Snow: I don't think politicians should be passing laws that interfere with the private medical decisions of women. Only a woman and her doctor can properly determine if and when an abortion is appropriate.
Snow: I value love and compassion in all things and for all people.
Q: What in the nature of mankind caused America's Founders to carefully define, separate, and limit powers in the Constitution?
Snow: People tend to be vulnerable to corruption; so it's very important that power is not concentrated in a single place.
Snow: Very Liberal
Q: Please defend your answer to the previous question by referencing your publicly available track record.
Snow: I usually describe myself as a progressive or a libertarian-leaning progressive. As a reference you should look at the platform positions I have on my website at www.mistyksnow.com or possibly look at some of the interviews I have done.
Only a woman and her doctors should have a say on issues related to the woman's health, and her choices regarding contraception and pregnancy. No one should force a woman to carry a baby to term that she doesn't want, no one should get between a woman and her doctor, and no one should undermine the health of women by cutting funding to an organization that provides medical care that many women wouldn't be able to otherwise access.
Let's be clear: the consequences of banning abortions would be as disastrous for our country as they have been in the countries that currently ban abortions.
It is still legal in most states to fire someone or deny them the right to work simply because they are LGBT. It's time we passed an employment non-discrimination act in congress that would protect the rights of LGBT people to work.
We are seeing conservative lawmakers trying to pass legislation that would ban trans* people from being able to access appropriate restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms. As a trans woman I find this trend to be very problematic as these kinds of laws do not protect anyone or solve any problems; they only exist to create barriers for trans* people trying to live normal and authentic lives.
This trend is even more troubling when you look at the demographics of who is going to prison. African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, and trans* people are incarcerated disproportionately when compared to the nation's population as a whole. Minorities are also more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, charged, tried, convicted, incarcerated, or simply killed by police. These are very disturbing trends.
People shouldn't be profiled for their race, their ethnicity, their religion or their gender identity. People shouldn't feel like they are being targeted for walking, driving, boarding an airplane, or even shopping while they are black, brown, Muslim or Trans*.
We need to seriously reform our justice system in this country. We need to change the way we train our police officers, and refocus our criminal justice system on rehabilitation.
The federal government should get out of the way of states' efforts to set their own marijuana policies. A state should be able to legalize marijuana for medical, recreational, or industrial use without interference from the federal government. It's time for the federal government to end its prohibition on marijuana and regulate it the same way as they do alcohol.
Furthermore, coal often has high levels of mercury that contaminates our air and our water. This can impact the quality of our drinking water, as well as harming the wildlife that depend upon Utah's waterways. Some of those same birds and fish are also hunted and fished by local sportsmen, leading to mercury-contaminated fish and poultry ending up on Utahans' dinner plates.
If we want to clean up our water and our air, we need to start phasing out coal and other polluting sources of energy. The best way to do that is by directly taxing these sources of pollution, and then using those funds to make the investments into cleaner sources of energy like solar and wind.
The president has the authority to designate national monuments, and I support his use of it to protect Bears Ears. The state legislature does not have the resources to care for the lands of which they are trying to gain control. They only want to gain control of this land so that it can be sold to private hands, which would end public access to this land forever.
Our legislators could be standing with Native American Tribes, small business owners, and the majority of Utahns. Instead they have chosen to file a frivolous $14 million bound-to-fail lawsuit against the federal government to try to gain control over these lands. Their actions are both unethical and fiscally irresponsible.
I would sponsor a constitutional amendment that establishes that corporations are not natural persons, that money is not speech, and that the government shall regulate campaign expenditures so that all people can participate in the political process equally, regardless of economic status.
Corporate money and corporate influence are undermining our democracy. It's time to end corporate personhood. It's time to get money out of politics and save our democracy.
People who have a history of violence should not be able to buy a firearm. People who have committed a violent crime should not own a firearm. People who have been abusive to their partners, children, or other family members should not own a firearm. People who have history of mental illness and who are likely to do harm to themselves and others should not own firearms.
Additionally, our country needs to start seriously investigating the root causes of gun violence. In 2013, President Obama issued an executive order calling for the CDC to resume studying the causes of gun violence. Three years later, those studies have not resumed due to a lack of funding.
The USA currently has the world's most expensive health care system, yet we do not have the best healthcare outcomes. Dozens of other countries don't have thousands dying every year because they can't afford health insurance, and those same countries don't have people forgoing necessary medications because they cannot afford them.
The Affordable Care Act was a good beginning, but it's just that, a beginning. Much more needs to be done to ensure that all people in this country have full access to healthcare.
There are currently an estimated 11 million people in the USA that are undocumented. The vast majority of these people are hard working individuals that are trying to provide for their families. They came here to find better opportunities, or to escape war and conflict zones. They shouldn't have to live in constant fear of being deported, and they shouldn't have to struggle to find decent housing or employment. They are human beings, and it's time that our country treated them as such.
Our country needs to streamline immigration. It shouldn't take years for an immigration application to be approved; if it took less than a year to get approved to immigrate to our country, then people would be much less likely to attempt entering the country illegally.
Our Social Security fund currently has enough money to pay full benefits for at least the next 20 years. To extend this safety net far into the future, I support removing the cap on Social Security withholdings which is currently set at $118,500. We should not be giving tax breaks to the very wealthy even though they are the ones that are most able to afford it. Everyone should be required to pay the same rate for Social Security withholding. This will protect Social Security benefits for citizens for many years to come.
This year, Utah added a $0.15 a gallon tax on gasoline. This tax that was easily absorbed by the population and will generate lots of revenue for the state; there is no reason we couldn't do a 10-15 cent a gallon tax nationwide for the purposes of funding green transportation, infrastructure, and technologies.
|
The above quotations are from 2016 Utah Senate race: debates and news coverage.
Click here for other excerpts from 2016 Utah Senate race: debates and news coverage. Click here for other excerpts by Misty Snow. Click here for a profile of Misty Snow.
Misty Snow on other issues: |
Abortion
|
Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families Foreign Policy Free Trade
Govt. Reform
| Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Jobs Principles Social Security Tax Reform Technology War/Peace Welfare
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
| Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) | |||||||