Name:________________________________Public Policy QuestionnaireUsing a scale of 1-5, please indicate how you feel about the following public policy issues:1 (strongly agree); 2 (Generally agree); 3 (no strong feelings); 4 (generally disagree); 5 (strongly disagree); 0 (undecided)
National Defense
__________________________________________________ A strong American nuclear force remains essential to the preservation of world peace. The United States devotes too great a portion of its budget to defense spending in the post Cold-War era. The United States should give political, technological, and financial support to resistance movements against the remaining communist governments. Homosexual activity should be incompatible with service in the U.S. military forces. The United States should continue to provide military protection to Europe and Japan. The U.S. should use any appropriate means, including deadly force, to retaliate against sources of international terrorism. U.S. troops should be deployed overseas in support of humanitarian foreign policy objectives. Defense cuts would hinder U.S. efforts to maintain long-term national security. More research is necessary before the U.S. can deploy an intercontinental missile defense system. The U.S. should get approval from the United Nations before engaging in any military action abroad.
Foreign Policy
___________________________________ A strong Israel is vital to American interests in the Middle East. U.S. foreign aid should be tied to the development of political and economic liberty. Even if there are difficulties with the United Nations, the U.S. should never consider withdrawing from this world organization. Communism has been sent to the trashcan of history. There is no chance it will resurface as a serious threat to world peace. By far the most important immigration issue is for the U.S. to regain control of our borders.Economic sanctions are always a bad foreign policy. The United States should never apply them to other countries. U.S. armed forces should not be put under United Nations command.
Elections
_________________________ Term-limits are an effective tool to maintain both the integrity and efficiency of government. Some federal election laws exceed the authority given to government under the Constitution. Political Action Committees should be further regulated so they cannot abuse our election process. Financing of political campaigns with public funds is necessary to ensure equal access to political power for all citizens. Negative advertising, when actually based on a candidate’s record, is a valuable information source to the electorate.
Right to Work / Organized Labor
___________________________________ Government workers should have the right to strike. If an individual receives benefits from a union-negotiated contract, it is fair for government to require him to pay union dues. Employers should be allowed to replace striking workers permanently with new employees. No one should be required to pay dues or other fees to a union as a condition of employment. Federal workers should be allowed to run for public office, participate in political races, and raise money for partisan candidates. Union officials exert too much influence on government decision-making at the federal, state, and local levels. If a union wins a majority vote of workers, that union should have the exclusive right to negotiate with the employer for them all.
Education
______________________________________________________________________ To assure equality of opportunity for all children, non-English-Speaking students should be instructed in their native language. Busing of school children to achieve racial balance is wrong. Teachers unions are necessary for successful educational reform in U.S. schools. Tuition tax credits would aid private schools at too great an expense to the public schools. Educational vouchers might help private schools, but they would lower the standard of education in public schools. Without federal funding, the quality of public education would be much lower. Because of their high level of education and training, teachers, rather than parents, should determine course content. Textbooks should be reviewed by parents and interested groups to determine content materials suitable for young minds. Mandated sensitivity courses should be required to ensure that children reject racism. Homeschooling is a positive alternative option for parents who have become frustrated with the public school system. Speech codes are needed on college campuses to safeguard against racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual verbal abuses. Permitting voluntary prayer in public schools would violate separation of church and state. In order to ensure the creative advancement of the arts/literature/humanities, the U.S. government must help fund these projects. Federal education standards, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Education, are necessary in establishing a base curriculum.
Domestic Issues
________________________________________________________________________________ Liberals are more compassionate towards the plight of the poor. Importation restrictions are an effective tool to protect American jobs and improve the U.S. economy. The threat of global warming requires strict government limitations on carbon dioxide emission. Free trade is always beneficial to a country’s economy, regardless of other nations’ tariffs or protectionist policies. Enterprise Zones, offering reductions in taxes and regulations, would help revitalize inner cities. The George W. Bush Administration has cut taxes too much. The U.S. should allow the expansion of nuclear energy to offset dependence on foreign sources of petroleum. The tax increases implemented by the Clinton administration were necessary to reduce the budget deficit. Universal access to health care is a fundamental right which a government should guarantee for all citizens. For those who are able, welfare benefits should only be available in return for an exchange of work for local or state governments. Clear-cut harvesting of forests in the United States should be prohibited by law. Federal mandates on employers to provide universal health coverage would cause unemployment to rise. Further tort reform by the government is needed to cap exorbitant legal fees and to un-clog our justice system. Minimum wage laws contribute to unemployment. Many commodities and services are so necessary that the government must control their prices so citizens can afford them. Judges should always be strict constitutionalists.
Social Issues
________________________________________________________________________________ The state is right to impose the death penalty for certain crimes. Hiring practices and admissions standards should not be based on qualifications alone; members of disadvantaged groups should have preference by law to correct past inequities. Since the subject is primarily a question of a woman’s control of her own body, she should have the right to an abortion. America is a land of many cultures, therefore no mandated preference for one language over another is acceptable. The use and possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized. Animal testing of products, even for medical purposes, is inhumane and should be prohibited by law. Only a country’s army and its police should be allowed to own and use guns. Law enforcement suffers when limited resources are used to suppress victimless crimes such as prostitution. Mandatory drug testing is an appropriate policy for some types of employment. AIDS is more a civil rights issue than a public health issue. It is bad policy ever to legislate morality. Mandatory registration of handguns is needed to make Americans safer. The court system in the United States currently enjoys more power than the framers originally intended. In general, criminal sentencing in this country is too lenient. Burning the American flag in a political protest should be every American’s right. Since human life begins at conception, the only reason why an abortion should be allowed at any stage of a pregnancy is to prevent the death of the mother.
Public Policy Identification
+ Mostly Agree
– Mostly Disagree
0 No Strong Feelings
Leave it blank if you don’t know
____ Vladimir Putin
____ Congressman Mike Pence
____ Hugo Chavez
____ Senator Tom Coburn
____ AFL-CIO
____ Amnesty International
____ Augusto Pinochet
____ Act-Up
____ Brookings Institute
____ CATO Institute
____ Common Cause
____ Congressman Tom Delay
____ D. James Kennedy
____ English First
____ Greenpeace
____ Heritage Foundation
____ Human Events
____ Jesse Jackson
____ Margaret Thatcher
____ Milton Friedman
____ NATO
____ National Media Observer
____ National Review Magazine
____ Operation Rescue
____ OSHA
____ Phyllis Schlafly
____ Planned Parenthood
____ Pope John Paul II
____ Rush Limbaugh
____ Senator Jesse Helms
____ The United Nations
____ Vaclav Klaus
____ American Civil Liberties Union
____ American Conservative Union
____ Americans for Democratic Action
____ Americans for Tax Reform
____ American Israeli Public Affairs Committee
____ Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.
____ Legal Services Corporation
____ National Education Association
____ National Organization of Women
____ National Rifle Association
____ National Right to Life Committee
____ National Right to Work Committee
____ People for the American Way
____ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
____ World Council of Churches