Why are you running for Senator?
I'm running because I think that it's a civic duty, because of the changes that need to take place in the Federal government. We have a need for sweeping campaign finance reform, and to unlock government from the grip of special interests and big business. My personal reason for running as a candidate for the Natural Law Party is because they have the most broad based platform of prevention oriented, proven solutions.
What do you think qualifies you to be a U.S. Senator?
I believe the Founding Fathers wanted citizen-legislators. Any citizen that's qualified to run for public office should run. I'm a small businessman; I understand the pressure on small businesses and families. I've run for office before. I think the question is-how are the people in office qualified to be there? They have no energy policy, environmental policies that are damaging to the environment-I don't think we need more qualified people. They've done enough damage.
What do you hope to accomplish as Senator?
The first thing I would do would be to try to put a bill through Congress for sweeping campaign finance reform. The next thing would be to enforce the Helsinki Accords on the United States itself. What those accorcds state is that if you want foreign aid from the United States, a country must have equal right to vote for everyone, equal access to ballot for all candidates, equal access to the media for all qualified candidates, and equal access to the debates for all candidates. That's obviously something we need here. I would present a floodgate of proposals-long term solutions to problems of healthcare, energy policy-less dependence on foreign oil, promote renewable energy, promote sustainable agriculture, and streamline government. I would try-I don't know if they'd get through, but it would get attention for third parties.
What benefits would your Senate term serve the people of Massachusetts?
Well, I think that it would be a beginning for an increased and enhanced quality of life for the people of Massachusetts. Basically, we all have the same concerns-to live a life free of stress, have a clean environment, good education, and see tax reform-I'd like to see a fair flat tax beginning in 2001, starting at 17%-and declining to 12%, and an exemption for families for 4 earning 34,000 or less. The Natural Law Party has a broad based platform which would benefit all. I'd like to eliminate pork barrel spending and divide the money saved distributed to all towns and communities in the country.
How would your term benefit college students in particular?
Well, we have a strong education platform. My personal opinion is that any student-because students are the future of the country-who wants to go on as far as his Ph., D should be free to do so without being crippled by student loans. One thing that we could do is scrap the missile defense shield, which costs $60 billion, scrap the B2 Bomber, which the Pentagon doesn't even want. Both programs are pork for defense contractors. Each B2 bomber costs $2 billion. 1 B2 could give 200,000 students a $10,000 scholarship each. Students who have graduated should have a limit on how much of his salary can be spent on repaying student loans. But they're plenty of money in this economy to provide for education, to take care of the homeless, to take care of the mentally ill who are walking the streets, to take care of kids without food or healthcare.
The problem is that government focuses on crisis management-government should have long term projects that prevent problems rather than short term solutions that benefit big corporations and PACs. For example, rain in New England has tons of mercury-more than EPA allows. The government is not stopping this. This is an example of short sighted policies without concern for the future. Many things we need to discuss and have proper testing for that simply aren't being done. Government is not looking at the interests of the people. We've become accustomed to failed policies. There is no one that people have passion to vote for-this is planned by the two-party duopoly. We are getting accustomed to failed policies, which is bad for the country, and bad for health of world.
Finally, why should people vote for you instead of your opponents?
Well, I don't think it's based on my personality. Rather, their vote should be based on the substance of the platform. Our party is coalition of the Natural Law Party and a faction of the Reform party. And in New York state, John Hagelin was endorsed by the Independence Party. People should vote for us because of our broad platform of prevention oriented, proven solutions.