Patrick Kelly II's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Patrick Kelly II has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he/she stands on the issues he/she may face if elected.
Kentucky Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Governments job is to protect our rights as individuals. We are all created equally with the right to life, liberty, and property. No individual has the right to take the life of another, unless it is in defense of their own. Our strength as a society and our respect for liberty and freedom can best be judged on how we treat the most innocent and defenseless members of our society. Rather than destroying unwanted pregnancies, we should work to prevent them. I will push to lower the cost of birth control by making it over the counter. | |||
| No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| We had good reasons to go into Afghanistan to pursue those who attacked us. Those individuals have long since left Afghanistan and their leader has been killed. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| I support a reduction in military spending, not defense spending. We can reduce our military costs by ending our foreign occupations but keep a strong national defense. I support balancing the budget within 5 years and will never vote for an unbalanced budget without a serious guarantee to balance the budget in the near future. We must fix Medicaid and Medicare by bringing control to state levels. We can reduce medicare spending by means testing and allowing individuals to opt out. Medicaid spending can be reduced without losing benefits to its recipients. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| To regulate contributions in this fashion is simply giving unlimited free speech to a select handful of corporations that own media outlets. I side with the Supreme Court and the ACLU on defending free speech in this situation. In this election, we have seen small businesses being able to support candidates on almost equal footing with their ability to pool resources through Super PACs. As we move further into the 21st century, campaign financing will become less and less relevant as social media and the internet control more of the directive. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| With the severe number of individuals that have proven innocent shortly before or, unfortunately, after their execution, it becomes obvious that our legal system is not flawless. We have knowingly put innocent individuals to death for crimes they did not commit, and that is inexcusable. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| Government intervention into the economy is what caused both the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Under no means should it interfere with the market by using funds to try to spur growth. My ultimate goal is to reduce involuntary tax burdens for all and eliminate the income tax and corporate tax. Infrastructure spending should only be done if needed. The current recession is the fault of government intervention. There are other steps we must take to recovery first. Spending is the problem. Not revenue. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I support eliminating the department of education and returning complete control and funding to the state level. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| The temperatures on earth are definitely increasing, but the level at which humans interfere is by no means certain. Rather than focus on restricting technological development, we should open up the market and allow for full and equal competition of fuels by ending all subsidies to all forms of energy, such as oil, and removing restrictions on the development of future nuclear technology. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No police force, no government will ever be able to properly protect and provide security and safety for every individual, and as such, it should be the right of every individual to secure the means necessary to protect what is theirs. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I stand with Obama in 2008 and agree that mandates are wrong. Obamacare will not decrease the cost of healthcare, and only increase the rate at which it rises by further disconnecting consumers from the prices. We must work on eliminating the barrier that HMOs and government have created and put consumers back to directly dealing with the majority of their medical expenses. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| We should open our immigration policy by allowing all to come here legally as long as they can show proof of employment waiting and verify no criminal history. An open, easy, and transparent immigration policy is our path to success. | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Government should not be involved with marriage at all. It is a social and/or religious union that should have nothing to do with our legal system. Any legal sharing of resources and descendants should be handled through civil unions. | |||
| 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? | ||
| We can act to prevent immediate attacks, but all military action should be handled through declaring war through the congress. Any arrests of suspected terrorist subjects should be done with a proper trial and due process within a reasonable amount of time. All non-convicted individuals should be released. 16/16 US intelligence agencies have determined that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons and is incapable of doing so if they were. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| I support allowing individuals to opt out of Social Security. | |||
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 | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Medical Research | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Eliminate | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | 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 | ||
| k) Other or expanded categories | |||
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