Stephen Smith's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Stephen Smith has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2014 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
California Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| If murdering a pregnant woman is a double murder, how is not (especially late term) an abortion also murder. | |||
| Yes | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| We must help the country to able to defend itself. After that, we should keep a limited specials opps training force. | |||
Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.In order to balance the budget,
| No | 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? | ||
| All wage earners need skin in the game, even if the amount is small. The questions about Medicaid and Medicare are not yes or no questions, they are more nuanced. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Regulations tend to be bad. Either all reported or nothing allowed from corporations and unions. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| We need to dramatically simplify the tax code and lower taxes, especially corporate taxes. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I support state sovereignty. Regulations cause most of the problems. | |||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| We need more energy production, especially the new technology nuclear energy. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Mars is heating at the same rate as the earth. We need to be good stewards, by protecting forests and open spaces. Low polution, especially unburned hydrocarbons, but CO2 is natural and necessary for balance. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Gross violation of the Constitution. If upheld, we could be forced to buy anything. Incredible abuse of power. | |||
| Yes | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| Yes | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| As a last resort. | |||
| Yes | 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.
| a) Agriculture | |||
| b) Arts | |||
| c) Defense | |||
| d) Education | |||
| e) Environment | |||
| f) Homeland Security | |||
| g) International aid | |||
| h) Medical Research | |||
| i) Scientific Research | |||
| j) Space exploration | |||
| k) United Nations | |||
| l) Welfare | |||
| a) Capital gains taxes | |||
| b) Corporate taxes | |||
| c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | |||
| d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | |||
| e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | |||
| f) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| i) Inheritance taxes | |||
| j) Payroll taxes | |||
| k) Other or expanded categories | |||
| The categories may change due to current events, but I support a balanced budget. We need to transition to self-funding for SS and Medicare. The SS trust is a sham. It is not a trust. | |||
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