Ernest R. Lineberger III

Strongly Disagree

Abortion is healthcare. Abortion care is not all of the important care provided by providers who also provide abortions. This war on women's reproductive rights is a culture war that has merit at some base level, but at its core seeks to take rights, privileges and freedoms from other people with little or no concern for the consequences to those people's lives. Let the woman and her physician decide the best health care based on the circumstances.

Neutral

I defer to the medical community, the CDC, the FDA, the AMA, etc. The only reason this question would come before US congress is to continue the Culture War that pits Americans against Americans and causes chaos in our communities.

For about 50 years, we followed the guidelines that came out of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case. The recent overturning was unfortunate in that it has put us in chaos. However, it was fortunate in that it alerted many Americans to the total lack of concern many in politics have for their lives and the consequences caused by bad policy. Hopefully, it will be enough to elect enough good statesmen (and women) to reset the guidelines of Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land.

In that abortion is healthcare, the federal role is to ensure safety. Plus, as previously stated, I stand by the historic guidelines established by Roe vs. Wade.

I would reach out to universities and corporations regarding pricing. For universities / colleges, the cost of tuition as outpaced inflation for a very long time. For food and consumer goods, we need to put pressure on prices.

Neutral

I see this both ways. Some earned forgiveness programs have value on their own. Forgiveness is important to relieve a harsh burden for many, but seems unfair to those who pay, or didn't go to college. Also, this becomes a large government subsidy to colleges. We need to attack this at the other end and reduce the cost of attending college and helping more people to meet that burden. I personally went to college on a NROTC scholarship, which was a huge blessing.

Choose not to answer

Many factors come in to play when investing money. If we are talking about investing in other countries, sometimes you have to invest to help encourage better ESG policies rather than insist that they already meet your criteria.

The Church (to which I belong) has a role in life and society including sharing the teachings of the faith and reaching out to those in need. The Church should not participate directly in political speech and activities. The state should support all people, regardless of religious affiliation and not get involved in religious debate. Both actually support each other, but not with any favor between party or religion.

Choose not to answer

As with real estate transactions that are not allowed to discriminate based on race, gender, etc., my first inclination is that this should be true for all businesses serving the public. If your business caters only to your religious group, then perhaps you can block serving outsiders. If we allow public cake decorators to refuse service, where does it stop. Could it go all the way to fire fighters? EMT's in ambulances? Even somewhere in the middle may be unacceptable.

In the Navy, we got inoculated right and left. In school, the same. To protect the community, high percentage vaccination is required. Some people object. In some cases, non-vaccinated can be denied access - Military, public school, some work.

I know that there are pros and cons to these. I'm leaning 'A' such that we might be able to take some of the middlemen out of healthcare and concentrate more on actually providing healthcare. That would only work if we did invest heavily on providing awesome healthcare. Some feel that they want to have a private option such that they can have superior care. I'm not sure that it always works that way. More money doesn't buy you 'extra' if extra isn't available.

Wording and semantics aside, I'm definitely somewhere between A and B. Isolation does not serve America nor the world. America has tremendous influence with diplomacy, assistance, trade, and defense. 'Intervene' shouldn't always mean militarily. We can use our influence, alliances, trade policies and more to help guide the world to better overall outcomes.

Agree

China is our biggest partner and competitor in a lot of areas. China has been very consistent in overall long-term policy. In my understanding, China does not follow the same intellectual property guidelines that we do, or maybe they just consider it legitimate government spying since their business and government are the same entity. We need to be wary, compete, and continue to build relationship.

Relationships are important. Israel is important. 900+ other nations are important too. One of the major keys to world peace is peace in the middle East. And getting Israel stabilized with its neighbors is key to that. I feel that we need to support Israel, but not at the expense of its neighbors. All have value. If Israel was working more closely with us, I would support working more closely with them. But when they go too far, we need to pull back some support. We own our action.

Multiple factors. I was eager and happy to serve. People have a lot of other options. The pay? Fear of following orders? Lack of expectation of national service vs. priority of getting rich? Maybe the lack of respect previously shown to the military by a previous president. Maybe the erosion of benefits, retirement pay formulas, long term medical coverage, VA issues, slow support for burn pit exposure victims, housing issues, and you could be killed. We need to adjust to entice service.

Agree

Yes, more, but not necessarily more fence. More fence in some areas. More surveillance. More patrol staff. Most of all, more legal capacity to get to the point that we can process immigrants before releasing them into the population. My impression is that we actually apprehend most who cross illegally. It is the legal side where we fail. With more court capacity, we could get legitimate asylum cases on with their lives and immediately return those without a satisfactory case.

How many is the question. Agree on the number and work to that. We also need to make sure that Southern Border crossings don't take our full allotment. We have many people from many places who are waiting for their turn. The current US population is about 345 million people. We do have a housing shortage. What is the plan number that we can accommodate over time? Infrastructure growth must match population. We are a melting pot and all should be welcome who will be loyal to the US.

Strongly Disagree

Most students already have school choice. However, 'Voucher' programs take funds away from public schools which are already underfunded in Texas. I support making public schools the strongest possible educational experience for the best benefit of the future of America. In many areas, public schools are the largest employer and key to community events and programs. We need to re-invest in education to keep America as the continuous leader of the world. Addressing the cost of higher ed too.

Strongly Disagree

My State, Texas, has had to fight off many efforts to redirect funding for education to other paths. It is too easy for states to adopt bad policy and divert precious resources. The future of America, the strength of our communities, the self-respect of our citizens depends on a solid foundation of public schools. We don't need a patchwork of policies some created with little regard to the consequences. We need strong leadership from the U.S. Department of Education.

Strongly Disagree

Marriage is two people making promises to each other to share life together. There can be many ups and downs in life. These strong relationships can help people to get through these ups and downs together. Some churches sanction and bless some marriages, but not universally even between men and women. The government should not be limiting how people choose to partner and marry. People need to allow others to be themselves. To live, love, partner, and marry whomever they choose.

Neutral

I find the wording of this question difficult. First, being the most vulnerable is not a competition. Secondly, I think protecting children from poverty, mistreatment, hunger, abuse, poor education and more are priorities. I have seen some concern of child grooming, but I have not seen even anecdotal evidence of it. We need to concentrate on the real issues for mainstream children. Stop with the culture wars and over-emphasis on sexual orientation serving only to strike fear in voters.

Neutral

Mental health is a serious issue in America. I'm thinking there might be an argument that these services can help a person lead a much more normal, productive life. Personally, I might prefer for everyone to 'remain as born', but I understand that may not be everyone's preference or need. There is a lot to this question. I'm willing to communicate and compromise on this subject for the good of the country and the people involved.

I grew up as the youngest in a family of six, where my father was a navy chaplain, a Lutheran minister. We moved a lot. Saw a lot of the world. Met and interacted with a variety of people. I grew up listening to my father's sermons and Bible lessons. My faith developed. I have stayed active in church and participated in other giving opportunities. The nutshell of my overall faith is to "Trust in a higher power" while striving to be good and do good. Love your neighbor and we are all neighbors. Any distinctions we draw between us and others puts ourselves in the wrong. We may have differences. We are no better, no worse. All have fallen short and we are to help each other to reach their full potential.

Neutral

As a man of privilege, I have no issue with producing a photo ID to vote. On the other hand, I understand that might be a burden to some. We need to make voting safe and secure such that the results are meaningful and without question. I believe the experts in state and community vote management that tell us that our system is very secure and free from fraud in volumes that normally matter. I have bigger concerns such as disinformation given to good voters to lead them to make bad decisions.

Strongly Agree

Over the last several decades, we have seen many examples where one presidential candidate has received millions more votes and lost the election based on the electoral college. In my state, Texas, for the last 40 years the majority vote has gone to the Republican candidate. Now, due to fatigue and concession, many people do not even vote. Yielding a forgone conclusion of 40 electoral votes for the Republican candidate. Without the EC, each person's vote would matter more. And equally.

Neutral

I am not a student, nor judge of CRT. I see it as a needless, culture war talking point meant to stir up trouble. Send Americans in to some worthless effort to argue and control something that isn't even a thing. We know the history. Let's teach it. Learn from it. Quit trying to sugar coat it to make one group look better or worse. Teach the truth. Learn. Work to not repeat. This emphasis seems an attempt to repeat the conditions in Germany that lead to NAZI rule. Let's not do that.

Neutral

Uugh!!! More culture wars. Why do we need a congressional level answer to a person specific question. It seems to me that this is a situational issue. Every case is nuanced. This question is loaded with matters of unfair competition and sexual predatory behavior. These are different matters. Note also, some women exhibit predatory behavior on women. And I know from experience, the same is true with males. I thank my coaches who protected me with a strong friend in junior high school.

Strongly Agree

The Earth was flat. Was the center of the galaxy. And other high misconceptions that were held dear with religious fervor, until they weren't. We have evidence of temperature increase, ice melts, storm ferocity, and more that show changes. We can argue the survivability of these changes. But we have no evidence these changes will make things better. We should act in every possible way, with diligent speed, as if to save our lives and secure the blessings of liberty for our posterity.

Smart people and their ingenuity! We will make many things more efficient and use less power, but more people will need them. We will use many sources including solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, wave, nuclear, oil, gas, maybe even nuclear fusion.

Moderate

When you mix economic and social on one scale, it all becomes meaningless due to questions of weighting and degree. I want to balance the budget (yes, have a budget!). Yes, some taxes on corporations and higher earners need to go up to pay our bills. I want to restore personal rights, freedoms, protections, access and affordability to (all) healthcare and higher education. We need to relevel the economic playing field where average full-time workers can afford a quality life.

See the preamble to the US Constitution: to form a more perfect union (means to keep making it better) establish justice (yes, for everyone, not just rich, white land owners) ensure domestic tranquility (not pitting Americans against Americans) provide for the common defense (military, CDC, FBI, FDA, EPA, etc.) promote the general welfare (watch and make small adjustments to keep things level) secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity (help all achieve their full potential)

No.

No.

Neutral

The supreme court is out of balance and out of ethical control. It is so sad to see court outcomes bought and paid for, but I guess we should be used to that with the two 'not guilty' Trump impeachment verdicts. What was once judicial is now political. We need some strong checks and balances on the supreme court. I'm willing to listen and compromise on what they might be. Term limits, Ethics standard with teeth, more seats... What else can we do?

Neutral

I support a fully funded, highly trained and professional police department. I also support some of the new multi-disciplinary response teams, where a psychologist, EMT, and police officer respond together to certain community issues. I also support community programs like 'Together we Ball', where police and fire fighters engage the community through sports. Police need to be trained in safety, awareness, tactics, but also de-escalation, empathy, and a full array of community services.

As a retired naval officer, I'm familiar with a variety of weapons. All had strictly enforced regulations and training to make their use effective for the intended purpose and safe for all involved. I want to put the responsibility back in responsible gun ownership. Training and license requirements prior to gun ownership. Background checks for all gun purchases or gifts. Safe storage requirements such as trigger locks or gun safes. Age requirements. Red flag laws. Maybe liability insurance.