Abel Collins' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Abel Collins has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Rhode Island Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| If we are truly committed to reducing the number of abortions in this country, and I believe that we all are, then our priority should be to create a society into which women can feel safe bringing and raising their children. Therefore, we need to fight problems like domestic abuse, poverty, and lack of healthcare. | |||
| No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| I believe the troops should be brought home immediately. | |||
Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.In order to balance the budget,
| Yes | do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| Yes | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Citizens United needs to be overturned if we hope to preserve our democratic system of government. Indeed, we need to do everything we can to get the corrupting influence of money out of politics. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| Tax incentives and spending programs all need to be appropriately monitored so we can be confident that they are effective. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I think the standards based outcome driven education model that has been implemented top down from the federal government to states and municipalities has been a disaster. If the education reforms promoted better education models that allowed for more classroom flexibility, I would reconsider my position. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I respect the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment. I believe that the Court is the appropriate arbitrator of this issue. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | |||
| I believe that the ACA is a very flawed piece of legislation, albeit a small step forward over what was in place before. The citizens of the United States deserve the same modern health care systems that other advanced economies enjoy, namely a single-payer model. It is economically and morally the correct thing to do. I would support the repeal of the ACA with the understanding that we would move to the single-payer (public option) system. | |||
| No | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| No | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
SpendingIndicate what federal spending levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category; you can use a number more than once.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.
| Maintain Status | a) Agriculture | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Increase | l) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| Increasing or decreasing spending misses the point in my opinion. What we need to be doing is spending more wisely, eliminating waste and fraud. I am a frugal person and enjoy squeezing the maximum value out of a dollar. The government should do the same, but that doesn't mean that we should reduce spending necessarily. There are many areas that could use increased investment like our aging transportation, communications, and energy infrastructures. | |||
| We need to close the loopholes in the corporate tax code, and we need to streamline the exemptions for the individual tax code. We should have a progressive and fair tax code that can't be wiggled out of by talented accountants. Frankly, we may be in need of more drastic reform. There is a valid debate about whether income taxes are even constitutional in their current form. It may be more equitable to impose wealth taxes than to impose income taxes. | |||
| My top two priorities are to restore the rule of law and get the money out of politics. Our democracy and the justice it was designed to create are greatly imperiled. Over the last forty years, the unregulated finance industry has hollowed out the American economy with one fraudulent scheme after another. Justice must be served. At the same time, money is drowning out the voice of the public in our elections and through lobbying in the halls of governance. It is time to re-establish a government of, by and for the people, not for the benefit of Wall Street. |
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