by Bob Bowman, Reform Party www.Bowman2000.org

1) Why are you running for office? What’s gotten into you?

I’m running for president because a number of my supporters asked me to, and they convinced me that I’m the best hope of electing a president who will put the interests of the people ahead of those of the multinational corporations and banks and the big bondholders. I don’t want my children and grandchildren used as cannon fodder or hired killers for Folgers, Chiquita
Banana, and Exxon.

2) What distinguishes your candidacy from that of the front runners?

The front runners are bought and paid for. Most are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Trilateral Commission, the G-8, the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO. The few celebrity candidates not beholden to the billionaires appeal only to a narrow constituency at one end of the political spectrum. On the other hand, I am not only independent of the big money interests, I am also not a prisoner of the left or the right. I believe I’m the only one able to bring liberals and conservatives together in a people’s coalition to take back America. I’m the only candidate calling for a doctor-run single-payer national health system, and the only one who’s both pro-life and pro-choice. (If you don’t understand how that’s possible, please see my web site, www.Bowman2000.org )

A few front-runners give lip service to campaign finance reform. Only Granny D and I would go all the way. Corporations are not people, and money isn’t speech. I would prohibit private funding of political campaigns and provide public funding and free airtime for qualified candidates. To that I would add proportional representation, preference voting, citizen initiative at all levels, election-day registration, holiday voting, media reregulation, and elimination of overly-burdensome petitioning requirements. This way, political power would be taken from the transnational corporations and banks, the weapons manufacturers, and the lobbyists, and restored to the people.

3) What about your candidacy would you say is essential for our time, the new millennium?

For the new millennium, it is essential that we sever the connection between big money and political power, thereby restoring power to the people. This must be done now. The big money interests and their corporate media are getting so adept at manipulating public opinion that before too long nonviolent change will no longer be possible.

The new millennium brings with it the threat of nuclear terrorism. This is by far the greatest threat we face. Not a single weapon in our vast arsenal is of any use in defending against a nuclear terrorist. Some, including the other candidates, look to "Star Wars" to protect us. It can’t. I directed all of the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter, when their existence was secret. Even if these weapons worked, they would only be useful against isolated ballistic missiles. But no terrorist is going to use such a high-tech, costly, complex, visible, traceable means of delivery. He is just going to float his nuke up the Potomac on a barge, fly it into Red Square in a Cessna, smuggle it into a university wrapped in a bale of marijuana, ... or deliver it to its target in a Ryder rental truck. No "Star Wars" weapon will do any good. You can’t solve this problem without understanding the nature of the threat. We are the target of terrorists because our government is feared and hated. It is hated because it has done hateful things to people all around the world. It has deposed elected leaders and supported brutal dictators who sell out their own poeple to the multinational corporations. It did it in Iran; it did it in Chile; it did it time and time again in Central America. More recently, our government has been responsible for the deaths of half a million children in Iraq. The only way to protect the American people from the threat of nuclear terrorism is to get control of our government and stop it from doing hateful things in our name. That is the most critical task of the new millennium.

4) What sacrifices has your candidacy required of you?

My candidacy has required us to give up our comfortable retirement, jeopardize our financial security, expose our lives and

family to media scrutiny, and accept a very real risk of assassination should we be successful.

5) What essential lessons about our political system have you learned in this campaign?

We have already influenced the positions of other candidates on critical issues. Buchanan has adopted our call for an end to the sanctions on Iraq, the embargo on Cuba, and the war on Yugoslavia. Several candidates now recognize the need to change our government’s behavior in order to stop making our citizens the target of terrorism. The lesson from this is that, in spite of all the obstacles and the imperfections in the system, one person can still make a difference.

6) If you’re remembered in this campaign, how would you like to go down in history?

I’d like to be remembered as the president who restored power to the people and abolished war as an instrument of national policy. Abolishing war is as easy — and as difficult — as taking power away from those who profit by it.

7) What will you do if you lose the election?

I will go back to being a part-time rocket scientist, a part-time bishop, and a full-time troublemaker. I will continue to educate the public on the need for reform of our political system.

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