Geoff Young, who ran for Congress but lost in the Republican primary to incumbent Andy Barr in June 2020, has shared his views with Sputnik on a wide array of issues: from the biggest challenges of his campaign, to the upcoming presidential election in the United States.
Sputnik: You ran to represent Kentucky's 6th Congressional District. Were there any violations during the campaign? What are the main challenges and issues facing people in this district?
Geoff Young: I started running for various offices in 2012, but I haven't yet won a primary or general election. In 2012, I was a member of the Green Party and ran against a Christian Right, Republican member of the Kentucky House. In 2014, I first ran for the US House of Representatives against Andy Barr (R). I ran against him as a Democrat in 2014, 2016 and 2018, but in all three of those primaries, the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) rigged the primary in various blatant and less-blatant ways. I'm not an attorney, but I started suing the KDP in 2015 for violating Kentucky's primary election laws. The basic method they use is to give their favored candidates many opportunities to tell voters what their platform is. They try to reduce the opportunities of outsiders or challengers to zero if possible. The Democrats also called the police every time I tried to attend a party meeting. I was never arrested for “trespassing,” but I was shut out of more than 20 meetings.
So I sued Andy Barr in June, 2020 for primary election-rigging. The first judge threw out my case, and I appealed his decision to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The most interesting aspect of all of my lawsuits is how unwilling most judges are to enforce Kentucky's election laws. They seem to have no fear of having their unjust decisions overturned by any higher court.
The most important and urgent threat or issue, in my opinion, is the threat of a nuclear war triggered by reckless, aggressive actions by the US government all over the world. Very few Kentuckians would agree with my assessment because they hardly ever think about foreign policy. The most attention-grabbing issues in Kentucky today are the economic impacts of the COVID-19 lockdowns – bankruptcies, unemployment, possible eviction from their homes; the lack of affordable healthcare; and police brutality, which caused large protests.
Sputnik: US President Donald Trump sparked a backlash by suggesting delaying the elections. The president cited concerns over a second wave of the coronavirus and issues related to mail-in voting. What do you think of the president’s suggestion? Would you support it?
Geoff Young: I think there's almost no likelihood that the November 3 election will be delayed or cancelled. The military-industrial-”intelligence”-media complex now runs the country, not the people, not the Congress, and not the individual in the White House. The US is no longer a republic but some kind of inverted totalitarianism, in the words of Sheldon Wolin, who died in 2015. See this article by Chris Hedges written shortly after Wolin's death.
The complex must present the image of normality to the American people or the entire US Empire will lose legitimacy. If the ruling elites (also known as oligarchs or billionaires) lose all legitimacy, a second American Revolution could occur. The complex or Empire therefore has a very strong incentive to ensure that the election is held with as few obvious irregularities as possible. US elections have become theater. The people are never allowed to interfere in any meaningful way with the plans and projects of the military-industrial-”intelligence”-media complex.
Sputnik: What's the situation like regarding the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky? Is the manner in which the authorities are coping with COVID-19 changing the political landscape in your state?
Geoff Young: Kentucky's Democratic Governor, Andy Beshear, has used executive orders to lock down the economy to a relatively severe extent. The Tea Party, however, has organized rallies against the Governor's orders that require people to wear masks. The only change in the political landscape I see is that the positions of the pro-mask liberals and the anti-mask right-wingers have hardened even more than before. The Commonwealth of Kentucky is more politically divided than ever.
Sputnik: How do you assess the current unrest in the US over George Floyd's death and deployment of federal agents to Portland?
Geoff Young: I believe the deployment of federal agents to Portland violates the spirit of the Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. A significant event occurred on June 3, 2020, when Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said publicly that he “opposes using military forces for law enforcement in containing current street protests.” The reason is the same as the Empire's desire to hold a normal election on November 3rd. Invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 and sending troops into every major American city would strip the military-industrial-”intelligence”-media complex of too much of its legitimacy. Their most dreaded outcome, a revolution, might result.
Sputnik: Recent polls have shown that the president is losing crucial states to former VP Joe Biden, specifically among former Republican voters. The state of Kentucky is considered to be a solid Republican state. How united is the support for Donald Trump there?
Geoff Young: I never look at polls and I try never to make predictions, especially about elections. Kentucky is not a solid Republican state; it's approximately evenly divided between registered Democrats, mostly in Louisville and Lexington, and registered Republicans (who are everywhere). My experience as a candidate in three different parties Green (in 2012), Democratic (2014 to 2019) and Republican (this year) would suggest that almost all Republican voters will vote to reelect President Trump, many Democratic voters won't vote at all or will vote for Trump, and he will easily carry Kentucky in November.
Sputnik: How popular is presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Kentucky?
Geoff Young: Very unpopular.
