Michael Thomas

Every abortion is a tragedy--and a ban is not a proper policy response. New York State seems intent on allowing abortion until the kid get his learners permit, and Ohio seems intent on sending SWAT teams into your teenager’s bedroom if his secret sock gets too crusty. This is policy driven more by bumper sticker slogans than actual reasoned analysis of real-world consequences. In Ohio you already had a 10 year old go out of state to terminate a pregnancy that almost certainly would have killed her. There’s a debate about whether it would have been legal in Ohio, but that confusion is a problem that illustrates how hastily & poorly the law was written. In New York State I suspect we’ll see a proliferation of Kermit Gosnells & other abuses. I work in a casino; my wife works in a dispensary. We see how the programs were implemented and regulated in a way that avoids the excesses of earlier adopting states, and addresses the concerns of more skeptical Pennsylvania communities. Pennsylvania does well when we watch other states experiment, see what went right & wrong, and then implement what works for PA. Pennsylvania currently sets its limit at 24 weeks, and shouldn’t change that in this gold-rush panic we see our neighbors getting sucked into. Let’s see how they do—what harms are caused & prevented by their policies—and let cooler heads prevail in time.

Strongly Agree

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Federal Income Tax should be repealed, and federal budgets downsized accordingly. States and municipalities should have greater responsibility for taxing and regulating themselves. The majority of tax dollars should be collected and spent closest to the voters they were extracted from.

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Disagree

Disagree

We recently went through a period where houses of worship were closed under the guise of health reasons, while WalMarts remained open. I saw video of NYPD frogmarching Orthodox Jews to paddy wagons for the "crime" of peacefully worshiping in their own Synagogues. This is utterly shameful, and should never be tolerated. I cannot imagine a circumstance where government can be trusted with the power to close churches.

The system we have now is "B." Government has spent decades driving healthcare and health insurance costs through the roof by inhibiting competition. We need to increase market access to introduce competition. Since this is so difficult at the federal level, we need to focus on ways to do this at the state level. In Pennsylvania, we need to use our Health Department's cannabis dispensary system to affordably produce and distribute off-patent medications, such as insulin and epinephrine auto-injectors.

I grew up in the 80s & 90s. I remember volunteers going to Scout troop meetings, schools, other community groups to teach how HIV is and is not transmitted. I remember efforts to kick kids and teachers out of schools, for real or suspected HIV+ status. The panic and paranoia could bring out the worst in communities. This recent COVID regime has rebirthed that panic and paranoia. We're seeing an emergence of bioapartheid and medical fascism that's utterly terrifying. Until now, every time a government in the United States has required employees or inmates be vaccinated, that vaccine had a decades-long safety & effectiveness track record. The abuses we've seen in compelling use of the new COVID shots are horrifying, and may indicate that government authority to compel vaccination at all needs to be revisited.

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Strongly Disagree

Agree

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Agree

Agree

Agree

Disagree

Marriage licenses did not exist in the United States prior to 1860. They were initially invented to raise municipal tax revenue during the Civil War. When Caesar decided to get into the marriage business, Caesar created a definition. Our church, synagogue or temple may have a different definition, but Caesar has his. If you want to end that, end marriage licenses and the tax structures they enable.

Disagree

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Neutral

When I first started voting in Pennsylvania, I was surprised that photo ID wasn't necessary. I grew up in Ohio, and presented photo ID every time I voted there. I have since learned that Pennsylvania has other safeguards, notably the signature match from when the photo ID was created. If the signature match is faithfully and honestly scrutinized, I believe this is a sufficient safeguard against fraudulent votes. My concern is whether signature matches are sufficiently scrutinized.

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Environmental laws & regulations are frequently purchased by major corporations in order to inhibit competition so they can gouge consumers. The purpose of saving the planet is to save the people on it. When we pervert these tools to enrich the most connected at the expense of the most vulnerable, we aren't saving anybody.

Agree

Early on, there were issues with well failures. These need to be addressed. Communities need to be assured that their drinking water will not be destroyed by the fracturing process. Under these circumstances, natural gas is a clean and plentiful fuel source.

The state is violence. It is defined by an effective monopoly on violence in a geographic area. When it loses that effective monopoly on violence, we refer to it as a "failed state." Every law is a promise of that violence. This promise comes in two forms: either, "If you do this thing, then men with guns who are trained to kill will hunt you down;" or, "If you fail to do this thing, then men with guns who are trained to kill will hunt you down." We accept this enormous concentration of power in the hands of the state because it is supposed to be used to protect natural rights from infringement.

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I'm a libertarian. I am skeptical of government power, and find there are times when I bristle at how liberals wield it, and times I bristle at how conservatives wield it.

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No.

I am deeply concerned that Harrisburg exercises insufficient oversight authority over government abuses. I want to expand the cannabis dispensary system to produce and distribute affordable off-patent medications, such as insulin and epinephrine auto-injectors. #DefendtheGuard legislation in the state legislature will make it far more difficult for Congress to stumble the United States into the military misadventures that have drained American blood and treasure for decades now.

Neutral

I wish to learn more about the history, purpose and limits of qualified immunity.

Disagree

Firearms safety, first aid and CPR need to be a mandatory part of public education and should be encouraged as part of industrial safety. These shouldn't be tied to gun ownership, but spreading these skills among the population will make our communities safer.

Strongly Disagree

It makes no sense for a DUI hit-and-run victim to sue a vehicle manufacturer. Suing a gun manufacturer because an unrelated 3rd party used the firearm criminally is similarly nonsensical.