John McCaughrean

^*Life starts at conception. Second and third trimester abortions, unless the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or there is a true need to end the pregnancy due to danger to the life of the mother, should result in a homicide charge for the abortion provider.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Only if patient is beyond stage 4 cancer and is in true pain and unrest just like what happened to my wife's aunt from brain cancer. A judge must issue an order allowing the assisted suicide, with two lawyers, one representing the ill person and another representing family members who are most preferably next of kin. All must sign off. If one says no, then it is not done.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*As stated above, only when rape or incest is involved of the life of the mother in endangered. Less than 1% of pregnancies may truly result in a genuine health risk to the mother. Second and third trimester abortions cannot be allowed, as science has shown us that viability today begin around the 21st or 22nd week. Abortion providers should be charged with homicide. Life starts at conception. Abortion should be in the hands of state legislatures and their constituents, not the federal government.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*The preamble of the Constitution states the federal government is to "promote the general welfare," meaning the overall well-being of each citizen, not providing welfare to everyone who won't work. Recipients of welfare in this country are mostly able-bodied and should be subject to our former national standard of workfare, which was very successful under Presidents Clinton and Bush. We should return to that standard. No one should be forced to part with their own hard-earned income to support someone who will not work for their own food, clothing and shelter.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*My balanced budget proposal would be the 3/4 rule. As an example, the 2019 total tax receipts were $3.5 trillion, so the 2021 budget would be no more than $2.75 trillion for overall spending, with the remaining $750 billion used to pay off the debt. We should begin by paying down the $1.1 trillion in debt to China accumulated under the Obama and Biden administrations.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*I believe the Trump tax cuts should be made permanent. At least until the debt reduction described above is implemented and successful. Afterwards, we can consider a flat tax in combination with a national sales tax. An admirer of Herman Cain, I would not go as far as his famous 9-9-9 plan but seek to arrive at a consensus that, with greatly reduced debt, could also greatly reduce taxes.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Our First Amendment absolutely guarantees a freedom of expression of religion and prevents the federal or state governments from setting up a "state religion." There is no reciprocal power allowing any government to interfere in that freedom of expression nor is there any conceivable basis for any government at any level in the U.S. to prevent any religious group from expressing a political opinion. We must prevent any government action that violates those tenets.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*The fundamental right of religious and/or faith-based organizations to establish guidelines to serve the public is sacrosanct, per the First Amendment protections of free expression of religion. Those who take legal action or organize protests against the cake baker who chooses not to serve the LBGTQ+ community, against the adoption agencies who require a "one-man-one-woman" definition of marriage in order to be able to adopt, are violating those firms’, organizations’ and individuals’ First Amendment rights.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Mutual respect and autonomy. We are a constitutional republic (U.S. Constitution Article IV, Section IV), not a theocracy nor an oligarchy. The church cannot adopt an active campaign of interference in government actions nor should the government attempt to stifle, regulate or silence religious activity, even when such activity expresses a political view based in their faith. Government should allow such expression but is under no obligation to adopt those views to make them a matter of law. By the same token, the church should never be "canceled" nor silenced in any effort to publicly oppose government policy, especially as noted during COVID. All entities (corporations, individuals, nonprofits) have the right to freedom of religious expression without fear of retribution from the government.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*At the federal level, there are none. As per the 10th Amendment, all powers not specifically reserved for the federal government are delegated to the states. The Federal government is to remain out of such instances, which is why our Republic did not have an FBI until about 100 years ago. Biden’s vaccine mandate sought to supplant the primary role of the states in public health beyond all past precedent. Despite coming in the midst of the pandemic, his order undermined the Constitution’s balance between Congress and the president and between Washington, D.C., and the states.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*I would go with a hybrid of C and D. This is a complex issue. As much as I want to go to D tomorrow, the transition would not be smooth. I would fight for an offramp from the federal level. Medicare and Medicaid were developed under Lyndon B. Johnson during the "War on Poverty." It became, in reality, more of a "War for more poverty." The federal government is a failing miserably at its two basic jobs: 1) National Security (look at the southern border) and 2) Fiscal policy (just look at gas prices and inflation, plus the federal debt). The objective would be to stabilize the programs before they become bankrupt in the next 5-20 years. Once solvent, send that responsibility to the states and the people to allow for the Republic (50 states competing) to take its course and the people to seek competitive prices with no interstate restrictions. If Nevada has a great privatized plan and California's plan is going down the tubes, then the people of California should be able to enter the Nevada program, even if it means they have to pay into it.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*C. There are bound to be aggressive acts perpetrated by China, Russia and even Iran, North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela against our weaker allies that will demand our intervention. But we can no longer allow conflicts governed by lawyers with unrealistic rules of engagement any more than we can engage in nation-building. We love democracy. It took the world 6,000 years to be ready for it. Rome's attempt to establish a democratic republic failed because the perception of freedom was useless to people who had always been enslaved and had no concept of how to break the yoke. Third world countries are mired in a reality that is essentially 1,500-2,000 years behind developed nations. Democracy has no meaning for them and attempting to introduce it is wasteful, expensive and purposeless.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Israel is our greatest ally in the Eastern Hemisphere. The BDS movement is a progressive effort to undermine Israel's strength and create a so-called "two-state" solution. There is no such thing. It cannot possibly work. Given a foothold of equality, a Palestinian homeland will immediately take aggressive action against Israel with the sole purpose of destroying Israel. The wall on the West Bank is the only physical protection Israel has against efforts to accomplish that destruction.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Donald Trump is right, China is the greatest threat we face in the 21st Century. The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a massive military buildup that immediately threatens our ally, Taiwan. The "one China" policy should be scrapped and we should make clear to Communist China that any attack on China will be met with a strong military response. China has stolen billions of dollars’ worth of industrial and military intelligence from the U.S. and the rest of the West. It has rarely been challenged by our government. We must oppose China expansionism. It is the greatest threat to democracy presently in the world.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*First and foremost, close our southern border. In 2021, 50 individuals of Islamic descent who are on the international terrorist were detained at the border with Mexico. Thus far in 2022, we have already detained an additional 42 such individuals. In the Trump years, only five terrorists were arrested on the southern border. We must contain the threat by increasing intelligence, identifying threats and acting to prevent the ability of terrorists from taking direct action against the U.S.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*This is our top national security issue. Biden's porous border is encouraging a direct threat from Islamic terrorism. Since January 2021, there have been 800,000 "getaways" confirmed by the border patrol. How many terrorists were among them? To end this threat and the threat of millions of illegals entering the U.S., we must complete the Trump border wall, increase CBP officers on the border and force Biden to close the border through all legal means that are already codified in the United States Codes.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*No local government has the right to flout federal law, even though the Biden administration and Obama before him refused intervene against cities and counties that did. Threatening our national security by refusing to cooperate with federal agencies regarding detainers or warrants for the incarceration of illegal immigrants is subversive and diabolical. It must be stopped. One of the four primary purposes of the federal government, the only areas cabinet-level departments should concentrate on enforcing, is national security. Any city or county that refuses to honor ICE detainers and releases dangerous foreign criminals or terrorists to roam our streets much be severely punish. Federal funds be withheld and police chiefs and sheriffs should be held criminally liable.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Only those who provide evidence they will be a valuable asset to the U.S. economy and to our democracy. We should prevent anyone who will be a drain on our financial resources from entering the U.S., as President Donald Trump's use of the Public Charge Law provided. Unfortunately, Biden has allowed over two million such "drains" into the U.S. in the last 18 months. Of further concern is the abuse of the H1-B visa program. Tech companies that don't want to pay the high-dollar salaries our own software and electronic engineers deserve are requesting admission for thousands of foreign nationals in order to replace those more qualified, more highly-paid Americans with H1-B employees who are paid far less than U.S. citizens in those roles. The Americans are forced to train the foreign nationals before they themselves are terminated. This is unconscionable and must be stopped. The only reason to award an H1-B visa is in cases where there truly are no American citizens qualified to fill the positions, or where farmers and ranchers desperately need migrant workers to enter the U.S. to harvest their crops. Unfortunately, there are far too few Americans who will take on that difficult work but it must be done. There are rare cases where political asylum is actually warranted. An illegal alien facing economic difficulties is not a proper admission. The Biden administration is using every means possible to grant a thin excuse for illegal entry. This practice must be stopped when Republicans take control of Congress in 2023.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Any effort to deny employment or services to someone because of their differences is already illegal under U.S. law. There is no need to "find" a nonexistent "right" for LGBTQ+ individuals in the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court erred in Obergefell v. Hodges and seven years later, people are experiencing, firsthand and painfully, the impact on everything they thought they knew about marriage. Those errors change nothing about the nature of men and women, and the truth of God's Word.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Critical Race Theory is a lie. It falsely claims inherent racism is irreversibly endemic to the white population, that all whites are racist. It denies the ability of most people, regardless of ethnicity, to judge "not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his hope for his four children in 1963. The rhetoric of the progressives, BLM and Antifa is in and of itself racist.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is God the Son, sent by God the Father and He, in turn, sent us the Holy Spirit, that He was crucified to take on the sins of the world, that He died and was buried, only to arise on the third day, conquering death and bringing us new life. I believe that as a follower of Jesus, I am to surrender my life to Him, allowing Him to shine through me, to share with others the Good News of Jesus, to sacrifice my comfort for Him and others that others may be blessed in His name.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*No one has any excuse for not acquiring a driver's license or state ID. Even the very, very few who can't afford it can get help from social service agencies that will provide financial help to pay for the license or ID. It is not at all unreasonable to expect all voters to be able to prove their identity at the polls.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Universal voter ID required under federal law, federal standards for all voting machine hardware and software to assure each machine is isolated from any WiFi or internet connection and that all counting hardware and software is certified as accurate and free from manipulation. All ballots must produce a printed hardcopy that can be reviewed by the voter at the point of contact that is then scanned into a master machine at each precinct and that can later be used the sole purpose of generating an accurate recount should one be necessary.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*No one alive today in the U.S. was a slaveholder or responsible for perpetuating slavery. No one alive today was subject as a slave to the slave laws of those states that made slavery legal within their borders. No one alive today has any claim of mental health or economic damage due to the laws of the slave states over 157 years ago. Reparations for bogus slavery-related damages is a fraud perpetrated upon the American people.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*The racism of the radical Left as represented in BLM and Antifa is definitely a threat to our national security, as those organizations' numbers far outstrip the numbers of right-wing extremists. It is the equivalent of a platoon against a division. There was violence at Charlottesville caused equally by extremists at both ends of the spectrum. But the summer of terror in 2020, in which over $2 billion damage was done to public and private property, is solely the responsibility of those racists on the Left. To describe them in any other terms is dishonesty. They are anti-white and spew lies about nonexistent "white privilege." In addition to the damage that year to our large cities, the dozens of deaths, including 18 police officers, are the direct responsibility of BLM and Antifa. This style of racism is far more common and prevalent than any such dogma espoused by so-called "white supremacists." The narrative of racism is firmly in the control of the progressive Left. We must recapture the truth and make certain our school children, college students and impressionable young adults hear the truth.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Fracking has sparked an energy revolution has been taking place in the U.S. This drilling technology has allowed energy firms to tap into once prohibitively expensive and difficult-to-reach shale-oil formations holding enormous oil and gas reserves. Fracking has allowed domestic oil and natural gas production to skyrocket in the past 20 years, leading to near record highs in production and numerous benefits that, until the Biden Administration took over, were being deeply felt by regular people — including shareholders and workers — all across the country. This boom in domestic oil and gas production was not only being felt via lower energy prices for homeowners and other energy consumers. Under President Donald Trump, the process was driving job growth, lowering the trade deficit and boosting up and promoting faster growth across the entire U.S. economy. A Manhattan Institute Report confirms that, since 2003, oil and gas production has directly accounted for an estimated 400,000 new jobs. Indirectly, the energy revolution has added up to 2 million new jobs in sectors including the construction, transportation and information technology trades. There have been concerns raised about damage done to ground water and possibly that fracking has set off minor earthquakes along secondary fault lines in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota. These concerns need to be studied further using the scientific method, which has no political agenda but seeks only the truth. Until those concerns can be directly linked to fracking, it must be restored to its full potential as directed under the Trump administration.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Very Conservative: This nation is a constitutional republic, true federalism being the key to good governance. The Constitution provides a narrow delineation of powers available to the federal government: State, Justice, Treasury and Defense. In reality, those are the only cabinet-level departments that should be extant in the federal government. Additional cabinet-level departments created over the last 241 years have power and authority that rightfully rests with the states' or within the realm of those four key departments. The Bill of Rights is sacrosanct and inviolable, despite efforts to violate them.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Airing on Fox 4 Kansas City’s “4Star Politics” on July 17, 10:00 a.m. CDT
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*I have what I call my 3-3-3 plan. The first "3" puts the Kansas 3rd District's interests as my priority at both the domestic and foreign policy levels. The second "3" is my self-limitation to three terms. I am not a career politician and have no desire to be one. We will use those six years to identify and prepare the next man or woman up to adopt my agenda and adhere to the same self-imposed term limits. The third "3" is my attention to the three most important issues facing the Kansas 3rd and the nation.
1. National security: Restore the Trump China policy and apply similar policies to Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela
a) Close our borders by properly funding Customs and Border Patrol and finishing the Trump wall
b) Secure our power grid and other utilities from cyberattacks by hardening industrial cybersecurity
c) No more endless wars and no nation-building
d) Properly equipped, trained and protected U.S military personnel • Restore America’s ability to fight a two-front war
2. Fiscal Responsibility Put an end to the “green energy” economy being promoted by Amanda Adkins, Sharice Davis and others
a) Open oil leases and auctions on federal and private lands to increase energy production and directly impact inflation, energy being the main driver of cost increases in all economic sectors
b) Build more high-output, low-cost nuclear, trash-to-steam, natural gas, and coal power plants
c) End government investment in solar and wind power, as they are too expensive, inefficient and unable to meet energy demands while failing to pay for themselves in the life of the equipment
d) Pass a balanced budget amendment that also dedicates 25% of the current budget for the next few years to debt reduction, eliminating government waste and obsolete entitlements

3. The government has no reason to interfere in healthcare. The private sector should provide superior affordable healthcare to all, especially to our wounded warriors and children with disabilities
a) Repeal Obamacare
b) Allow insurance companies to provide coverage across state lines
c) Adequately fund medical care and rehabilitation services to wounded and elderly veterans
d) Provide research funds for childhood diseases and disabilities that are woefully underfunded.

Additionally: Parental Rights Children belong to their parents. They must have absolute authority over their own children, particularly when it comes to their education. If parents do not want gender identity education or racist programs such as Critical Race Theory included in their children’s education, the local school board must stand down from teaching that curricula against the parents’ will.

First and Second Amendments: These are the two most important constitutional amendments and we must protect them at all costs. If, under the First Amendment, we do not have freedom of speech, of the media, if we do not have the right to expression of faith without government interference or the right to assemble, the right to seek a redress of grievances, then we have no rights at all. Without the Second Amendment, the entire Constitution will be subject to cancellation by a tyrannical, corrupt government. Reasonable measures should be taken to assure the mentally ill or criminals cannot acquire guns, but the red flag laws proposed by my opponents are a violation of constitutional guarantees of due process and against unlawful search and seizure.

Election Security: Every American has a reasonable expectation that their vote will count and that it will be counted properly. The last few years, that has been in question. The most logical answer is to require voter I.D. nationwide and remove shoddy or possibly corrupt voting machines and software from the voting process. Every state has the right to contract with the system of its choice, but there must be rigorous national standards that establish the veracity of every single vote.

Farm and Small Business Policy Inflation, high energy prices, transportation of goods to market and the estate tax are major concerns both in the farming industry and for small business owners. It is time to address those issues effectively.
a) Make certain all energy reforms are enacted
b) Increased oil and gas production, reduction of transportation costs, etc. first impact farms and small businesses in order to reduce their cost of getting products to market or getting product into their stores.
c) Repeal the estate tax, a double taxation of all farm and small business profits that usually forces the heirs to sell in order to pay the unfair and exorbitant taxes.
d) Provide for an equitable distribution of farm subsidies, providing for a graduated payout that limits the top 10% of agriculture corporations’ ability to receive such payments. To date, those companies receive 78% of all such payouts.
e) Make available to farmers and ranchers at an affordable cost the high-tech advances made the last 20 years in responding to drought, pestilence and other livestock and crop afflictions so as reduce the need of subsidies.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*No officer should be financially liable for a split-second decision made in the legal and proper execution of his/her duties. Allowing such legal actions against them will further reduce manpower in local police departments and sheriff's offices, putting more lives at risk and making it more likely that when life or property is threatened there will be no legal authority available to interdict the violation.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*Defunding the police has cost local law enforcement anywhere from 10--30% of their workforce nationwide. Mental health provision and community programs are necessary, but funding for them must be found elsewhere than a police budget. The time for mental health and community intervention is after the crime has been stopped in its tracks, not before an officer is available to respond.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*None. Gun ownership was established unequivocally in D.C. v. Heller. SCOTUS ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms and that the district’s handgun ban and trigger lock requirement violated the Second Amendment. It left in place the ban on convicted felons and the mentally ill from owning firearms and the legality of background checks to screen out convicted felons and also, supposedly, the mentally ill. The latter have managed to slip through the cracks too often in recent years. Nonetheless, those measures are for the most part sufficient to prevent criminals from acquiring a firearm from traditional sources. No government regulation can reach into the deep dark alleys of the streets of our big cities, however, to prevent criminals from acquiring an illegal firearm. Felons found to have used a gun in the commission of a felony must receive a harsher sentence, perhaps extending it to twice the original offense's maximum sentence. "Revolving door" justice dictated by progressive DAs must be brought to a halt and our gun laws strictly enforced. Only then will gun violence drop. Outlawing guns is not the answer. Great Britain further restricted guns five years ago to establish the some of the strictest gun laws in Europe, and in the average year since then, there have been over 1,000 stabbings. If the government there outlaws knives, the criminals will start using rocks, and the question is, how do we outlaw rocks?
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.

^*That's ridiculous. Guns are a legal product but they are not intended to be used violently against another human being. That is unlike tobacco products, which when used as prescribed deliver cumulative doses of lethal products to the user. It is illegal in every single state to shoot another person with a gun. The responsibility for such an act lies with the shooter, not the gun.
Staff Note: This edited survey response was submitted by the candidate after the survey deadline was reached and were not considered during panel evaluations.