Congress - 13th District Candidate

Questions & Answers

What is the importance of the US Congress to your constituents in Champaign County?

Good Congressional representation is particularly important to voters in Champaign County because a lot of the top class research done at our State's flagship University in Champaign-Urbana is funded by the federal government. Thus, it is very important that the next Representative from 13th Congressional District secure federal funding for that important research at the University of Illinois, and funding to expand it. Also important to Champaign County residents is that they have a Representative in Congress who will work hard to enact single payer healthcare and campaign finance reform, as well as, an end to the budget busting foreign military adventures.

Why are you qualified to be in the US Congress?

For the last ten years, I have produced political commentary on Free Speech tv (independent media) covering the subject matter of how our media is corrupted. I would support subsidizing our media because when corporations sponsor our media, they will report very little on a subject, when it affects corporate America's profits. Psychologists are employed to test rhetoric and propaganda that will influence the public to vote against their own interest. Public officials need to know what the problems are in the world in order to solve those problems. For the last ten years, I have been splicing and editing commentaries and documentaries and it paints a bleak picture that scares me and I refuse to grow old and die without doing anything, without saying anything. What people need to know is when politicians accept corporate, campaign contributions; they then pass legislation that benefits those corporations. A big pharma contribution equals high drug prices. An oil Industry contribution equals pollution and global warming. An insurance industry contribution equals high insurance premiums and votes against expanding Medicare. Therefore, what people need to look at to know how to vote for a candidate is who or what finances a candidate’s campaign and how long has a candidate been saying what they’re saying. I have not taken corporate lobbyist money during my campaign and I will never be a corporate puppet. I have been an activist for the last twenty years, so I am not exactly pandering to the vote. I have gone around the country for the last twenty years marching, protesting, speaking, and even being arrested. I am authentically disgusted with our system and I authentically want change.

What is a key policy difference between you and your Primary Opponent[s]?

I am an activist and I also feel more strongly about the opioid and heroin epidemic in this country. I have a family member who is addicted to heroin and after overdosing three times, ending up in the hospital, there was still no court ordered rehabilitation granted. It is hard for me to accept that bank CEO's do not end up in jail for laundering drug money or that our troops guard opium in Afghanistan and turn a blind eye to the 400 heroin labs in Tajikistan. Why is it that our corporate censored media reports very little on Pueblo Escobar's son's book: "Sins of My Father" where Escobar, who lives under the pseudonym, Juan Sebastián Marroquín, explains his “father worked for the CIA selling cocaine to finance the fight against Communism in Central America.” These facts need light shed on them considering President Trump declared the opioid and heroin epidemic an emergency but then did nothing to solve the problem.

Is there anything else you would like to say to an undecided voter in Champaign County?

I will fight to return to hand ballots and hand counted audits. There were many lawsuits concerning the last presidential election. There were large discrepancies in the exit polls and when lawsuits were threatened, the corporate media announced they would no longer conduct exit polls. No matter what candidate you supported, all Americans should want our elections to be fair and accurate. I am asking the public to call their County Clerk and ask for a public audit for the upcoming primary and after every election. Also, while getting signatures I have talked to many concerned people about the environment and global warming. Whistle blowers, who worked for Exxon, exposed Exxon knew about global warming back in the 70’s and instead of addressing this issue, they chose to set up think tanks to convince the public that the science is controversial. These thinks tanks go by the names of: Cato, ALEC, American’s For Prosperity, Freedom Works, and The Heritage Foundation. Therefore, as I campaign, I’m asking the public to put their savings and money into a bank that has divested from fossil fuels! Finally, most Americans do not believe in socialism for the rich and yet our tax dollars go to bank bailouts, subsidizing industry, and 56% of our discretionary spending goes to perpetual, for profit, wars and the military industrial complex. The Pentagon can’t account for 6.5 trillion dollars! If all this could not help pay for things like: tuition free higher education, health care, and balancing the budget, then maybe since the .01% of the richest families in our country own as much wealth as the bottom 90%; if we ended the tax loopholes, and the millionaires and billionaires paid their fair share of taxes, that would pay for the rest.