Summary of political beliefs

[Deblano]

DISCLAIMER: Some of my answers on positions may be very vague. Also, some of my positions are basically the same as Speaker Kent’s

Ideology

Social: Relatively Liberal
Economic: center-right, tend to be pro-business
Foreign policy: “Realist”, focus more on what the geopolitical experts are saying
Environment: Liberal. We need to clean up the environment, promote sustainable energy, and deal with climate change.

Social Policy:
Abortion: Pro-choice, but keep the ban on partial-birth abortion. Keep abortion safe, legal, and rare by providing contraception and sex education as opposed to restricting abortion excluding partial-birth abortion.
Same Sex Marriage: Strongly support keeping gay marriage legal and strongly support anti-discrimination acts for LGBT people. LGBT citizens deserve equal lives and rights that heterosexuals have regardless of who they love or what gender they identify as.  
Drugs: Legalize marijuana and LSD, but oppose legalization of “hard drugs” such as cocaine, heroin, etc. Focus on rehabilitation for those suffering from drug addictions, rather than punishment
Death Penalty: Neutral, but lately I tend to lean against it due to the fact that innocent people have been put to death.
Gun control: It’s fine to increase measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, but banning certain types of guns and restricting ammo is a “feel good measure” with no results. People deserve the 2nd amendment right to protect themselves and their families.
Affirmative Action: It’s a noble cause, but it’s seriously flawed. It should be significantly reformed or repealed.
Prostitution: Personally oppose, but legalize and regulate it.
Euthanasia: Legalize it, but make sure that the patient is fully aware what he/she is doing and has actively discussed with their doctor.

Economic Issues:
Minimum Wage: Keep the minimum wage as it is, but promote tax credits as an alternative to increasing the minimum wage. However, if the individual states or cities want to increase their minimum wage, let them.
Welfare: I have to research more on this before I make an informed opinion.
Right-to-Work: Lean towards supporting Right-To-Work. I support private sector unions, but I’m against public sector unions, which have become significantly corrupt.
Taxation: I support a progressive tax as opposed to a flat tax, but reduce taxes for middle/lower class citizens, reduce taxes on small businesses, and significantly cut corporate taxes while closing loopholes that allow them to hide money overseas.
Healthcare: I’m admittedly wishy-washy on healthcare. As long as the method prevents Americans from suffering extraordinarily high bills, and doesn’t blow a hole in the deficit, I support it. Obamacare should have its flaws reformed, but it should not be repealed as millions of Americans already depend on it. Singapore's healthcare system would probably be the best for this nation as opposed to single-payer healthcare
Social Security: I used to be in favor of privatizing social security, but I have since then switched to supporting social security. It is dangerous to trust people’s retirement savings to the mercy of the stock market, god forbid a massive crash happen again. Take off the wage cap, expand benefits, and slightly increase the social security payroll tax of .33% to cover the deficit.
Trade: Strongly support free trade, as it benefits a lot of people (especially the poor and developing nations) and keeps prices low. Protectionism and tariffs in general are dangerous ideas that will make the economy spiral out of control.
Education: (Copying Speaker Kent’s position) Increase funding, but abolish Common Core and get rid of most standardized testing. Offer completely free education in public universities to veterans, and offer low/no-interest student loans to students from low-income families. Support school vouchers as well.
Balanced Budget Amendment: Lean against it. It’s a noble cause, but the idea of government planning the budget like a household is nothing but a bumper-sticker slogan that has no basis in reality. There are more pragmatic ways that we can reduce spending, especially in a recession.

Foreign Policy and National Security
Afghanistan: (Copying Speaker Kent’s position) Should train the Afghan military to protect their country from the Taliban. Support.
Iraq: We should have not intervened, but an Iraq War was inevitable due to US/Iraqi tensions even before 9/11. Leaving Iraq so early only helped create a power vacuum that made Sunni/Shia tensions explode and lead to the rise of ISIS. However, it would have been impossible to convince the public to let the US stay longer in Iraq.
Iran: Support the current Iran deal, and only consider military action against Iran if it is absolutely certain that they will get a nuke, which Iran is currently unlikely to anyways.
Syria: (Copying Speaker Kent’s position) should have backed the moderate rebels when they were still around. Should be involved fighting ISIS via airstrikes and indirect support for Middle Eastern countries.
NATO/Russia: It's too late to abolish NATO without creating a power vacuum, but focus on reforming membership and also focus more on the danger of hybrid war rather than training for conventional warfare. However, Russia is highly unlikely to mess with the Baltic States due to the fact that it creates very little benefit and many problems for Russia, excluding the issue of a war with NATO. Do not accept Sweden and Finland into NATO as it will worsen tensions with Russia and make hardliners even more paranoid. Putin in general is a very rational and realist leader, and thus I don't lose any sleep over thought of war with Russia while he is at the controls.
Cuba: Open up relations with Cuba and promote trade with them. The embargo has failed to improve human rights and denies us economic investment opportunities.
PATRIOT Act: The FREEDOM Act is a better compromise.
NSA Spying: Stop spying on our allies, it only ruins our reputation abroad.
Israel/Palestine: No opinion
Immigration: Personally oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, but it is our only option at this point due to the amount of them in this country. Increase border security, and allow states to decide how to manage their border with Mexico to prevent another mass influx of illegal immigrants.
Guantanamo Bay: Keep Guantanamo Bay open, but end the use of torture there, and make sure suspected terrorists receive a fair trial before sending them there to make sure no innocent person has been sent there by accident.

Environment
Climate Change: It won’t kill us all, but it will cause serious trouble to areas such as the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Florida, the Gulf States, etc. Work to reduce emissions and try to get China and India to do the same.
Green Energy: The transition will have to be slow due to the amount of people that depend on fossil fuel related jobs, but support transition to alternative energy. Strongly promote the construction of more nuclear power plants in safe locations

Keystone XL Pipeline: Oppose both for environmental and private property reasons.

Electoral Reform (Pretty much Speaker Kent’s positions)
Electoral College: Abolish in favor of an instant runoff voting system based on the popular vote.
Gerrymandering: Ban it and require that non-partisan organizations redraw the Congressional districts.
Term limits: Yes. Two four-year terms for President, six two-year terms for House members, three six-year terms for Senators, one ten-year term for Supreme Court justices.
Voter ID: Yes, but provide IDs upon registering to vote.
Compulsory Voting: No.
Voter Registration: Automatically register all citizens when they turn 18 and provide a free voter ID.
Statehood: Don’t make Puerto Rico a state due to their economic troubles, but make DC a state and give them one voting representative in the House, but no Senators.