Kenneth Aden's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Kenneth Aden submitted the 2012 Political Courage Test after the official deadline and release of results to the media. The candidate's late responses are provided here as a public service.
Arkansas Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Outlawing abortion will not reduce the number of abortions in this country; it will only endanger the safety of women and their doctors. Only access to and education in the use of contraceptives, particularly for lower-income individuals, will reduce the number of abortions in this country. | |||
| No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| Having personally served in this conflict and having spent 11 years in the U.S. Army I have a very personal persective on this matter. Right now our troops are under a severe amount of stress as a result of extended and multiple deloyments. These multiple deployments have led to a higher sucide rate and a shocking divorce rate. I believe that the same missions can be accomplished by smaller more specialized forces, better suited to perform counter intelligience missions. Our fighting men and women have done an outstanding job and we need to start taking better care of them. | |||
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? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| I support reducing certain elements of defense spending, including speciality/experimental projects which have been in the works for too long. What I do not support cutting is soldier pay or soldier benefits. Contracting out certain jobs has cost tax payers millions, this is another area of wasteful spending. A balanced budget is a key component of a strong economy. However, when the economy is suffering, the balancing of the budget has to take a back seat to efforts towards economic recovery. Furthermore, any effort to balance the budget cannot be on the backs of the working- and middle-class. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| The influx of unregulated money into the political process is one of the most important issues of our time. Only through serious campaign finance reform can we ensure that our elected representatives are truly beholden to the people rather than corporations and interest groups. | |||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| While caital punishment should be an option available in the case of certain crimes, our current system is deeply flawed. Death is absolutely final, and we need to ensure not only that we are absolutely certain of an individual's guilt, but that the rate of racial disparity in capital punishment is corrected as well. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| The Government is in a singular position to foster economic growth. However, for too long what programs are in place for this purpose have been abused by multi-national, billion-dollar corporations. Government efforts to promote economic growth should be focused on true small businesses. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| While requiring plans for education reform is important, our current system of federally mandated standards does not and cannot address the individual circumstances and conditions of all of our schools. While plans for reform should be required, broad discretion should be given to local administators to address the needs and facts of their own districts and schools. | |||
| No | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| We must begin to think in terms of the 21st century when it comes to matters of energy production.We must take steps now to move past fossil fuels and our dependency on it. What I am in support of is utilizing wind turbines offshore. Offshore, wind is greater and we could harness this power to produce clean energy with very little impact on the envioroment. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Being a victim of gun violence myself--my father was shot and killed on Christmas Eve, 1994--I believe we need to have strong and aggressively enforced regulations to ensure that firearms don't end up in the hands of criminals and the mentally disturbed. I am a strong believer in the rights of our citizens to bear arms, but gun ownership must be regulated and enforced responsibly. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Healthcare Reform is a serious issue, and one we must address as a nation. The Affordable Care Act was a strong start in that direction, but it does not address the root of the problem. We must establish a program for universal healthcare in our nation, for what does it say about if we are unwilling to assist our sick or infirm neighbors? | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | ||
| I believe that we need common sense, comrehensive, and balanced immigration reform. I support immigration reform that will secure borders and provide immigrants with a fair chance of acheiving the American Dream. I support tough measures to hold businesses hiring and exploiting undocumented workers accountable. I also believe that those individuals residing in this country who are not here legally should have a path to citizenship which includes paying any back taxes and learning English. I fully support the DREAM Act, and believe it is key to ensuring that this generation of individuals can become productive citizens of our society. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| It is not the place of you, nor I, and certainly not the government to sit in judgement of love between any two consenting adults. For more than half a century now, the civil rights movement has helped to roll back our nation's shameful history of racial discrimination. It is now time to ensure that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is dealt with in the same way. An elected official does not swear to uphold religious values and morals, he or she vows to uphold the constitution. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Currently there exist a movement in Iran that is working diligently to bring democracy to their country. I believe we must lend our support to this growing pro democracy movement. I believe we must pursue every available diplomatic option and that war should only be a last result. | |||
| No | 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 Increase | a) Agriculture | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Maintain Status | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Increase | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Slightly Increase | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| While payroll taxes on working- and middle-class families should be decreased, the payroll tax itself should be expanded to include higher-income individuals currently excepted from the program. | |||
| I believe that we must do more for our citizens who are suffering. There is NO reason why we have children who go to bed every night without sufficient access to food. We are a nation of innovators and we must get back to the basics of taking care of our own. My three top priorities if elected are as follows: (1) Making higher education more affordable for students, (2) The defense and stregthening of veterans benefits, (3) Working to overturn Citizens United. Corporations are not and will never be people. We need serious campaign finance reform in this country. |
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