Robert S Godshall

Strongly Agree

Our Founding Fathers would be horrified to see the extent to which government is funding various activities in our country. Their main concern was the tendency of government to grow so big as to be overbearing and restrictive of our freedoms. The consequence now of the personal income tax deprives individuals of the right to not financially participate in activity with which they do not agree or find morally repulsive or is socially divisive. Abortion is that issue.

To protect the life of the mother. I would hope that, with all the discussion on this issue about health and choice, we begin to appreciate all aspects of the life giving process.

Strongly Agree

Failure to protect life introduces an element of chaos into society that most people do not want.

Choose not to answer

Neutral

I think it would be better if women would take a more serious view of their sexual activity and would realize that they are the carriers of life. Society depends on that realization and we would be better off if women and men are more responsible.

The state should not establish a state religion which was done when King Henry VIII established the Church of England. The Founders were very sensitive to that kind of relationship and the effect it would have on individual freedom.

Strongly Disagree

Either we live in a free country or we do not. This type of government compulsion provides excuses to people that seek out businesses they know do not agree with their lifestyle so they can sue them for discrimination.

Strongly Agree

China does not appear to be our friend. Hopefully, this changes.

As the only democratic government in the Mid-East area, our very good relationship with Israel is crucial to that region's stability. Israel is a very important and innovative trade partner.

Health care is one of the most government subsidized activities in our country, education is the other, and the astronomical cost of health care is the result. There is no question that government subsidies have led to this increase. Ending taxpayer funded health care would result in much more affordable health care. We should work on a plan where taxpayers can deduct the cost of their own health care and not rely on their employment or the state.

Strongly Disagree

I think the government already knows the economic burden of treatment just like we already know that most people incur their greatest health care cost in the last 6 months of life.

The minimum wage has caused low skilled jobs to disappear and has made it harder for prospective workers with little or no skill to get a job. People need to realize that employers will pay very well to get the skills and abilities they need.

Strongly Agree

Private property is the building block of a vibrant, growing economy; it gives the job provider a sense of security in the knowledge that he can invest and build on his property. It is this ability to invest and innovate that creates the free enterprise system and generates wealth. It also generates an attitude that people can do better and succeed. Those countries that lack such protections usually stagnate because property owners are reluctant to risk anything because it might be taken away.

Government programs generally provide more benefit to the politicians implementing the programs than they do for the voters. They accomplish this by convincing the voters of those benefits, who then vote for the politicians, thereby keeping them in office. When the previous programs do not work, as they usually don't, the politicians urge the creation of more programs and create a perpetuating cycle of programs and rising taxes to pay for them. We need to stop electing those politicians.

Strongly Disagree

We have an immigration law and it needs to be enforced. The reality of these sanctuary laws is that foreign nationals commit crimes, are arrested but are not identified as foreign nationals and are not interviewed by Homeland Security. This makes no sense. Frankly, these politicians that support sanctuary policies are encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to come to our area and they should be investigated for violating Federal law.

Agree

The quality of education in this country has declined since 1980 and I see no utility in continuing that department. We did fine without it for over a hundred years.

Choose not to answer

To separate the criminal from law abiding society.

Agree

Government has a role to play in punishing exploiters, but parents need to do their job too.

Strongly Agree

This is common sense.

The Second Amendment says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. What seems to be lost in the debate about gun violence is that people that want to kill or hurt others, will find a way to do it with or without firearms. That is human nature and it has been with us since the beginning. We should look at how we deal with our own nature. We should do a better job of enforcing the laws we already have.

Conservative

I believe in the ability of the free American to innovate and prosper.

No.

No.

Agree

Once again, the Founders did not envision a government that inserted itself into all manners of social interaction. The government mostly causes problems, not solutions.

Strongly Agree

Children are not experiments and their wants and desires are often transitory, not permanent. Leave children alone to develop themselves and get to adulthood where they can make these life changing decisions with more experience in their life.

Disagree

I think marriage is a responsibility that results when adults start creating children which then constitutes a family. A collection of families creates a society and successful societies are dependent on the best families possible. Therefore, government has some interest and responsibility to maintain a social order in which these families can succeed.

Neutral

I'm not a big fan of gambling. It seems to me that there are plenty of avenues available if one wants to engage in that activity.

I believe that social order is best maintained when there is a coherent set of values practiced by the inhabitants of that society. For instance, a society that permits murder, theft, lying, adultery, violence, and disrespect is doomed to failure. I believe in the existence of a Supreme Being and, that this belief, shared by many people in many different forms, helps to achieve a high level of social coherence centered on what is right or wrong.

Disagree

Not only is it important to establish the right to vote but it is also important for the voters to know that their vote counts and that there is as little fraud or corruption in the process as possible. In recent times we seem to have engaged in an almost inexorable campaign to increase voter turnout by relaxing voting practices. Ironically, voter turnout has not increased by much but the opportunity for fraud has increased. I support the practice of voter ID as a measure to decrease fraud.

Strongly Disagree

I support the idea of Democrats paying reparations. They engaged in slavery, they instigated a Civil War in order to protect slavery and they instituted discriminatory legislation in order to maintain their power. It's only right.

Strongly Agree

This is common sense.

Strongly Disagree

Climate fluctuates over the centuries and even if there was some validity to the claim that there is some link between human activities and climate change, our energy use is going to change. The important thing is that energy needs to be flexible, efficient and effective. Wind and solar are none of these. We should put more effort into adapting to our climate realities and less into prevention. The U.S. has already reduced its carbon footprint by 20 percent and the world is becoming greener.

Nuclear power, and we should be putting more effort and investment into developing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors. An SMNR the size of a McDonald's can power 65,000 homes while a 500 acre solar farm can power 15,000. Nuclear is the immediate future.