Alyson Reeves' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Alyson Reeves has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
West Virginia State Legislative Election 2024 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 (e.g. Medicaid) for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| In addition to being a healthcare issue (and each pregnant person's reason for needing an abortion is unique and must be treated that way), it is also an economic one. Not having access to appropriate healthcare (and abortion is included in that) handicaps that individual's ability to fully participate in society. Roughly 50% of the population is capable of becoming pregnant. We cannot afford, economically, to put these people at a disadvantage when it comes to enabling them to become fully productive members of our society. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support limiting state government spending on social programs (e.g. SNAP, TANF)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to promote economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs in your state? | ||
| I do support a more progressive income tax (i.e. richer people should pay a greater percentage than poorer people, and at a certain level, a person should not be required to pay income tax at all). I also support carefully researching all social programs to be sure their implementation is absolutely the best it can be. I do not believe cutting taxes will promote economic growth. I do believe that every piece of legislation should pass the following 'litmus test': 1) (Most importantly) Does this legislation benefit every citizen of WV, either directly or indirectly? 2) Is the solution this bill provides to the problem it intends to solve the best that it can possibly be? Is the stated problem really the problem. 3) If the only solution to the problem is punitive, is this bill written as narrowly as possible? In particular, does it really need to be punitive at all? Is there a companion bill that might make this bill, and its punishments, eventually obsolete? Above all, I believe West Virginia needs to completely rework its Public Education System. A world class, learner centered, extremely broad public education system will drive the economic growth we seek. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for violent 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| I would look to Norway to see why their incarceration rate is only around 54 per 100,000. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of incarceration per capita of any country in the world. And WV's incarceration rate is higher than the national average. Yet, this does not make us safer. We need to completely revamp the system, and education is key. We need 1) stop locking people up for 'social crimes' (like leaving banned books on public library shelves, or providing appropriate medical care to an individual -- because what is appropriate medical care is an individual decision), and 2) invest in our public education system so that each student can achieve their highest potential. We also need to look at the drivers of crime: poverty, hopelessness, unemployment, etc. and work to remedy those. | |||
| a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | |||
| No | b) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector (e.g. for business or the environment)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support adjusting unemployment benefits for inflation? | ||
| I do support state government spending to support economic growth, but not to give money to corporations. I support spending that will make WV an attractive place to do business by ensuring this state is exactly the sort of environment people (i.e. future employees) want to live and work in. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in West Virginia? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from West Virginia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| Federal education standards would need to be adapted to the learner-centered model of public education for me to be on board with them. In particular, students would need to meet certain education standards to progress in various areas, but tests would be for students to understand where they need more study, not for the state to grade teachers or some such. Learning should always be about the learner. The student drives the education, not the other way around. Teachers should be employed in such a way that each teacher's strengths are used to maximum benefit. No teacher should feel like the only reason they are teaching is to pull in a paycheck. To the extent that the state economy benefits from every person living in the state achieving their highest potential (and the U.S., as a whole, benefits from this principle, as well), we should encourage every willing student to reach as high in their quest for knowledge as they possibly can. And that means lowering education costs -- when necessary. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state governments allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Yes | a)Do you support limiting campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the use of an independent or bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in West Virginia? | |||
| I have not researched ranked choice voting enough to have an opinion. It may very well be a viable way out of the 2 party stagnation we are in currently. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, closing the boyfriend loophole)? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the right to concealed carry in West Virginia? | ||
| I support strict education when it comes to guns. People who own guns shouldn't be thinking of guns as a way to make themselves safer. They are not. Self defense, negotiation principles and other skills should be taught right along with all of the responsible actions gun owners should follow. That said, we must do a much better job of figuring out who is likely to abuse gun ownership. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| Yes | c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die (e.g. those with a terminal illness) through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support mandating vaccinations (e.g. for school or employment)? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| No | g) Do you support government-sponsored healthcare excluding treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy and surgery? | ||
| b) private insurance should be available for services that aren't strictly necessary for health. c) This needs to be carefully thought out, but there are plenty of places where it has been tried, so there is a lot of data to look at. d) The healthcare provider of each individual person needs to be a part of the conversation, but if the disease is easily spread, and the person being vaccinated is more likely to incur harm from the disease than from the vaccination, the vaccination should be required. g) Treatment for gender dysphoria is 'basic care' and should be covered by the government-sponsored healthcare. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by West Virginia's state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| These are all 'DEI' issues -- which are economic issues, too. Besides being the morally right thing to do, including diverse people as equals in the workforce and in life, in general, furthers the creative process upon which our society and economy is founded. | |||
| My top priority would be to create a world class, learner-centered public education system. The group 'Education Reimagined' has already developed the basic principles of such a system. At the heart is the need to enable each child in WV to achieve their highest potential. We must stop treating children like cogs in a machine and start treating them as individuals with individual needs. We must embed the communities within the schools and vice versa. To fund this initiative, I imagine repurposing a lot of the funding that's going on now. I would look for inefficiencies in public transportation, public spaces, and human resources. I would work to ensure that each teacher is doing exactly what they are best at doing. Technology would come into play. And a whole lot of brainstorming by a whole lot of people. At the heart of all this is the need to project the message that this is a long-term goal. The economic impact of this project will be huge. By making WV a mecca for educators, we bring more people and jobs into this state. By producing well-rounded, well-educated children with a curiosity about life -- whatever their preference to work at is-- we bring more corporations here to make use of that talent. And we enable more entrepreneurs. Most especially, every child should maintain curiosity throughout their education and into their adult lives. I would expand 'education' to include child care (i.e. child care workers would become early educators -- with commensurate pay increase and respectability), as well as continuing education for adults in all jobs and careers. I would encourage all of the people of WV to work at this endeavor, to think about the issues and how they might be solved. And current, social programs, such as those treating people addicted to opiods, would be enhanced through education initiatives to give people the knowledge, skills and resources needed to regain and maintain a meaningful life and living. My other priorities: environment, economy, and equity are all wrapped up in education. For example, the natural environment of West Virginia needs to be maintained -- and improved! We cannot expect people to be at their best when their water is being poisoned, and their land is being taken over for pipelines. The entire planet is being affected by climate change, but without educating the people of WV about what is going on, how they can help fix it, and what questions still need to be answered, WV will remain at the mercy of coal company executives and natural gas pipeline developers. From what I have seen, the WV legislature does too little research before enacting strange bills that benefit almost no one. It is time for the legislature to focus on enabling all West Virginians to achieve their highest potential and live their best life. |
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