Easton’s Values and Defending Democracy

I value empathy in policymaking and active listening to a diversity of ideas and lived experiences beyond my own.  I value professionalism and mutual respect in all workplaces and especially in government.  I value facts based on science, research, multiple data points, expert analysis, precedent and honest testimony.  I value democracy and will fight to defend our Democracy.

EMPATHY [ em-puh-thee ], noun, the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

What I mean by empathy-based policymaking is that as your Congressman, I will mentally challenge myself and others to make policy through the lens of how laws will affect people in situations different from my own.  It’s to strive to put one’s own self in the shoes of another and examine the intended and unintended consequence of each piece of legislation large or small. I feel our government leaders have strayed away from this basic concept of making and debating policy.  Policymaking should be deliberate, tedious, time-consuming, and based on real causes and effects and not entertainment, sport, clicks, campaign cash, fame, or media attention.

In this new post-Trump presidency, post-Covid era, I believe our democracy has been degraded and is vulnerable and we must remold our body politic from the foundation up, starting with the basic empathy that has been lacking in Washington D.C. and fueling division.