Florida 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
- I see abortion as definitely a valid option when the life of the mother is at stake, in the case of rape or incest or when the viability of the unborn baby outside the womb would be in doubt. I would rather in other cases persons choose to have babies. However, what I personally think cannot overrule what others may want to do, as one group of people cannot simply decide they have a right to tell others what to do.

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- To balance and reduce the budget the Fair Automatic Simple Tax (FAST) will increase revenue and reduce the budget, all with reduced percentages of income tax for most people. FAST is simple and fair. It has no deductions or loopholes and the highest rate is 19.5%. The corporate tax rate would be 6.5%, while with our current system corporations pay less then one percent of income in taxes, because of all the loopholes. FAST includes a small deficit reduction rate to add to the permanent rate, that would vary depending on how fast the deficit would be paid off.

Campaign Finance

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- I support American Promise's proposed U.S. Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United and eliminate all large contributions in all elections to make them fair for all candidates and to enable all citizens to run for office, if they desire. When candidates receive large contributions, they are expected to vote a certain way. Also, persons who would be great elected officials sometimes have no chance at getting elected, because they cannot raise the funds to compete against someone who can raise huge campaign chests.

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
- If the idea of FAST tax is adopted we would actually increase tax revenues from corporations. Huge corporations are using loopholes to shift the burden of taxes to the middle and lower income classes.

Education

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- All students should have a basic set of skills when they graduate from high school. They should be able to enter college or training programs, which ever they desire once they leave the public school systems.

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
- To regulate greenhouse gas emissions we need to not only develop renewable energy sources, but we need to move away from fossil fuels. We need to implement a carbon tax to generate money to help with research, development and implementation of renewable energy projects. We also need to get rid of plastic bags, straws and food containers in retail shops and eateries. Too much plastic ends up in our waterways and out into our oceans. By cutting back on the production of plastics, we will also cut back on greenhouse gases produced.

Guns

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- We need to have universal national background checks for the sales of all guns, even those sold through private sales. We need to do all we can to make sure guns stay out of the hands of persons who could cause harm with them. We need to ban the sale of high capacity magazines and all assault-style weapons. We need a generous gun buyback program for persons wanting to turn guns in to the proper authorities. For those already owning assault-style weapons, we need stringent background checks to make certain the owners pose no threats.

Health Care

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- Actually, I support adopting Medicare for all. The Affordable Care Act has enabled many to have insurance who would not otherwise have it. However, many still have fallen through the cracks and have no health insurance or have lost health insurance. With Medicare for all, everyone would have medical coverage.

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
- I wish I could answer this question as, "It depends," because there are a variety of reasons why persons are considered to be inside the United States illegally. Some came here with no pretense of eligibility and they should be required to leave. Others came legally, but lost their legality for some reason. These cases should be examined individually. Then we have those who came as minors and were covered under DACA. They have been used as pawns and this must stop. Most remember very little about their native countries and they need to be allowed to stay.

Marijuana

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- As a respiratory therapist, I know smoking anything is harmful. However, if people want to use marijuana, as long as they do not drive under its influence, I figure they can do what they want. If marijuana is legalized, people should be advised that if it is smoked it is a lung irritant.

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?
- Yes

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

3. Other or expanded principles
- I would use military force to prevent a country such as North Korea from obtaining a nuclear weapon, because of the continued threats that country has made, should it develop a nuclear weapon. Our best option may be a quick strike force to destroy weapons and quickly depart. We should attempt to stay out of Middle Eastern conflicts as much as possible.

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 support Medicare for all, as I described earlier. I support strengthening Social Security. We need to stop borrowing from Social Security to pay for other items. I would like to see the full retirement age reduced back to 65. I also want all Americans to have the right to have decent jobs. To have decent jobs we need better protections for workers and better educational and training opportunities. To pay for this FAST can help by raising more revenue than our current income tax system.