5th CD Congressional race

Hello, I'm the newest candidate for Congress in the 5th District running on the Independence Party ticket. The purpose of my campaign is to focus discussion on our economic future. The federal government has performed badly in recent years. Prospects for future generations enjoying our present standard of living are becoming increasingly bleak.

I want to bring attention to the $700 billion annual trade deficit. Do government officials think this can continue forever? The trade deficit has two main components: (1) More than $400 billion of this is due to oil imports. (2) The rest is due to imports of manufactured goods from low-wage nations in east Asia and elsewhere.

What do we do about this? With respect to oil imports, the solution that makes the most sense to me is to have a crash program to develop electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, develop technologies of storage and transmission, and eventually apply this to automobiles. Al Gore thinks we can get all our electricity from such sources in ten years. Great! Let's do it! Do it now.

With respect to imports from low wage countries, I favor scrapping the free-trade system and replacing it with a development model of trade that will allow poor countries to develop economically while preserving manufacturing capacity in this country. I have proposed a new system of "employer-specific tariffs" that would allow national governments, acting cooperatively, to regulate multinational corporations and their suppliers with an eye to improving wages and working conditions around the world.

The federal government has the power to promote alternative sources of energy by providing subsidies and tax breaks and otherwise creating favorable regulatory conditions. It does or should have total control over our trade policy including the use of tariffs.

To me, the important thing is not to point out the problems but propose solutions. Even bad solutions are better than nothing. If we can focus on solutions, we can build up the public discussion and base of support for getting things done. We need to support local people in the business community who are working on solutions in the area of alternative energy sources as well as consumers of "green" products. Let's applaud and support the success stories.

I notice that Rep. Keith Ellison sits on the House committee for Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology. I'd be interested in his views on trade policy from the perspective of experiences gained in the past two years. He and the other candidate, Republican Barb Davis White, would be a valuable part of this discussion. I think that's what elections are for.

You can go to http://www.newindependenceparty.org for an elaboration of my views. It's all contained in a paper "Manifesto of our Future Possibilities".