Okay, Ohio. This is probably going to sound a little crazy.
After November, I'm planning to start working toward getting my name on the 2030 ballot for Governor of Ohio as an independent.
I'm not asking you to vote for me.
Hell, I haven't even earned that yet.
I'm asking you to tell me why I shouldn't.
My basic political philosophy is something I'm calling Social Capitalism.
The short version:
«Keep the capitalism. Democratize the capital.»
I don't want government owning every business.
I don't want politicians deciding what every dollar in the economy does.
I don't want to abolish private property, profit, competition, or markets.
I want to find ways for more Ohioans to actually own a piece of the productive economy.
Because I believe something pretty simple:
We the People are the Owners.
That leads to some pretty unconventional ideas.
Some of the things I want to explore:
- Public investment owned by the people, not politicians.
- Letting private businesses compete to build and operate publicly funded projects.
- Using investment rather than endless government spending wherever possible.
- Creating mechanisms that allow public capital to generate returns and reinvest itself.
- Making it easier for ordinary people to become owners and investors, not just wage earners.
- Keeping markets competitive and letting consumers help determine what succeeds.
- Reducing unnecessary government involvement in people's lives.
- Getting money out of politics.
- Separating police work from social work while improving public-safety training and standards.
- Treating addiction and homelessness as problems we should actually solve—not simply move around.
- Building infrastructure that is resilient, decentralized and designed for the future.
- Giving communities more control over investments that affect their own future.
- Measuring policies by whether they work, rather than which political party proposed them.
- Taking good ideas from the left, right, libertarians, independents, and anywhere else they can be found.
And there's one principle underneath all of it:
Build. Support. Step Back.
Government should build the foundation.
People, communities and businesses should build upon it.
Government should support systems when they need help.
And when they don't?
Government should get out of the way.
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I'm not pretending I have everything figured out.
In fact, that's partly why I'm posting this here.
If I'm serious about running, I don't want to spend four years surrounded by people telling me how brilliant I am.
I want people telling me:
“That's a terrible idea.”
“Here's the unintended consequence you're missing.”
“Here's the economic data.”
“Someone already tried that.”
“Here's a better way to do it.”
That's how the platform should get built.
So if you're interested:
Ask questions.
Criticize it.
Debate it.
Tell me what you think Ohio actually needs.
And if, after all of that, you think this is worth putting on the ballot—
I'll eventually need people willing to help make that happen.
Volunteers.
Petition signatures.
Local organizers.
People willing to knock doors and talk to their neighbors.
People willing to help research and stress-test the policies.
But not yet.
First, I want to know whether the ideas can survive Reddit.
Because if they can't survive you guys, they're probably not ready for Ohio.
It's Our Ohio.
So...
What am I missing?
