Where I Stand On All The Issues

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-By Caleb Jones

This article has been making the rounds on social media, showing all four presidential candidates stances on every political issue. I thought it would be fun to answer all 92 questions myself, so you can get a feel for what a true small government viewpoint looks like.

Because there are 92 questions, this post is long, so read it when you have time, or scan down to the issues that are most important to you. I kept the answers very short.

Part One: Social Issues

1. Should abortion be legal?

It should be left to the states to decide. My personal opinion is yes, but only up until the first or second trimester, not in the third trimester.

2. Do you support the legalization of same sex marriage?

Marriage should not be a governmental function at all.

3. Should the government continue to fund Planned Parenthood?

The federal government should not fund any healthcare of any kind. The state governments can fund whatever they like.

4. Should a business be able to deny service to a customer if the request conflicts with the owner’s religious beliefs?

Yes.

5. Should health insurance providers be required to offer free birth control?

No.

6. Should “gender identity” be added to anti-discrimination laws?

There should be no anti-discrimination laws at the federal level. The state governments can do whatever they like.

7. Do you support the death penalty?

No. Government is too incompetent.

8. Should the government support a separation of church and state by removing references to God on money, federal buildings, and national monuments?

Any mentions of God already there should be left there because there’s no need to spend the money to remove it, but no new mentions of God should be placed in those locations.

9. Should terminally ill patients be allowed to end their lives via assisted suicide?

Yes.

10. Should the military allow women to serve in combat roles?

Only if completely segregated from the men. If women want to serve, there should be women-only platoons, women-only submarines, etc. And if these units do terribly as compared to the men-only units, they should be disbanded.

11. Should businesses be required to have women on their board of directors?

No.

12. Should states be allowed to display the Confederate flag on government property?

Yes.

Part Two: Immigration

13. Should Muslim immigrants be banned from entering the country until the government improves its ability to screen out potential terrorists?

No, but no government aid should be given to them.

14. Should illegal immigrants have access to government-subsidized healthcare?

No.

15. Should illegal immigrants be offered in-state tuition rates at public colleges within their residing state?

No.

16. Should children of illegal immigrants be granted legal citizenship?

No.

17. Should immigrants be required to learn English?

No.

18. Should the U.S. increase restrictions on its current border security policy?

The answer to that is complicated. Read this.

19. Should working illegal immigrants be given temporary amnesty?

That depends on what you mean by “temporary amnesty.”

20. Should local law enforcement be allowed to detain illegal immigrants for minor crimes and transfer them to federal immigration authorities?

Yes.

21. Should the government increase the amount of temporary work visas given to high-skilled immigrant workers?

The answer to that is complicated. It depends on other laws or restrictions the government enacts.

Part Three: Foreign Policy

22. Should the U.S. accept refugees from Syria?

Yes, but they shouldn’t be given any government assistance.

23. Should foreign terrorism suspects be given constitutional rights?

For the most part, yes, but there are many, many exceptions.

24. Should the government decrease military spending?

Government should decrease all spending, including the military.

25. Should the military be allowed to use enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to gain information from suspected terrorists?

It depends on the specific technique. With regards to waterboarding, it should not be allowed except for highly unusual scenarios and even then with lots of oversight. Waterboarding is torture. It's simply a lighter form of torture than burning someone with a hot poker, for example.

26. Should the U.S. formally declare war on ISIS?

No. The U.S. should leave the region, sit back, and let more warlike nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia dick with ISIS.

27. Should every 18 year old citizen be required to provide at least one year of military service?

No.

28. Should the U.S. continue to support Israel?

The U.S. shouldn’t “support” any country except the U.S.

29. Should the U.S. remain in the United Nations?

No. Moreover, the UN headquarters should be moved to some other country.

30. Should the government send in ground troops to fight ISIS?

No.

31. Should the military fly drones over foreign countries to gain intelligence and kill suspected terrorists?

No. We kill way, way too many civilians.

32. Should the U.S. close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba?

Yes. The U.S. should close at least 95% of all its foreign military bases. We can’t afford our empire anymore.

33. Should the government increase foreign aid spending?

The government should end all foreign aid.

34. Do you support President Obama’s move to lift the trade and travel embargo on Cuba?

Yes. It’s one of the only two things Obama did that I actually support. (The other was to greenlight the capture of Bin Laden.)

35. Should the government conduct military strikes against North Korea in order to destroy their long-range missile and nuclear weapons capabilities?

No. However, covert action should be taken against them (CIA, cyber warfare, etc), since North Korea has directly threatened the U.S. on multiple occasions.

36. Should the U.S. overthrow President Assad of Syria?

No.

37. Should the U.S. continue NSA surveillance of its allies?

No.

38. Should the U.S. prevent Russia from conducting airstrikes in Syria?

No.

39. Should our country defend other NATO countries that maintain low military defense budgets relative to their GDP?

No. The U.S. should have gently withdrawn from NATO as soon as the USSR collapsed way back in 1991.

Part Four: Economics

40. Should employers be required to pay men and women the same salary for the same job?

No.

41. Should all welfare recipients be tested for drugs?

Welfare of any kind should be abolished at the federal level. States can offer welfare if they wish, and if they do, yes, anyone getting free taxpayer money should be regularly drug tested, but that’s up to the individual states.

42. Should the government raise the federal minimum wage?

The federal minimum wage should be abolished. State governments can do whatever they like.

43. Should physically and mentally capable adults on welfare be required to work?

Welfare of any kind should be abolished at the federal level.

44. Should businesses be required to provide paid leave for full-time employees during the birth of a child or sick family member?

No.

45. Should the government make cuts to public spending in order to reduce the national debt?

Yes. Massive cuts, all across the board, in all areas of government, no exceptions (except for veteran’s benefits).

46. Should the U.S. reduce corporate income tax rates?

The federal corporate income tax should be abolished. It should be replaced with a national sales tax or Fair Tax of around 1-3%.

47. Do you believe labor unions help the economy?

Private sector labor unions, sometimes.

Government labor unions, no, and they should be abolished.

48. Should the government require businesses to pay salaried employees, making up to $46k/year, time-and-a-half for overtime hours?

No.

49. Should the government increase the tax rate on profits earned from the sale of stocks, bonds, and real estate?

Capital gains taxes should be abolished.

50. Should the Federal Reserve Bank be audited by Congress?

The Federal Reserve should be abolished.

51. Do you support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

No. Free trade is usually good, but the TPP is 5,600 pages long. No law or treaty that long can be a good thing.

52. Should pension plans for federal, state, and local government workers be transitioned into privately managed accounts?

Yes.

53. Should the government subsidize farmers?

Government shouldn’t subsidize anyone or anything except for government.

54. Would you favor an increased sales tax in order to reduce property taxes?

Yes, but only if it eliminated property taxes, not reduced them.

55. Should citizens be allowed to save or invest their money in offshore bank accounts?

Yes.

56. Should the U.S. government bailout Puerto Rico?

Government shouldn’t bail out anyone or anything.

57. Should an in-state sales tax apply to online purchases of in-state buyers from out-of-state sellers?

No.

58. Should the government classify Bitcoin as a legal currency?

Government shouldn’t classify any currency as “legal” currency and should completely privatize the US Dollar and the printing of money so we can have true currency competition.

Part Five: Education

59. Do you support increasing taxes for the rich in order to reduce interest rates for student loans?

Government backing of student loans should be abolished. Also, government should withdraw all money and influence from colleges so college can be affordable again.

60. Do you support Common Core national standards?

No.

Part Six: Healthcare Issues

61. Do you support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)?

No.

62. Do you support the legalization of Marijuana?

All drugs should be legalized at the federal level. The states can make legal or illegal whatever they like.

63. Should the federal government increase funding of health care for low income individuals (Medicaid)?

The federal government shouldn’t provide funding for anyone’s healthcare. State governments can do whatever they like.

Part Seven: Domestic Policy

64. Should there be more restrictions on the current process of purchasing a gun?

The answer to that is complicated. It depends on other laws or restrictions the government enacts.

65. Should people on the “no-fly list” be banned from purchasing guns and ammunition?

There should be no governmental “no-fly list” unless it’s a recommended/optional list. The function of airline security should be left to the airlines.

66. Should there be term limits set for members of Congress?

Yes. Ideally one.

67. Should the Senate hold hearings and a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee?

Yes.

68. Should corporations and unions (Super PACs) be allowed to donate to political candidates?

Yes, but there should be 100%, mandatory, easy-to-follow transparency regarding who donated to whom and how much.

69. Should local police increase surveillance and patrol of Muslim neighborhoods?

No.

70. Should internet service providers be allowed to speed up access to popular websites (that pay higher rates) at the expense of slowing down access to less popular websites (that pay lower rates)?

Yes, but first, the final mile of fiber (or other internet transmission system) to neighborhoods and commercial areas should be 100% deregulated and decoupled so competition can be allowed between internet service providers, instead of government forcing one big company like Comcast to have a monopoly on our internet service.

71. Should victims of gun violence be allowed to sue firearms dealers and manufacturers?

Anyone can sue anyone they like, but first, the entire legal system should be converted to a loser-pay system instead of a winner-pay system. That way if you sue and are wrong, YOU have to pay all court costs and attorney fees of both sides, as well as damages from lost income.

72. Should the redrawing of Congressional districts be controlled by an independent, non-partisan commission?

In theory, yes, but I would need much more information on exactly how that would be done.

73. Should Apple unlock the iPhones of suspected terrorists for the FBI?

No.

74. Should the NSA (National Security Agency) be allowed to collect basic metadata of citizen’s phone calls such as numbers, timestamps, and call durations?

No.

75. Do you support the Patriot Act?

No.

76. Are you in favor of decriminalizing drug use?

Yes. All drugs should be legal at the federal level. The states can make legal or illegal whatever they like.

77. Should the government raise the retirement age for Social Security?

Social Security should be abolished, and anyone over the age of 50 should have a private annuity purchased for them in the current amount owed by the Social Security Administration.

78. Should the government be allowed to seize private property, with reasonable compensation, for public or civic use?

No. However, I would compromise on this if the government was forced to pay ten times the market value of the property sized via eminent domain, and that the amount paid was tax free. That means if you want to seize my house worth $100,000 to build a freeway, you’re cutting me a check for $1 million tax free. Or else screw off.

79. Should the U.S. government grant immunity to Edward Snowden?

Yes.

80. Do you support affirmative action programs?

No.

Part Eight: Science

81. Should the federal government require children to be vaccinated for preventable diseases?

No, but individual schools (and all other organizations) should be allowed to discriminate/deny students/people who have not been vaccinated.

82. Should producers be required to label genetically engineered foods (GMOs)?

No. As just one example, pretty much all corn you can buy in the U.S. already has GMOs, so you’re going to force companies to label every stalk of corn? Plus, the free market is doing a very good job at educating people about this.

83. Should the government fund space travel?

Some. Things like satellites, yes. Things like robots that crash into Mars by accident, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, no.

I would, however, support a reward/prize system. For example, the government says, "The first private company or individual who puts a human being on Mars, has him/her live there for 30 days, and successfully returns him/her to Earth, gets $10 billion tax free. Ready, set, go!"

Part Nine: Electoral Issues

84. Should a photo ID be required to vote?

Yes. So should passing a test regarding politics, mathematics, geography, economics, and history, as well as proof of net contribution to the economy (i.e. proof you’re gainfully employed, or own a business that actually makes money, etc).

Part Ten: Environmental Issues

85. Should the government increase environmental regulations to prevent climate change?

Federal government, no. The states can do whatever they want.

86. Do you support the use of hydraulic fracking to extract oil and natural gas resources?

Yes, but only on land owned by the fracking companies; none of this drilling sideways stuff. Also, if it negatively affects any nearby neighborhoods, restitution to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars must be paid to those people.

87. Should the U.S. expand offshore oil drilling?

That’s up to the oil industry. The U.S. government should have nothing to do with that. Oil companies that damage the environment must be forced to pay restitution and their CEOs and top management must face criminal charges.

88. Should the government give tax credits and subsidies to the wind power industry?

No, but that’s only because the federal government shouldn’t tax any income, personal or corporate. (See above about having a national sales tax instead.)

Part Eleven: Criminal Issues

89. Should police officers be required to wear body cameras?

Yes.

90. Should convicted felons have the right to vote?

No. Most people shouldn’t have the right to vote.

91. Should prisons ban the use of solitary confinement for juveniles?

Yes, but age of legal adulthood (i.e. no longer a juvenile), for all things, should be 16. There is no significant difference in maturity or stupidity between today’s 16 year-old and today’s 18 year-olds.

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