Michigan Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Other or expanded principles
- Abortion is never a positive choice, but making it illegal will not end it. I believe we can reduce the need for abortion through better sexuality education in public schools (meaning beyond abstinence), wider access to affordable contraception, and increasing our commitment to children and parents through extending Medicare to children, expanding SNAP rather than reducing it, increasing affordable housing support such as Section 8, and providing universal Pre-k.

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- We need to review our current military policy and ask if we need a military as large the next several nations combined. Bigger is not always better or wiser. I believe the drastic reduction in corporate taxes was wrong, as we should use tax incentives to encourage better wages for workers and better environmental practices. I would consider variable personal income tax brackets, that would rise with large increases in income far beyond the national growth rate. I do not support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Full disclosure of political contributions is essential to democracy, as we need to know who is speaking. Organizations should drown out the people themselves.

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- Government has created whole industries in the past, and most recently through basic research and that should continue, even grow. But very specific goals are necessary so that the benefit flows to stakeholders like workers and communities not just the stockholders and top executives. Regarding corporate taxes, we need to make businesses choose wise employment and community involvement as well as profit - the triple bottom line - and that means keeping tax rates higher with incentives to lower them by addressing said 'triple bottom line.'

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- I believe Common Core as an idea is wise. We need consistency in expectations. We also need creativity to reach them. I do not believe standardized content or testing is the only way to get there. But without the expectation that all children will learn civics and history and even art and music, these will vanish because they are not economical, but they are essential to raising healthy citizens who are essential to a democracy. The challenge is to find a way to raise expectations without imposing bureaucratic burdens and control.

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- The role of government is to discover what business alone would not because it is not immediately profitable. But this support should largely be research, incentives to make the transition from fossil fuels, and help is creating the infrastructure. Energy diversity is as important as economic diversity. We need a carbon tax or carbon exchange law to quantify the cost of emitting them, creating an incentive for businesses to improve their practices.

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- But only in specific ways: user licensing similar to driver's licenses, requiring liability insurance also like automobiles, and red flag laws which impound firearms of those who have violent histories. Any new laws should emphasize responsible gun use and ownership and punish irresponsible use and ownership.

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- And I believe we should transition carefully to a 'Medicare for All' system that, like social security, provides basic healthcare coverage for all through taxes. Private insurance would then provide optional additional coverage as it does now for Medicare.

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- We need to rewrite our immigration laws and policies, ultimately toward a customs and border agreement with Mexico and Canada to allow for easier migration between all three. This was something Ronald Reagan mentioned forty years ago.

Marijuana

1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Cannabis USE should not be criminal, nor should other 'recreational' drugs. But the industries themselves are too corrupt to legalize rapidly. Thus we should focus first on treating use as a public health issue, and then on whether cannabis can become a well regulated industry. One national step could be the Vermont law that permits personal cannabis production for personal use only.

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- No

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- I wish there was a choice between yes and no as these are terribly complex and dangerous issues. If using 'military force to prevent nuclear weapons' means as a first or preferred method, I say no. Only as a clearly last resort, and even then it is fraught. Slow effective diplomacy, as lead to the Iran agreement, is better overall for peace. In re forces in the Middle East, I see sending military forces to protect civilian populations in strife torn areas. But assisting another government on our own is fraught with political and military risk and danger.

Administrative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- I would devote myself to serving children, who have neither vote nor voice. As described above, I would extend Medicare to all children, universal Pre-k and also tuition free Community College. In addition, I would work for stronger SNAP/WIC and housing support, as well as a more robust EITC. I believe these can be funded through raising the taxable income cap for Medicare, efficiencies possible at the DOD (upwards of $125bn a year by one report) and raising corporate taxes slightly.