Joe Soloski- Keystone Party

Scope: What are your top three priorities if elected?

JS: First, we need to fundamentally reform state government.  Specifically, I want to see term limits imposed on our state legislators.  Forty states have a part-time legislature and I want to see Pennsylvania’s bloated legislature converted to a part-time body.  I want to see a gift/bribe ban passed into law.  Currently, our elected representatives have no requirement to report and disclose gifts/bribes that they receive.  I also want to see Ranked-choice voting implemented in Pennsylvania, just as it has been in Maine and Alaska.  A ranked-choice vote makes every voters’ vote all the more powerful.

Secondly, I want to slash our state budget by at least 5% per year that I’m in office.  Our state budget (the operating portion that we always hear about) has more than doubled from $20 billion in 2002 to $42 billion in just twenty years!  Pennsylvania doesn’t have a revenue problem; its got a spending problem.  Slashing state spending will allow us to slash taxation, making Pennsylvania a tax haven like more business-friendly states.

Thirdly, I want to see our property tax system abolished.  As a CPA, I have seen the way our various tax systems tick.  The property tax system is unjust and archaic.  Too many people lose their homes or other properties because they encounter financial difficulties and can’t pay the rent/property taxes to the government.  We need to completely abolish the outmoded property tax system and replace it with fairer, more competitive county or regional sales taxes.  

Scope: Pennsylvania is a major swing state; if elected, how do you plan to unify the state population?

JS: This one is fairly easy.  As an independent, (the Keystone Candidate, specifically), I will not be beholden to either of the corrupt duopoly parties that have brought us every woe that we have in government today.  I am here to fundamentally reform government.  Cutting spending, cutting taxes, reforming government at every turn, will be appealing to all Pennsylvanians.  Instead of generating hate, like the Republicans and Democrats do, I will be a unifying force for positive change in Pennsylvania.

Scope: What are your plans for alleviating higher education costs? 

JS: Government needs to get out of the business of financing higher education.  It is government’s involvement that has caused the runaway inflation of education costs.  If we get Government out of the education financing business, universities will have to tighten their belts, working to control costs and reigning in tuitions.  They will have to do this to attempt to remain competitive.

Scope: Where do you stand on Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges and how do you plan to act on your position?

JS: Civil liberties are of the utmost importance.  We need to be able to live our lives the way that we, as individuals, best see fit, as long as we are not encroaching on the rights of others.

As for Roe v. Wade, I have been very exact on this:  government should not be involved in the promoting or prohibiting of abortion.  It is not government’s place.  Period.

I have always been a pro-life guy.  That being said, I am realistic enough to know that abortion will never completely go away.  I wish it would, but that’s not reality.  There will always be situations where a woman is faced with that difficult choice.  It is not my place to impose my personal beliefs on her.  That choice is between a woman and her doctor;  it’s between a woman and her God.  

My job if not to pass judgment.  My job is to love.  To be empathetic.  To be supporting and encouraging.  

One of my opponents wants to see a total abortion ban passed.  That is destined to fail.  No government prohibition has ever worked.  All that government prohibitions do is create a black market for the very product or service that they attempt to end.  They create more problems than they solve.

I want to see every baby born healthy and whole, and into a family that wants them.  As much as I want that, I am realistic enough to know that it can never be completely achieved.  However, we can work towards minimizing abortion to its lowest possible number by promoting pregnancy support services and streamlining adoption processes.  Those are realistic solutions to this very divisive issue.

Regarding Obergefell v. Hodges: again, it is not my place to judge and coerce other people.

Look, love is love.  Who the heck would I be to say to two loving people that they should not or are not permitted to get married.  That would be  pretty damn shallow of me.  

I don’t care if you call it marriage, civil union, or anything else.  Live and let live.  If you are two people that want to form a union, then you go for it.  It’s not my place to ever pass judgment on you.  

So, again, let me reiterate:  it is not government’s place to be sticking its nose into other peoples’ business.  You do you.  Live life and have fun. 

Scope: Gun violence in schools is a worry for many school students across the state. If elected, how do you plan to combat this in office? 

JS: School security measures need to be continued and refined.  I support school security officers, administrators, and teachers being armed if they desire to be so.  I also support promoting gun safety and firearm skills.  We have seen, time and again, that the best defense against a bad guy with a gun……. is a good guy with a gun.  

The Pennsylvania Constitution is very clear on this issue.  “The right to keep and bear arms shall not be questioned.”  

Strengthening school security and also allowing for proactive security defense measures within every school is the best way to halt gun violence in schools and everywhere.

Scope: Why should high school students vote for you? 

JS: Because I believe that I am the best candidate on the ballot.  I don’t say that out of any arrogance, but I say it because I believe in my principles.  I see the continued corruption brought to us by the entrenched Republicans and Democrats.  They have been in power for more than 165 years.  Every problem that we have about government has been brought to you by the Republicans and Democrats.  If you keep voting for them, you are just going to get the same lousy representation that they have been selling you for decades.  Isn’t it past time that we should be voting for something different? 

I, and the Keystone Party, am about reforming government, standing up for your inherent rights, and getting government out of your lives as much as possible.

My website is joesoloski.com.  Please take a few moments and check me out.  I think you’ll like what you see.  

You, high school seniors, are part of the 18-40 voting contingent.  You now control more that 50% of all votes cast.  YOU can be the ones to make government better.  YOU will be casting the votes that determine if we continue on our current route of failure and disappointment.  OR….. YOU will be the generation that finally rights this sinking ship that our government is today.  

YOU have the power.

Thank you for allowing me to comment on these issues that are so important to you.  It is my honor to be running for Governor as your independent choice for real and better change.

Get out there and vote!  Also consider running for office.  We need your minds and ideas.