Natasha Diamondstone-Kohout

Strongly Disagree

Abortion should be free for everyone. I believe that female bodied individuals should have access to supportive, clean, safe and healing health environments regardless of ability to pay.

Agree

I believe that every life is sacred, therefore I feel that all women should have support in aborting their child when it is still safe to do so. If birth control and safe abortion practices were more prevalent, we would have more children being born into families that are ready, emotionally and physically, to support life. Medical consultations and the procedure itself should be free for all.

Strongly Agree

Please see my answer regarding wealth distribution below~~~

Strongly Agree

According the the U.S. Department of Defense 2022 report, the military budget for the fiscal year is 752.9 billion dollars. I encourage everyone to look at my party's platform regarding the cost of war. I support total defunding of the military, redirecting money to affordable housing, reforestation, accessible food & clean water among other fundamental human rights. De-investing in war and re-investing in the American people would hugely decrease our national debt.

We live in the ninth richest country and have one of the largest wealth disparities in the world. This is unjust. Our economy is built upon a winner-take-all mentality. It is past time to transform this paradigm into one of equality, where people's time and lives are seen as equal. There should be an income cap of $100,000 gross income per year, any excess would have 100% tax which would be collected and distributed into affordable housing, healthcare, and food, reforestation projects, and regenerative farming practices.

Disagree

Choose not to answer

I support division of church and state.

I believe that vaccination is personal choice and should not be mandated for any reason. Each individual has their own philosophical, religious, and ontological perspectives and these should be respected.

A) Universal healthcare

D) The United States should stay out of foreign conflicts completely. The concept of military defense has been bastardized by the armed forces of the United States. It is time for this country to understand consent. Perhaps if our military bases were transformed into sites for non-violent communication workshops, trauma therapy, regenerative community building, and mediation, we could offer our services to war torn or struggling countries that invite our support in rebuilding healthy physical and mental environments.

Strongly Agree

Choose not to answer

I don't have enough insight into this subject and need to be educated further before passing judgement.

US Military interventions have thus far only led to an increase in terrorism, Islamic or otherwise. I think the United states should take a long hard look at inhumane abuse at our own boarders, look at the the continued micro and macro aggressions directed towards BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and neocolonial abuse directed towards First Nations People. I think the United States Settler State should think about the correlation between fracking and the disturbing numbers of rape, murder, and abuse of Indigenous women in oil camps across this country. I think the United States should take a long hard look at ourselves before passing judgement on terrorism abroad.

Strongly Disagree

See my response below.

Strongly Disagree

Historically, mass emigration happens because one region's access to food, water, shelter, and self determination is undermined. Sadly, the United States has been a substantial force in disrupting and corrupting other nations. The United States accounts for 5% of global population but consumes 30% of the energy and emits 28% of world wide CO2 emissions. The insatiable hunger of this country is causing forced displacement of people from their homelands, desertification, rising sea levels, disease, mental health issues, hunger, and cultural erasure around the world. Because of this, I do not believe we have any right to say who can and cannot come into this country. The world is our common. I think the United States should be helping to fund international initiatives working to improve the quality of life in places people are immigrating from in order to support poor and working class families thriving where they are instead of fleeing to have basic needs met elsewhere.

Strongly Agree

This question is tricky, while I am in total support of ensuring safety and equity for everyone regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, I am hesitant to make a blanket statement due to recent abuse of these laws.

Strongly Agree

My values are based on Mother Earth's health and well being. The knowledge that I live within a delicate and great matrix of sentient life is my spiritual backbone.

Strongly Agree

I believe that the threat of a voter without a photo ID is negligible when compared with the threat to our democracy of greedy politicians redistricting and gerrymandering to keep themselves perpetually in office.

Voter suppression in minority communities is rampant and accessibility to polling stations is often an issue. I think election days should be made holidays and we should expand federal ID requirements to include all forms of identification such as birth certificate, driver's license, school ID, etc.

Strongly Agree

I feel that reoperations are very important. I would want to sit down and talk with members of these communities before I could specify when, where, and how these reparations would take place.

Racism is without a doubt a threat to domestic security in the United States. Any discrimination against members of the body politic is by definition a threat to domestic security because it is a threat to U.S. citizens. Race based discrimination and violence is not only a "threat," it is happening now. I don't know how to change it, but perhaps if we defund the military and emphasize non-violent communication, ensure that basic human needs are being met and work towards interpersonal emotional literacy, we will be a couple steps closer to changing this story.

Strongly Disagree

Three percent of water on Earth is fresh, including water in icecaps and glaciers. This means LESS than one percent of Earth's fresh water is accessible/drinkable. This water is LIFE! Mixing this VERY limited resource with forever chemicals and ejecting it into the bedrock to extract crude oil and gas which still require energy intensive processing is insanity. Fracking leaves fresh water permanently polluted and leaches poison into soil, rivers, our bodies, and the bodies of our children.

Hurting the economy doesn't matter if there are no humans left to live on Earth. So, I am in favor of option B). However, I don't know how effective stricter environmental laws would truly be. For me, the even bigger priority is to create programs that bring children (and adults!) out into the natural world so that they can foster empathy, love, and belonging with this great home we share with each other. Then, we the people can create our own healthy limitations, create jobs that support small scale agriculture, child care, reforestation work, and green cities and homes. For me, this is the heart of the issue: fostering a culture of connection between human and land. The jobs will come and a new economy of care will be born, instead of an economy that relies on extraction and continued growth for survival.

Choose not to answer

I consciously abstain from categorizing myself in this way.

To know more about me, check out my work with Vermont Wilderness School and Kroka Expeditions cultivating connection between the outdoor world and children, look at my art @wildwitchpottery or check out BCTV's Democracy with Diamondstone television series in which a group of friends discuss socialist values in the 21st century. Myself and a three beloved friends are looking for a larger tract of land to house our Institute for Regenerative Ecology, home, and community farm. If you or someone you know have field or forest land that is looking for stewards, contact me at ndiamondstone-kohout22@coa.edu.

No

One of my elders once told me, "We have one choice in the world, to be awake or asleep." It seems to me that we are living in a nation whose government is asleep. We cannot continue on the trajectory we are on...SO LETS GET OFF IT! I am a candidate for Vermont's one and only Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party. We are a non-violent socialist party and have been so since 1970. I urge any and all of you to read our platform https://greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org/. I don't care if you vote for me or not, but I do care if you bring a meal over to your neighbor, start volunteering at a restorative justice organization, start a book group to educate yourself and others on a religion, an ethnicity, a way of life that is different then your own. I ask you to advocate for people down the road without homes, learn about regenerative agriculture, give gratitude every day to the Earth for letting us walk upon her; she gives so much. I ask you to please email me if you have any questions! I would love to share ideas. And if you have any interest in learning more about Vermont's Socialist party, let us know!

Strongly Disagree

Neutral

I think that funding police departments is also important, including workshops on non-violent communication and community programs which link police officers into communities to foster connection, bonds of trust and understanding between people.

I feel as if blaming the gun for issues of public safety is not as important as looking at the culture we are in. We are in a country known best for its gun exportation and use. I feel that by defunding the military, creating educational programs outdoors, cultivating empathy between each other and the earth, and providing basic housing, healthcare, and access to clean water will decrease the mental health issues, xenophobia, and fear that are at the root of gun violence.

Agree