Alex DiBlasi

Alex DiBlasi was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 2009 and a master's degree from Brooklyn College in 2011. DiBlasi's professional experience includes being a Vedic minister, a contributing author and editor, a teacher, and a residential mental health worker. He has been affiliated with Anarchist Black Cross, the Green Party, and Sikhs For Justice.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm an activist who decided to run to challenge a Democratic incumbent who is truly one of the progressive stalwarts in our Congress to push for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and Universal Basic Income.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We need Medicare for AllWe need a Green New DealWe need to break away from capitalism

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My passions are civil rights, environmental protection, education reform, cannabis legalization, ending US militarism, and housing for all.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Frank Zappa once said, "As soon as you're old enough, run for something."

Zappa was a proponent of free expression, an unrepentant critic of authority, and an advocate for the democratization of oppressed peoples, in the US and overseas. He was a unique figure in both politics and entertainment, never one to obsess over criticism or vie for popularity.

Though he never ran, he was considering a Presidential bid near the end of his life.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

I am a Vedic Anarchist. My politics don't derive from the haughty theorists of Europe, but from the egalitarianism of Vedic Science.

Two films and two books:

The Magic Christian (1970), where a billionaire spends his time and funds pranking the wealthy elite to prove most people have a price.

Sorry to Bother You (2017), the most important work of Marxist cinema since the Battleship Potemkin.

The Bhagavad Gita, which teaches us about the spiritual and material world, and the forces that drive both.

Earth Democracy by Dr. Vandana Shiva, a Vedic ecologist.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I hope to inspire others to commit themselves to doing the right thing, standing up for others, and loving service to those in need, without attachment to the outcome.

What's right isn't often - if ever - popular.

History books don't document the lives of the obedient and the docile. It's the bold, the iconoclasts, those who dare who make waves.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

(Don't Worry) If There Is a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go by Curtis Mayfield.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The continued threat of COVID is dominating the conversation, but there are a number of existential challenges facing the US. Income inequality is a past due issue, one that has worsened under Trump but which has existed since the massive deregulations under Reagan and the neoliberal austerity of Clinton.

Deindustrialization and the automation of the workforce presents American labor with a moral quandary. The Green New Deal will create over 20m jobs to sidestep this issue. We need Universal Basic Income to promote innovation while also providing Americans a living stipend.

We must acknowledge the competing superpowers of America, Russia, China, India, the EU, Pakistan, and the emergence of the AEC. Cooperation must take precedent over competition, or we will soon no longer have a planet to inhabit.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Education and Labor

Energy and Commerce

Foreign Affairs

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Earl Blumenauer is proof we need them. This is his 12th Congressional race.

He's ridiculously out of touch with working class voters, and it's from decades as a politician. He's too arrogant to debate because he knows he can win on name recognition.

Tenured politicians are corrupt cowards.

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