John Howard III's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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John Howard III has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Minnesota Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| A better descriptor of my position would be choice, as I feel it is the woman's choice to make and not the government's. It is sad that people get in a position where they feel an abortion is necessary, and we ought to work to reduce situations that lead people to abortions. Adoptions should be encouraged. | |||
| Yes | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| I fear a publically announced timetable would lead insurgents to simply wait out the U.S. and then reverse years of progress. An internal timeline makes sense, but the reality on the ground should control the schedule. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Corporations and unions should be subject to the same limitations as individuals. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | |||
| I support government spending at the outset of a downturn as a stimulus, but not as a prolonged or continual means of growth. In my opinion, the best federal action would be for the government to get out of the way. I am ambivalent about the 2010 extension of tax relief, as it likely only helped a small subset of the population. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Climate change is likely the most critical issue we face and could have large scale and irreversible consequences. This should be a high priority. The solution I favor is a revenue neutral carbon fee and dividend where a price is put on carbon, but people receive a monthly dividend check to offset the additional cost. This should internalize some of the externalities of carbon based fuels and make clean energy more cost competitive. I generally support clean energy standards. | |||
| Yes | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| My main concern is automatic or assault weapons because they can do a lot of damage if in the wrong hands. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| The Affordable Care Act has its merits, but should not be the final answer. Plenty more needs to be done to make health care affordable and accessible. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| It is not the government's place to get into the relationship between two willing people. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | m) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Greatly 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) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| Clean energy and climate change mitigation | |||
| For part e), my answer is greatly increase because I feel we need a carbon fee and dividend program to combat climate change. This would be a near revenue neutral scheme where the fee collected on carbon emissions gets sent out equally to all American citizens as a dividend or "bonus". | |||
| The top priorities should be addressing climate change through energy efficiency efficiency and clean energy, getting the national debt on a downward trajectory and reestablishing citizen confidence in our government. The first two objectives would be funded by spending cuts in other areas and a slight increase in taxation on the highest income earners. |
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