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Ralf Walters' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Ralf Walters submitted the 2020 Political Courage Test after the official deadline.

What is the Political Courage Test?

North Carolina Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test

Pro-life Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
Exceptions: Mother's life or health is endangered and rape.
No In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
Unknown Position Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
I strongly advocate that Social Security be returned to a restricted account, far from the budget balancing tricks of Congress who passed a law to raid its funds. Further, Social Security and Medicare are not 'Entitlement Programs.' These are insurance programs that employees (and self-employment or employer matches) have contributed to over a long period of years or quarters in a person's career. If anything, those who continue to collect disability should periodically prove that they are still disabled with medical documents.
Yes Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
Yes Do you support increasing defense spending?
I support a strong military, but I am against wasteful spending on needless weaponry and extravagant accessories.
Yes Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
Yes Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
only under special circumstances such as during a recession. Once economic recovery is underway, action needs to be taken to reduce the deficit to that of a balanced budget.
No Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
No Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
Yes Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
If it's a viable industry or technology, the private sector has access to capital markets and investors to undertake renewable energy initiatives. Too often we have seen good taxpayer money spent on startups that have failed like the $500 million+ federal investment in the solar energy company Solyndra by the Obama administration.
No Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
The Second Amendment specifically states "no infringement"
Yes Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
Yes Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
No Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
There should be a path to citizenship for otherwise, law abiding illegal immigrants. Shame on Congress for lacking the political will and leadership to solve this problem decades ago. The guilt belongs on cowardly, incumbent politicians.
Yes Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
Yes Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
Congress must perform its duties and make a Declaration of War beyond the President's emergency powers to engage our military in offensive/defensive action.
No Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
Tariffs are sometimes necessary to maintaining trade balance when other nations are unfairly subsidizing producers of products which compete with US growers and manufacturers.
1) Term Limits: The only way to improve Congress� dismal approval rating is through term limits. It works well for the office of President and should work equally well for the Senate and House. 2) Reduce the Federal Deficit: The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 is $1.10 trillion. The deficit occurs because U.S. government spending of $4.75 trillion is higher than its revenue of $3.65 trillion. The national debt is $23.3 trillion or $60,000 per person. 3) Protect Social Security by putting it into a restricted account far from the reach of Congress to spend.

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