Jack For Assembly

[JackNino]

This is basically the opposite of the Planned Parenthood questionnaire that I just posted except for this questionnaire goes into a wider variety of topics than just abortion. As with the Planned Parenthood questionnaire, they asked only yes or no questions, so I added commentary to their questions as well.

Also, the question titles in bold next to the question numbers were added by me. The actual questions I put in bold and the box that I checked for "Support", "Oppose" or "Undecided" is in italics. In a couple places I also added some additional comments in italics.
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1. Eminent Domain

Do you support or oppose the use of eminent domain for taking property from one private property owner to sell or give to another private property owner? Oppose

I am completely against eminent domain being used for any purpose other than purely public purposes, which would exclude situations where the land did not remain in the public's hands after eminent domain was used.

2. Contraceptives and abortion in public schools

Do you support or oppose the distribution of contraceptives and/or counseling for abortion in the public schools? Oppose

There are two things about this issue and the following issue that relate very strongly to some opinions I have about what government's role should be:

• In any issue where there is a lot of debate and people on both sides of the issue feel very strongly about their opinion, the government should do its best to stay out of the issue and err on the side of being the least restrictive and giving people the most personal freedom.
  
  Abortion is probably the best example I can think of where I apply this thought process. Personally, I feel uncomfortable with abortion and I do not believe that if I got a woman pregnant that I could ask her to nor would I feel comfortable with her getting an abortion. I think it would haunt me for the rest of my life.
  
  That being said, that is my personal feeling about the issue, and there are plenty of people who feel the same way and plenty of people that feel differently and a great many of those on both sides of the issue feel very strongly about their feelings. As I stated above, in situations such as this I feel strongly that the government should err on not being involved and giving people the most personal freedom, which in this case is to keep abortion legal. The reason I feel that way is because if I don't believe in abortion, I don't have to consider it as an option in my personal life, but someone who does believe in abortion can consider it as an option. Therefore, from a personal first-hand viewpoint, we both have all the options we want available to us. In a hotly debated issue, I think this is the best you can hope for. Any other option would start infringing on other people's rights.
  
  
• In any widely debated issue where making something illegal is not going to prevent it from happening, but instead force it underground and make it less safe while making normally law abiding citizens criminals, the government needs to seriously consider not making a law related to that issue.
  
  Everything I have heard says that when abortions were illegal they still occurred; except that they were done very secretively and were much less safe than abortions that are done now. In a situation such as that, where making abortion legal would not stop it from happening, I think it is an error for the government to make it illegal, which ends up putting some people's health at risk while making them criminals at the same time.
  
  In regards to this particular issue, I am against contraceptives being handed out and abortion counseling being done in public schools because these are very controversial issues and as I mentioned above, for very controversial issues I believe the government should involve itself as little as possible. Because public schools are government institutions I believe they should not be involved which means not handing out contraceptives or providing abortion counseling.
  

3. Right to life from conception to natural death

Do you support or oppose legislation to protect the right to life from conception to natural death? Oppose

For the same reasons I am against #2 above, I am against this issue because I believe it is controversial and that the government should not be involved. In this instance I believe that people should be free to make their own choices.

4. Individual citizen's right to keep and bear arms

Do you support or oppose the individual citizen's right to keep and bear arms? Support

I should have said "that belief" instead of "that assumption" below.

Side note: I have never owned a gun but I absolutely believe in people's 2nd amendment rights.

I am a very strong believer in the 2nd amendment. I believe that the 2nd amendment was written because our founding fathers had just earned their freedom from an oppressive government and they wanted to make sure that the people of this country always had that ability. Based on that assumption, I believe that they very much intended for people to be able to keep their own arms.

5. Mandatory all-day kindergarten

Do you support or oppose mandatory all day kindergarten? Oppose

I think that all day kindergarten is a very strange issue. I do not believe it is right to force a child in their first year of school to sit through a full day in classes. I also do not believe that full day kindergarten will provide much of a benefit (if any) in the long term. I believe money spent on all day kindergarten would be much better spent improving the schools and classes we already have.

6. Civil unions for gay couples

Do you support or oppose granting similar legal status or extending the benefits of marriage to same-sex or unmarried partners, such as same-sex marriages, civil unions or any form of a state registered partnership? Support

I do not believe that the government should be involved in things related to marriage as far as it relates to the religious definition of marriage. The State's involvement in marriage should mainly be related to probate issues and things of that nature. In that regard, I have no problem with any two people deciding they want to be in a union as far as the State is concerned. I also believe that no one else's marriage has any effect on me, so if gay people want to get married I don't believe it is any of my concern.

7. "Right to work" State

The State of Nevada is a "Right to Work" state. Do you support or oppose maintaining this status? Support

I absolutely agree with maintaining Nevada's right to work status. I do not believe anyone should ever be forced to pay dues or join a union in order to obtain or keep their job.

8. Homosexuality presented in public schools

Do you support or oppose instruction in the public schools that presents homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle? Undecided

This is a somewhat vaguely worded question as it is not clear exactly what it is believed would be taught to make "homosexuality an acceptable alternate lifestyle". I don't think the public schools should be passing judgment on whether homosexuality is good or bad. I think schools should only teach objective information in this area. I do not have problems with schools pointing out that homosexuality exists. I do not think they should be presenting an opinion on the subject.

9. New or increased taxes or fees

Will you support or oppose new or increased taxes and/or fees (fees in excess of actual cost) during your term of office? Oppose

I am not a big fan of taxes and will go out of my way to make sure that they are not raised. The only area where I have any sort of inclination to raise taxes is in the area of schools and I would only be willing to raise taxes in that area if the schools were willing to accept merit pay for teachers, along with being more flexible in trying new and varying methods.

10. Supporting hate crimes legislation

Do you support or oppose "hate crime" legislation, which enhances penalties based on speech and opinions about the victim? Oppose

I don't agree with charging people with what is essentially a thought crime. I also don't think that specific groups should be singled out by the government, regardless of the reason. The crime itself (such as assault or murder) is already illegal. The reason for the crime should not result in separate charges.

11. Anti-home schooling

The state of Tennessee recently passed legislation (currently being challenged) that prohibited home-schooled high school graduates from applying for state jobs. Do you support or oppose the parental right of parents to home school their children, including the right to apply for any job in the state of Nevada? Eeks. I just realized that I checked Oppose on the questionnaire that I sent in but I actually meant to check Support. I am absolutely for parents being allowed to home school their children. I guess that's another reason why I don't like checkbox answers. Hopefully they read my comments.

I absolutely believe that parents should be allowed to home school their children. If the children are able to meet all State testing requirements that a child attending a State sponsored institution requires for graduation, then the home-schooled graduate should be seen as equal to a graduate from a standard public or private high school in the eyes of the State.

12. Parental notification for sex education and other controversial topics

Do you support or oppose parental notification and consent for students to participate in controversial instruction, i.e. sex education, death or divorce education, AIDS education, values clarification, etc.? Support

I have to say that looking at this question now, they sure did ask about a lot of topics. I'm not sure what they would have against AIDS education or death education.

I believe that parents have the right to have the final say in what their children are learning and especially in the area of controversial subjects should be able to prevent their children from attending that education if that is what they want.

13. TASC

Do you support or oppose the concept of "Tax and Spending Controls for Nevada"? Support

I very much agree that State spending should be balanced and should not grow unnecessarily. Having restrictions on government growth is a good idea because government has a tendency to grow rapidly when times are good but very rarely cuts back when times are bad and thus keeps taking a bigger portion of people's earnings in taxes.

14. Police checkpoints

Do you support or oppose police traffic stops for purposes such as checking seat belts or insurance papers? Oppose

First off, I am against seat belt laws. If someone wants to be stupid and not wear one I believe that is their right. I am also against checkpoints of any kind. The police should have a legitimate reason for pulling people over. Checkpoints needlessly hassle the vast majority of the population that isn't doing anything wrong and needlessly invades their privacy.

15. Federal Marriage Amendment

Will you support or oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment should Congress pass it on to the states? Oppose

Once again, I am against the government's involvement here. This is a controversial issue and I am very much against the government being involved in issues such as this. Not only do I think I have no business meddling in other people's affairs, a federal ban on gay marriage would essentially force some people to accept other's religious beliefs and I am very much against that.

16. Referendum and initiative petitions

Do you support or oppose citizen use of referendum & initiative petitions without excessive restrictions? Undecided

Side note: I think it is worth pointing out that I am not a smoker.

A couple of years ago my response to this question would have been absolutely. However, now I believe that it is far too easy using initiative petitions for a small majority of the population to impose its will on the other half of the population and that the initiatives tend to be rather poorly written.

A good example of one half of the population forcing its will on the other half is the smoking ban that was recently passed. 55% of the population voted for the ban, which is quite close to half. I would much rather issues like this be handled by the market. An excellent example of the market taking care of the smoking issue is with poker rooms in casinos. A few years back poker rooms started becoming non-smoking and now most of them are. This was all done without the government forcing the casinos to do anything. The casinos discovered that people liked the non-smoking poker rooms so they went with it. Because the government wasn't involved this also allowed some poker rooms to still allow smoking and they can even advertise that fact to smokers. In this way, everyone is happy, and the heavy hand of government isn't involved.

The smoking ban was also rather poorly written, as it wasn't clear what exactly businesses could do to make it so that people could smoke while still being able to eat so you ended up with a big mess. Some businesses basically ignored it, others closed their kitchens, still others would still serve you food but required you to eat out of to-go containers and some even closed off part of their facility so that it could house the "restaurant", even though you could still get food at the bar. Many of the bars affected by the smoking ban lost a lot of business after it passed and are still recovering. I also see a lot of people ignoring the smoking ban.

All that being said, I definitely think initiatives have their place. The people should have a way to have their voice be heard. My preference would be that initiatives (and constitutional amendments) be required to pass with a 2/3 vote instead of 50%.

17. Illegal immigrant rights

Do you support or oppose efforts to grant legal status, issue driver's licenses, provide benefits or grant the right to vote to illegal aliens? Oppose

This is a very complex topic. I believe that we, as Americans, should feel proud that people want to come here and are willing to endure a lot of hardships in order to get here. I also find it hard to get too bent out of shape that someone comes here out of some sense of entitlement just because I won the genetic lottery and was born in the U.S. On the other hand, I believe we can't support everyone coming here whenever they want so our immigration laws need to be enforced.

18. Standard for outdoor advertising

Do you support or oppose establishing a standard for outdoor advertising that would protect us and our children from exposure to sexually explicit displays? Oppose

I think I worded the answer to this question pretty harshly. I guess what I was trying to say is that I don't really have a problem with any of the advertising that is being down now so I don't see the need to make another law.

I am a very firm believer in the right of free speech, regardless of whether I agree with it or not. I also think this country is way too uptight about the human body, especially when it comes to children's exposure to it. Many countries of the world have nudity on TV all the time and as far as I know their children are not harmed by it.

19. School vouchers

Do you support or oppose the concept of school vouchers in which the money follows the student to his or her school of choice, whether public or private? Support

I feel very strongly about school choice and while vouchers are not a perfect solution they are a step in the right direction because it at least gives parents a choice where their child goes to school.

20. ACLU banning prostitution

The ACLU has successfully overturned state law which banned the advertising of prostitution where prostitution is prohibited. If the Attorney General is not successful at getting this advertising basn reinstated will you support or oppose a statewide ban on prostitution? Oppose

This was an interesting one. I think I worded my response here pretty harshly as well. I think I was really worn out from working on questionnaires that day.

Side note: I have never paid for a prostitute (whether working at a brothel or otherwise).

I see no reason for prostitution to be banned for a variety of reasons:

• I am against laws that ban controversial activities that are going to continue to occur even after they are banned. This makes criminals out of otherwise honest people and if it is known that the law is going to be regularly broken then I believe that the law needs to be reconsidered.
  
• I believe it is not my business if two people want to exchange money for sex. While I personally have no desire to visit a prostitute, it does not affect me when people do and unless I'm actually there I won't even know it is going on.
  
• Nevada's brothels are probably the safest places for prostitution in the country. I don't think anyone thinks that prostitution would disappear if brothels were outlawed, so in effect it would be making people less safe by banning them.

Final Questions

Which of the above proposals would you be willing to introduce (list numbers)?

For the most part Nevada already follows what I believe so new legislation isn't really needed except for 19.

Will you be personally accessible by phone or e-mail to representatives of NCC?

yes

Please briefly explain your philosophy of government at the state level and your understanding of the office you are seeking.

I believe that Nevada is the greatest and freest State in the Union. I believe it is the government's (and by extension an Assemblyman's) responsibility to ensure that people are free to live the lives they want with the least amount of government intervention possible while ensuring that people feel secure in their personal property.