Tennessee First & Families First: Fighting Poverty & Opioids, Providing Work, Recovery, Opportunities, Better Healthcare, Protection for Families, and Empowerment for Small Businesses
In District 38, poverty has been neglected for far too long. Everyone wants to solve the opiate crisis, address healthcare needs, improve educational outcomes for children and adults, and protect children and families - but we don’t want to address the root of the problem - a cycle of poverty.
POVERTY/LOW INCOME = POOR NUTRITION = WEAKER BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND POOR PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS = POOR EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES AND MORE PEOPLE OUT OF WORK BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK AND DISABLED = INCREASED GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE NEEDS & SUBSTANCE ABUSE = HIGHER TAXATION & POVERTY
A real America First, Tennessee First position is one that brings work, economic recovery, educational opportunities, protection for families, supports our first responders, and protects small businesses. I support President Trump’s America First agenda and want to apply it here at home.
How will I fix it?
I will advocate for responsible tax cuts for honest businesses that produce full-time jobs and offer competitive wages, competitive benefits, and work/life balance. The last thing we need is ten more part-time jobs with no benefits and wages that cannot support a family with a high cost of living. Parents shouldn’t have to work multiple part-time jobs to provide for their families. Kids shouldn't have to raise themselves and grow on fast food because their parents always work.
Parents who work full-time jobs with competitive wages, competitive benefits, and work/life balance can be more active in their children’s lives—parents with more time can provide better food choices, help with their homework, monitor their children more closely for mental or physical health issues, are happier and have less health issues, less likely to engage in substance abuse, and can afford to pursue higher education or help their children pursue higher education.
Since those who aren’t worked into the ground are less likely to develop chronic illnesses, physical/mental disabilities, there will be less dependency on government assistance and less healthcare costs for families. Additionally those with less health issues will be less likely to engage in substance abuse to alleviate mental distress and chronic pain.
I will advocate for heavier criminal penalties for predators who provide our children with drugs and alcohol. The importance of a stable family has never been greater than now. Our children are faced daily with peer pressure. Enabling parents to be at home and active in their children’s lives allow parent to know who there children are associating with and protect them from outside dangers such as drugs and alcohol.
I will advocate for corporate accountability. A business that profits from harming the wellbeing of its employees and their communities should face heavy fines and penalties. Businesses should not prosper off of breaking their employees backs. Employees of large corporations often report wages that aren’t congruent with their workload—they report skeleton staffing that leaves them to perform multiple jobs that increases mental and physical strain, causing burnout. They report inadequate coverage for mandatory lunches leading to malnutrition. They report hazardous working conditions and hostile/intimidating work environments. The law allows their employers to employ wordy mutual arbitration agreements that prohibit them (the employee) from taking litigious action against their employer for failure to provide a positive/safe work environment, lunches, and their most basic human/labor rights. They are left with nothing but government hoops and channels to file a complaint through. As a result, their employers stack the record, reprimand them, fire them, and create unfavorable working conditions. The employee is left with the impossible challenge of proving retaliation in “at-will employment” state.
I will advocate for legislation that recognizes written or verbal reprimands as retaliatory in accordance with Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White (2006) in the United States Supreme Court which ruled that adverse actions need only to be material adverse enough to dissuade a reasonable employee from making or preparing to make a complaint or protected communication. I advocate for protecting employees wellbeing. They are the heart and soul of a business.
BETTER INCOME/BENEFITS = BETTER FAMILY INVOLVEMENT & NUTRITION = STRONGER FAMILIES, BRAIN DEVELOPMENT, and BETTER MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH = BETTER EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN & ADULTS and LESS DEVELOPMENT OF DISABILITIES = DECREASED GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE NEEDS & LESS SUBSTANCE ABUSE = LESS TAXATION & A BETTER LIFE
If we want less dependency on government assistance - we need to create jobs people can depend on while protecting the rights of workers, health of families, and create an environment in which they can thrive. Right now, the people of District 38 to remain captive to a corrupt system. I will fight the corruption.
