Meet The Candidate: Alexander For Congressional District 19

AMENIA, NY — The races for which voters will cast ballots in the general election in November have been set. One of the heavily contested races is Congressional District 19. Patch asked candidates in the race to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day nears.

Libertarian Victoria Alexander, 65, is running to represent Congressional District 19. Her opponents are incumbent Democrat Rep. Antonio Delgado, Republican Kyle Van De Water and Green Party candidate Steven Greenfield.

Alexander is an Amenia resident. She is a researcher who has never held public office before. She is married and has one son.

The 19th Congressional District is comprised of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties and parts of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.

Why are you seeking elective office?

I recognize that political and economic power is concentrated in the hands of a few, and we no longer have a democracy. Media companies have formed monopolies compromising free speech. Insurance companies tell our doctors what to prescribe. Internet giants actively censor and create biases. The banking system gives cheap loans to a select few corporations to allow them to crush competitors. It is Congress that has given these private interests the power to take control of our lives and our democracy. Since most commerce and communication takes place on privately controlled platforms, our Constitutional rights are not protected. Since monied interests decide who we can vote for, our votes don’t count.

The single most pressing issue facing our community, and what I intend to do about it.

Debt-Based Currency. Since 1913, federal reserve banks have been allowed to create new US dollars and funnel them to the top 1 percent, who now have more than 33 percent of the wealth, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans have only about 1.5 percent of the wealth. Banks should only be able to loan money that is deposited in regulated savings accounts. The U.S. Treasury should have the sole sovereign power to create U.S. dollars, and ONLY for public infrastructure — roads, mass transit, hospitals, energy grids, schools and fiber broadband. New dollars created for these purposes would be backed by the value of the infrastructure assets that will return user fees.

Using direct Treasury funds for infrastructure (together with slashing the war budget), would entirely eliminate the need for the bottom 90 percent of Americans to pay income tax as well as reduce the need for states to collect property taxes to build and maintain public infrastructure. The role of the Treasury should not be to try to manage the economy, nor to set interest rates, nor to loan money, nor to borrow money. Its role would only be funding the creation of public assets. Any inflation caused by the influx of new Treasury dollars into the middle class economy could be offset by raising the user fees and taxing the top 1-5 percent of income earners. I support the Federal legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve and a reconsideration (without the public dividend) of the National Emergency Employment Defense Act H.R. 2990.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

If elected, I will give my constituents the opportunity to vote on each bill before it goes to the floor using a secure online blockchain encryption system. I support H. R. 2240: One Subject at a Time Act, which limits the length and scope of bills and will make it possible for all voters (as well as representatives) to read and understand the bills before they go up for a vote. If voter participation on a bill surpasses a super majority threshold and the outcome contradicts my position, I will either change my vote or abstain from voting. This will mean that no lobbyists will be able to buy my vote because the people will have veto power. Ultimately, I would like to see far fewer laws being decided at the Federal level. I want to work toward moving the power of decision-making to the people affected by the decisions. For instance, decisions about health should be made by health professionals and their patients, not politicians.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

Much of the Democrat-Republican discourse is about whether the government or the free market should control the basic structures of society. As a Libertarian, I say we need both, but we need a clear separation of business and state to help prevent power from concentrating. Government should primarily be concerned with enforcing the law and operating as a construction and maintenance department for public infrastructure, transportation systems, communication systems, and energy grids, as well as public hospitals and schools. I do not see a role for government in running those systems or institutions. Instead, the people who use and manage the systems should have local democratic control of them and run them like non-profit cooperative corporations. I am against the privatization of public infrastructure and public services, as this is a form of crony capitalism.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

We need to secure the integrity of U.S. elections by using paper ballots, non-proprietary software or blockchain-protected ballot-counting machines and Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). To reduce the unfair advantage that some candidates have in elections, information about all candidates on the ballot should be mailed to all registered voters and all public debates should be open to all candidates on the ballot.

The most significant electoral reform would be to implement RCV in all 50 states. With RCV, voters get to rank candidates in order of preference, and if their first choice doesn’t win, their vote goes to their second choice and etc until a candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote. I support HR 4464 the Ranked Choice Voting Act. Since 2018, I have been advocating for RCV locally in New York and I helped launch a statewide movement RankedChoiceNY.org.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Since 2003, I've lived in Dutchess County with my husband and son. I am an organic farmer, a novelist, director of an arts foundation and a researcher in complex systems science, which informs my understanding of decentralized government. I recently served as a Fulbright Scholar in St Petersburg, Russia. As part of the U. S. State Department, the Fulbright Program has the mission of using intellectual exchange as a path toward peace.

The best advice ever shared with me was …

One of my most important lessons came from an essay I read in high school, "On Self-Respect" by Joan Didion (1961). From Didion I learned that self-respect is more important than public opinion. This has given me the courage and the strength to do and say what I think is right, even if it's unpopular.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I want Voluntary Health 4 All. Because any public benefit must be available to all, I advocate for providing direct Treasury funding to build and maintain state health centers that will offer quality service at low cost and free care after the patient pays a sliding-scale deductible that would be about equal to what people pay in yearly premiums now. States should have the option of levying consumption taxes on products that damage public health to further support catastrophic health care and the option of including charity-run health centers in their programs.

With such a system, those who take care of their health would not be expected to subsidize those who do not take care of their health. And no one would suffer economic hardships as a consequences of illnesses that are beyond his/her control. No citizen would be forced to buy insurance or pay a tax for this healthcare program. Businesses would not be required to provide health insurance for employees. All government employees, elected representatives and veterans would be covered through this plan. The public health care system would operate alongside a private health care system, and citizens would have a choice to use one or the other. Private health insurance companies could still operate and people could choose to buy insurance rather than pay out of pocket for routine care.

Are you running for office? Contact Michael Woyton for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.