Rick Stewart

Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself?

I have been promoting UBI since Hillary Clinton was our First Lady. Charles Murray is one person I admire the most. And don't forget - he is a native Iowan. UBI starts in Iowa!

Direct payments would help Americans through this pandemic marked by high unemployment and closed businesses, and is supported by a majority of Americans. Do you support immediate recurring federal direct payments to all US citizens to last through the duration of the pandemic?

Yes

If your answer to the previous question was YES, at what level would you set these direct payments?

$1,000/mo for all adult citizens

Do you support the implementation of a permanent federal universal basic income?

Yes

If your answer above was YES, at what level would you set a universal basic income?

$1,000/mo for all adult citizens

Do you support the implementation within Iowa of the use of Ranked Choice Voting in all state-run primary and general elections?

Yes

Do you support the use of Ranked Choice Voting within your party to choose nominees in a primary election?

Yes

Do you support allowing the use of Ranked Choice Voting by other political parties to choose their nominees in state-run primary elections?

Yes

Do you support giving voters "Democracy Dollars", publicly funded vouchers that they can use to finance the campaigns of their choice, as a way to counteract the influence of corporate lobbies on election finance?

Unsure

Do you support the creation of a more human-centered economy, where our economic metrics are defined not just by GDP, the stock market, and outdated unemployment formulas, but by signs of our actual progress, such as health, mental health, childhood success rates, income inequality, rates of entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability?

Yes

Do you support Iowa adopting laws to give Iowans more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them, such as was done by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018?

Unsure

In both the 2019 and 2020 Iowa legislative sessions, critical voting and election measures were passed by late-night amendments, with curtailed debate, and passed along party lines. If you are elected to state or federal legislature can we count on you to oppose back-handed actions like these?

Yes

Would you be interested in receiving the endorsement of Andrew Yang and allied organizations in the current campaign or in any future campaigns that you may run?

Yes

Are there any comments you would like to add on the subjects of this questionnaire?

Are there any comments you would like to add on the subjects of this questionnaire?

The only items I answered with 'unsure' are due to my lack of clear information. I neither support nor oppose legislation until I have studied it closely.

As a general rule libertarians, including myself, prefer less government involvement in everything except those items contained in the Constitution.

With respect to the UBI I deviate from this, not because I think government intervention is necessary in a free market economy, but because we do not have a free market economy any more. We have, essentially, an unholy alliance of crony capitalism and welfare capitalism, neither of which enriches our economy, but instead directs money to special interest groups for the purpose of gaining/buying votes. Perhaps I should say we are living with 'political capitalism'.

Unfortunately welfare capitalism, which has persuaded an amazingly large percentage of the population to look for handouts from Washington (just to be clear, I include Social Security and Medicare in this category, two programs of which I am a personal beneficiary because I am 69 years old, but also two programs I certainly do not deserve the benefits of), is so entrenched in our country's psyche that we cannot eliminate it wholesale at this moment in time. In other words, we have dug a hole so deep there is no chance of just jumping out of it in a single leap.

Instead, we must start from where we are at, and a UBI is without question the most rational first step. By instituting a system which provides exactly the same benefits, and exactly the same taxes, on 100% of adult citizens, we create a system which is simple, fair, and progressive. Everybody gets the same benefit, and everybody pays the same flat tax rate for the privilege of receiving that benefit, so there is a net flow of money from relatively wealthy people to relatively not wealthy people, which is the right direction.

I will also add this. I am personally convinced relatively rich people will fully embrace this program and be proud to both cash their checks and pay their taxes. Except for the constitutionally greedy, it should make every American proud to be a citizen of this country.

I am a wholesale supporter of this and advocate it regularly on the campaign trail. My campaign is based on two principles - end all wars, and end all economic nonsense. One of the wars I want to end is the War on Poverty, for the simple reason it is 50 years old and poverty remains the same. I propose eliminating all aspects of the War on Poverty and replacing them with a UBI. As for economic nonsense I propose reforming entitlement programs, i.e., making them sustainable for the long run. A UBI does this, because the math is simple.

I have met Andrew Yang (Cedar Rapids, last spring). I have read his book. I would greatly appreciate his endorsement, and the support of people who understand UBI.

I thank you for your consideration.