Thomas Cuba's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Florida State Legislative Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| g) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | |||
| h) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | |||
| Question a, b have already been decided by US Supreme Court. Can only be changed by Constitutional Amendment. Question g, h would be answered Yes, I support, but not in schools. I've written expanded essays on both these topics: website - TomCuba.net | |||
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 Florida's budget.
| a) Education (higher) | |||
| b) Education (K-12) | |||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| e) Law enforcement | |||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Florida's "rainy day" fund | ||
| b) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | |||
| c) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | |||
| d) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | |||
| No | e) Reducing pension benefits for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | g) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| These answers cannot capture the complexity of the question: In education the funding is less of a problem than the system itself. In Environment, there are duplications in agencies which could be reduced to save money, and not affect service. State Law enforcement is adequate in some areas and not in others. Questions focusing on funding without addressing process are greatly misleading. Overall, however, there are huge savings to be made in the budget which are not even in this list of questions. | |||
| This is complicated: To illustrate - Fact: Businesses don't pay tax. They pass it on to their customers and they must also pass on the accounting costs. Result: PEOPLE pay more when corporations are taxed AND the effectiveness of the tax dollar paid is reduced because of the cost of administrative bureaucracies. | |||
| b) - I don't have a feel for the savings this would provide. c) - same as b. d) - The state workforce should be reduced significantly through question g. | |||
c) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions to candidates for state government?
| a) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Florida governors? | |||
| b) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Florida state legislators? | |||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | d) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Questions a, b: The problem is not term limits. The problem is that it is impossible to both run for office and fulfill the time and attention requirements of an existing office full time office. Not spending the time to do the job one was elected to do constitutes a breach of contract and should be treated as such. Seeking another office also leads to distinct conflicts of interest between the needs of the election and the responsibilities of the office through the use of the office to promote campaign related positions. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | c) Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized? | ||
| No | 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 for a first offense? | |||
| f) Should red light cameras be used to detect traffic violations? | |||
| No | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| g. I strongly support state law enforcement addressing the problem of illegal aliens but it is fundamentally illegal for one agency to enforce the laws of another. Therefor the solution is to give state law enforcement the legal tools in the form of a Florida statute which can be enforced as such without violating the precept of either jurisdictional integrity or Article 1, section 8 of the US Constitution. This can be done and I will pursue it. | |||
| No | a) Should Florida repeal its ban on public funding of religious institutions? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| 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? | ||
| g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| d. Unemploment insurance should be privatized and optional on the part of the employee. e. By incentives I presume the intent is tax breaks. Reducing taxes for one only means others will pay more. There are other and much more effective means of growing private sector jobs. f. We either need the infrastructure or we don't. d, g -too comlex for a yes/no answer. Not enough room here to address it. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support national education standards? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams? | ||
| Yes | c) Should students be permitted to lead prayers at noncompulsory public school events? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support ending the practice of tenure for Florida public school teachers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support using a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| f) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | g) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | h) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Florida high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| a. Yes, but not as a function of the Federal Government - Use state councils. The Federal Govt has not been delegated educational responsibilities by the states. c. Students should even be allowed to lead prayers in a non-compulsory manner even if in the hall before a test. g. State aid to college students should require some degree of payment either in subsequent service or in payments. h. Illegal aliens should not be in Florida High Schools nor in Florida Colleges. Illegal means illegal. | |||
| a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | |||
| b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | |||
| c) Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops? | |||
| d) Do you support state funding for improvements to Florida's energy infrastructure? | |||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| f) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | |||
| a though d: Funding in terms of loans may be acceptable. For all else, I support the free competition of private enterprise to address these questions. f: Environmental regulations directed at the effects of natural climate change would be acceptable but to use the shoddy science behind the anthropogenic blame game to further oppress basic freedoms is not. | |||
| 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? | ||
| c. This may be picky to address the syntax of the question, but the wording implies that the government has the authority to "allow" law abiding individuals to carry guns in the first place. Which it does not. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Florida? | ||
| g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | |||
| a. A publicly "arranged" state level option is acceptable, but it should be privately administered. g. The trick in this question is the prescription of marijuana, not the active ingredient. I support the latter, not the former as it is but a ruse. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Florida 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? | ||
| e) Do you support the state's use of affirmative action? | |||
| f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| a: We should not legislate language. Marriage already means what it means. c, d: Stem cells aquired from legitimate sources, not fetus farming, would be acceptable as a private enterprise, but not state sponsored. e: I support the concept of affirmative action but not the way it is currently implemented. f, g: And I also (facetiously) support the inclusion of Rednecks, Crackers, and bald men - the antidiscrimination law should be about the act of discrimination, not the minutiae of defining affected classes. | |||
| My top priorities are Education-Environment-Economy. In Florida these are plainly and inextricably linked and form the foundation of our state's very persona. Beyond that, we need to repair the relationship between the people themselves and the government. This can be done through revising election and campaign laws, anti-trust laws, lobbying, and budgeting processes. We must have smaller and more local government while privatizing any services cut. We need to reduce the actual scope of government services and put them firmly in the private sector. |
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