1.
Here are some more questions:
1. What are your areas of expertise? Do you have knowledge on particular issues that would be unique within the Senate?
2. Would you aspire to serve on any of the established Committees? Do you think there are additional Committees worth creating? Do you feel committees have or can enhance the work of the Senate?
As someone who comes from a farming family, lives in a region of the country with a heavy economic emphasis on farming and ranching, and is an avid organic gardener himself, I feel confident in pegging agriculture as my widest area of expertise. Thus, naturally, I personally feel my best committee would be one dedicated to agriculture; however, as such a committee has yet to be created, I would be happy to serve on the National Security Committee. I believe my grasp of defense and foreign policy would be strong enough to suit.
As to what committees we might create, I feel the Senate would by far benefit most from a Senatorial committee on finance and the economy, as well as Joyce's suggestion of a hybrid committee for agriculture/interior/the environment.
3. What measures would you support to stimulate the economy?
My plan would be to cut as much of a slab out of military spending as we possibly could while still maintaining a ready armed forces, and then redirect the freed-up funds toward funding education(and the job opportunities within), promoting cheaper and cleaner alternate energy to reduce and (hopefully) eventually remove our dependency on oil imports, and empowering small business.
In addition, I endorse cutting taxes for the lower and middle classes of Atlasia, as well as our small businesses, while compensating through taxing our most massive corporations, such as the oil industry. They have literally
billions of dollars to spare, and can bear the burden far more readily than the average citizen.
4.
If I may, I'd like to ask each candidate where they stand on crime and what they think should be done to prevent future shootings like the ones we've been seeing in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Texas. Do you support any new gun control legislation or right-to-carry laws? Should we put more police on the streets and impose harsher penalties for crimes? Should law enforcement focus more on punishment or rehabilitation for criminals? How can we assist local communities in combating crime while respecting civil liberties?
In the wake of the recent influx of shootings we've witnessed, my position on tragedies like these and their impact on gun control remains as it always has been: that there is no amount of legislature we can pass that will stop murderers and maniacs from committing violent crime. We can restrict the purchase of weapon modifications such as extended magazines, and we can enforce strengthened background checks - both measures I would certainly at
least consider supporting - but we will never be completely able to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people, no matter how far we cut into the liberties of law-abiding citizens.
I wholly believe in concealed carry laws for upstanding civilians, to put in place at least a chance of shootings such as these being ended much earlier in the future. I support education on firearms and how to operate them safely. Where the police are concerned, I endorse supporting them, and giving them better training and equipment; and where convicts are concerned, I believe we should strengthen our focus on rehabilitation for those capable of it - those involved in drugs and alcohol, nonviolent thieves, et cetera - while dealing with repeat, unrepentant violent criminals as we always have: institutionalizing them, or putting them behind bars for suited lengths of time.
