Pressler: There is a poisonous paralysis between Republicans and Democrats in Washington

Sen. Larry Pressler served two terms in the U.S House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979, and in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1997 for South Dakota. He is coming back into the political spotlight of the state with his current run as an independent to fill the vacant senator position to be left by Sen. Tim Johnson. Pressler calls himself a “passionate centrist,”  and spoke with Volante reporter Megan Card about his 2014 campaign.

Q: Visiting college campuses now versus 1975, what is the difference?

A: Nobody knew who I was in ’74, and college students don’t know who I am now. I’ve been out of the public life for 18 years. This is a very unusual thing that I am doing. It is rather audacious to the opinion of some. I was up at (South Dakota State University) yesterday, and I have to say, I find college students a little apathetic. They have to wake up, because they have a country to save. Our country is becoming unraveled in Washington with the deficit and not making decisions and so forth. I worry about the moral fiber of Washington and our country, and how big money has come to dominate it. On the other hand, there is a lot of hope in the country. A lot of young people don’t face a draft. They are free to go straight to work. In my time, I served two terms in Vietnam, and it was a waste of time. That is part of the reason I voted for Obama, because I felt John McCain would get us into too many wars. He’s a great guy, a great patriot, but if John McCain were president, we would have 30,000 troops in Syria today….I have great hope for students, but I am a little worried this generation has given up on political parties. But there is a new independent movement coming up in the United States.

Q: Was there a moment or an event within the Republican party that drove you away?

A: It sort of built up. There are so many pledges in the Republican caucus. Like no new taxes. Well, that was coupled with no changes in the corporate tax deduction structure, and we do need to change this, and we do need to enhance revenue. We can’t have tax reform if we have one side coming out saying we don’t want new taxes, and the other side says no new this or that. There is a poisonous paralysis between Republicans and Democrats in Washington today. South Dakota could gain from having an independent senator, because sometimes having an independent senator is more powerful for the state…The point is, if we can get three or four independents elected this cycle, then they can start to get a critical mass that we could demand certain role call votes to reduce foreign military spending, blocking foreign wars. The military industrial state is so powerful that now a Republican or Democratic candidate spends a year or two in the United States having fundraisers and raising a huge amount of money, and they get this from contractors, they have these huge war chests. The two parties are not idea incubators, they don’t stand for anything that is very different. You might say in some ways, in actual practice, the Democrats can be more conservative in actual practice than most conservatives, but it is very confusing because young people must wonder what is the difference between the two parties.

We opened a new military base in Australia, and Australia is lowering its defense spending, because we are helping to support them. We have not taken any of our bases home from Europe. I was recently a Fulbright professor in northern Italy, and we have a huge American army base from WWII. We have over 100 military installations in Italy still in place since WWII…Let’s close them or relocate them here at home…

Q: Is cutting down on the military industrial complex one of your priorities?

A: Yes, it is. I think I have a place to say this, because I am a genuine combat veteran from Vietnam. We didn’t seem to learn any lessons from Vietnam. I think that was a waste of time and 50,000 American lives and billions of dollars. We could balance the budget if we stop doing that. We tell our students that you can’t have any more Pell Grants, you can’t have anymore Stafford grants. We tell people here you can’t have your oil pipeline even though we are building them in Afghanistan.

Q: Would you describe your campaign as reliant on a grassroots movement?

A: I have an all-volunteer campaign. I don’t have a single employee right now, but I hope to get one or two, but there is no consulting firm, no pollsters. We want to raise two or three percent of what our opponents are using.

Q: Is it a whole different feeling from when you first ran for office?

A: Yes, yes it is. In the early ‘70s, there were a lot more journalists in South Dakota. There are only a few now that cover politics left in South Dakota, and that is because you see the radio stations consolidating, and the newspapers getting much smaller…For a candidate like myself, I sort of depend on telling my story to somebody, and you know more about me than most reporters in the state. Newspapers have basically become advertisers, so it is hard to get your message out there.

Q: From the time you were in Congress to today, it is a very different animal. How would you make that transition?

A: It is a much more partisan, bitter place today than it was. I believe both Rick Weiland and Mike Rounds, who I expect the three of us to be in the race, are fine men as far as I am concerned. But they will go down there with a straightjacket either as a Republican or a Democrat. You’ve got to vote with your caucus on fundamental votes to stay there. They will both be building careers, while I would only be going for one term…I will not having to spend half of my time raising money for the next election, I can dedicate 100 percent of my time to the people of South Dakota, and the United States. Also, I will have my seniority restored, and independent senators get really good committee assignments, because they want to court their votes. It is the time for the independent.

Q: When you hear South Dakota politicians focusing their attention to measures like the Farm bill, why would you expect South Dakotans to care about military spending?

A: The Farm bill is corporate, it is about agribusiness and a lot of it doesn’t go to farmers. It is a very expensive bill, but farm state Republicans have always led the charge for farm subsidies, including myself. We did that back in the day when there was a farm crisis. This new Farm bill that has been passed is extremely wasteful, and much more wasteful than anything we had. The sugar subsidies are the highest they have ever been…You don’t hear about cutting military spending, but the Farm bill, that is a corporate subsidy bill now.

Q: With the average amount people are graduating with student loans constantly increasing, what would you do for college students to deal with their debt?

A: We should expand the Pell Grant program. I co-sponsored that. We just built a new university in Afghanistan that is free, and nobody wants to attend. We do all this stuff all over the world. Pell Grants should be doubled. I just hate to see these students borrow that much money. Pell Grants should be substantially expanded. I’m also a little worried that the American universities have overspent a bit.

Q: Since you’ve traveled and taught abroad, are American college students as active in politics as what you have seen in other countries?

A: The students in France were very apathetic. It depended on the country. Some of the Asian students I taught, I believe in China, the communist student groups were very active.

Q: What keeps you going?

A: I could just be sitting back and being retired. I have a federal pension, so my wife and I should be putting up our feet and loafing. I guess what caused me to do this was idealism and the belief that I feel I can make a difference. I see our country becoming unraveled unnecessarily. We are a big, rich country, we can afford Pell Grants, we can afford things. It is absurd that we are spending all this money on foreign military spending. We can enhance revenue, and we can have a balanced budget, but we are strangling ourselves by this thing in Washington. Even if I don’t win this, I think just by bringing up issues, the journey will be as important as the destination.

To learn more about Pressler and his campaign, click here.