Q&A with Dean Moore, independent candidate for Congress

by Joe Daues, KSPR News

Q:  As a brand new Congressman, how do you plan to make southwest Missouri’s voice heard in a body of 435 people?

A: My whole platform is essentially the United States Constitution.  It starts off with, "We the People."  The people are in charge of our government. In our day and age, it’s more like the government lords it over the people.  But the people really control the government. And as an independent, I’m not going to be sitting in some cubicle for the first two years raising money for a party.  Representative Massa, when he left a few weeks, months ago, kind of let the cat out of the bag that as a freshman representative, for either party, you’re going to be sitting in a cubicle for 10 hours a day for most of your time, raising money for the party.  As an independent, I won’t be doing that at all.  I can go right out and try and enforce the Constitution.

Q: What’s the most important issue facing the Ozarks and the nation?  How do you intend to address it as a Congressman?

A: Jobs and the loss of our manufacturing base.  The United States government is the number one source of our jobs leaving the United States for foreign countries.  The EPA, overregulation, high taxes – all these things are things the government directly does that directly impacts the lack of jobs in our economy.  By trimming government back to its Constitutional foundations, we can bring most of those jobs back.

Q: How do you plan to cut through the bitterness and rancor of Capitol Hill so it’s not more of the same old debate?

A: As an independent, I’m not bound by either party’s pet interest groups. I’m there to represent the people.  I’m there to be a representative of the people in the 7th district and to enforce the Constitution which gives them the power, not the parties and not any political hierarchy or whatever.

Q: What makes you the right person for this job?

A: There’s a lot of good people in this race.  I think I’ve been uniquely gifted. I’ve lived in California.  I was a youth pastor out there. I taught Christian high school out there. I’ve seen where the wrong road goes.  A lot of people are busy living their life here. They don’t understand where we’re going.  Maybe they do but they haven’t lived it.  I’ve seen  where this goes and I know the people in the 7th district don’t want to go there.

Learn more about Dean Moore's campaign at his website.
Find out where Dean Moore stands on eight key issues.