Civil Rights & Liberties

Every American must enjoy all rights and protections provided for by our constitution and laws. With that understanding I will:

• Defend Freedom
  Stand up against the threats to American citizens within the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. I will consider freedom and individual liberties first when weighing any law or policy.
• Protect Privacy
  An expectation of being an American is freedom and the right to privacy inherent in our Constitution. Yet interceptions of our communications, unwarranted monitoring, the weakening of Miranda laws, and governmental interference that would dictate our choices, our activities, our morality, and our medical treatments threaten to destroy our right to privacy.
• Remind Congress that Equal Rights are Human Rights
  No group of people should be targeted for exclusion from the same rights and privileges enjoyed by other Americans. Equality is fundamental to a free society. Heinous activities such as the exploitation of child labor in certain labor markets and exploitation in a growing quasi-slave trade market threaten to undermine our freedoms.
• Defend The Second Amendment
  Alaskans are clearly in defense of this right.
• Defend Net Neutrality
  I understand the increasing importance of the Internet in our daily affairs and the need to maintain complete Internet Neutrality. With that in mind, I would work to:
  

  (1) Ensure equal access to the Internet without imposing any unreasonable tiered level of service restrictions that deny access for the little guy;

  (2) Make sure that the government does not encroach on citizen’s First Amendment freedoms on the Internet;

  (3) Protect the Internet from unnecessary governmental oversight and regulation;

  (4) Guarantee privacy protections for citizens’ email accounts;

  (5) Undo electronic surveillance authorizations allowing law enforcement to snoop on American citizens without the issuance of appropriately authorized search warrants.

• Protect The U.S. Constitution
  The design of three branches of government provides for an ingenious system of checks and balances and separation of powers between state and federal governments. However, in recent years we have seen these checks and balances wither as a pliant Congress cedes its powers to an ever-growing Executive. As Alaska’s representative, I will work to restore the original balance sought by the Founders and will work to make Congress a healthy check against the other two branches of government.