Questions for Congressional Candidate Joe Shea

Currently running for Congress in California's 50th Congressional District, Shea has answers to the editor's questions

I know, this isn’t the usual kind of thing I write about here at Editor on Board. But politics is in the headlines a lot lately—have you noticed?—and there is a surprising lack of substance to what is being discussed, on the whole.

So I turned to one of the most honest, opinionated, and forthright people I know, my big brother, Joe Shea. (Yes, my maiden name was Jennifer Shea, Silva was my Mexican grandmother’s maiden name, which I adopted for my pen name—you can read more about that in my book.)

Joe is running for Congress in California’s sprawling 50th Congressional District, and he’s a Libertarian.

Wait! Don’t stop reading. I’m not a Libertarian, I’m a registered Democrat, but I am aware that not all Libertarians are cut from the same cloth, having known one very well for about 45 years. Joe and I have discussed and argued about many subjects over the years, and I think that whole process—discussing their actual policy ideas—is something people who run for office don’t seem to do much any more.

As Joe put it, “My problem with the news media covering elections—there’s too much concentration on personality, not on policies and principles. Because politicians don’t talk about principles, voters try to infer them from personality.”

So I decided to ask this Libertarian candidate about his principles and policies.

Joe Shea, candidate photo credit: Dan Tricario

Jennifer: Why should someone vote for you instead of a Democrat or Republican?

Joe: There are times when I don’t blame a libertarian-leaning person for voting for one of the big two parties, because it’s a tight race and they really feel that “the other side” will be worse. I’ll add that sometimes they find out that their candidate is not so distinguishable from the other after they take office.

We tend to take votes from the people who are so disgusted that they would rather not vote at all than vote for a major party candidate. It’s refreshing to vote for someone rather than against someone. I think if we had ranked-choice voting, it would take the pressure off voters and allow them to pick the person they most liked and still be able to vote for the lesser of two evils if that person didn’t get enough votes to contend.

Jennifer: I love ranked-choice voting! To follow up on party, what is it that people don’t get right about Libertarians?

Joe: I’ve been a libertarian for over 40 years. Recently I read something like, “When I first became a libertarian, no one had any idea who we were, but now just about everyone misunderstands us.”

Either they think we’re heartless—with an (Atlas) shrug of indifference towards the poor—or that we’re utopian, with a vision of the state withering away that’s worthy of Karl Marx. The vision of us as ultimately selfish people doesn’t square with what I see of libertarians—people who work to improve society despite having almost no chance of personally gaining power or money from our political work. And the utopian streak might be a bit real, but we can work on that.

Jennifer: One of the big issues for me is the right of autonomy over your own body, which includes the right to an abortion. Where do you stand on that debate?

Joe: Abortion used to be a key libertarian precept (”We’re pro-choice on everything” was a slogan of old that presupposed being pro-choice on abortion), but a vocal minority in the party got rid of that plank before Dobbs was decided. Nevertheless, I think it’s an obvious outgrowth of self-ownership that a pregnant person should decide whether they are going to risk childbirth, at the very least until fetal viability. The question of whether the fetus has the rights of a child seems moot to me, since I can’t make you give a dying child your kidney to keep them alive, so I shouldn’t make anyone bear a fetus.

Jennifer: My other big concern is the way we have demonized immigrants and asylum-seekers. What’s your take on that subject?

Joe: A majority of Americans were not happy with the Biden-era lack of border control and a majority of Americans are not happy now with Trump’s ICE and Border Patrol actions. What’s missing is a clear policy that’s not either one of these. The libertarian case is that the rights we enjoy should be available to everyone, but most of us don’t advocate opening our borders completely.

Immigrants are the solution to several problems the US has, especially the lack of US workers who will do agricultural work and who are qualified to do certain skilled technical and engineering jobs. Immigrants also help with the demographic challenge of an aging population. More controversially, I think they help with the problem of Americans who don’t appreciate the freedom that we enjoy—most immigrants and asylum-seekers are keenly aware of it.

Jennifer: You and I grew up poor, and it is clear to me that “working class” and poor people are really struggling right now. What can be done about the high cost of living?

Joe: It’s easy for anyone to see that the current economic system isn’t working, at least not for non-billionaires. Our problems are often blamed on the free market, but we can point out the governmental policies that make the cost of living worse. The huge national debt is not a feature of a free market. Government spending is the reason for high income taxes and inflation—which is a hidden, regressive tax. Tariffs and wars make prices even higher. Eliminating tariffs, trade barriers, and government subsidies are core libertarian ideals, and would decrease government spending. The libertarian principle of non-aggression in world affairs means the Defense department budget can be trimmed, while keeping it more than sufficient to protect America.

Jennifer: I love that idea. Tell me more about trimming the Defense Department’s budget.

Joe: When it comes to military interventions in foreign countries, most Americans are highly skeptical, and in this respect Libertarians are probably more in tune with voters than most politicians are. A common politician’s point of view is that the world is a dangerous place, and as a military superpower, we have the ability and maybe the responsibility to stop problems before they get out of hand. So first, I’d point out that our interventions have rarely made the world a safer place. In places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, we’ve often upset a balance that we didn’t understand and left the countries with either brutal dictators or civil wars.

Libertarians are not isolationists—we support positive interactions like trade with all countries, which can sometimes help to make war less attractive to other countries. I have no problem with a strong military to defend North America, space, cyberspace, and most parts of the open ocean. The two major parties consistently try to decide what’s best for other countries, but a libertarian ethos of live and let live could better guide us in international interactions, and make it more difficult to fall into the trap of meddling in the affairs of other countries.

Jennifer: Lastly, what important topic is not getting enough time and focus in this election?

Joe: I would say the War on Drug (user)s. It was used as a pretext for attacking Venezuela (although oil was probably the real reason), it is costly in money and lives ruined, it has enriched violent gangs, and it has militarized and/or corrupted police. The economics of smuggling mean that drugs get more concentrated (easier to smuggle) and that usually makes them more dangerous. Many laws, posing as anti-drug laws, have made doctors afraid to prescribe certain drugs and made it easier to deny medicine to people who need it. And yet, none of this has kept drugs from being readily available, even in jails.

Jennifer: Yeah, it’s the old joke of The War on Drugs is over. Drugs won! And I don’t even do recreational drugs. It just feels like a losing battle, where we pay more every years to keep trying things that don’t work.

Joe: My bottom line is, what right do I have to keep an adult from putting medicine or drugs in their body, for fun or from need?

Jennifer: I agree. Thanks for answering my questions. Good luck on June 2nd!

For those of you who want to know more about Joe Shea, check out KPBS’s “Meet the candidates” here. and you can also go to Joe’s website site, here, to read more about his policies.

And, if you missed it, I was featured on Memoir Land again, this week—on Cinco de Mayo, in fact, which was perfect. Read the whole interview here.

Feel free to comment by clicking the heart to like this post and, once you are on Substack or in the Substack app, scrolling down to the comments and adding a thought, opinion, or question.

We will be back with the usual programming (that’s an “editorial we,” if I ever read one), next week. Same place same time.

hasta pronto!