VoteMatch Responses (Click here for VoteMatch quiz)
VoteMatch Question & Answer (Click on question for explanation and background)	Based on these stances: (Click on topic for excerpt & citation)
Favors topic 1: Abortion is a woman's right (+2 points on Social scale)	Supports NOW’s agenda on Reproductive Rights: Strongly Favors topic 1 Supports stem cell research: Favors topic 1 Roe v. Wade is not at risk, even from GOP Supreme Court: Favors topic 1 If Roe is reversed, decision just reverts to the states: Opposes topic 1 Threats to overturn Roe are “scare tactics”: Favors topic 1 No government role; let women privately decide: Favors topic 1 Roe v Wade is safe; GOP must back off pushing it: Favors topic 1
Favors topic 2: Require hiring more women & minorities (-3 points on Economic scale)	End secret detentions & restore civil liberties: No opin. on topic 2 Women are still second-class citizens in school athletics: Favors topic 2 Questioned anti-female bias at 1950s Harvard Law School: Strongly Favors topic 2 Long history of fighting in sexual politics: Favors topic 2
Strongly Favors topic 3: Same-sex domestic partnership benefits (+5 points on Social scale)	Get rid of gay discrimination fully, not halfway: Strongly Favors topic 3 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is discriminatory against gays: Favors topic 3 Nader supports gay marriage; but gay groups support Gore: Strongly Favors topic 3 Supports Civil Union in Vermont and elsewhere: Strongly Favors topic 3
Opposes topic 4: Teacher-led prayer in public schools (+2 points on Social scale)	Teach democratic principles & citizenship in schools: Opposes topic 4 Focus on civic & consumer education: Opposes topic 4
Strongly Opposes topic 8: Death Penalty (+5 points on Social scale)	Opposed 1996 expansion of the federal death penalty: Strongly Opposes topic 8 Death penalty does not deter: Strongly Opposes topic 8 Moratorium on executions: Strongly Opposes topic 8 Some executed by death penalty were innocent: Strongly Opposes topic 8 Death penalty does not deter & is discriminatory: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Strongly Opposes topic 9: Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws (+5 points on Social scale)	Decreasing unemployment reduces crime; not enforcement: Opposes topic 9 Focus on crime prevention instead of harsher sentences: Strongly Opposes topic 9 Police must follow the law too: Opposes topic 9
Strongly Opposes topic 10: Absolute right to gun ownership (-5 points on Economic scale)	Support Brady Bill & thoughtful gun control: Strongly Opposes topic 10 Supports trigger locks, licensing, & banning some guns: Strongly Opposes topic 10
Strongly Favors topic 5: More federal funding for health coverage (-5 points on Economic scale)	Billing fraud and abuse costs $200B: Favors topic 5 Single-payer health care plan over for-profit care: Strongly Favors topic 5 3.5% payroll tax to fund universal healthcare: Strongly Favors topic 5 Cradle-to-grave health care better than Clinton’s plan: Strongly Favors topic 5 US should adopt Canadian single-payer system: Strongly Favors topic 5 Use Canadian system as a model for US: Strongly Favors topic 5 Health care is a universal human right: Strongly Favors topic 5
Strongly Opposes topic 6: Privatize Social Security (-5 points on Economic scale)	Social Security is solid; pending bankruptcy is nonsense: Strongly Opposes topic 6 Social insurance is government at its noblest: Strongly Opposes topic 6 Social Security privatization replaces certainty with risk: Strongly Opposes topic 6 Fears loss of retirement funds in privatized investments: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Strongly Opposes topic 7: Parents choose schools via vouchers (-5 points on Economic scale)	Support choice within public schools: Strongly Opposes topic 7
Strongly Favors topic 18: Replace coal & oil with alternatives (-5 points on Economic scale)	It is time to break our addiction to fossil fuels: Strongly Favors topic 18 End subsidies of entrenched oil, nuclear, & coal interests: Strongly Favors topic 18 More renewables & more efficency to stave off global warming: Strongly Favors topic 18 Raise CAFE standards; treat SUVs like cars: Strongly Favors topic 18 Motor vehicles are the greatest environmental hazard: Strongly Favors topic 18
Strongly Opposes topic 19: Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it (+5 points on Social scale)	The drug war has failed, despite $50B annually: Strongly Opposes topic 19 Legalize marijuana, and treat addiction as a health problem: Strongly Opposes topic 19 Remove industrial hemp from DEA drug list: Strongly Opposes topic 19 Replace Drug War with treatment and alternative sentencing: Strongly Opposes topic 19 Solution to addiction is information, not prohibition: Strongly Opposes topic 19 Rated A+ by VOTE-HEMP, indicating a pro-hemp voting record: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Opposes topic 20: Allow churches to provide welfare services (-3 points on Economic scale)	Homelessness is peaking despite good economy: Opposes topic 20
Strongly Favors topic 11: Make taxes more progressive (-5 points on Economic scale)	Stop tax cuts and start dealing with real problems: Strongly Favors topic 11 Put meat in the process of progressive taxation: Strongly Favors topic 11 More taxpayer input into tax & spending policy: Favors topic 11 Focus on under-taxation of corporations, not income tax: Strongly Favors topic 11 Against flat tax; keep progressivity: Strongly Favors topic 11
Favors topic 12: Illegal immigrants earn citizenship (+2 points on Social scale)	Migrant workers are exploited; crack down on employers: Opposes topic 12 H1B visas in US cause “brain drain” in Third World: Strongly Opposes topic 12 Immigrants don’t come for welfare; restore safety net: Strongly Favors topic 12 Don’t blame immigrants for social and economic problems: Strongly Favors topic 12
Strongly Opposes topic 13: Support & expand free trade (-5 points on Economic scale)	In anti-globalization book, “The Case Against Free Trade”: Strongly Opposes topic 13 WTO makes trade supreme over labor, environment & consumers: Strongly Opposes topic 13 Free trade isn’t win-win: we’re exporting jobs: Strongly Opposes topic 13 NAFTA and GATT supersede national and state laws: Strongly Opposes topic 13 Renegotiate NAFTA & WTO “as if human beings mattered”: Strongly Opposes topic 13 It’s not free trade; it’s corporate-managed trade: Opposes topic 13 NAFTA failures: $50B Mexico bailout; 400,000 exported jobs: Opposes topic 13 WTO’s “trade uber alles” hurts environment, health, & safety: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Strongly Opposes topic 15: Expand the armed forces (+5 points on Social scale)	Half of federal budget is now military spending: Strongly Opposes topic 15 Cut defense budget by $62B by reducing waste & fraud: Strongly Opposes topic 15 Stop spending on unneeded weapons & non-existent enemies: Strongly Opposes topic 15 Cut defense budget by $100B; time to demobilize: Strongly Opposes topic 15 Arms race is driven by corporate demand: Opposes topic 15
Strongly Favors topic 16: Stricter limits on political campaign funds (-5 points on Economic scale)	Public funding of campaigns would fight corporate control: Strongly Favors topic 16 Clean money means clean elections: Strongly Favors topic 16 Public campaign finance; 12-year term limits: Strongly Favors topic 16
Strongly Favors topic 14: The Patriot Act harms civil liberties (+5 points on Social scale)	Hold Bush accountable for torture & illegal war: Strongly Favors topic 14 Patriot Act associated with abuse of Muslim’s civil rights: Favors topic 14 Repeal the Patriot Act; end secret detentions: Strongly Favors topic 14
Favors topic 17: US out of Iraq (+2 points on Social scale)	Take troops out of Iraq: Favors topic 17 Rapid and responsible withdrawal of US military from Iraq: Strongly Favors topic 17 Bush should apologize for failing our troops: Favors topic 17 Bush should never have invaded Iraq: Strongly Favors topic 17 Support foreign peasants instead of foreign dictators: Opposes topic 17 Support social and economic justice across the globe: Favors topic 17 Assist Russia & Israel in moving towards better governments: Strongly Favors topic 17 Selling arms is not a good way to conduct foreign affairs: Opposes topic 17