Sam,
I am Nathan {last name removed}, a voter in your district and noticed your ad on facebook.I read some of your issues page and agree with you on many things. I would liketo point out though that the environment and schools may be important issues butin my opinion it would be good to let people know your stance on other issueslike the possible policy changes on gun rights after the Virginia Tech shootingand the issue of the increased fines for tickets in Virginia. Personally I thinkthat you should fight to overturn these fines. I am sure there are better waysto pay for the budget deficit such as reducing the lawn care for highwaymedians. I don't think that pretty bushes and flowers and well groomed grass onthe highways are as important to voters as the pains these new fines areinflicting on low income families. I attend college at Virginia Tech but I haveworked for minimum wage and I understand how hard it would be to pay $2,500 fora ticket. I hope you consider my input and I wish you luck in your campaign.
~Nate
(Response in 1st comment)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sam on Guns, Fines, and Promises...
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Dear Nate,
I commend you on caring enough to offer input and wanting to be an active citizen, so thank you for your questions.
Running for federal office, I usually must be well informed on local, state, regional, an national issues to answer questions, even though I am only running for a position that effects national/federal policy. With so many issues, this makes it difficult for me to cover all issues on my website, even all federal issues. Along with that, I must be careful because I cannot make promises on every issue. Even though I may think something is wrong, I have to pick my battles and do everything in my power to keep those promises. People are most upset with government because of broken and empty promises. This type of deceptive politics must end. Honesty and character is what we should look at first when determining our leadership.
To answer your questions honestly:
(1) It may not be the wisest policy to allow all members of society to have automatic weapons, but I am certainly more pro-second amendment. Law abiding citizens should have the right to bear arms as deemed in the bill-of-rights. With all of that said, in my extremely humble opinion, the VT shootings were more of a failure of our mental health system in Virginia. Cho should have been flagged and depending of the severity of his situation, this flag should have made it more difficult for him to purchase a weapon. The abomination is that our great state ranks 48th when it comes to mental health. Either way, all policy changes that have been layed out are all state issues with which I will have NO direct impact on as your next congressman, but steps can be taken on the federal level as well.
(2)The traffic fines imposed in the last legislative session in Virginia is also a state issue on the surface. So I could have NO direct impact on this legislation, even though I believe it is a cowardly way to increase revenue on the citizens of Virginia to pay for services that we need namely transportation. ***The dirty secret is that if our federal government was spending less money on this war, pork-barrel spending, and tax cuts for the rich, then the federal government would have more money for transportation, education (your tuition at VT has doubled since 2001), and healthcare!***
All the best for the holidays,
Sam
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