Education
I believe public education is the key to a well-functioning society and a well-functioning democracy. A public education system wherein citizens support and participate should be the cornerstone to achievement and success in life.
Tennessee has the resources to create a standard of education that transcends all others. According to the U.S. Census, our state ranks 45th out of 50 states in the amount of per-student dollars. We can do better. We must do better.
To do better, we must elect better leadership in our state government. People without the political will to allocate resources to public education have held the reins too long. We need new leadership dedicated to creating a system of education that ensures all children, regardless of where they live, will receive an education in a wide range of subject areas that will open doors of opportunity for them.
The first thing we need to do is recognize that the state of Tennessee does not provide adequate funding for public education. Presently, wealthy districts give more resources to their schools than poor districts. The state should level the field so that children in poor communities receive the same opportunities as those in wealthy districts.
The second thing we need to do is recognize teachers’ value to society. It’s unconscionable that a teacher who spends a career in teaching makes less in a lifetime than most professional athletes make in one year. Teachers should be paid a premium wage.
Finally, we need to ensure that schools are safe spaces for everyone. Safe from physical harm. Safe from emotional harm. Safe from psychological harm. Safe from political damage. School should be a safe place for everyone, and we must do whatever it takes to make that happen.
Guns
As a responsible gun owner and the grandmother of a fourth grader, I fully support the 2nd Amendment and the rights it conveys to us as citizens of the United States, while also being concerned about her safety in school and all others going about living their lives.
I also fully support the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that the states may impose gun regulations. After all, the 2nd Amendment stipulates “… well regulated militia…” But, pro-gun advocates seem to either wholly ignore or interpret the term “militia” to mean something other than a unified body of individuals, such as the National Guard.
We hear too many stories in the news about children dying from incidents involving guns. Sometimes, the deaths are accidental because a child handled a non-secured gun. Sometimes, they are random because someone fired a firearm irresponsibly. In either of these cases, the deaths are tragic. In both cases, an adult behaved irresponsibly.
Too often, we hear gun restriction opponents claim that any restrictions or regulations concerning guns will infringe on their rights. However, we never hear them talk about the correlating obligation – responsibility. Rights and responsibility go hand in hand. Without responsibility, anarchy exists.
Our system of laws and justice exists to ensure that individuals who don’t follow the law pay the consequences for not following the law. i.e., they lose their rights.
In my opinion, an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, also known as a Red Flag law, does not infringe on 2nd Amendment rights because it puts in place a system of due process to determine if an individual should lose their right to bear arms. The right to bear arms isn’t limited to firearms. It can also mean knives and other implements designed to harm others.
A permit process is also necessary to ensure we keep our 2nd Amendment rights. I don’t think asking anyone to complete a training course and demonstrate competency through skill and knowledge testing is too much. We do this for anyone who wants to drive an automobile on public roads, who wants to practice medicine, or who wants to practice law. So, requiring anyone to pass a test to carry a gun in public places is not out of bounds.
Lastly, an elected official’s job is to represent their constituents’ views, something our current Republican representative ignores. According to a recent Vanderbilt University poll, 72 percent of registered voters support a red-flag law to prevent gun violence. When applied to school shootings, the number goes up to 75 percent.
When Vanderbilt polled strong NRA supporters, over 70 percent favored red-flag laws. And 82 percent of all Tennesseans want more robust background checks when buying a gun across all parties, regardless of party affiliation, as shown below:
Isn’t it time for District 46 to have a representative who will listen to its constituents?
Freedoms
Keeping our freedoms, as laid out in our Declaration of Independence, is at the heart of next year’s elections. Republicans like to say that we Democrats are trying to indoctrinate people, which is a lie. They are the ones working to brainwash Americans into their way of thinking by working diligently to distort our country’s history, limit our young people’s access to books that inform, and destroy our unalienable rights of equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We must fight to protect our freedoms by empowering the citizens of Tennessee and ensuring that everyone is treated equally. When you are empowered, you are not afraid to speak up for yourself. When you are empowered, people give you respect.
Through empowerment, workers have a voice in the conditions of their employment. Workers must be allowed to form unions when they know they are not being treated fairly and are not participating in the decisions that affect them. For too long, the idea that capital is king has ruled every nuance of our economy. It’s time to level the field and ensure that workers get their due. My philosophy about this is simple: Without labor, capital is worthless.
Empowerment in society means that every voice counts, which is critical to keeping our freedoms. Political gerrymandering must stop. I will work to end the GOP-engineered system of politicians choosing their voters. Every vote does count. We need to undo the rigged system that keeps self-dealing politicians in office.
Empowerment in government means stopping state overreach. Laws such as Tennessee’s “Right to Cook Act” prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting laws supporting renewable energy policy adoption. Further, the state effectively took control of local school boards when the local boards rejected the religion-based Hillsdale charter schools.
Counties, cities, and school boards should be able to determine what is best for their citizens, but the State of Tennessee has demonstrated the willingness to take over any aspect of local governance it wants, just like it did with Nashville and school boards. I will work to return local control to local municipalities.
The idea of equality is simple: Everyone has the same rights as everyone else; everyone is treated the same under the law. The problem is that some people don’t have the same rights as everyone else and are treated differently under the law. Making matters worse, the state legislature has rolled back rights for some people.
The rights of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people are under attack in Tennessee. We need to get the state government out of the examining rooms and hospitals when we need healthcare. The state doesn’t tell men what kind of healthcare they can get and when they can get it, but that is exactly what they have done to women and transgender people.
The question is simple: if the law doesn’t apply to a straight white man, then it shouldn’t apply to me.
Republicans have tried for years to convince us that more people having rights means fewer rights for you (them). Equality isn’t something that can be apportioned on a percentage basis. You either have the right, or you don’t.
I will work to ensure that everyone has the right to vote and to have access to voting. I will work to ensure that women regain the freedom to make their own decisions. I will work to ensure that people of color are treated with respect. I will work to ensure that transgender people are free to be who they are without reservation.
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