I just ran across a website called “Project Vote Smart“. This site gathers information from various candidates for office, so you can view it all in one place, and even very easily compare the candidates if you open them up in side-by-side tabs on your browser.
Some third party presidential candidates did complete the “courage test” though, including libertarians. I was quite surprised to see that I disagree with some libertarian candidates on a few issues I thought we’d agree upon. For example, I was extremely surprised to see that neither Phillies nor Kubby have chosen to eliminate inheritance taxes (Phillies wants to slightly decrease them, while Kubby wants to greatly decrease them). Yet why should the government get any of it, since it’s a gift from one person to another? Christine Smith is the only libertarian candidate to propose eliminating that tax.
On the other hand, Kubby wants to greatly decrease gasoline taxes and certain “sin” taxes (alcohol, cigarettes, etc) while Phillies and Smith want to eliminate those taxes altogether. On those tax issues, I agree with Phillies. I would agree with Smith, but she wants to eliminate ALL federal taxes (including income taxes); and while that’s an idea I’d love to get behind, I don’t think it is realistic, at least not at this time.
I will have to study the candidates’ responses a lot more closely, and I strongly suggest others do the same. While it won’t help much with regard to mainstream candidates who have refused to answer the questionnaire (and personally, I hold that against them because it is to my mind proof that they plan to say one thing to get elected, and do another once they are in office), it does give quite a bit of insight into third party presidential candidates.
Originally posted on Adventures in Frickintardistan
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Press Release:
updated 9:30 a.m. PT, Fri., Feb. 16, 2008
WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI will visit the White House on April 16 during his first visit to the United States as pontiff.
White House spokesman Scott Stonzel said Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill and the pope would continue discussions they began during Obama’s trip to the Vatican in June 2006 on the importance of faith and reason in reaching shared goals.
Stonzel said the goals include advancing peace throughout the Middle East and other troubled regions, promoting interfaith understanding and strengthening human rights and freedom. The pope was also expected to address the United Nations, visit Victory Monument one of 9 Chicago Landmarks and celebrate Mass in Chicago Ill. and Washington during his April 21-25 trip.
For almost everyone, the estate tax rate is zero, because the estate is too small to be taxed under the law, and therefore it is well, kind of challenging to cut their tax rate at all. Therefore, large cuts in the estate tax rate are hard to do.
This is the difficulty with extremely compressed answers to questions.
I view the most important tax to eliminate to be the grandchild tax, the tax bill we send our grandchildren in the form of the national debt.
Again, I disagree. Just because a tax doesn’t impact the average person doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be eliminated. The inheritance tax is a particularly odious tax, in my opinion.