The following article consists of my responses to the Illinois Green Party's Federal Candidate Questionnaire for 2020, which the party administers in order to vet applicants for the party's nomination for federal office.
I submitted my responses to this survey on June 14th, 2020, the same day that I became a member of the Illinois Green Party.
The portions in [brackets] indicate portions which I have added after submitting the survey, in order to make my position more clear. Those portions were added in the hour after sending the survey; the whole document was composed on June 14th, 2020, and no edits to the substance have been edited nor redacted.
The Green Party's response regarding my nomination, will determine whether I run as an independent, a Mutualist, a Green, or something else. Whatever my affiliation, voters will be able to write my name in the write-in space, beneath the names of my opponents, in the election for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 10th congressional district. That election will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.
1Q: Name:
1A: Joseph W. Kopsick
2Q: Complete Address:
2A: 548 Archer Ave., #3, Waukegan, IL 60085
3Q: Phone and Email:
3A: jwkopsick@gmail.com, 608-417-9395
4Q: Office you wish to seek:
4A: U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois's 10th Congressional District
5Q: Are you a member of the ILGP?
5A: Yes [Became a member on June 14th, 2020]
6Q: Do you support each of the Ten Key Values—Ecological Wisdom, Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Community-Based Economics, Feminism, Respect for Diversity, Personal and Global Responsibility, and Future Focus?
6A: Yes
7Q: Do you meet all of the legal qualifications for this office?
7A: Yes
8Q: What primary ballot (if any) did you pull in the last general primary?
8A: Democratic (for Yang)
9Q: Why do you wish to hold this office?
9A: I want to be a U.S. Representative because it will be impossible to teach our children how the government works, if it doesn’t work, and doesn’t work the way it was intended. That’s why voter education will be one of the most important priorities of my campaign, because voters cannot effectively participate in the political system until they understand how, and through which avenues, legislative change should be pursued, in order to be maximally effective. If elected, I will forge a new alliance in politics, by promoting ecologically sustainable policies which are also economically sustainable as well as constitutional. I believe this will be instrumental to developing the Green Party’s future outreach efforts to voters slightly to the right o[f the Green Party.]
10Q: Why do you feel you are qualified to run?
10A: I have previously run for the U.S. House three times, crafting a platform covering dozens of issues each of those times. Also, I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, with a major in political science. After graduating in 2009, I started the Aquarian Agrarian blog, and published my college essays. Since then, I have added about 500 articles, covering health insurance policy, constitutional law, ecologically sound taxation, and many other topics, knowledge of which will be of the utmost necessity to effectively promote constitutional green legislation.
11Q: What are the most important issues you feel need to be addressed?
11A: The three most important issues in my campaign are 1) make steps towards paying off the national debt; 2) achieve medical price relief, and 3) reform child trafficking laws to keep kids safe. An additional priority which is important to my campaign is to raise awareness of the economic systems of Georgism and Mutualism. Synthesizing these two schools of thought will be essential to achieving a balancing act between capitalism and socialism, and to making markets both free and fair at the same time. It will also help decrease conflict over economic issues and decrease competition over newly created wealth. We must have more cooperative ownership, and make it easier for propertyless people to acquire property, if the market system is to survive in any form. I believe that Geo-Mutualist reforms will help improve taxation, social services, land use, housing, and fiscal and monetary policy.
12Q: How many hours per week can you contribute to campaigning?
12A: 40 hours
13Q: Does your partner/family support your run for office?
13A: Yes
14Q: Will you agree not to accept contributions from corporations or corporate PACs?
14A: Yes
15Q: Will you agree to share your donor and volunteer information with the ILGP?
15A: Yes
16Q: Do you have, or will you open a campaign bank account and set up an online donation method?
16A: Yes, I will set up a new PayPal for that purpose as soon as possible.
17Q: Do you have, or will you have, a campaign manager? If you have one now, please provide name and contact information.
17A: Yes. Ethan Windmillsky, ethan.winnett@gmail.com, 224-500-2416
18Q: Do you have, or will you have, a campaign treasurer? If you have one now, please provide name and contact information.
18A: Yes. I am currently my own campaign committee treasurer. The name of the committee is Committee to Elect Joe Kopsick.
19Q: Do you have, or will you have, a campaign fundraiser? If you have one now, please provide name and contact information.
19A: No. I do not currently have a campaign fundraiser. I am currently self-funded. I hope to prove, that a successful campaign can be waged using only $5 of form printing and postage, plus the optional cost of pamphlets and business cards. Sameera Hussain (51st) has already expressed interest in doing a joint event (such as a forum or a meet and greet) with myself and the 52nd State Representative candidate. This event could easily include a fundraising component. I am open to having a campaign fundraiser in the future, but I will make it clear that politics should not be about money, and that a campaign can be operated on solely the costs of printing and filing forms. I will explain that while I accept funds, I discourage them, because I would rather have volunteers do things that are free (like send e-mails) than contribute financially. I believe this is the best way to set a good example and get money out of politics.
20Q: How would you describe your current base of support?
20A: I received 26 write-in votes in the 10th District in 2016, and I have received at least 30-40 valid signatures in this current campaign cycle. I also have friends, family members, and co-workers (many of whom are familiar with my views and have read some of my political essays) whom are living in Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Waukegan, Gurnee, Mundelein, Highwood, and other towns throughout the district. I believe that I would get the most support from young people, and disaffected and independent and first-time voters.
21Q: Please describe any volunteer experience you have with the Green Party.
21A: I’ve attended Lake County IL Green Party meetings with Ethan W, Aaron G, Arlene H, Latoya H, Adam B, David H, et al, since soon after the chapter’s founding in 2017. I’ve attended multiple anti-Trump events in Chicago, and seven pro- Black Lives Matter / George Floyd memorial events in the past three weeks. I also attended at least one or two Green Party meetings during my time in college in Madison. Additionally, I was a supporter of the Green Party during Ralph Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign; although I was only 13 at the time and could not vote, Nader’s campaign piqued my interest in politics, and I was inspired to create a political survey for my classmates which was based on an article from Time Magazine, which told them how much they agree with each candidate. I promoted Nader and Green policies during this time.
22Q: Please briefly describe any other relevant experience you have had, including employment, working on other political campaigns, or other volunteer efforts.
22A: I worked for Ben Manski’s Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution for one month in 2013 in Madison, Wisconsin; this work included raising awareness about independent business alliances, and the corruption of the Wisconsin Manufacturer’s Association [i.e., the Wisconsin Manufacturer's and Commerce], and promoting a general strike. I also volunteered for the Illinois Libertarian Party in 2018, for Kash Jackson’s campaign for governor; that work included researching and reporting the views of the candidate and his opponents, and gathering information about businesses and organizations which could be called upon to host the party’s events. After Jackson qualified for the four-person debate for governor, Aaron Goldberg and I hosted a debate at Warren-Newport Library in Gurnee; between Socialist Dan Fein and independent Jo 753, two of the other ten candidates in the 2018 gubernatorial race. I also co-hosted (with Aaron Goldberg, again) a local candidates’ forum in that same library several years ago, which featured a Democrat, a Green, a Libertarian, and an independent conservative, each vying for a different office in the north Chicago suburbs.
23Q: Have you previously run for and/or held a public elected office? If so, please describe.
23A: I ran for the U.S. House of Representatives three times; in 2012 (Wisconsin’s 2nd), 2014 (Oregon’s 3rd), and 2016 (Illinois’s 10th). I received six votes as a write-in independent in 2012, dropped out in 2014 before the general election while running as an independent, and received 26 votes as a write-in independent in 2016.
24Q: Please provide any other general information you feel may be appropriate.
24A: My blog is available at www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com. The article from August 23rd, 2019 contains my developing platform. I have also presented several times, on various political topics, at the Chicago chapter of the College of Complexes.
Please briefly describe your position on the following issues: 25Q: Campaign Finance and/or Election Reform?
25A: I have pledged not to accept corporate funds, and I do not plan to accept taxpayer funds in the event that I qualify for public matching funds. I would rather see congressional candidates lead by good example in such a fashion, than place limits on campaign donations, but I would support such limits as long as they take place through either a proper constitutional amendment or through a federal lawsuit overturning Citizens United. If elected, I will support legislation which limits the size and scope of the federal government, which I believe will make the federal government less vulnerable to being swayed by big-money donors.
26Q: Energy Policy?
26A: I would like to see local communities regulate energy policy, rather than the states or the federal government. But I would be willing to support nationalization of the energy sector as long as it takes place through a proper constitutional amendment (which would have to authorize Congress to legislate upon energy matters aside from energy patents and energy copyrights).
27Q: Climate Change and other Environmental Policy?
27A: I do believe that human activity is a major contributing cause to climate change and harsher winters and summers. I would like to see environmental policy legislated upon at a maximally local level. I believe that as long as the E.P.A. exists, it will be subject to abuse and influence-peddling (unless the president is personally a hardcore environmentalist). I plan to use the limited “bully pulpit” power of a congressman, to urge each of the 3,000+ counties in America to enact Land Value Taxation and establish Community Land Trusts. These policies will be essential to tying each county’s economic future to its ability to preserve and improve its ecology, and to guarding against the risk that the E.P.A. will continue to be in the hands of people who put profits before planet.
28Q: Economic Policy (including fiscal and monetary policy)?
28A: The market system cannot survive with so much oligopoly and corporate influence-peddling going on; we must increase both cooperative ownership and consumer power if the market system is to survive. Radical measures, beyond mere taxation, should be considered, to reduce the power of the oligarchy; these should include revoking the charters of corporations, and removing secretary of states’ powers to create new corporations and to limit liability. America’s economy needs more non-profits and cooperative enterprises; the dichotomy of “big businesses vs. small businesses” is outdated. I believe that reducing the military budget, and localizing health and Social Security (if necessary), will result in enough federal budget savings, that paying off the debt in 25 years will become a realistic possibility.
29Q: Crimes and Criminal Justice (including drug policy and gun violence)?
29A: My campaign will treat non-violent possession of drugs and weapons as the victimless crimes they are. I will raise awareness of the fact that those accused of victimless crimes have virtually no chance to defend themselves, because each their public defender, the prosecutor, the judge, and the police witness all work for the same agency, the state. I would support federal legislation to restore voting rights to felons who have served their time. For any issue possible, I will explain to voters which states have violated people’s rights most egregiously; for instance, Virginia and Kentucky honor felons’ voting rights the least, and New Jersey was the first state to start eroding at the right to resist unlawful arrest.
30Q: Health Care?
30A: I would like to see health care regulated as locally as possible, but I would support a Medicare for All or Medicare for All but Opt Out (or In) type proposal as long as there would be a constitutional amendment authorizing federal involvement in health care. Until then, the only health issues that should be regulated by the federal government should be medical patents and the health care of federal workers (esp. DoD, V.A., postal, Treasury, Patent Office). I believe that the best way to reduce medical prices – whether there would be a federal universal health care program or not – is to drastically reduce the “lifespans” of medical device patents and pharmaceutical patents (as well as reduce or eliminate taxes on such items which make them unnecessarily expensive). Pharmaceutical patents last 14 years; I will support legislation to shorten them. My plan to achieve what I term “medical price relief” is called E.M.P.A.T.H.I.C. (Eliminating Medical Patents to Achieve Human Immortality Cheaply).
31Q: Human Rights and Social Justice/Equal Rights and Opportunities?
31A: America is not the meritocracy it pretends to be, and it won’t be until the propertyless (whom are effectively permanent trespassers wherever they go) can acquire property more easily. All clubs which practice discrimination on the basis of race, should not be allowed to continue those policies, unless they forsake all taxpayer funds and taxpayer assistance. The public sector should absolutely not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, orientation, and gender identity. I will raise awareness about the 9th Amendment, explaining that it means that just because a right is not listed in the Constitution (such as the rights to work, marry, and travel), it doesn’t necessarily mean that that right doesn’t exist. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution should be a bill enumerating not only natural liberties but also human rights.
32Q: Immigration Policy?
32A: American citizens cannot be free until undocumented immigrants are afforded the same right to a fair trial as citizens are. [If an undocumented immigrant is not afforded due process just because he is not a citizen and is supposedly not entitled to the same rights, then he shouldn't be able to be prosecuted for exactly the same reasons.] That is why reforming immigration is essential to dismantling the class system; the most pernicious form of which is the domination of non-citizens by citizens. I will raise awareness of the fact that it was legal for undocumented immigrants to vote in Illinois from 1818 to 1830, and I will publish an article explaining how that decision can be overturned. I will support the right of undocumented immigrants to vote in any American election, provided that 1) they have no violent criminal history, and 2) they have not recently voted in any foreign election, or are not eligible to vote in their country of birth. I will raise awareness of the fact that the only area of immigration policy which Congress may regulate upon, is to create a uniform rule of naturalization. This will be essential to allowing state and local governments exercise authority on all immigration issues besides the rule of naturalization (which could potentially include settlement, social services, housing, education grants, etc.).
33Q: Civil Liberties, including Domestic Surveillance and Privacy, Police Violence
Foreign and Military Policy, including Globalization and Trade?
33A: America has ruined its reputation by spying on its allies and its own citizens. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security must be abolished. Only the constitutionally legitimate functions of the F.B.I., C.I.A., D.I.A., and America’s other defense and intelligence agencies, should be allowed to continue to exist; however, their authorities should be exercised by the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and/or the Department of Justice; not by an unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security. We must honor the 4th Amendment by protecting our right to be safe and secure in our persons, homes, papers, and effects, unless upon the presentation of a specific warrant. I will sponsor or pen legislation which would end general warrants and restore sanity to the criminal justice system. The severity of the crime of which a person is accused, should never be used as an excuse to take away a person’s right to a fair trial. If you don’t fill out the forms correctly, call the judge for a warrant, and give the perp a fair trial, then you lose the perp. If you spy on the perp, torture the perp, or obtain information on the perp illegally, then you lose the perp. I would only support military involvement abroad in the event of an official congressional declaration of war. The War Powers Act should be repealed and the president’s war powers limited. [On the issues of globalization and trade, I will educate voters about alter-globalization, while promoting reforms which will make markets and trade free and fair at the same time.]
34Q: Education Policy?
34A: I would like to see education regulated on a maximally local level, but I would accept federal involvement in education as long as a constitutional amendment authorizes such a thing, and as long as sufficient efforts are made to protect students and educate them properly. My plan to reform education is called S.K.A. (the Safe Kids Act or Safe Kids Amendment); it would authorize federal involvement in schools only on the conditions that: 1) high school juniors and seniors have more access to trades; 2) all high schools accepting public funds split in two (with freshmen and sophomores together, separated from juniors and seniors); and 3) age of consent and marriage laws become uniform across states, to reduce child trafficking, as well as other reforms.
Please
provide short answers, and any elaboration you think is needed, on
these issues:
35Q: Equal Rights and Opportunities for All, Regardless of Racial or National Identity, Color, Sex, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression?
35A: Yes
36Q: Legal Right to Choose Abortion?
36A: Yes
37Q: Maintaining federal funding for Planned Parenthood?
37A: Other. On abortion funding, I support letting states decide, until there is an amendment authorizing Congress to legislate on abortion. I think that as long as Planned Parenthood is federally funded, there will always be pro-life people trying to get control of the federal government in a way that allows them to make abortion access conditional, and pro-life people trying to get right-wing reforms passed as a condition for allowing abortion to be federally funded.
38Q: Repealing the Federal Death Penalty?
38A: Support.
39Q: Ending U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, Africa and the Ukraine?
39A: Support.
40Q: Ending U.S. Support for NATO, rapprochement with Russia and China; nuclear disarmament?
40A: Support.
41Q: Impeaching the president if he/she orders military actions in violation of international law?
41A: Support.
42Q: Reducing U.S. military spending and improving spending on education, health, social programs and modernizing our infrastructure?
42A: Other. I support reducing U.S. military spending. I would rather pay off the national debt with the savings from military cuts, but I would accept spending on education, health, and social programs as long as they are properly constitutionally authorized and can be accessed by everyone. I will support federal infrastructure projects as long as they benefit all parts of the country equally, rather than one area in particular (namely, the Bos-Wash corridor).
43Q: A “Green New Deal” or similar major federal initiative to support clean energy, sustainable transportation, and other strategies to combat global climate change?
43A: Other: I would rather see each community implement similar policies locally (land value taxation and Community Land Trusts), but this position is only necessary to guard against the risk that the federal E.P.A. could come under corrupt influence. I would support clean energy, environmental, and sustainable transportation reforms as long as they are properly authorized through constitutional methods. We cannot go on pretending that the E.P.A. “has teeth” when it doesn’t; if we want the environment to be regulated by the federal Congress, then we should change the Constitution so that it says that. During my campaign, while discussing environmental issues, I will spread awareness about the Democratic Party’s ongoing attempts to plagiarize Howie Hawkins’s Green New Deal.
44Q: A ban on fracking and new oil pipelines; eliminating fossil fuel subsidies?
44A: Support.
45Q: Phasing out of nuclear power?
45A: Support.
46Q: A moratorium on the introduction of new genetically modified organisms until their effects have been adequately studied and safe use demonstrated; informing consumers about GMOs in food products?
46A: Support. Also, I will increase awareness that consumers’ need to be fully informed, is absolutely essential to creating a system in which free choice can be exercised (i.e., a free market). I think this argument/strategy will be helpful in promoting antitrust-type measures, excusing federal involvement in consumer products for the sake of safety and health, and winning health-minded conservatives over to the side of the Green Party.
47Q: Legalization of cannabis and industrial hemp and immediate suspension of enforcement of federal cannabis laws in those states where cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized.
47A: Support.
48Q: Decriminalization of most drug offenses; treating drug abuse as a public health problem, not a criminal problem.
49A: Support.
50Q: Reforming the criminal justice system to focus on rehabilitation, restorative justice, education and teaching living and job skills, not punishment and “incapacitation”?
50A: Support.
51Q: Cancellation or retiring of student debt?
51A: Other. By any school receiving F.A.F.S.A. funds or any form of federal taxpayer support, yes.
52Q: Tuition-free higher education at public colleges and universities?
52A: Support.
53Q: “Improved Medicare for All” Single-Payer or Publicly Funded Universal Health Care System?
53A: Other. Support, as long as it’s administered on a local basis, or else administered on a federal basis with an amendment. Also, measures must be taken to make sure that the system does not become captured by corporate interests or a permanent political or bureaucratic class which could run it.
54Q: A Constitutional Amendment providing that corporations do not enjoy the same rights as people
and that money is not protected “speech”?
54A: Other. A constitutional amendment is the appropriate way to approach this issue. However, instead of a constitutional amendment, I believe that a more effective strategy would be to either: 1) overturn Citizens United through a lawsuit, without an amendment; or 2) to amend the 14th Amendment in a manner which sufficiently differentiates the rights, responsibilities, and legal and economic status of corporations, individual persons, and government agencies. I believe that a smaller and more limited government, will be effectively less able to do the types of things that lobbyists want it to do.
55Q: Making the minimum wage a living wage ($15/hour or greater)
55A: Other. I would support a minimum wage increase as long as it’s implemented on a state or local level, or there’s a constitutional amendment; and as long as either 1) a basic income guarantee is also enacted; and/or 2) people earning below $30,000 per year can choose to opt out of federal income taxes completely.
Author's Note (Written June 15th, 2020):
I did not receive the nomination during the Illinois Green Party's June 15th teleconference, as there was not a great enough ratio of "Yes" votes to "No" votes to pass my nomination with a supermajority.
I will continue to run as an independent write-in candidate trying to establish a Mutualist Party in Illinois, unless I am nominated by another party (aside from the Libertarian Party and Green Party, both of which have rejected my nomination for the 2020 campaign cycle).
Written and Published on June 14th, 2020
Author's Note Added on June 15th, 2020
Author's Note Added on June 15th, 2020
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