Rick Stewart
Rick Stewart
(Libertarian)
Candidate for Senate
Iowa
Website:
https://RickStewart.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/IowaRick
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/RickStewart/
(Libertarian)
Candidate for Senate
Iowa
Website:
https://RickStewart.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/IowaRick
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/RickStewart/
About Rick:
I'm a native Iowan born in Postville, raised in Maquoketa, and living in Cedar Rapids. My first career was a law enforcement officer in Maquoketa for two years, at the end of which I was fired for refusing to shave my beard. I have always stood up against nonsense authoritarian rules.
After a few years learning carpentry, diesel mechanics, welding, and air conditioning I started an herb and spice company, Frontier Cooperative Herbs, which 24 years later allowed me to retire on my savings. Today it is a $200 million company with 300 employees.
I have spent my time since 2000 pursuing my passions, such as hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, learning French in Paris and Spanish in Spain, then finding a comfortable but not extravagant two bedroom apartment in Guatemala, which has become my second home and where I devote my time to supporting an orphanage for street kids. I have also travelled extensively in Europe, South America, and SE Asia.
In 2012 I was given my first introduction to the inside of America's corrupt political establishment when I attempted to get Gary Johnson into the so-called 'Presidential Debates.' Although I was unsuccessful, I did discover none of the ten so-called 'Sponsors' had actually given the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) any money. Based on this information I succeeded in getting three of them to drop their 'sponsorship' before the first debate, generating a bit of press in the process. Unfortunately I was never able to get rid of any of the remaining seven 'sponsors' and the fickle press quit paying any attention to the CPD's corruption.
What I discovered during that process was the Republicans and Democrats are successful, but they are not, shall we say, very intelligent opponents. They just have years of history organizing victories, with the help of an even less intelligent mass media. I was already a libertarian, but that year I became a Libertarian, and the next year attended my first convention of the Libertarian Party of Iowa (LPIA).
In 2014 I was inspired to run for the US Senate, but was not nominated to be the LPIA's candidate so I ran as an Independent. I rode my bicycle 3,000 miles, to every Iowa county, and had interviews with around 200 Iowa newspapers. Then I re-visited all 99 counties with my colorful campaign trailer and did mini town halls in each of them. My Twitter team managed to get me up to level with my Republican and Democratic opponents in the #IASen hashtag. I placed third in the field of six, with 26,815 votes (2.3%), more than the other three minor opponents plus write-ins combined (only 19,940).
ISSUES
War is hell, and today we live in a state of constant war.
LET'S END THEM ALL.
Foreign Wars
Defending our country from foreign enemies is the most important role of government. We need a strong defense department to protect our homeland security from those who would do us harm. What we have, however, is an offensive military designed to fight wars all over the world. None of these foreign wars have made America safer for Americans. Instead, they have made us many enemies and only a few rapscallion friends, at the cost of trillions of dollars. A simple rule is this - no foreign military action can last more than 7 days without a declaration of war by Congress. If there is a true military emergency the President can still act instantly, after which Congress has a week to think it over. This will end all our current foreign wars and prevent them in the future, while still safeguarding our country from aggression.
The War on Drugs
Putting aside for a moment the ludicrousness of a war on inanimate objects, this war is a century old and has enjoyed 106 consecutive years of expensive failure. Fighting it for another 5 or 10 or 50 years won't change anything except the total amount of misery it has rained down on American citizens. Legalizing all drugs is the only possible way to reduce the harm they cause. We did it with alcohol, we did it with tobacco, and we can do it for all the other things millions of Americans want to use responsibly. As for irresponsible drug users, we can still punish their misbehavior when they actually hurt someone, as we do with drunken drivers when they run over pedestrians.
Tariff Wars
Tariffs are taxes on Americans. It is hard to overestimate their harm, or to underestimate their benefit. Even the people whom you might guess would come out ahead in a tariff war seldom do, because economies are extraordinarily complicated and second order effects almost impossible to predict. A free trade America would be stronger, richer, more competitive, less vulnerable, and infinitely less complicated. Furthermore a free trade America would send a strong signal around the world - tariffs are for losers.
The Unconditional War on Poverty
Declared by LBJ on January 8, 1964. Since then we have spent $22 trillion, and our current poverty rate is almost exactly the same. Fifty-six years of failure is enough - new thinking is necessary. Eliminating every means-tested anti-poverty program and replacing them with a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an old idea whose time has come. It could be tied to a Universal high deductible health insurance policy and thus help solve America's expensive health care problem as well. A huge chunk of the Federal bureaucracy could be eliminated, disincentives to work would be eliminated, and a sense of fairness for all Americans would be created. We don't need a War on Poverty, we need programs that eliminate poverty.
Defending our country from foreign enemies is the most important role of government. We need a strong defense department to protect our homeland security from those who would do us harm. What we have, however, is an offensive military designed to fight wars all over the world. None of these foreign wars have made America safer for Americans. Instead, they have made us many enemies and only a few rapscallion friends, at the cost of trillions of dollars. A simple rule is this - no foreign military action can last more than 7 days without a declaration of war by Congress. If there is a true military emergency the President can still act instantly, after which Congress has a week to think it over. This will end all our current foreign wars and prevent them in the future, while still safeguarding our country from aggression.
The War on Drugs
Putting aside for a moment the ludicrousness of a war on inanimate objects, this war is a century old and has enjoyed 106 consecutive years of expensive failure. Fighting it for another 5 or 10 or 50 years won't change anything except the total amount of misery it has rained down on American citizens. Legalizing all drugs is the only possible way to reduce the harm they cause. We did it with alcohol, we did it with tobacco, and we can do it for all the other things millions of Americans want to use responsibly. As for irresponsible drug users, we can still punish their misbehavior when they actually hurt someone, as we do with drunken drivers when they run over pedestrians.
Tariff Wars
Tariffs are taxes on Americans. It is hard to overestimate their harm, or to underestimate their benefit. Even the people whom you might guess would come out ahead in a tariff war seldom do, because economies are extraordinarily complicated and second order effects almost impossible to predict. A free trade America would be stronger, richer, more competitive, less vulnerable, and infinitely less complicated. Furthermore a free trade America would send a strong signal around the world - tariffs are for losers.
The Unconditional War on Poverty
Declared by LBJ on January 8, 1964. Since then we have spent $22 trillion, and our current poverty rate is almost exactly the same. Fifty-six years of failure is enough - new thinking is necessary. Eliminating every means-tested anti-poverty program and replacing them with a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an old idea whose time has come. It could be tied to a Universal high deductible health insurance policy and thus help solve America's expensive health care problem as well. A huge chunk of the Federal bureaucracy could be eliminated, disincentives to work would be eliminated, and a sense of fairness for all Americans would be created. We don't need a War on Poverty, we need programs that eliminate poverty.
When it comes to government it's difficult to imagine anything that isn't economic nonsense. Almost by definition the government takes a dollar in taxes and returns less than a dollar in benefits, which is surely nonsensical for taxpayers.
In an attempt to be generous, however, I will only suggest ending egregious economic nonsense, arbitrarily defined as economic nonsense costing taxpayers more than $1,000,000,000,000.
First - balance the Federal budget.
The annual budget deficit was almost $1 trillion in the year ending September 30, 2019, before the Coronavirus outbreak. There are many reasons why economists sometimes claim budget deficits are not problematic, but it's not so popular to explain why they are a good idea. Usually it boils down to 'we can, therefore we should' spend money. The unstated assumption is Federal spending is good for Americans. I agree it is always good for a few Americans, but see zero evidence it is good for all Americans, which should be the standard by which Federal spending is judged. Spending more money than you are currently collecting in taxes just pushes the payback onto future generations. America is a rich country and we can afford to pay as we go, balancing the Federal budget puts us on the right track.
Second - reduce the national debt.
The national debt stands at nearly $30 trillion. The last American president who made a serious effort to pay off the national debt was Calvin Coolidge in the early 1920s. One hundred years later and not a single president has bothered to even try to reduce it. The biggest problem with the national debt is political - it gives politicians cover for wasting money. There is no practical reason for having any debt at all, except if the United States is under attack from abroad, when no expense is spared in defending ourselves from aggression. A modest budget surplus every year, applied to the national debt, would be painless to taxpayers and good discipline for politicians. Let's do it.
Third - abolish the Federal Reserve.
The original excuse for creating the Federal Reserve came from rich bankers, who got tired of paying for their own irrational exuberance. It was supposed to be a lender of last resort, with a dual mandate of price stability and low unemployment. Although these goals are contradictory the Fed has done poorly on both counts. From 1776 through the Fed's arrival in 1913 total inflation was 14%. Since then total inflation has been 2,504%. Meanwhile we have had the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and now the Coronavirus depression. In all three instances the Fed has only managed to partially make up for the problems it created in the first place. Money is not evil, but politicians are, and they should not be given the power to print money to spend (usually for the sole purpose of buying votes).
Fourth - reform entitlement programs.
The biggest economic nonsense of all is a promise to pay people later, if they will pay their taxes today, when basic arithmetic says we will not be able to do so. 'Saving' Social Security and Medicare sounds like a good idea, but they can't be saved in their current form because politicians are hooked on lying about what it will take. It will be smarter to reform these programs today, so they can last forever. This will require either perpetually honest politicians, or privatization. I have more confidence in the latter. Some people are fearful Wall Street will just get rich from privatization, but that is highly unlikely, since competition will force efficiencies up and prices down. Administrative fees for a broad based index fund, an intelligent choice for a private pension fund like a 401(k), are as low as zero percent today. Sweden has private pension funds - there is no reason America does not.
Politicians have ruined American democracy by making it impossible to understand. Remember when people complained about the Affordable Care Act's 906 pages? Since then 20,000 pages of regulations and interpretations have been added. The only people who have the slightest idea what is in those pages are lawyers and lobbyists. If government were simpler, citizens could find it worth their time to understand what is going on, and their confidence in democracy would grow.
First - no bill in Congress should be longer than five pages.
This is short enough that 75% of Americans could read the bill for themselves.
Second - an automatic 10 year sunset clause on every spending bill. This gives an idea 10 years to prove its worth, after which it will only continue if it is re-authorized.
Third - Congress should be required to read every bill before voting on it. Right now nobody in Congress reads anything they are voting on. Who does? Lobbyists, who also write the bills in the first place.Congress has abdicated its responsibility to legislate.
Fourth - every bill in Congress can only deal with one subject. No more tanks and fighter planes added to a Coronavirus stimulus package, for instance.
Fifth - Every regulation must be written and passed by Congress, not administrative agencies.As noted above, it only took Congress 906 pages to write the Affordable Care Act, but bureaucrats needed to add 20,000 more pages. Congress, and only Congress, should pass the laws we are all required to follow.
