Summary of political beliefs

[NickCT]

Social Policy:
Abortion: Pro-choice, keep abortion safe, legal, and rare.
Gay Marriage: Fully supportive of LGBT rights.
Drugs: I see no reason to legalize recreational use of marijuana.
Stem Cell Research: Stem Cell research saves lives, and is completely necessary.
Death Penalty: Supportive, but make sure it is done properly and humanely.
Gun control: Institute universal background checks, and ban high-capacity ammunition magazines.  Undecided on a national gun registry, but lean in opposition.
Affirmative Action: Racially-based affirmative action is reverse discrimination, and I don't support it.
Women's Rights: I support an ERA and the passage of equal pay.

Economic Issues:
Minimum Wage: A small increase ($10.10 is too high) and balance it with targeted cuts for small businesses.
Welfare: Cut welfare off after 2 years.
Right-to-Work: Fully support Right-to-Work.
Taxation: Cut taxes only when the government can afford it, and start with middle class/low-income Americans.
Healthcare: It is too late to repeal the ACA, instead we must improve the law by getting rid of the medical device tax, and allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines.
Social Security: Remove the FICA Cap to expand Social Security's solvency.
Education: More funding to education, allow school vouchers.  Additionally, we need to get rid of Common Core, set federal graduation standards (including a foreign language requirement), and eliminate teacher tenure.
Balanced Budget Amendment: No.

Foreign Policy and National Security
Iran: Diplomacy is the best course of action.
Iraq/Syria: We have a responsibility to protect human rights around the world, and we need to target ISIS through air strikes and the like.  No ground invasion.
Military Spending: There certainly exists waste in the Department, find it and eliminate it.
PATRIOT Act: An unfortunate necessity in the 21st Century.
NSA Spying: Needed to protect our national interests and security.
Israel/Palestine: We must recognize Israel's blatant disregard for human life, but it is wrong to say that their actions are not justified.  I ultimately side with Israel, but I'm not blind about the errors in their ways.
Immigration: Make the legal immigration process much simpler, strengthen the border, and then provide a pathway to citizenship for illegals.

Environment
Climate Change: Climate change is real, and the U.S. must lead the world in combatting it.
Green Energy: Invest in alternate energy. It's good for the environment, creates jobs, and helps us achieve energy independence.
Keystone XL Pipeline: We need this pipeline to create jobs, and I believe it is worth it.

Electoral Reform
Electoral College: Undecided, but lean towards supporting it.  I'm not convinced eliminating the College would solve our problems.
Gerrymandering: We need strict reform of Gerrymandering.
Presidential term: The president should serve one six-year term without the ability to run for reelection.  This would make the Office more effective and help combat a lot of the government's problems.
Public Financing: Complete public financing of campaigns, removing outside groups and the like will do a great deal to helping our political system.  I used to hate the idea, but the inability of Congress to work has changed my mind.
Term limits: Term limits would do more harm than good.
Voter ID: I have no problem with Voter ID's, Connecticut has had the law for as long as I can remember, but the recent attempts in the South are clearly being done for political reasons.  We should want to prevent voter fraud, but we should help qualified voters get identification.
Voting: I support instant-run-off voting.