Edward Hackerott's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Edward Hackerott has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Kansas State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| I personally think abortion is the most morally grey form of birth control. And I think the best thing to do is to reduce the total amount of abortions that are people want. However, if someone wants an abortion, they will find a way to get it. I believe that people should have maximum personal freedoms. So my solution is to work prevention, by putting more funding towards sex ed and increased access to contraception. I know its reductive, but I like to say I think of abortions like cigarettes. Who am I to tell you about your life choices? | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| Yes | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support lowering the state sales tax on groceries? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the creation of a tax on internet streaming services? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support prohibiting the reallocation of funds designated for highway projects? | ||
| Regarding my support for a tax increases on tax brackets, I'm only supportive of tax increases in Kansas if there were a fourth implemented tax bracket for the the highest earners. Kansas currently only has 3 brackets, all split among the working class. A tax bracket works as a fair division of tax between the people of different classes. Without a higher tax bracket, it is fundamentally unfair by design. More specifically, it is unfair to anyone who fits in these brackets. It's not right that anyone who makes a three figure salary pays the same as someone making 30k. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| I am highly skeptical of anything that could damage a individual's right to vote. Many times in the past, bills that come off seeming like voter protection bills are actually voter prevention. See the trial of Fish v. Schwab over the legality of the SAFE Act. The SAFE Act, a bill claiming to protect against voter fraud, had no evidence to support the claim of any voter fraud, and instead conflicted with the 14th Amendment. That coincides with my opinion on campaign contributions, because many bills similar to the SAFE act originate from ALEC, a corporate bill mill. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Kansas? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| I do not believe in capital punishment because I do not think the government should have that much power over one's life. It is also more costly to go through the court system to enable us to execute a prisoner. As for mandatory minimums, they are a part of a system designed to detain large amounts of black youths from Nixon's, Reagan's, and Clinton's War on drugs. Out of that came another system to profit off it: private prisons. The 13th Amendment also allows for slavery during imprisonment. It's not difficult to see that this is about profit, not justice. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Kansas? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the legalization of mobile sports betting and wagering? | ||
| A. It's not a matter of if you support state spending, but what state spending you support. The state is always intervening in the economy, radically so. There are two routes that gov. intervention goes, either the public takes a risk and is punished and privatized, or measures are introduced towards the betterment of the citizens. B. Only until the bracket system works for the middle class and we can actually tax the upper class without hurting families near/over the 60k threshold do I support this. E. I support an increase in minimum wage, but it shouldn't be $15. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Kansas? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Kansas? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Kansas high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| C. I'm for giving teachers more autonomy in the class room; they deserve proper pay, heath benefits, and a secure retirement, but tenure gives bad teachers incentive to take advantage of a system that makes it impossible to weed out bad instructors. It also encourages teachers who should otherwise be retired to stay on well past their prime for income. D.) If we can give unlawfully present immigrants educational benefits, then they will be less of an economic strain, which I understand to be most people's issue with undocumented immigrants: that they strain the economy. We can lessen that. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| A. We are so close to seeing massive payoff for our green energy initiatives. Kansas has the yearly wind energy potential to generate all of America's 2011 energy supply. That's a huge economic stimulus. B. I support a carbon tax eventually, once it is optimal to do so. C. Clean water is such an important topic now. There is great concern over the rate of water loss in the Ogallala Aquifer., and all over the country, vast amounts of our clean water are being permanently polluted. It's as if we are trying to have a water crisis. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Gun control is a hyperbolic issue. I'm very for the Second Amendment. I agree with the foundations of gun regulation. The more sensible gun owners are, the more respect gun owners have. In Kansas, there is no law requiring a licence for a conceal and carry. The idea of the 18 year old's I know being able to conceal and carry is a little extreme to me. I support background checks, tightening the gun show loophole, and prohibiting domestic abusers from getting a legal firearm Repeated abusers would be permanently banned from legal gun ownership. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Kansas' health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| The opioid epidemic has highlighted the idea that we should, as a nation, treat drug abuse as a mental heath crisis and not a criminal one. As for Medicaid, it is severely underfunded. This is by design. It is a well-used trick to defund a public program until it hardly functions, then people won't like it anymore and want something else. This is when the private sector comes in and privatizes it, making us worse off than when it was hardly functioning. It is the idea of profit over people. It's ideology spans both sides of the aisle. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Kansas' anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Kansas' anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Kansas state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support expanding anti-discrimination laws to include hair textures and protective hairstyles? | ||
| Discrimination comes in many forms and it is hard to remove even with the the right legislation. It is systemic as well as institutional. Legislation won't solve for this alone. It's not ineffective but not a total cure. Empathy in policy making is a good start; however, that has been lacking for such a long extent that the terms empathy and politics are nearly contradictory. | |||
| This campaign was started with the proposition that the working class should have a voice in the decisions of the government. Its goal is to show that young people can influence the government with action. My generation is entirely demoralized by our electoral process, which is not a good indicator for the status quo. I am not a fan of either political party. They have both repeatedly failed the American people. I hope to be a policy maker that votes, not in spite of the opposition or in self-interest, but for the welfare of my hometown, state, and nation. | |||
| My top legislative concern is that of energy independence for Kansas. Koch Industries muddied the waters of the climate change debate to keep profits high for large business institutions and oil companies, preventing green energy policy from being passed. Wind industry is the most feasible means of energy independence. We have the means of supplying America's entire energy needs, yet only supply 40% of one state. The economic incentive alone is mouthwatering. If we do not just increase development through the status quo, I would suggest taxing Koch industries $1 billion yearly to pay for the development of these initiatives. |
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