Presidential Interview

A journalist sent me an interview request. Here are the questions and my responses:


I'm writing an article on this year's presidential race. While the two
candidates the media like to say are our only choices are disliked on a
unprecedented level, so many people don't believe they can vote for anyone
else. I would like to explore that sentiment in my article. Here are a few
questions.

How much have you had to sacrifice in your life in order to run your
campaign: monetarily and in other ways?
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As a write-in trying to make a point that it was never supposed to take millions to run for president, and that there was not a rule that I had to register with FEC and spend $5000 or not be allowed on the ballot; the main sacrifice has been eye-rolls from friends and family. But after a while many began to understand the hypothetical experiment and would engage in lengthy discussions.

I believe more people need to act and not just talk. What can we do to get
them to vote for a third party candidate?
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People vote either party affiliation or most viable candidate. 3rd party's will not seem viable and do not have an established party ideology that can be well articulated. Trump in some ways is the 3rd party candidate that usurped an existing party. Sanders attempted it within the Democrat Party but he was unwilling to take down Hillary, which he could have easily done. Trump may have changed the dynamic for both party's, especially if he wins in November. This is the reason even Democrats should support him. His election will validate the grass-roots movement of both parties.

What is your end goal here? What are your chances of winning this?
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The goal was a message to say we can't keep doing politics the same way. With the advent of the internet, social media, crowd-sourcing and new media, the previous way of party elites basically spoon-feeding voters their candidate is over. My chances of winning were always 0% however, perhaps someday in the future there will be a new way where candidates spend no money and simply have a year long debate/slug-fest of ideas where people can vet them inside and out. This way we get the most capable candidate rather than the most well-funded or most vitriolic.

What is your platform?
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My platform believe it or not was "Make America, America Again" -- this was my slogan long before Trump even announced. Then I outline what it means to be America and American; which at the heart is the supremacy of the individual. Individual rights over mobs called "democracies". The founders envisioned a nation where the individual was more powerful than mobs of voters and mobs of politicians. We have lost that. We have been relegated to classes and sub-classes pitted against one another for the purpose of supplying either party voter blocks.

What would you like to change?
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Besides instilling a sense of individual rights back into the American psyche, we need to address the 17th amendment. The founders had the Senate elected/appointed by each state legislature for the very important purpose of checking and balancing government. Now that Senate and Congress are elected directly by the people, these houses often behave like 2 opposing football teams based on party control rather than the founder-intended balance of State representation via Senate and people representation via the Congress. The States no longer have a voice in federal government, thus instead of national politicians dictating to and extorting States to comply or lose "funding", if the original purpose of the Senate was restored, States (via the people who elected them locally) could better control the federal government. As it is now, every 4 years we seem to elect a king (or queen) that holds the States hostage to comply with their social agenda.

Thank you so much, and I wish you luck,
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Thanks for the time and opportunity. Please keep me apprised of any article you may write on the topic.
Roderick Edwards