Summary of political beliefs

[WVdemocrat]

Social Issues
Abortion: Support, including late term abortions.
Gun control: Support background checks, mental health exams, caps on magazines, and I support an assault weapons ban. No other country as advanced as ours has this many mass shootings. This needs to stop. Enough nonsense from the NRA. People lean on ideology regarding this issue. It's an epidemic. People are dying. Children are dying. It's time to stop this.
SSM: Support. It's a basic right. Right-wingers can guise it as whatever they want, it's hateful to oppose this.
Marijuana: Legalize and tax.
Death penalty: Firmly opposed.
Affirmative Action: Support
Prostitution: Legalize and regulate. It would kill the sex trafficking black market to legalize this. It would bring sex workers out of the shadows and allow them to live a safe and secure life. Also, make sure that sex workers have a way out of the industry if they want. I've seen a number of statistics which say more than a supermajority of prostitutes would get out if they had other options.
Assisted suicide: If the patient is in a rational state of mind and suffering from an incurable condition, I support this.

Foreign Policy and National Security
PATRIOT Act: Vehemently opposed. Clear overstep of government powers.
ISIS: The actions of the Bush administration in Iraq, especially in disbanding the Iraqi Army, and the failure of Bush and Obama to negotiate a provision to leave a residual force in Iraq created an environment in which groups like ISIS can thrive. Obama's policies on this are mostly effective. We don't need to re-invade Iraq and we don't need a four-way ground war in Syria. We need to form a coalition of regional powers to supplement our airstrikes with a strong ground force. Sending additional advisers is a good step. But, read my lips: No ground troops.
Russia: Unfortunately, Mr. Putin got away with his takeover of Crimea and faced no long term consequences. We need to make it clear to Putin that this type of aggression will not be tolerated. His actions were the enemy of freedom.
Cuba: I support lifting the embargo and fully normalizing relations with Cuba.
Israel/Palestine: It is terrifying to see the Republican Party move against a two-state solution. It is the only way forward. Both groups deserve their own state. Jerusalem should become an international city, under the control of neither Israel nor Palestine.
Immigration: I support the DREAM Act, and I support simplifying the legal immigration process. I support a path to citizenship for those who are currently here illegally, aside from criminals. We are a nation of immigrants, we should embrace all who want to come here. Multiculturalism is one of the central tenets of this nation.
Guantanamo Bay: Close Guantanamo Bay.

Economic Issues
Trade: I am very reluctant to support free trade agreements, but I believe globalization as a broad concept is probably inevitable. But, we should not globalize for the sake of globalizing. Support free trade agreements if they don't hurt American business and American workers. Too many trade agreements hurt us.
TPP: They need to publicly detail what exactly is in this. Until then, I'm opposed. The "trust us, this one is different" rhetoric is what we heard before NAFTA. I want them to woo me with the environmental and labor standards.
Minimum Wage: I support raising the minimum wage to a living wage. $15 an hour at least. No one who works 40 hours a week should live in poverty.
Taxation: I support a progressive tax rate based on ability to pay.
Social programs: The positions which people who receive welfare benefits find themselves in is a very vulnerable position. It would be easy to take advantage of these people. They pay into these programs in the form of taxes so that if they ever find themselves down on their luck, they won't slip into poverty. If you ever find yourself in a situation like that, you'll be damn glad we have these programs.
School vouchers: I oppose vouchers for school choice. We can't abandon public schools. It is one of the tenants of life in America. We need to invest more heavily in public schooling to ensure a fair and quality education for all.
Balanced Budget Amendment: Opposed. It's too rigid and doesn't accept that sometimes the federal government will run deficits. I am opposed to running long-term deficits, however. That would be fatal.

Electoral Reform
Electoral college: Abolish the electoral college
Gerrymandering: Non-partisan committees should handle redistricting
Congressional term limits: I'm ambivalent, but lean towards supporting this.
Mandatory voting: Opposed. It is an expression of free speech to not vote, and the people who don't vote are usually low-information voters. I don't want the future of America to be in the hands of people who just don't care. Let them stay home if they want to.
Voter ID: People can show their driver's license when they show up to vote, I have no problem with that, but the plain fact is voter ID laws disproportionately affect Democrat-leaning demographics. It's advocates know this. Opposed.

Science
Climate change: This is a real and growing threat. All of the climate change deniers need to stop politicizing this serious issue which impacts our environment and our world in dangerous ways.
Carbon emissions: I support a carbon tax to limit carbon emissions.
Green energy: I support the further development of alternative energies and I support subsidies for this research.
Stem cell research: I fully support stem cell research. It is my belief that government needs to stop regulating genetic research to death with ethical regulations. As far as I'm concerned, we should go as far with this technology as we possibly can.
Labels for GMOs: Of course I support this, but we shouldn't scare people with it. GMOs are not inherently unhealthy. But, people have a right to know what they're eating.
Keystone XL: I am fully opposed to the construction of this pipeline. It will bring dirty oil down from the Alberta tar sands, through dozens of vulnerable waterways (including the Yellowstone River), to be sold to China. No way, Jose.
Deforestation: This destroys habitats for thousands of different species. It's time to get serious about stopping deforestation. There is very little political will to do something about it, but we need to take aggressive action against it.
NASA/space exploration: We need to re-invigorate our space program. There has been virtually no political will for space exploration since the 1970s. It's time to stop pussy-footing around with abortion and same sex marriage, and start focusing on things which are really going to matter hundreds of years from now. Enough with this ridiculous austerity, give NASA proper funding.
Conservation efforts: It's time to get serious. We are witnessing the Great Holocene Extinction right now. It's time to end our push into the wild habitats of animals, pushing them to extinction and wiping out a world of biodiversity. We need to take serious action now.