Dear Friends,

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PROGRAM, WHERE ED AND RICK STEWART DISCUSS:

(01:23) Why are Republicans terrified of Libertarians?
(22:00) Discussing the Libertarian Party’s platform
(45:48) A quick look at a few news stories
(53:00) My vegetable garden has a right to not be killed by your green lawn

Rick Stewart is an interesting, thoughtful guy. He’s a successful businessman, having founded Frontier Co-op (originally New Frontier Herbs). What started as a two-person operation in 1976 in a cabin along the Cedar River now boasts annual net sales of $235.9 million.

Rick Stewart

In addition to being a successful small businessman, Rick is a less-successful frequent candidate for public office. How frequent? His current campaign for Congress will be his sixth shot at pubic office.

Well, maybe calling Rick’s campaigns unsuccessful is unfair. If you define electoral success as winning, as I do, then yeah, I’m right.

But if one’s goal is something else — raising issues, building a party, getting in your steps, annoying one of the two major political parties — then, sure, even a losing campaign can have an impact.

I invited Rick on my show because of the last item. He and other Iowa Libertarian candidates have done a fine job annoying Iowa and national Republicans.

So much so that Rick got a call from RFK, Jr., begging him not to run, offering him a job with the Trump administration if he agreed to step aside.

Wow! Republicans are truly terrified that Libertarians will take votes away from their candidates. They’re terrified that if Democrats win the US House and/or Senate, Congress will show that it actually has a spine and put up roadblocks to stop Trump’s democracy bulldozer.

Rick and I cover a lot of ground. He also has little love for the Democratic Party. We talk about Libertarian issues, including foreign wars, the drug war, and climate change.

Given that most voters agree that the two-party system is corrupt, I throw down a challenge for Rick at 22:25 of this week’s program:

1. Stop running candidates for higher office. Identify an entry-level partisan office (county board of supervisor or state representative) where a third-party campaign might prevail.

2. Recruit a quality candidate to run for that office. Throw every ounce of Libertarian Party strength — money, volunteers, strategy — behind that one candidate.

3. Base that campaign on, more than anything, the candidate’s ability to personally talk with a solid majority of registered voters. Grassroots, door-to-door politics wins elections.

So stop running for governor, Congress, US Senate. You can’t have a roof without a solid foundation. Right now, the Libertarian Party has no foundation.

If Iowa Libertarians (or Greens, for that matter) won even a single Iowa House seat, it would be historic. If that victory should coincide with the Democrat-Republican makeup of the House being 50-49, the Libertarian state representative would control the agenda.

Why? Because the party that’s one vote shy of a majority would need the Libertarian lawmaker’s vote to get anything done.

I have no idea why neither Iowa Libertarians nor Greens have ever tried to do this. Given the broad public dissatisfaction with the two-party duopoly, it could work.

If I were a political consultant, I would charge an incredible amount of money for this truly excellent advice. But no, being deeply fond of my life as a simple, urban homesteading pioneer (see visual proof of homesteading cred with pic of Kathy, me, and one of our chickens), I offer this advice free of charge — though I would take this moment to remind readers and listeners that donations and sponsorships to The Fallon Forum are greatly appreciated and help keep us on the air.

To summarize, Americans would benefit greatly from a political system that allows more than two parties to be viable. BUT…

Given what’s on the line this election, with fascism rapping loudly at democracy’s door, we all need to get behind the Democrats running for US House and Senate.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. And if you’re a central Iowa resident, remember to support the local businesses and nonprofits that help underwrite this platform.

Ed Fallon

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