By Bill Reeside
As a nuclear engineer for 40-plus years, I’m accustomed to using data to define problems, root cause analysis to understand the problem, and detailed study to create and implement solutions.
Here’s the data that tells me we have problems at the federal level: inflation has been well above the 2% target for six years; the federal deficit is at $40 trillion and climbing $2 trillion per year; mortgage interest rates are 7.5% and rising. The “safe haven” U.S. Treasuries are at their highest in decades, tempting our debtors to look elsewhere for safe investments; we are in another “excursion” in Iran which is headed for endless-war status.
The root causes: For the last 100 years, our electorate has chosen to divide into two political “tribes.” And the tribes have evolved into organizations focused on 1) gaining and holding power and 2) demonizing the other tribe. What’s missing is a focus on governing for the benefit of the governed.
An additional cause of our current state is that those elected to the U.S. House and Senate over the last 100 years have given away the powers specified in Article 1 of the Constitution. Examples: the power to levy tariffs: the power to declare war and oversight of the Executive branch. Congress has offered the president more and more power and the presidents have gladly taken that power. Decisions that should be made collaboratively by 535 members of Congress are now made by ONE person.
South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District voters have a chance to reverse this 100-year pattern. But it will take courage to overcome 100 years of tribalism. It will take a commitment to putting country over tribe. It will require admitting that the pain of staying the same is higher than the pain of change.
I am offering voters the following choice: an independent voice, not beholden to a tribe. I can’t be primaried by either tribe; I won’t be spending 50% of my time fundraising for a tribe. I won’t have to wait for the President or a tribal leader to tell me how to vote.
My platform can be summed up as fiscally conservative and socially progressive. A federal government that follows the Constitutional duties laid out by the Founders. Recognizing that the 50 states are closest to the people and best suited to serve their needs. I will only vote for balanced, zero-based budgets. I will vote “no” for increases in the debt ceiling. I will vote to return most entitlement programs to their pre COVID spending levels. In return for extending eligibility ages and potential increases to contribution limits on Social Security, I expect the plan to transition to personal accounts, starting with Generations Alpha and Beta.
Health care can be transformed by returning products and services to commodity status. Imagine a system where the insurance companies and government aren’t getting between you and your health care provider.
Since the end of World War II, the civilian leaders of both tribes have put the United States in many unnecessary and unconstitutional military excursions, including the current one in Iran. Congress has routinely given away the authority to take us to war — those are decisions that must be made collectively, not by one person in the White House.
Our chaotic immigration system pits the tribes against each other. I offer a peaceful, non-militarized solution that secures the borders without walls, helps solve our demographic problem and brings immigrants who want to work, want to assimilate and to follow our Constitution. We can replace the unlimited asylum and Temporary Status processes with enhanced employment and student visas with clear expectations and timetables for either returning home or moving toward citizenship.
I ask that the voters of U.S. House District 1 display the courage to send an independent, problem-solving nuclear engineer to Congress. Leaving the tribe will be hard, but the country will thank you.
— Bill Reeside is the Libertarian candidate for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District seat.