Oklahoma Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Other or expanded principles
- I believe a woman's choice in this area is between her, her family, and her faith community as appropriate, not to be legislated by the government.

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- We must tax the wealthy and corporations in such a way as to balance encouragement of new job creation, product developments and improvements against the need for appropriate revenue to be able to support our nation's infrastructure needs.

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- We absolutely need better transparency when it comes to campaign contributions. Voters deserve to know exactly who is footing the bill on a candidate's campaign, and who they might be indebted to after the election.

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position

3. Other or expanded principles
- Again, I believe these are both questions of balance. Federal spending can allow the government to reinvest in the nation itself, while lower corporate taxes can help spur economic growth through job creation, research and development. However, when take to an extreme, either of these can easily do more harm than good for the economy.

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- It will always depend on what those standards are; however, I agree that we must encourage states to adopt high educational standards to ensure the preparation of all American students for competitiveness in a global market.

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- It is extremely important to protect our environment and look for renewable energy sources to help reduce our impact on global climate change.

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Common-sense regulation is needed to ensure public safety.

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- I am in favor of Medicare for All.

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Marijuana

1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- I question the basic idea that attempting to prevent nuclear proliferation in countries hostile towards the U.S. would even be successful in the first place. Indeed, these attempts seem to often bring about more conflicts than they resolve. As Harry Truman said, "We do not believe in aggression or preventative war. Such a war is the weapon of dictators, not of free democratic countries like the United States."

Administrative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- EDUCATION: Stop cuts to federal funding (ex: Title 1) that are specifically intended to help low-income and special-needs students. Also stop the implementation of voucher programs, which funnel even more money away from public schools. We need to improve our school system in this country, not abandon it.CAMPAIGN FINANCE: I will fight for full transparency in campaign finance. As long as candidates are allowed to become indebted to corporations, we cannot trust that they will act only on the best interests of their constituency.EQUALITY: Implementation of progressive and inclusive civil rights policies from the federal level.