Kentuckians for The Commonwealth Candidate asked Jon Larson the following question:
Kentucky is one of the two most difficult states for former felons to apply and receive their voting rights back. Over 186,000 Kentuckians have lost their right to vote because of our disenfranchisement laws, as have 5 million people across the nation. Many Kentuckians argue the right to vote should be restored w hen a person has paid his or her debt to society. Opponents argue that losing the right to vote is an appropriate punishment for people who commit felonies. What is your position on the issue of restoring voting rights for felons?
Answer:
Our forefathers fought a war for their independence with a slogan of "no taxation without representation." An obvious corollary is that since we require released felons to pay income taxes, they should be granted voting rights.
Vote for me, Jon Larson, for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky.
Kentuckians for The Commonwealth Candidate asked Jon Larson the following question:
Basic health care is slipping out of reach for many Kentuckians. About 570,000 Kentucky residents are among the 47 million Americans who lack event he most basic health care coverage, and many more have only the most minimal health care coverage. Proposed solutions to this crisis include such ideas as the creation of single-payer health care or combinations of government health care plans and private insurance plans to increase coverage. Others think that less government regulation is the answer and believe fewer regulations will make health care more affordable. Where do you stand on this important issue and what would you do to improve the situation?
Answer:
In the short term, I feel extremely uncomfortable with the tax commitment which would be necessary to effectuate universal health care. In general, I find government restructuring of any business, in this case the medical and insurance industries, to be an extremely dubious proposition.
Nevertheless, disaster protection for the working poor, preventative medicine for the elderly and restructuring the criminal justice system to avoid encouragement of substance abuse are directions for my concern.
Vote for me, Jon Larson, for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky.
Kentuckians for The Commonwealth Candidate asked Jon Larson the following question:
Many thousands of Kentucky soldiers have served or are presently serving in Iraq and at least 62 Kentuckians have died in the Iraq war. Many Kentuckians believe that the reasons for going to war with Iraq were just, but many others believe they were wrong. Our communities are also divided as to whether we should withdraw our troops from Iraq as quickly as possible or whether we should stay as long as is needed to get the job done. What is your position on this issue?
Answer:
Paraphrasing John McCain: The date we set for withdrawal without victory is the day our enemies will announce their success, gain assets, and begin to set their plans for getting back at the United States. I probably would not have encouraged the invasion of Iraq, since I believe that as military governors we Americans are not cruel enough to have much impact on the relatives of the terrorists who oppose us ( I am a Vietnam era veteran, trained in combat arms and military "civil affairs"), but we are now in a critical situation. I realize that we have invested American lives and super abundant commitments of our military around the globe, but please take a look at one location in our history. I served in South Korea 40 years ago, our military has been there 60 years, and today there is a vibrant national economy ( with a Christian majority).
National defense and protection of the American homeland must be the top priority of government. Yes, I’d like to get out of Iraq as soon as possible with the losses of fewer American military lives and casualties, but the truth is that precipitous withdrawal may have more serious consequences.
Vote for me, Jon Larson, for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky.
I, Jon Larson, am now a Republican candidate for Congress - with a purpose. Too many Republican politicians have publicized impractical anti - "illegal" immigrant proposals. In contrast, I want to express a few common-sense reasons why our government should offer amnesty (non-quota, non-"touchback" paths to citizenship, with immediate issuance of easily renewable federal identification cards). As a true conservative, an anti-bureaucrat, valuing financial welfare for other Americans, I must state the obvious: There is no realistic way to detain and deport more than seven million undocumented Hispanic workers and their dependants.
Our immigration laws are like a discouraging maze, fostered by years of racial ("Chinese exclusion") and anti-Southern and Eastern European, anti-Irishmen and lately anti-Hispanic prejudices. America is the "Land of Immigrants", but we have allowed the tired, hungry and poor of the world to become disappointed by our bureaucratic roadblocks. Historically, Liberty (Ellis) Island did not send immigrants back to their birth countries to wait 5-14 years, to be solicited to pay bribes, just so they could legally re-enter our "Home of the Free." We should never be afraid to welcome fresh blood into our National melting pot.
Please understand that negative publicity unreasonably frightens immigrants and irritates our American-born Hispanic citizens, discouraging border cooperation. Many hard working and admirably productive undocumented immigrants have been financially victimized, some raped (and more than 450 have died, some horrifically) along our Southern border. These same individuals, still fearing deportation, cannot obtain basic identification documents, to their disadvantage and our ultimate loss ( of insurance and safety protections).
Jail space and courtroom accessability, already strained, if not overwhelmed, in most cities, counties and sates cannot possibly accept the volume of business detention and deportation of millions would entail. Local police already refuse to accept responsibility for monitoring the many illegal immigrants in their jurisdictions. Big tax money, not currently available, would be required if the decision were made to initiate mass deportation policies (to hire and train thousands of additional agents and officers).
Already horror stories of unfair and sometimes illegal detention are being told:
Mothers detained and deported - separated from their children. Bread wining fathers and stepfathers deported, leaving destitute their "Anglo" and American-born families. An older man living in our country for more than 50 years, being deported and separated from his son serving our Army in Iraq (more than 7200 of these immigrants have already served in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan). Identity thefts and mistakes involving incarcerations of the wrong persons have occurred. Unaccompanied children of mixed Latin ancestry could be deported to unfamiliar countries with no family supports. There would be no end to terrors if anti-immigrant laws were ratcheted up.
Most importantly, I suggest that our country has no flexibility to deal with the loss of millions of workers. Already we hear of the possibility a nationwide depression. With the real estate, mortgage and home building industries teetering on collapse, the outsourcing of technological jobs overseas, gasoline price increases, and serious deficit financing owed to the rest of the world, our economy is much too fragile to weather a self-inflicted removal of productive workers and good consumers. Somehow too many of our leaders refuse to recognize the reality of our economic plight. For our own mental and financial health, we must "get over" this anti-Hispanic immigrant obsession. Let us accept things we can not change without drastically harming ourselves.
Please let us follow the Golden Rule, to welcome and learn to love our new neighbors without governmental interference."
Along the path to assimilation, I believe we will improve border control. So far, 9-11 style terrorists have not been Hispanic. Friendly communication between Homeland Security officers and lawfully protected immigrants (and their Mexican contacts) could prevent true terrorist access along our Southern border. Mile high fences, if built during current adversary circumstances, would only increase "coyote" transportation charges and increase the vulnerability of determined American seekers to kidnaping, rape and death.
It is my opinion that local anti-immigrant legislation (creating what courts have described as a "crazy quilt" of state and local laws) can only exacerbate regional problems by concentrating Hispanic homes along sanctuary borders [We are bigger than our borders] and by encouraging deceptive employment practices. Rather than tinkering with laws to aggravate the plight of these persons, I suggest we focus on our own national economic welfare.
Of course, there will be problems in accommodating large numbers of anything, including immigrants. There will be some who commit crimes, some who rip off welfare benefits and some who burden our medical delivery systems. Yes, but, as a very experienced criminal defense lawyer, I believe that these Hispanic undocumented workers are perhaps more likely today to become victims of violence than to be perpetrators. Further, I read that undocumented aliens rarely use any form of public assistance, and that even when health costs are factored, economists have calculated their favorable impact on the economy as a whole. And, if these people were really interested in freeloading medical and welfare benefits, they might be flooding into Canada, but I suspect such is not the case.
Let us offer Federal registration identification cards ("ID’s") to any undocumented American worker at zero charge. Let us encourage (even seasonal) employers to offer certificates of employment to support these identification documents. Like green cards, these ID’s should have digital photographs with names, fingerprints, current addresses and dates of birth. Renewals and replacements should be easily available, withdrawal of registration (legal immigration status) should be limited to "serious" criminal behavior, quarantineable diseases, excessively lengthy lack of employment and fraudulent applications.
Let us offer eventual citizenship, under no quotas by nationalities or by no literacy qualifications, nor employment categories, nor total number limits [ There should be no objection to putting these applicants behind current immigration registrants.]
Let us encourage, but not require, the use of English language by these immigrants. History tells us few of these working immigrants will go back to their countries of origin, and that their descendants will learn English, just like those of us who have had non-English speaking forbearers have done.
Turn these people into 100% tax payers people who can use their ID’s to bank, cash checks, shop and purchase medical and automobile insurance.
Vote for me, Jon Larson, for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky
Vote for me, Jon Larson, for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky.
My name is Jon Larson. I am running for U.S. House of Representatives, 6th District. 
Forming the right issues for improvement in Kentucky are important - especially in an election. I believe that issues need to be developed so that they can evolve into policy decisions with public assistance. I believe that there needs to be more open communication between the elected officials and the public, especially in the topics of public safety and laws. Politicians need to listen to the public. I intend to listen to public concerns and act on them accordingly.
One issue I find important, focuses on how to reduce government waste in Kentucky. I have seen how our government has wasted tax dollars: it has gotten out of control. I believe that enough is enough! Kentucky taxpayers have a right to see cost containment and cost reductions without jeopardizing the safety and security of honest hard working Kentuckians.
For example, I have observed increased costs of incarcerating individuals convicted of crimes in this Commonwealth. Why has this happened? Why are so many more people being arrested and incarcerated? What has happened to our society to cause this? In addition, why does it cost so much more today to incarcerate each person? What are the viable alternatives. I intend to ask the tough questions: How, Why, What, Where, When, etc. By reducing the costs of jails, we can take the savings and apply them where they will better benefit the commonwealth, for instance, the schools.
I believe that I can help regain control of government waste in the area of the jails. I know I can make a difference.
Vote for me, Jon Larson, your Republican Candidate for Congress. Remember, a vote for Jon Larson is a vote for Kentucky.
