Transparent Elections: A Public's Right to Know Project (Pres. Candidates Post)

[SPC]

Dear Candidates for the Offices of President and Vice President:

Several constituents have voiced their concern to me that despite a diverse choice of candidates in the upcoming federal election, they remain unsure where candidates stand on issues important to them.  Therefore, I have set up the following questionnaire, which is offered to all relevant candidates to respond to in this thread.  Candidates should not feel compelled to answer a question they feel uncomfortable with, but they are strongly encouraged to respond to this questionnaire.

As a courtesy to both readers and the candidates, voters are asked not to respond directly to candidates' answers in this thread so as to ensure that no arguments break out in this thread.

Transparent Elections: A Public's Right to Know Project

1. Why are you running for President / Vice President? I am running for President to give a clear alternative to the current batch of candidates. I feel that no one in therace represents my values, so I decided to run.

2. What is the greatest issue you hope to tackle, if elected? The greatest issue to hope to tackle is vetoing spending bills presented to me by the Senate. I intend to also give the Senate some proposals for amendments to expand regional power, but that is pretty much it.

3. Where do you stand on the following social issues:
a. Illegal Immigration I feel that, in a purely capitalistic economy, we could afford to have unlimited immigrants. However, due to our mixed economy, we need to enforce illegal immigration laws to keep our conomy from falling apart.
b. Capital Punishment I feel that the death penalty should be reserved only for convicted murderers and other crimes in that level of seriousness.
c. Gay Rights I feel that everyone deserves equal rights regardless of whether they belong to a minority group. They shouldn't receive any additional rights for being in a minority group either.
d. Affirmative Action See above. I feel that things like affirmative action only help fuel race divide, and should be discouraged.
e. HIV/AIDS I feel that personal discretion should be used to prevent this disease from spreading, but treatment should not be paid for by involuntary taxayer dollars, but through voluntary charitable donations.
f. Abortion I believe in a woman's right to choose, but I also believe in a man's right not to fund a woman's right to choose.
g. Euthanasia I believe that this is a moral/religious issue, not a political issue. Leave this to the church.
h. Drug Law I believe that the criminalization of victimless acts only creates crime, and I would hope to repeal any victimless crimes.
i. Stem Cell Research See my abortion stance. Scientific research should be paid for by voluntary donations, not involuntary taxayer dollars.

4. Where do you stand on the following economic and environmental issues:
a. Minimum Wage Setting a minimum wage only creates unemployment and victimless crime. A wage should be decided between an employer and an employee, not the government.
b. Estate Tax Taxation is bad enough, but I stongly oppose double taxation. You should not tax income that has already been taxed upon once.
c. Universal Health Care The free market will almost always be a better provider a goods in quality than the government, and health care is no exception. If we don't make it so insurance must cover all these activities, their prices would be cheaper.
d. Education Reform I think that educational choices should be made by parents, not bureaucrats. I don;t think that people who don't use public schools should be taxed for them, and they should have to compete with market forces to provide quality education.
e. Global Climate Change I personally have my doubts about global climate change, but handing this issue to government is like putting an alcoholic in charge of solving your drinking problem. Government is a big polluter itself, and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol would only hurt entrepeneurs and small businesses.
f. Alternative Energy I think that, to curb the high prices on foreign oil, we should open up more places domestically to drilling and nuclear power plants.
g. Oil Drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge See above.
h. "Sin" Tax I don't believe it is the authority of the government to discourage certain immoral activities for revenue. You should be in charge of your own choices, and you don't need a government to give you tax incentives to make the right decision.

5. Where do you stand on the following forum affairs issues:
a. Popular Initiative Oppose. The Senate should have the sole authority to make federal laws, not the regions or the president.
b. Proportional Representation Oppose. I think that all politics should be local, and proportional representation doesn;t help out with that.
c. Balance of Regional and Federal Power I believe that the regions should have the power to nullify federal laws within their region if they wish, and the federal government ought to hand over more issues to the regions.
d. Cabinet Size Reform Neutral.
e. Senatorial Term Limits Support. I believe that if the President is held to term limits, why shouldn't the Senate?
f. Judicial Term Limits See above.
g. People's Referendum See Popular Initiative.
h. Line Item Veto Support, but the president should use this power sparingly.
i. Secret Ballot I really don't know how this would work, but I would support if it could work out.
j. Vote Editing Support. There doesn;t seem to be any real reason that someone shouldn't be able to edit his vote before the election ends.
k. Preferential Voting Support.