Will Shetterly for Governor: General Brochure

Candidate of the Minnesota Grassroots Party

I believe in the Bill of Rights, low taxes, small businesses, strong unions, decentralized government, freedom of choice, and long walks with people you love.

Political philosophy

• The purpose of government is to protect our rights-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-and to ensure that the requirements for those rights-safety, education, and health care-are available to everyone.
• Governing should be a pleasant service, not a comfortable career.
• It is better to educate than to legislate, to prevent than to cure, to lead by example than by force.
• Increasing personal freedom and social responsibility are the twin goals of all good government.

My Background

Author.

I write novels, short stories, and essays. In 1992, I won the Minnesota Book Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction for Elsewhere, a novel for young adults that was published by Harcourt, Brace.

Husband and home owner.

Since 1983, my wife and I have lived in south Minneapolis, where I served in the Standish- Ericsson Neighborhood Association.

Business owner.

Since 1984, my wife and I have run SteelDragon Press, a small business that publishes books, comic books, cassette tapes, and compact discs.

My Goals

1. Connect the salaries of elected officials to the incomes of the people who elect them.

   Our representatives should prosper when we prosper and suffer when we suffer. The simplest way to do this is to link their wages to the income of the people they represent. Every year, the U.S. Department of Commerce releases the per capita annual income for the nation and for each state. By establishing a ratio connecting the salaries of elected officials to the per capita incomes of the people they represent, our representatives will be reminded how well we are doing whenever they cash their paychecks. On being elected, my first action would be to cut my annual salary in half. (The governor of Minnesota currently earns $109,053, almost six times the 1992 Minnesota per capita annual income of $20,049.) My second action would be to ask the state representatives to study fair salary ratios for all elected officials; I believe a fair governor's salary would be two or three times the state's per capita annual income.

2. Declare election day a state holiday.

   Closing all state offices and encouraging private businesses to close on election day would make more people aware that participating in selecting our government is our most important right as American citizens.

3. Provide the best public education system in the world.

   Our children will control the world that we will inhabit in thirty years. Their education is a matter of everyone's self- interest. We need small classes, a long school year, and a school day that coincides with the average work day to ease scheduling burdens on working families.

4. Provide universal health care.

   The single-payer system has proven itself in Canada. Minnesotans deserve a similar simple, flexible, and economical plan that provides freedom of medical choice for every citizen.

5. Provide universal day care.

   Working parents need safe, affordable day care in order to work without worrying about the well-being of their children. Universal day care means new jobs for adults and better health and education for all children.

6. Pass an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the right of adult citizens to be free of government control of private, voluntary activities.

   Adult citizens should be able to do as they choose, so long as they do not violate the rights of others. Laws restricting private activities cost Minnesota taxpayers millions of dollars every year in enforcement expenses and lost potential taxes. A constitutional right to privacy would affect several social concerns:

   Drugs:

   The Noble Experiment of alcohol prohibition is remembered as noble because it was attempted, and because it was repealed. After thirteen years, America realized that alcohol prohibition increased crime, violence, and corruption while it burdened courts, jails, and prisons. Ending prohibition protected the public from unscrupulous sellers who adulterated their product in order to increase their profit. Ending prohibition allowed the taxation of alcohol so a portion of that money could be used to address problems created by those who use alcohol irresponsibly. Better ways to deal with alcohol misuse are still being found, including tougher driving-while-intoxicated laws and court-ordered treatment for those who have alcohol problems. It is time to apply the lessons of alcohol prohibition to drug prohibition. Marijuana, packaged with current medical advice, should be available for sale to adults. All other drugs must be studied to determine which can safely be available to adults and which should be available by doctor's prescription. Legalizing, regulating, and taxing drugs will provide Minnesota with new tax dollars to invest in health and education, free our police to focus on violence, theft, and highway safety, and save the taxpayers millions of dollars each year in money that is currently being wasted on the symptoms rather than the causes of drug and alcohol abuse.

   Sex and marriage:

   No government should regulate the private consensual sexual activities of adult citizens. The benefits of marriage should be available to every adult, regardless of sex, race, religion, or national origin.

   Prostitution:

   In addition to saving taxpayer dollars, legalizing, regulating, and taxing prostitution would:

   1. make it easier to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases,
   2. make it easier to reach prostitutes and customers to teach them about the risks of prostitution and to offer help to those who want it,
   3. move prostitutes from the streets into places of employment that would have to be maintained according to local business codes,
   4. protect customers from prostitutes who lie about their health or who steal from their customers knowing that people involved in an illegal act are less likely to report a theft,
   5. protect prostitutes from violent abuse by customers, pimps, madams, and corrupt legal officials, and
   6. free the police to focus on crimes of violence and theft.

7. Toughen laws about driving under the influence of intoxicants.

   The highways belong to society. Society has an obligation to make the roads safe for those who use them. Penalties for driving while under the influence of any drug should be so severe that even the most intoxicated person would think twice before getting behind the wheel.

   Tests for intoxication should be simple and objective. The benefit of coordination tests is that they measure anyone's ability to drive.

8. Raise the highway speed limit to 75 m.p.h.

   High-speed European highways show that traffic safety depends on having well-educated drivers and vigorously punishing intoxicated drivers.

9. Provide high-speed rail connecting Duluth and Rochester via the Twin Cities, and light rail connecting the downtowns of the Twin Cities with the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

   Linking Minnesota's major population centers would be an economic benefit to the entire state, and would provide many Minnesotans with a needed alternative to automobiles and buses.

10. Promote the use of renewable energy sources in Minnesota.

    Safe, economical power is waiting to be harvested from the winds of the Great Plains. Minnesota should lead the U.S. in exploiting that resource. The hemp plant, a long-time staple of American agriculture, is easily converted to methanol for automotive fuels, pyrolytic charcoal for coal-burning power plants, or methane for natural gas.

11. Establish an annual referendum to learn the concerns and opinions of our citizens.

    Sometimes questions are more important than answers. Sometimes answers cannot be found until the right questions have been asked. Governments tend to ask and answer their own questions. We need to bring the public into the debate about what Minnesota is and what Minnesota should become. We need to ask the people questions such as:

    • Should we create a Minnesota Civilian Corps to employ people who cannot find work?
    • Is handgun control merely another example of attacking symptoms rather than problems, or should we establish a well-regulated state militia to license owners of handguns?
    • What questions have we failed to ask?
    • What solutions have we failed to see?

If you would like to continue the debate about these issues, please make copies of this paper and give them to others.

If you wonder how responsibly political candidates use money, look at our campaign literature. Glossy paper is more expensive than plain paper. Colored ink costs more than black ink. Campaign literature is your first example of the distinction that candidates make between efficiency and extravagance.

If you would like to support this campaign, please send a small donation to "Shetterly for Governor," Box 7253, Minneapolis, MN 55407. Donations are not tax-deductible. (Minnesota residents: The Minnesota Political Contribution Refund program allows you to get a refund for donations to the candidates of your choice, so long as your donations total $50 or less. We will send a Political Contribution Receipt and a Refund Application to all Minnesota residents who contribute to this campaign)

The original copy of this platform was paid for by Will Shetterly, Box 7253, Minneapolis, MN 55407.

Prepared by the Shetterly for Governor Campaign Committee, Box 7253, Minneapolis, MN 55407 Telephone/Fax: (612)721-1209

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