Dave Bushaw

Dave Bushaw earned a high school diploma from North Fayette High School. His career experience includes working as a community organizer.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Dave Bushaw is one of the youngest self-made, first-generation farmland owners in the U.S. Born and raised in West Union, Iowa, he comes from a working-class family and has spent his life fighting for rural and working people. A folk and labor musician, Dave has traveled the country playing for striking workers and training people to organize their workplaces.

Now, Dave Bushaw is running to represent Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District — bringing a working-class, independent voice to Washington focused on accountability, transparency, and the communities too often left behind.

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?

The two party machine isn't broken. It's working exactly as intended -- rigged against the Working Class to the benefit of a small handful of billionaires and their friends in Congress. I am running to break through that system and give voters a chance at self-determination rather than the desperation offered by these corrupt two major parties.I am running my campaign based on solutions, not ideological posturing and cultural flashpoints. Rural Iowans don't have the luxury to fight culture wars, and I'd bet most Americans feel similarly. We're fighting a daily struggle against the economic reality that housing daycare, healthcare, and basic essentials are unaffordable. In Congress, I will fight for policies that address the real world needs of working people and to take down the elite ruling class who perpetuate this suffering. I plan to work with anyone to solve these issues, regardless of party affiliation.I am not accepting money from SuperPACs, AIPAC, or any other billionaire funders. Our campaign is grassroots and fiscally responsible. I'm going to lean on my 14 years of community organizing experience to train and develop new community leaders at the grassroots level rather than padding the campaign with overpriced consultants and liaisons. this isn't a plug-and-play campaign as we too often see in the two major parties. We're building an entire infrastructure outside of the to party system -- for this campaign, and to create a roadmap for future candidates to run for office outside of the corrupt two party system.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

National Ballot Initiatives: nearly half of states in the US have state ballot initiatives that allow voters to decide on issues. I am calling for national ballot initiatives that will allow voters to decide directly on issues that are too often used as political footballs with no resolution.

Universal Healthcare: premiums, copayments, and deductibles are all private taxes imposed on working people to remain functioning and healthy contributors to society. And there's no paper trail. We spend more for healthcare than any country on earth, but rank 14th in quality and dead last in healthcare outcomes. In America, we can provide our people healthcare as an American Guarantee and we can do it better than any other nation.

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

I look up to Eugene Debs, who ran for President from a prison cell after being arrested for speaking out against WWI. From prison, Debs won more than a million votes and didn't let the prison bars or campaign restrictions deter his morality and conviction. He would often sign his letters 'Yours Without Compromise', a sign-off that people who follow our campaign will be familiar with.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Candidates should be accessible to voters, not just to funders and political powerbrokers. I intend to be the most accessible candidate in this race.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To remain committed to the promises they are elected on and to organize their constituents to fight to make those promises a reality. In Congress, I intend to mobilize northeast Iowa to fight for everything that we deserve. It can't be just me -- it's going to have to be all of us.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to help create the roadmap that will break trough the corrupt two-party system. An organizer's job is to multiply themselves over and over again, and I hope to leave a legacy of community members who are educated and trained on how to effectively make change.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I had a newspaper route for a couple of years as a kid, between 4-6th grade.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Balancing healthcare access with employment has been a struggle. When my working class wage couldn't afford healthcare for a serious but treatable illness, there were times that I cut back on work just to qualify subsidized healthcare. We are America, and we can do better than this extractive and burdensome healthcare system.

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

Finding a national identity for the 21st century. Our country is extremely fractured, and there are few things that pull the plurality of the country together. We need a national guiding principal that we can all work towards, rather than factional battles amongst different constituencies that we see today. I'm not ready to go to war with my neighbor, and it seems that the ruling elite class wants this infighting so they can maintain their power unchallenged.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

I believe you have to go in demanding everything that you deserve, and negotiate to half if you can't get it all. Too many politicians seem to forget their backbone at home when they go to Washington, resulting in them asking for half measures out of the gate. That results in crumbs for their constituents. I do not intend to go to Washington begging for crumbs for the Working Class. We are going to demand everything that we deserve in the country that we built.

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

I remember the Iraq/Afghanistan war, and growing up in an apolitical working class family, I had the impression that war was politics. It's wasn't until I got older that I realized politics was responsible for a whole lot more suffering than war; the reason we were poor with both parents working, the reason my mom lost her house, the reason my family and friends kept ending up in the incarceration system. Everything is politics.