 Given that the Supreme Court has overturned what was thought to be settled law, so in other words, that of reproductive rights through the Dobb's decision, are you concerned about other rights that we may be taking for granted, coming under threat as well, and what role should Congress play of any in protecting those rights? Yes. So we're going to start with Becca, since you haven't gotten a chance to start yet, and then we'll rotate back around. So I'm very concerned about the overturning of Roe v. Wade and what that signals for what's coming next. So right now we have a situation where Justice Clarence Thomas, his wife, is now being called before the January 6th committee to talk about her role in trying to overturn a free and fair election. He is married to a Supreme Court justice who has an appointment for life. So I'm very concerned about the fact that we need an ethics guideline for both justices and judges who serve at the federal level, and I think we should look at term limits. I'm also very concerned that Justice Thomas, in his memo regarding the Dobb's decision, he signaled where he wanted to go next, which was on LGBTQ rights, and really looking at dismantling protections we've had for same-sex marriage. The other thing I think that overlays all of this for me is that we have members of the Republican Party in Washington right now that clearly do not believe in free and fair elections. And we need to dedicate so much of our efforts in the upcoming session to making sure we're guaranteeing that every American not only has access to the ballot, but that vote will be counted. Alright, thanks. So I'm hearing that on Zoom we've got Erica and Liam are going to be joining us in just a moment. I'm going to let these folks finish up with this question, and then I'll turn to you folks on Zoom and give you a chance to introduce yourselves as well as respond to this question. So let's go to you next, Adam, on this question of constitutional rights. The First Amendment is very important because somebody doesn't have the same opinion or outlook doesn't mean that you should shut them down. I believe we should secure free debate, period. There is no, I don't agree with this person, so they don't get to talk. That's wrong. As far as Roe v. Wade, rich and powerful men are not going to want their girlfriends having babies ruining their marriage. Alright, and Luke, your thoughts on this question. Well, I would probably not be in agreement with the two of you. I think that any Supreme Court decision is not a guarantee. Another court can come behind them and make another decision based on the facts. And I believe even Justice Ginsburg felt that Roe v. Wade was not a sound decision. And if we want to look backwards and say that we have to accept Supreme Court decision as settled law, as they want to call it, forever, then we would have to look back at such other decisions as Korematsu versus the U.S. when the Supreme Court at that time decided that interment of Japanese Americans was legal. There was also another decision regarding side of me laws. The Supreme Court upheld those laws, but we changed them because it weren't the right decision. And in this case, I would agree that returning the decision about abortion back to the states was the correct place. The justices decided that this wasn't a federal thing. It wasn't constitutional to be decided on the federal level, and it should go back to the states the way the Constitution was designed. All right, so we're going to move then from constitutional rights to health care, which I know is an issue that lots of you at home are concerned about. And so health care costs are nearly 20% of the U.S. gross domestic product, and there seems to be no end to these cost increases. So what does Congress need to do to curb these costs and assure us that we have all quality health care? And I think that I'm right that it starts with Luke this time. Yeah, let's get started with you. Well, this is another one of those situations that we all agree there is a lot of extensive costs in the health care industry, but we need to look at the reasons why it's costing so much. Not just sit down and say Congress is going to make a decision on how to fix it. We have a lot of issues in the health care industry when we have to take care of illegals. We have fraud. We have inefficiencies in all the hospitals and all the doctors. We have heavy malpractice costs. And then we have heavy costs when it comes to producing drugs. There's all the costs of production, research and development, and also the costs that manufacturers have to go through the FDA process. And then maybe afterwards after they've invested all the money, you find out it doesn't meet the muster and it's going to be scrapped. All these costs get rolled into what we all have to pay. We also have to look at that we have 50 states in this country that all can look at unique ways to maybe solve these problems instead of putting it all on to Congress and letting everything be decided in Washington. And if the states work at innovative ways to find solutions to these problems, we may find that one state solution can work for other states. Alright, thanks so much for that. Alright, Adam, I think let's hear your question, your response to this question about health care. Preventive measures, education. I had underlying conditions and what affected other people as a bad cold affected me a little bit more. Also, businesses don't do what's right or wrong, they do what's in their best interest. So if it is in the best interest of the business, they're going to make the prices lower. Whatever that may be, it has to happen. Alright, thanks so much, Becca. So nobody should go into bankruptcy because of health care costs. And nobody should have to die because they do not have adequate coverage. And when I think about the situation that we have here in Vermont, as I've talked to Vermonters about the cost of insulin right now, it's inhumane what we're putting people through with the cost of insulin. And so this is just one small indication of the ways in which we've been held hostage by the pharmaceutical industry for a long time and not being able to lower the cost of Medicare prescription drugs in the way that other countries around the world are able to do. We're an outlier. So we end up paying more for the exact same drugs that people in other countries pay. Now we recently took a really important step forward with the Inflation Reduction Act and making sure that finally we could negotiate those costs. And that is a big step forward. We need to add more medicines to that list of... Sorry, there's a lot of distraction going on here. There's a call coming in. So if you just want to wrap up, I'll answer the call. We need to move towards Medicare for all, but until then we need to continue to work on offering more generics to the American people and making sure that we can buy pharmaceuticals across the border as long as they have been deemed safe by our government. There are things that we can do to lower the cost now. All right. We are going to... Right. Yep. We're going to go to a phone call. Thank you for calling in. Can you tell us your name, the town you're calling from? And can you address your question to all of the candidates? Sure. My name is Frank. I'm calling from Burlington. Our Second Amendment right is the right to bear arms. I would like to know what they plan to do to make sure we don't lose that right. All right. Thanks so much for calling in. Thank you. Yeah. Luke, do you want to start us off with this question? And maybe you can talk about your thoughts about gun rights as well as maybe weighing in on health care too. Yeah. Well, I can say right now that I would be definitely opposed to Medicare for all. My mother, you know, is at the point where she's had to go into assisted living. And in order for her to actually get on one of these government programs that she's paid for her entire life, she has to be destitute. And as a veteran, I've been through the VA system. These systems are not good. Most any... Even like you look at the Canadian healthcare system, so many people in Canada come here because they can't get the healthcare they want there. Government systems are not the answer. The government doesn't really do anything efficiently, even if it's the military. If you want to step back to the other question regarding the Second Amendment, I'm an absolute Second Amendment proponent. I think that you could take the words of Barack Obama, and I don't think he even meant it this way, but he said that the Bill of Rights was a charter of negative liberties. It said what the federal government could not do to you. It means they cannot infringe on your Second Amendment rights. And that's something that we have to ensure that we keep strong. The arguments about hunting and all the other things are just like a red herring. The founders put the Second Amendment there for a reason to give protection for the people against tyrannical government. And at times I don't know that ours is not that far from there. Alright, well thanks for that response to the caller's question. What do you think about this caller's question, Adam? And also the sort of larger question also circulating this day about gun violence, and sort of how to balance those. Shall not be infringed means shall not be infringed. I do agree with different municipalities wanting their citizens to take training because it is a perishable skill and you are your own self-defense. The cops ain't going to get there in time and criminals aren't looking for a fight. They're looking for a victim. So if they see that you're not going to be a voluntary victim, they'll move to the next person who is going to be a victim. So shall not be infringed, but at the same time it is a perishable skill and you got to go to the range because you don't shoot six months ago. Oh, yeah, no, no, you did good six months ago. Alright, thanks for that. How about you, Becca? What are your thoughts on gun rights and gun violence? I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and I also know that there is room and the ability to pass measures for gun safety. We've done that in Vermont. We've recently done it at the federal level. I do support universal background checks and closing the Charleston loophole, making sure that we are passing red flag laws at the federal level because ultimately what I'm hearing from Vermonters as I talk to people across the state is most people in Vermont are strong Second Amendment supporters and they also feel like we are at a time right now where no parent should be worried about dropping their kid off at school when somebody is going to come in with an assault weapon and slaughter a classroom full of children. People don't want to be afraid to go to the movie theaters. We don't have to live like this and we can pass measures to keep Americans safe and I will continue this work just the way that I have done here in Vermont. I will continue that work at the federal government. The other thing that I think is also a really important part of this is that Vermont is an outlier in terms of the number of people who take their own lives with firearms. We have higher rates here in Vermont than most other states and I would like to see more effort and money put into reducing firearms deaths when it comes to suicide. There are a lot of families who are hurting because of this and there's not enough attention on it. Did you want to follow up on that? Yes. Suicide is not funny and this is another reason that I would like to bring to the attention of mental health is important. I would ask that you not ask your friend who is not ideal to help you. They don't have the, their heart may be in the right place but their skill set is not. If you're really at the edge of your rope please reach out to somebody who does it as a job. Your friends may have an emotional attachment for you but their skill set is not there. That's really important I think. We've got a caller coming in. Hi, welcome to the show. If you could introduce yourself, tell us what town you're calling from as well as address your question to all the candidates. Hello. Welcome. Hello. Yeah, can you let us know your name and the town you're calling from and your question? Sure. My name is Katrina. I'm calling from Silvermont. Hi, Katrina. What's your question? I would like to know what have you guys done to put you in this position to run for Congress and what will you do for us to make our lives better? All right. Yeah, great question. Thank you so much for calling in. Yeah, Luke, you want to start us off with that? What have you done? What are you going to do for Vermonters? Well, I've done the one thing we all have to do. I meet the requirements of the Constitution to run for this office. And I've also taken it that it's very important to me to try to serve the country because I think we're going the wrong direction. And if I just sit around at home and complain all the time it's not going to get us anywhere. So I've put it upon myself spending my own money, my own time to make this happen. Like I said, I'm not a politician and my goal is to do what's best for the state and the country but follow the Constitution as well. In my background I've worked in the military. I've worked in the power generation industry for 30 years. I've worked with diverse groups of people to solve tough problems. And I think that's what it takes. I want to go sit down and talk with people and see what's going on. But right now in Washington all they do is fight and spend money and try to grandstand. And that's not going to get us anywhere. And my goal is to reduce the government, to reduce the spending and make them more accountable because they work for us. And if we can do something to reduce those issues then we can put more money back into the pockets of every American. And that's better for everyone. And reduce, you know, the Constitution is set up so we have a federal government not so that everything is directed from Washington. And we should push everything back to the state so we can have more local control. All right, thanks so much for that. What are your thoughts here, Rebecca? What have you done? Sorry, I first want to say, is it Mike? Is that right? Luke. I'm sorry. One of the things that Luke said is so important. He said, you know, there's a lot of dysfunction in Washington and people are grandstanding and they're not getting work done. And that's something that I'm very concerned about, too, that we don't want to send anyone there who is interested in chasing the cameras and, you know, having a huge Twitter following. That's not what this is about. This is about serving Vermonters. So before I ran for office in state senate, I was a middle school teacher. I taught in four different rural public schools. And I think about all of the students that I taught and all of the families that I got to know through that experience and what are the things that I could do to help essentially make their lives better. And that was really the guiding force for me as I looked at the workforce crisis that we had in Wyndham County that predated the pandemic and some of the housing issues that we had and the rising levels of poverty. And that's really why I ran for office. So I've been representing Wyndham County since 2015 and have done a lot of work in the state legislature to deliver for regular people. And that will always be the work that I do in D.C. if I'm fortunate enough to get this job. So thank you so much. And I'm so glad you mentioned that. And I also want to thank Luke for his service because so many people have no idea what it is to serve. My dad was in the Army. Yeah, yeah. Let's hear from you, Adam. Bagdad, Iraq, Kabul, Afghanistan. Thank you. Every beer of service. Priority one is clean drink and water. No water, no life. To improve your quality of life, improve communications. Upgrade the cell phone towers, but it has to be in a way that it doesn't take away from Vermont. Vermont makes tourism money from it being beautiful. So the design of the cell phone towers has to be behind the trees. The Vermont climate is cold, which is good for the computer servers. So we can bring in computer jobs and advertise the cold weather that they don't have to spend money cooling down their servers. That'll bring money in. But if there's pollution in the places that the tourists go and they don't feel safe to drink the water, that's affecting your money. Basically, listen to what your particular needs are. And if it's in my abilities to do it, do it. But without clean drinking water, it ain't happening. The tech jobs can come here because the places that the tech jobs are now, the cost of living is so high. And these, my cousin is a computer person. He never goes anywhere. So you cannot go anywhere, nowhere, anywhere. Come to Vermont. You don't need to be somewhere expensive not to leave the house. Right. So let's turn our attention to a wider question. I know one that's on the mind of a lot of Vermonters and indeed a lot of U.S. citizens and people around the world is, what do we do about Russia? And do you think, in particular, do you think that there's a limit to U.S. involvement in the Russia's war with Ukraine? And if so, if there is a limit, what is that limit? How about we get started with you, Adam? I serve the bag that Iraq, Kabul, Afghanistan. We shouldn't be over there at all. There's people all over the world that need help. We don't help them because it's not in our interest. It's not about right or wrong. It is what is the best interest of people you don't even know their names or faces to involve ourselves in problems. They're not the ones coming out behind their desk and fighting the fight. If anybody feels differently, I plan to have a Ross to put together and you go fight. Don't send somebody else's kid to go fight. Sorry. Alright, thanks for that. Becca, what are your thoughts here? Well, so you start with the point that I think has to be the one that's front and center, that we should not be sending troops. Other people's kids. Understood. If you're going to go fight, I'll set up that you don't lose your citizenship. Right now, in Russia, we see that Vladimir Putin has called up 300,000 conscripts, essentially. What I read this morning is those young men are running for the border. They don't want to serve in the Ukrainian war. We have, I think, a responsibility to stand with our allies. Ukraine is an ally of ours. And we have sent significant aid that has allowed us to beat back the invasion in eastern Ukraine. And that is a positive thing, not just for the Ukrainians. It's positive for us because it is a democracy that we do not want to see fail to Putin. That being said, we should not be putting boots on the ground. We should be working with NATO. We should be doing diplomacy first. And as we look to how the geopolitics are changing here, in the last few weeks, we see that China and India are starting to move away from Russia. That's a significant change in the last few weeks. And some of the work that needs to be done diplomatically, I think, will stem from the fact that some of Putin's allies are now trying to distance themselves from him. Thanks for that. We've got a call coming in, but, Luke, if you want to give your response here to this question on the war in Ukraine, and then we'll go to the caller. I would be another voice that I don't want to see us entangle in another conflict. We just got away from a 20-year conflict. I don't see that necessarily giving money is distancing us that far from it because Russia has already said that, if you threaten him, he may threaten you. The winds will come your way, that's exactly what he said. And so if we get entangled ourselves in it, even in a monetary situation, we're at risk of that. There's a lot of European countries that that's more on their border. They should be taking care of it. They should be putting up a lot more of the effort to help them get a resolution to this. It doesn't mean we can't have some sort of negotiating policy in there, diplomacy, but it shouldn't be our fight. We're not even securing our own borders, yet we're spending billions of dollars to secure the borders of another country. All right, it looks like you want to respond to that, Adam. Go ahead. The reality is if things escalate, the people who started the fight and got people like me in the fight aren't going to be fighting the fight. They're going to send other people to go fight. Nobody in their circle, total strangers are going to be fighting a fight that they started with another total stranger. All right, so it looks like we lost that caller, but feel free to call back in. Again, our number is 802-862-3966. We definitely want to hear from you and take your questions. But while we're waiting for your call back in, let's talk about the future of democracy, shall we? So can you share, do you share the concern that many have voiced that our democracy is in jeopardy? And if so, what measures do you recommend that we take here in Vermont? Luke, how about we get started with you? Well, I would be more concerned that we're losing our republic. And let's, you know, have the distinction between the two. I think there's a lot of stuff going on in Washington, D.C., where we have politicians that want to take federal control of elections, which is outside of the requirements of the Constitution. We have got to look out for an ever-increasing government that wants to take control of everything. And that's where you have to worry about, because once you lose your republic and you get yourself into a centralized government, or a lot of people want to push socialism, you'll never get your republic back. Okay, Becca, your thoughts here. Yes, I am very concerned about the health of the democracy. And, you know, for me, it's really not theoretical. My grandfather, my dad's dad, was killed in the Holocaust. And a lot of the signs that my family saw in Europe at that time are signs that we're seeing now of the rise of authoritarianism, the attacking of the press, the upending norms, the scapegoating people, the not supporting free and fair elections. And so there's a lot that concerns me. And when we look at a bill that came up in the House of Representatives, the H.R.1 for the People Act, looking to make it possible for everyone to cast a vote, regardless of zip code, the vast majority of Americans support H.R.1 and what's embedded in there, which is making sure that everybody has access to the ballot. And that is regardless of party. You have republicans, democrats and independents who all believe that you should know that when you cast a ballot, it's going to be counted. So I'm very concerned about what's come out since the insurrection in the January 6th commission, the number of people who are working actively to disenfranchise voters. And I think we have to get very serious about making sure, not that we're federalizing elections, but that regardless of what state you live in, that your vote is going to count. Right, Adam, what are your thoughts here? What do you think about the future of democracy? Should we do something? The term disenfranchise is on the nail, hitting the nail on the head. I believe we should, everybody, register to vote. Period. Out of sight is out of mind. And I have my sister that was upset with me about things that have happened before I was even on the ballot. So I said, which bill? I read the entire bill and it had nothing to do with the title of the bill. So more participation doesn't allow things to slip under the radar because by the time the small thing, small thing, small thing, it becomes a big problem then everybody gets involved. Big things are just a whole bunch of small things put together. So before it gets to a point where it's out of control, more involvement and part of that is for people to feel like they're not disenfranchised. Your voice does matter. We are listening. Look, this is what it was. This is what it is. You said we did it. What else do you want? So we just have a few minutes left. Just say a little more on that. I wouldn't be here if I didn't care about free and fair elections. But elections have to be honest. And when you got mail-in ballots like we did during the COVID thing, that's ridiculous. At my own house, there's only two of us. We got six ballots. If people choose to be dishonest and just put these in, there's no signature on them. There's nothing. You know, you should vote. You should be willing. It should be something that you want to do. You should not have a problem to go there, show an ID in person and vote. All right. So it looks like Adam wants to respond to that. Same exact thing. Both of them said disenfranchise and the vote is ID. In Puerto Rico, you have a voter's ID to vote. You've got to have ID to get liquor. You've got to have ID to go to the dispensary. But to shape the future of America, no, no, no, no. We don't need ID for that. You want to rebut? Can you stop? Actually, I don't want to rebut anything. I just want to be really clear that the Secretary of State here in Vermont, their office has done an incredible job during COVID to make sure that everybody had access to the ballot. And there was no voter fraud here in Vermont during the mail-in ballots. And so there are very, very careful protocols that need to happen with every town clerk. Elections of Vermont are run by local town clerks that know people. And so I just want to be really clear, even if you've got multiple ballots at your home, that doesn't mean those votes were all cast. And there are complete and total safety systems in place. And I could not speak more highly of the work that the Secretary of State's office has done here in Vermont, including doing work when they were receiving threats to their safety. I'll let you rebut real quickly, and then we're going to wrap up, because we're just about out of time and I want to give you a chance to give some closing statements. It's not rebutting, but to be above reproach, chain of custody, well, you have a couple of guys there with the little camera, and you have a chain of custody, that there's no delusion that it was a possibility of it being anything other where they had the confidence in the system. So you hit the nail on the head with the disillusioned. If there is a possibility, but there is no possibility because you have somebody babysitting. All right, well, we've covered a lot of ground tonight, and we're just about out of time, so I want to give everybody a brief moment, about 30 seconds if you want to give us your closing statement. Let's start with you, Becca. Sure, just briefly, I have had a long career of public service here in Vermont, first as a teacher and also serving on local boards in my community in Wyndham County. And I have always done my work with an eye to alleviating suffering. That is why I became a teacher. That's why I became a legislator. And if you elect me, I will do what I've done in the Vermont State Senate, which is work with all people, regardless of party, to make sure we're taking care of Vermonters. That's the most important thing. Thank you for tuning in. All right, thanks for that. All right, Luke. Yeah, well, I'd say I don't have any political experience like Becca does, but, you know, I don't necessarily know that that's a requirement for Washington and be a thinker and look at what they're trying to do there and make decisions that are best for, not just Vermont, but for the nation as a whole, because what effects, if they pass something in Washington, it's going to affect all of us. And I would do, as I've always done when I was in the service and in my job in the past 30 years, is put 100% of my time to doing the right thing for the country and Vermont especially. All right, thanks for that. All right, Adam, close this out. Go to all the town hall meetings and deal with all the people that don't like me the most, because the people that are mad at me will tell me the truth more than the people that are trying to spare my feelings. So I totally understand that not everybody has the same exact concerns. Not to be the dead horse, but if you don't have clean drinking water, you've got no concerns. So morale is important. Part of morale is the different festivals that we have. Art is important. It's different ways of people expressing themselves. The military is important. I never had a problem with the VA. I love you guys. But when people talk in front of you like you're not even there, that's when the truth comes out. So dot every I, cross every T, check every box. Infrastructure is universal. All right. Well, thank you all. Thank you for joining me here tonight. And thank you, especially all of you, tuning in at home to town meeting TV and our ongoing coverage of statewide and regional candidates and ballot items. So you can find this particular forum as well as many, many more at www.ch17.tv and don't forget to vote, okay? So on or before November 8th and this year ballots will be mailed to all registered voters in this state. And if you want to confirm that you're registered to vote and will be receiving your ballot at home, just visit the Secretary of State's online portal at mvp.vermont.gov. All right. So thank you for watching and for sharing town meeting TV. If you're not already, please subscribe to our town meeting TV YouTube channel. And I hope to see you again at another election forum. And remember to vote. Thanks for joining us. Bye-bye. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.