Duell Wayne Lauderdale

Life of the mother

Strongly Agree

The government should have nothing to do with funding abortions or any businesses that offer them.

Strongly Disagree

I believe an optimal and fair taxation system would be a flat consumption tax. I would like to see the elimination of real estate property taxes, personal property taxes, and the income tax, each of which are among the most egregious forms of taxation. Our property is ours, not a rental from the government. Our labor doesn't automatically belong to the government. Reduce and eliminate tax incentives and tax credits. Repeal Missouri's recently passed gas tax and cap our gas tax at the old rate. I believe at its core, taxation is theft and we should always seek to reduce it.

I believe that we need to make government welfare leaner and return as many duties for maintaining social welfare to the private sector and reduce taxes accordingly. We should also eliminate handouts to businesses in the form of special tax incentives, tax credits, and subsidies. If a business is a good idea, it doesn't require taxpayer funded incentives to stand on its own two legs. I believe the duty of government is as the founders believed, to protect life, liberty, and property. If the government is funding projects to do anything besides that, we can probably return the administration of said projects to the private sector and remove the burden to the taxpayer. The government does too much, to balance the budget we get it back to the jobs it's supposed to do and leave the rest to the free-market capitalist system.

Strongly Disagree

Guaranteeing education through college would reduce the value of higher ed and encourage young Americans to believe that college is the best option for them automatically when in fact trade schools and other entrepreneurial ventures may be a better choice for them. Colleges are also indoctrinating our students in left-wing ideologies that make America and our founding principles out to be wrong and outdated. We do not need more of that. Guaranteeing college will also make it more expensive.

Strongly Disagree

The right to freedom of association is clearly expressed in the First Amendment. Our right to associate with only of those with whom we agree, if we choose, is a matter of freedom of conscience. It is not the government's business to tell us what is right or wrong, what to think or how to feel.

Never

D. Government involvement in healthcare has ruined our healthcare system. Many on the left think we are watching the failure of a capitalist system, but what we have is far from it. The VA, Medicare, and Medicaid combined make up the vast majority of our healthcare system and because they work on a single-payer and insurance based model, they influence prices for the rest of the private market. Single-payer insurance can only reduce rates by reducing quantity or quality of services and that is why we see such poor results with our VA system. Our veterans deserve better. Under insurance models like Medicare and Medicaid, there is no incentive for healthcare providers to limit costs, they can keep increasing rates and government will keep funding payment through debt and taxation. Furthermore, a single-payer and insurance-based healthcare system requires a massive paperwork bureaucracy which adds to the cost of all services. America needs to move towards a truly free market system which isn't primarily provided by government. More cash-only providers would be a good start. The Oklahoma Surgery Center for example does not accept insurance, has a list of medical procedures they provide, and they are able to offer services at a fraction of the cost that insurance based services do.

Morally, I am against vaccine requirements on a personal level, but I believe this is a complex question that involves freedom of association. If a private entity wants to require vaccines and the government says they can't, that effectively equates to a government interference in the employee-employer contract. I believe for private businesses, it should be up to them. Nobody is forced to work a job, they can always find another place to work. This is not dissimilar from the religious liberty question. If an employer doesn't want to hire an employee who is outspoken for an issue they do not personally believe in, the government should not butt in and tell them they must hire that employee. The Christian cake baker should not have to bake the LGBT cake. The employer who believes that vaccinated employees create the workplace environment they want should not be forced to hire an unvaccinated person. This is all about free association. If you work for the government, you should go by the government's rules. I believe this might have a positive side effect as the government is far too large as is and if people are dissuaded from working a government job, it may reduce the side and scope of government as the jobs remain unfilled. As for schools, I believe if we had a school choice system where students could actually be sent to schools their parents believe in, we could have a system where some schools have mandates and others do not and parents could send their students to an institution they agree with. That is an ideal situation, but I know right now not all have the choice, so in my view the preCOVID-19 vaccine requirements most public schools in the country had were reasonable, with the same exemptions for religious and personal reasons. Many communicable diseases have been largely eliminated in the United States due to a widespread vaccination campaign and most are found safe and effective. I do not believe in requiring COVID-19 vaccines for children under any circumstance though as the risk to their well-being is infinitesimally small. On the larger question of should members of the public, just as a virtue of being citizens of the country, be required to get vaccinated, the answer is a strong no. We are free people. In our own private life, not imposing ourselves on others, we have a right to do with our bodies as we wish and it is nobody else's business.

I believe we need to show the Islamic world the way in which they are wrong. Teach them about capitalism, democracy, and religious plurality like we have here in the United States. There are many good Muslims in the world, including conservative Muslims in the American sense; however, much of the Muslim community has been radicalized by evil men who are seeking to benefit themselves like Osama bin Laden. We should continue counter-terror efforts like intelligence gathering and working with Israel and partners in the Middle East to predict terrorist action and prevent it. We should always stand strong against nations that are state sponsors of terrorism. Finally, we should be very selective in counter-terror operations and make sure that we do not kill innocent civilians and bystanders. Many radical Islamists cite American wars which result in the casualty of innocent bystanders for their jihadist war against America. This is known as "blowback" and stalwart conservative Rand Paul also believes this is some of the reason for which Muslims are being radicalized around the world.

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Build the wall and incorporate measures to trace those trying to enter illegally!

Individuals who have been strongly vetted and gone through the legal process. As for circumstances, I believe if they display a capacity to care for themselves and be productive members of society, that is all I need to know. America is the greatest country in the world and more Americans means more economic and military capacity to be a force for good in the world.

Strongly Agree

I am as strongly for school choice as a person can imagine. We must make it possible for the money to follow students so parents can send their children to schools they believe in. I think that if we do this, we will see schools teaching CRT and ridiculous Common Core type teaching methods go away naturally. I always encourage parents to consider charter schools, private schools, and certainly homeschooling.

Strongly Agree

As John Adams said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I believe that we should get the government out of marriage and make it purely a private matter. This being the case, what constitutes marriage would be decided by private parties and the government would not be enforcing or condoning a certain perspective on what is a personal religious question.

Strongly Disagree

My wife is Latina and I am white. She is not oppressed and I am not an oppressor. We do not want our children to grow up in a country that teaches the exact opposite of what I grew up learning. That all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with inalienable rights. CRT is reversing the progress America has made on race relations over generations.

I am a Christian who believes in traditional family values. I believe in reason and liberty. God gave us thinking capacity so that we could use our wisdom to discern right and wrong. He gave us freedom so that we could have a choice between choosing good and evil. I believe the Ten Commandments are the ultimate guide for moral responsibility and that we are redeemed through Jesus who gave his life so we could be saved from our own evil ways. The Golden Rule is a great metric: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Strongly Disagree

In a modern industrialized nation, a person should have a clear, valid photo identification to cast a ballot.

Hand-marked paper ballots only. I also think political parties should pay and conduct their own nomination processes. They are private organizations, so the government should not be funding their nominee selection process.

No. Racism is wrong and morally abhorrent, but I do not thing it poses a major threat to Americans. We are the most tolerant nation in the world.

Strongly Disagree

The history of slavery and racism in America is unfortunate and should be taught and well-known, but a program of reparations is not economically feasible, would be an administrative catastrophe, and is not fair to either white or black Americans none of which today have been slavers or slaves.

A) Ironically, capitalism does more to benefit and protect the environment than the environmental cause. Communist countries are among the most polluted in the world.

Strongly Agree

I support the complete and total expansion of all of America's energy production capabilities.

The duty of government is simple. It is to protect our life, liberty, and property. It is not here to tell us how to think, how to feel, how to raise our families, how to live our life. The government is not here to raise us from cradle to grave. The government exists to make space for us, as free, God-fearing people, to make our own life and build our own prosperity. Humans are best able to do so when the government is out of their way.

Very Conservative

I am very conservative with a Constitutionalist libertarian lean.

I have written an op-ed in the past for the Libertarian Repubic https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/chinas-gaslighting-of-america-through-our-own-media/ You can check out my radio interview on Stand and Fight with Nick Schroer from June 5th, 2022 https://newstalkstl.com/stand-and-fight-with-nick-schroer/

No

I have the most experience working the legislative process in my race. My priorities are to kill BAD legislation, as we see a lot of that come through on an annual basis. I always consider the Constitution before deciding on a bill. It might sound like a good idea, but if it doesn't follow the spirit of the Constitution, I can't support it. I am out to reduce and eliminate taxes. Reduce regulation. I want to stop accepting so much federal money which has lead to debt and inflation. Economic agenda is probably at the forefront of my priorities.

Neutral

This is a very complicated topic so it is hard for me to simply say agree or disagree. Police work is a form of government work and I believe we must hold government accountable if it does something wrong, whether it be the school systems, taxing departments, or law enforcement. Nonetheless, the mission of police-work is essential to free society. l'll always stand with police that are doing their job by the books and respecting the Constitutional rights of the citizens they are engaging with.

Strongly Disagree

None

Strongly Disagree

This is absolutely ridiculous. It is implied in the sale of any item that the use of such items outside the manufacturers recommendation is strictly prohibited and that they are not liable for said misuse. The same is true of guns. If you buy a gun to do wrong, that is not the dealer or manufacturers fault. Same as if a person goes on a killing spree with a hammer.