It’s All About Affordability
We're always hearing "the economy is doing good," but good for whom? Why do shareholders matter more than working folks?
It's the cost of eggs, stupid. When I travel across South Dakota and visit with regular folks from working families, I hear the same thing: life is getting harder, not easier. Rising prices have driven homeownership completely out of reach for many people, while groceries are eating up more and more of people’s paychecks.
Necessities for life in our modern world such as housing, food, gasoline, healthcare, and internet are getting too expensive for working folks who just want to live their lives. While Americans struggle, Congress is more focused on pleasing corporate interests and Big Money donors to embolden their own power. Too many elected officials have forgotten who hired them and why.
As an Independent candidate for US Senate, my campaign is about making life easier and better for regular working folks.
The economy is counted in dollars on a balance sheet, when it should be measured by how well (or indeed if) people live with dignity and security. A family with kids should not hear about “how well the economy is doing” while choosing between paying the mortgage or buying groceries. A hard working young couple should not be priced out of home ownership after being told “the housing market is up.” Seniors should not have to stretch their Social Security thinner and thinner each month to cover the rising costs of eggs or bread while their elected officials give billionaires another tax cut. Career politicians like Mike Rounds should not pretend to know what regular folks are facing while in the same breath voting to enrich corporate interests.
Profit-over-People Screws Everyone Except Corporations
Here’s an example of how a numbers-based approach to the economy is disconnected from the human impact: the Beef Industry. Just like many other consumer goods industries, there is a distinction between the producer (cattle ranchers), the distributor (beef packers), and the consumer (you). To sell American beef throughout the country, ranchers sell their cattle to beef packers, who butcher and package the products for grocery stores to sell.
Ideally, the economic principles of supply and demand and competition would push the price to settle at a reasonable amount so that each party benefits; The rancher gets a fair price for their cattle, the packer gets a fair price for processing the beef, and you pay a fair price at the supermarket to feed your family. This isn’t what happens in reality.
In 2025, four meatpacking corporations control 85% of the US market. This control over the industry allows them to force ranchers to sell for a lower price while overcharging consumers to buy at higher one. In this arrangement, ranchers suffer, you suffer, but the metrics that determine the “value” of the industry skyrocket. To the undiscerning eye, we might say “the beef industry is doing good",” but a shift in focus to what regular folks are feeling shows us the real problem: South Dakotan cattle ranchers and American consumers alike are screwed over by corporate oligopolies.
My opponent, Senator Mike Rounds, is backed by roughly 200 corporate donors and Big Money PACs. By making a contribution to my Independent campaign for Senate, you’ll support my fight against Big Money and corporate greed. Thank you.
Making the Economy Work for Regular People
What South Dakotans and Americans everywhere want and need are leaders who understand that the true measure of a strong economy is not the stock market, but whether families can readily afford the basics of life. Homeownership shouldn’t be a pipe dream, and healthcare shouldn’t be a luxury. We must tackle rising costs head-on by cracking down on the corporations squeezing Americans dry:
Expand affordable housing programs so first-time buyers can afford a place to call home.
Close tax loopholes that allow the ultra-rich to avoid paying their fair share.
Break up corporate monopolies that are driving up prices on everything from beef to prescription drugs
Make childcare more affordable so working parents don’t have to sacrifice half their paycheck as the price for working.
We cannot accept a system where the ultra-wealthy write the rules, while the rest of us fend for ourselves. People who work for a living deserve elected officials who fight for policies that make goods more affordable, not allowing prices to grow increasingly out of reach. We deserve officials who will stand up to corporate monopolies, demand fair wages, and institute tax policy that helps the middle class, not the 0.1%. We deserve elected officials who measure their political success not by the size of campaign checks, but by whether their constituents can afford to live with dignity.
Polling shows that when voters hear about my background and where I stand, I beat Mike Rounds by 8 points. To make sure voters hear about how I’m taking on Big Money in politics to make life more affordable, I need your support. Consider contributing to my Independent Senate campaign below. Thank you.
The American dream is premised on the idea that if you work hard, you will be able to build a good life for yourself and a family. That dream has slipped away from many Americans, and it won’t return until we elect leaders who put the interests of regular people over those of Big Money corporate donors.
I’m running for US Senate as an Independent in South Dakota for exactly that reason, to fight back against an opponent with a posse of only 200 wealthy corporate backers. I am running for Senate to prioritize work over wealth and serve people, not parties.