Budget cuts: “The current legislature and governor went on a spending spree when they were first elected, and the state is now suffering for their fiscal irresponsibility,” Cooper said. He views the budget crisis as an opportunity to “reduce the size of the state government.” Cooper said the government should simply meet its core purposes.

Health care: “The current federal health care bill was too much change too fast, and did too little to control costs,” Cooper said. “A more modest and incremental approach, starting with allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines, would have been far more prudent.”

Jobs and economic development: Cooper does not care for the minimum wage, especially in times of high unemployment.

“The minimum wage artificially places the price of labor above the point where the market would set it meaning that it prices many people who would like to work out of the labor market,” he said. He plans to pay for government with “the kinds of taxes that don’t punish economic development.”

Civil rights: Cooper believes anyone should be able to marry whoever they want.

“In a free society, people should be allowed to have whatever relations with other people that they want,” he said, “and they should be able to call them whatever they want.”

Immigration: Cooper said new immigrants should not be able to receive government benefits such as unemployment or welfare for seven years after moving to the United States to eliminate immigrants from taking advantage of those benefits.

Education: As an ISU assistant professor, Cooper believes Iowa does education in “about the most inefficient way possible.” He thinks education should be a competitive market, and that letting students decide where to use education funds from the government will improve the quality of education.