax hike: a 1-way "ratchet" upward. We must CAP SPENDING, eliminate the most wasteful/expendable spending, CUT taxes, jobs/business will expand, total revenues increase. Resulting surpluses CANNOT be spent beyond voter-imposed SPENDING CAPS, but REFUNDED to taxpayers, then taxes can be REDUCED AGAIN -- a "VIRTUOUS CYCLE." Taxes can be increased ONLY by citizen choice via referendums, NOT by General Assembly. | |||
e) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions to candidates for state government?
| Yes | a) Should municipalities share the administration of certain public services? | ||
| Yes | b) Should all state legislative actions be subject to the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Rhode Island governors? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Rhode Island state legislators? | ||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | f) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | |||
| No | f) Do you support expanding the definition of a hate crime to include gender identity? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the legalization of casino-style gambling? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | d) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Such programs are short term "fixes" which, longer term, create the very problems they purport to cure. Government IS bureaucracy. As such it can NEVER properly solve economic problems of individual cases, personal, corporate or any other category. Yes, when the gov't throws money at specific problems, we see results. We don't see the INEVITABLE future problems of much greater magnitude which government involvement ALWAYS, and NECESSARILY, MUST create. The sad thing is that few voters understand why this is inescapably true -- politicians play on normal human sympathies to get elected today, while destroying all our tomorrows. | |||
| 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 state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | f) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Rhode Island high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to Rhode Island'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? | ||
| The scientific hypotheses underlying and motivating current government environmental policies in the energy area have been conclusively proven to be entirely false. We are lavishly spending taxpayer money for WORSE than no purpose -- current energy policies actually harm the environment and hurt people, and if new policies under current consideration are implemented, energy prices and food prices will soar while no good whatsoever will be achieved. Only harm -- NEGATIVE value -- will be the return for our massive investments. This entire area of government activity is FAR WORSE THAN MERELY WASTED effort and money. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Felons or proven mentally unbalanced aggressive people should be the only ones forbidden gun ownership or regulated by laws about gun ownership. The 2nd amendment is clear, as is the commentary and reasoning of all the men who created the Bill of Rights. The government should not be regulating the ownership of arms by the citizens. It should be the other way around. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | 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 Rhode Island? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| Many of my answers on this and other questions force me to give misleading characterizationss of my positions. There are implicit assumptions which underlie all the of questions in this and other sections. For all its imperfections, the US medical care system is FAR superior to any other national system on earth, and each of the few areas where statistics are cited to the contrary are made possible only by fatally flawed use of statistics. The imperfections in our system, including rapidly rising costs, began when the government got involved, and will end when it ceases to be as involved. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Rhode Island 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? | ||
| f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Rhode Island's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Rhode Island's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| I do not oppose research into the above areas. I just think the worst conceivable source of funding is the government. Reduce taxes on medical research institutions or give tax credits for funds spent on research and let private firms and the genius of our scientists decide how to allocate available funds to the most important and productive areas. We'll get more than 10 times the value for our money this way, way more, EASILY. How anyone can think that sinecured bureaucrats are smarter than the best minds in medical research is beyond me, but apparently many voters do. | |||
| Only two: 1. Slash gov't spending and 2. get government off our backs, out of our way, and out of our pockets. These 2 will have tremendously positive ramifications for many other areas. They are the ONLY permanent cure for corruption, they'll create jobs, massively re-invigorate the economy, improve our educational system (by returning authority to LOCAL teachers and parents), lower energy costs, and make RI into the dynamo of economic progress it used to be, before our enlightened leaders were replaced by the growth in bureaucracy and government. WHENEVER government grows,economic progress ALWAYS slows,or reverses. |
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