Issues
I am not interested in constantly arguing the same issues without ever solving them. We need to identify issues and find solutions that everyone can live with. Working together and making compromises is better than being known as the most ineffectual Congress in history
Veterans Affairs
Our veterans have sacrificed more for this country than anyone else, yet the healthcare available to disabled veterans is the lowest quality available in this country. Medicaid/Medicare spends over $13k per patient per year on healthcare. While the VA spends a similar amount per disabled veteran per year as Medicaid, at least if you look at the most disabled tier of the VA, unlike with Medicaid, veterans cannot choose from different medical providers, nor make complaints concerning inadequate medical treatment the way that patients with Medicaid/Medicare are able. This means that a veteran, who became disabled through their service defending this country, receives a lower quality of healthcare than a homeless drug addict. This is particularly true here in Washington State, where we have already expanded the state healthcare system dramatically. Even while fighting for veterans to get better quality of healthcare at a federal level, I would encourage local legislators to create a new subsection of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange that would cover disabled veterans who qualify for VA Health Insurance. Ask just about any veteran and they will tell you that they would prefer just about anything to the VA.
Gun Safety
As a gun owner, I’d like to see guns remain legal. That being said, if we don’t act now to curb the growing number of mass shootings and school shootings in our country, public opinion will swing so far against guns that they will eventually be outlawed altogether. Enacting sane gun legislation today is the only thing that can protect our right to own firearms in the future. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Anti-Coruption/Transparency
The rise of AI is making fact checking more and more difficult. To combat that we need to form a new agency, free from current government oversight, that is responsible for evaluating the veracity of news and political statements. I believe that the only way to accomplish this would be to create a large group capable of making factual evaluation without a direct political tie. To this end, teachers would be the most logical group to tap for this purpose. Teachers are trained in the critical thinking and research skills that would be vital to confirming the authenticity of the information while also representing a large and diverse enough background to produce trust from both sides of the political arena. Including professors who are experts in technical fields as well as primary school teachers would ensure that there is someone knowledgeable about the subject in question, while simultaneously erasing the idea of a clear political bias.
Trans Rights
I believe that everyone should be free to look and be treated however they want, without fear of discrimination or attack. I am not in favor of enacting laws against the trans community in any way. When it comes to bathroom use, I am firmly in favor of women's right to their own safety. Women have a long history of being attacked and abused in unisex bathroom, which is why we now have a men's room and a women's room. Everyone is free to use the Men's room, men don't care, but if the Trans community doesn't feel safe or welcomed there, I would be more than willing to fight for the requirement of Unisex bathrooms in all new construction and renovations. Trans rights can't be allowed to overrule women's right to feel safe.
Abortion
The decision to terminate a pregnancy is a difficult and deeply personal undertaking. As a man, that is not my decision to make. Overturning Roe vs. Wade was strategically the worst political decision that the Republican party has made in the last 50 years. Overturning what was the law of the land for most American's entire lives has removed a rallying point for the GOP while fueling the fires of the Democratic party. It is clear that taking away reproductive rights is only going to alienate voters and cost the Republican party elections.
