Ray Nash's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Ray Nash has responded to the Political Courage Test, providing voters with clear stances on key issues.
South Carolina Congressional Special Election, District 1, 2013 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Abortion is THE social issue of our day. Abortion always takes the life of an innocent person, and does so without due process of law. The only moral justification I can find is when the life of the mother is in jeopardy, and even then there should be some type of due process finding. | |||
| Yes | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| After serving 3 years in the international Afghanistan government reform effort, I can speak with authority on this issue. We have accomplished all that we can reasonably accomplish and it is time to withdraw as quickly and as safely as we can. Although the combat mission was successful, we have lost sight of the original goal and are wasting huge amounts of financial and other resources to nation-build. It is ill-conceived and unsustainable. We need to maintain a footprint there for national security purposes but in a much-reduced profile. It is not worth the loss of one more American life. | |||
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? | ||
| No | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | |||
| do you support reducing Medicare spending? | |||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| This will likely require a Balanced Budget Amendment. I have no confidence that this Congress will honor any balanced budget legislation or resolution. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Transparency in government is always good. But regulation by the government on campaign contributions is an infringement on free speech. Plus unscrupulous candidates can always find a way around the regulations so it only impacts those who are trying to play by the rules. | |||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| This is an interesting argument because those that are against capital punishment typically claim that human life is SO precious that it cannot be justly taken under any circumstances. Those who favor capital punishment tend to claim that human life is SO precious that it can be justly taken ONLY when another innocent life is taken. I will leave it to the reader to determine which group places the higher value on human life. But I cast my lot with the latter. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| The role of the federal government is very limited and defined. However, there is a responsibility to support infrastructure needed for interstate commerce and international trade. Spending just for the sake of "stimulating" the economy is short-sighted and ill-conceived. Better to get the government out of the business of regulating business, reform the tax code so that it is more business and investment-friendly, then get out of the way and let free market forces work their magic. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| Education is a family-first, state-second, and federal government-zero issue. There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved in education in any way and the Department of Education should be totally abolished. I am also not if favor of educational block grants (or any other block grants, for that matter) to come back to the states by virtue of the "generosity" of the federal government. The money always comes back with strings and huge bureaucracies attached. The money should never have left the state to start with. | |||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| Reasonable environmental protections make sense, but we must support American efforts to become energy independent as quickly as possible. I have seen first hand how American petro-dollars make it into the hands of our enemies and "fuel" international terrorism. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| If human activity contributes to climate change (which is doubtful, debatable, and likely unproveable), it is on such a small scale that I can't possibly imagine why the federal government needs to regulate it. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Absolutely not. The Second Amendment expressly forbids the federal government from infringing on the individual right to keep and bear arms. Self-protection is an inherent, God-given right whether it be against a dangerous animal, a human predator, an invading power, or a domestic government that has gone rogue. The Second Amendment exists specifically to protect against the latter. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| This act is unconstitutional on its face and is nothing more than an experiment in human engineering that goes way too far in intruding into privacy rights. It should be repealed by Congress. If that doesn't work, it should be starved to death financially. If that doesn't work, the states will have to decide whether or not to make a stand against this unconstitutional federal intrusion. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Yes | Do you support allowing illegal immigrants, who were brought to the United States as minors, to pursue citizenship without returning to their country of origin? | ||
| No | Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | ||
| Immigration enforcement and border security are first and foremost a federal responsibility that has been a miserable failure. No immigration reform makes sense until we first secure the border. After that, any policy must hold those that have entered the country illegally accountable for their breach of the law, take into account the two fundamental reasons we have immigration laws (which is health/safety/national security and protection of American jobs), and not allow illegal immigrants to jump in line ahead of those who are pursuing citizenship legally. Regretfully, deportation of all illegals is not likely a reasonable option at this point. | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| First of all, there's no such thing. We have had a working definition of marriage for thousands of years and it does not include those of the same gender. Same-sex or gay marriages are oxymorons and I don't need the federal government to define marriage for me. People are free to enter into civil unions according to the laws of their state but civil-union partners should not be entitled to federal benefits like a spouse or family member. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Suspected terrorists can be targeted lawfully but only after some type of due process determination. The Constitution allows for letters of marque and reprisal to be issued by Congress for cases such as this. Iran is certainly a national security threat but I don't support a pre-emptive military strike without some type of overt action on the part of Iran. It's a different matter if Israel initiates a pre-emptive strike as their circumstance is different. America may soon have to decide if we support our only true ally in the region. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| Congress has totally mismanaged Social Security and we are now faced with having to reform entitlement eligibility. A private option makes sense for the younger generation of workers but we still have a moral obligation to those older workers who have been forced to pay into the system. | |||
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.
| Eliminate | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | m) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | |||
| d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | |||
| e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | |||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Eliminate | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | k) Other or expanded categories | ||
| All programs not authorized by the Constitution should be cut, including whole departments when necessary. Programs that are ineffective or make no sense from a cost-benefit perspective should be cut. | |||
| I favor a consumption tax, such as the Fair Tax, over an income tax. It has the added benefit of either eliminating or greatly reducing the IRS. Plus illegal aliens and criminals will be forced to pay into the system. | |||
| 1) Put government back in the "box" of the Constitution. If we get this one right, most of our other problems will simply cease to exist. 2) Get our financial situation under control through a Balanced Budget Amendment, deep cuts to unconstitutional spending, tax reform, foreign and national security policies that put America's interests first, and entitlement eligibility reform. 3) Border security and comprehensive immigration reform that keeps Americans safe and protects American jobs. |
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