Joseph Thornton

Strongly Agree

Elective abortion should be prohibited, not funded. Funding should go to support mothers and families to mitigate the challenges of planned or unplanned pregnancies.

Elective abortion should not be allowed. Medically necessary treatment for the life of a woman should not be precluded by the unavoidable death of the fetus.

Strongly Agree

Elective abortion, including prescription is prohibited, as is executions, euthanasia and so called medically assisted suicide. Just as abortion is banned, euthanasia and the death penalty should be abolished.

Strongly Agree

Note that an associated moral concern is the artificial creation of embryos.

Strongly Agree

The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.

The minimum wage should be a living wage. Substandard wages mean that the owners/employers are not contributing their fair share to the business and society.

Agree

The American Solidarity Party is a strong supporter of private property rights. To protect these rights, the ASP advocates a system of distributism to defend against oligarchs and the government.

1. Eliminate thoughtless, inefficient budget cutting 2. Eliminate using government resources to protect corporate profits. 3. Increase transparency in government decision making. 4. Clearly distinguish political decisions from scientific decision. Our society is mature enough to understand a risk benefit balance in making hard decisions (eg in efforts to mitigate pandemics, climiate change and AI dominance) .

The Church does not impose its belief practices onto all people, nor does the state restrict the practice of faith at home and in the public square.

Strongly Disagree

Being forced to do something against our will is contrary to individual freedom and should be restricted to extreme circumstances. As a physician, I became active in the Catholic Medical Association when the government tried to define immoral acts, such as abortion, as universal rights and tried to force physicians to provide or refer for the practice.

Medicare for all with options for supplements. Much work is needed to refine the details over time, but we have to start somewhere. Your health care cannot be dependent on your employer.

Disagree

The government and health payors already maintain a database of ongoing medical illnesses, and now, with AI the large health records companies like EPIC maintain detailed data on almost 2/3 of the American population. The data should be used primarily to support health and not become a buffet for profiteers or politicians.

Agree

The threat to Americans comes from tyranny, whether the tyranny is based in Beijing, Washington, D.C. or Corporate C-Suites. The current USA administration has threatened citizens, residents, former allies in NATO, and our neighbors in the Americas. We need to return to the Kennedy doctrine and focus on our values of truth and freedom. We need to be willing to work with friend or foe to achieve the same.

Historically, the United States has represented the power that stood for democracy, freedom, and life. We should restore that role. Personally, I am a Catholic convert, and the existence of the State of Israel is a tangible sign of providence, given all the forces that want to destroy Israel. As a physician, I have to comment that just as individual humans are self-destructive, nations can be self-destructive through bad behaviors. It is our values and behaviors that define virtue.

Disagree

We need, as a society to strive more for consensus and less on power plays. The American Solidarity Party strives for the common good, common ground and common sense. Sanctuary cities have noble intentions, but we have to address our system of laws. Any society can be subjected to civil disobedience, but that is conducted by individuals who are willing to suffer for their beliefs. A city cannot impose that on all its citizens.

Disagree

The Department of Education has a role in providing resources and protection for all members of the USA.

Disagree

This broad statement has already been misused to interfere with high-quality research and scholarly activity. Americans should be proud that we have unique collections of world-class researchers so it makes sense that funding for work would come from around the world. The true challenge is vigilance against manipulative funding.

Strongly Agree

The American Solidarity party platform item 4 is the Centrality of the Family: ... the family provides for the nurturing of children.

Disagree

The biopsychosocial development of children is complex and not fully delineated. Just as there is greater recognition of neurodiversity and its overlap with gender diversity, for the sake of the child, we need to examine the situation individually and, as a family and with professional health care providers, make the best possible decisions. Ideology, prejudice, and trendiness are not foundations for good care. We do know that the gender identity of some minors can be fluid.

Disagree

I agree that Catholic Christian marriage is one man, one woman and one marriage. As a Catholic, we already see where government has liberally allowed for divorce and remarriage that is not consistent with our religious beliefs. The civil definitons may cause some confusion for the faithful that can be corrected with catechesis, but we (Catholics) no longer control the civil definitions.

Disagree

The statement implies that there would be taxes to go to the State budget. We do not want the state budget to be dependent on behaviors that can be very destructive for a segment of our population.

Magnificent Humanity. I am a 1990's convert to the Roman Catholic Church. In my confirmation I shared an oath with God to love and serve Him and to know Him through the teachings of the Church. Where there is doubt on my part, I am bound by oath and humility to obedience to Church teachings. Church teachings allow for acts due to informed individual conscience. The message and mission of my campaign is the recent encyclical by Pope Leo, Magnifica Humanitas,

Disagree

Our modern society uses photo identification for everything from passports to theme park admissions. Acquisition and use of a photo ID is no longer the burden it may have been decades ago. So the photo alone is not a burden, but getting a satisfactory ID also should not impose hardship of unfairness in the ability to vote. We must recognize that denying a USA citizen access to the ballot is government tyranny. Fraudulent access to the ballot is individual misconduct.

Strongly Disagree

Choose not to answer

Another issue where we need to look at common sense. Transgender identity can be real or, at times, famously manipulative. In sports, the example of a college student changing genders so that they go from being a loser to a champion is obvious abuse. Other situations look at the behavior. Predatory sexual behavior by any gender, anywhere, should be prohibited.

Strongly Agree

The question is worded in an inflammatory, non-constructive phrasing. Climate change, whether man-made, whether it be cyclical or whatever, is real and impactful. We are dealing with it now in piecemeal, after-the-fact situations. We need to at least consider mitigation strategies such as not building high-rises on barrier islands in hurricane zones, etc.

Multiple sources: solar, geothermal, new technology for energy efficiency, among others.

Choose not to answer

These labels are prejudicial. I am a faithful Catholic member of the American Solidarity Party. Our platform has a mix of labels on each of the issues. I sum it up as preserving Life, Dignity, and Liberty with courageous compassion.

No.

No.

1. Protecting the public. 2. Restorative justice - holding offenders accountable, restitution to those harmed.

Strongly Agree

The technology and free enterprise companies have a tremendous advantage over parents' ability to know and mitigate risk. This is an area where government must participate to protect its citizens.

Choose not to answer

This statement is more inflammatory than informative. We do not specifically incorporate Catholic, Jewish, or Hindu laws into the legal frame work of the USA. There may be overlapping principles ( eg prohibit murder) that we agree should be law. If something in Sharia law makes sense in USA culture, then we would not exclude common sense just because of a label.

The proponents of Gun Rights cite the 2nd Amendment (which is one part of the U.S. Constitution and the 26 other amendments). The 2nd Amendment reads: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Use of firearms for criminal behavior, intimidation, or threats of harm should result in restrictions.