{"id":215,"date":"2010-09-21T18:02:18","date_gmt":"2010-09-21T23:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=215"},"modified":"2020-05-24T08:16:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T13:16:48","slug":"issuespositions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=215","title":{"rendered":"Issues\/Positions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With our mission in mind, <em>Fawkes-Lee &amp; Ryan<\/em> has chosen the following Constitutional Freedoms and related social issues as a focus to empower others through technology, legislative advocacy and targeted communication.&nbsp; We welcome your suggestions and feedback.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Alcohol &amp; Substance Abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We support the following views to address addiction:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Treatment for addiction should be fully funded and made available to people fitting a relevant treatment model<\/li>\n<li>Substance abuse treatment should not be mandated for addicts or alcoholics that do not fit a model<\/li>\n<li>Better programs should be designed and implemented for addicts and alcoholics who respond negatively to programs using group dynamics<\/li>\n<li>Public access to criminal records are counterproductive to recovery and should be avoided whenever possible and expunged if appropriate<\/li>\n<li>Substance abuse prevention approaches should be nonjudgmental and based on respect for diversity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Criminal Justice<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We are committed to working toward sensible sentencing practices.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Death Penalty<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We oppose capital punishment.&nbsp; The death penalty is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Discriminatory in its application<\/li>\n<li>Immoral<\/li>\n<li>More costly than life in prison without the possibility of parole<\/li>\n<li>Cruel and unusual punishment<\/li>\n<li>Susceptible to mistakes<\/li>\n<li>Not a deterrent<\/li>\n<li>Contrary to most mainstream religious beliefs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The death penalty <a href=\"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=190\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is<\/a> . . .<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Medical Cannabis<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We believe:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cannabis is a Schedule II drug<\/li>\n<li>Manufacturing and distribution should be regulated<\/li>\n<li>Cost should be reasonable and affordable<\/li>\n<li>Medical use should be easily accessible<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is more to the story <a href=\"..\/?p=172\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Open Meetings\/Public Records<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We believe that openness in government is essential for a healthy democracy to survive.&nbsp; All government and quasi-government meetings should be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Open to the public with sufficient prior notice<\/li>\n<li>Adequately advertised for the public\u2019s knowledge and possible participation<\/li>\n<li>Easily accessible<\/li>\n<li>Held in a location that provides the best opportunity for attendance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Public records should be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electronically stored and available<\/li>\n<li>Affordable<\/li>\n<li>Conveniently available to a government\u2019s citizens<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There exists a fine line between the public\u2019s right to know and a liberty interest in an individual\u2019s right to be left alone. Public records belong to the public.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Privacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We are dedicated to working toward protecting individual freedoms, with a strong emphasis on privacy.&nbsp; We invite you to <a href=\"..\/?page_id=195\">join<\/a> us. Continue reading about <a href=\"..\/?p=211\">Privacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Voting Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We believe that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The voting process should be accessible and easy for all voters<\/li>\n<li>The only crimes that warrant losing the right to vote are voter fraud &amp; treason<\/li>\n<li>There needs to be a paper trail for voter verification<\/li>\n<li>Voter privacy must be protected<\/li>\n<li>Photo IDs for exercising the right to vote are an unnecessary restriction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Youth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We believe respect is taught through demonstration, not rhetoric.&nbsp; Youth deserve both respect and support.&nbsp; Our prisons would not be housing so many offenders if not for the inconsistent laws and policies that have been cast.&nbsp; Currently, society wants to hold young people accountable <strong><em>for adult failures<\/em><\/strong>. To address these failures, we will lobby the following positions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Education should be child-centered, not model-centered<\/li>\n<li>Medicating children to fit a model is unacceptable<\/li>\n<li>Until the educational system is changed to meet the needs of youth, the high school dropout age should not be raised; in fact, ideally, it should be lowered<\/li>\n<li>If 18-20 year-olds shoulder adult accountability, they should be allowed to drink and gamble.&nbsp; Criminalizing this age group over these activities is unacceptable.<\/li>\n<li>Youth should be given the same civil liberties as adults<\/li>\n<li>Juvenile criminal offenders\u2019 records should not be made public.&nbsp; Youth should be protected and given the opportunity to turn their lives around<\/li>\n<li>School dress codes bar development of important skills needed for a democracy<\/li>\n<li>Creating learning disabilities and mental disorders for the purpose of the label \u201cat risk\u201d to obtain additional funding is unacceptable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please join our efforts to build a happier and healthier future for our youth by subscribing to this issue.<\/p>\n<p>PDF version of Fawkes-Lee &amp; Ryan <a title=\"Issues\/Positions\" href=\"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Issues-and-Positions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Issues and Positions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With our mission in mind, Fawkes-Lee &amp; Ryan has chosen the following Constitutional Freedoms and related social issues as a focus to empower others through technology, legislative advocacy and targeted communication.&nbsp; We welcome your suggestions and feedback. Alcohol &amp; Substance &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=215\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-215","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1829,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/215\/revisions\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}