by Mari Radtke
“Yesterday’s Memories” Truck Museum once again opened it doors to the public to learn more about officials or candidates serving or wanting to serve Iowans. The Gaza, Iowa Patriots kept up with their mission of brining skilled, knowledgeable individuals to the public to inspire curiosity, thought-sharing and opportunities to learn from each other.
On Friday May 2 Gaza, Iowa Patriots welcomed Brad Sherman. Sherman is a pastor from Williamsburg, Iowa and served a single term to the Iowa House of Representatives, winning his primary field of with 55% of the vote. Sherman announced his candidacy for Iowa Governor before current Governor Kim Reynolds announced that she would not seek reelection.
Sherman and his wife, Carole were married in 1975. They raised four children and are proud of each of their thirteen grandchildren. They lost one daughter near the end of his first term, 2023-2025. Sherman has a background in heavy equipment operataion, residential and commercial development and entered the ministry.
Brad Sherman is a man with strong faith. Sherman received a lot of feedback from people wanting him to run for governor. He explains how he prayed about it. He believes God wants him to run for governor and that he has to do it. He then acted in an unusual political way. He spoke with Reynolds before he made his announcement, or really, even his final decision.
Primary races, according to Sherman, “makes us better.” He does not want the status quo, he wants to get better.
Sherman has built a platform he calls “Foundations of Freedom” and believes this platform moves the state in the direction of Constitutional principles. He says, “That’s been my heartbeat for over 40 years.”
Restoring Iowa to its Constitutional freedoms means, in part, “there has to be laws.” Sherman explains that without laws you will only have chaos. The Declaration of Independence is the framework for the Constitution, our laws. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness represent that framework. He then goes to the Constitution defining our nation as a “Constitutional Republic” as opposed to a “Democracy.” He explains the difference. With a democracy 51% of the people will overrule everyone else. He likens it to mob rule. He touts a Constitutional Republic as a representative form of government in which the elected will go and “do the right thing” according to law. He talked about education, referring to Noah Webster’s spelling book that included “Federal Catechism,” questions of how the federal government was supposed to work.
Throughout his words, Sherman drew parallels from his belief of what the Constitution says and his belief of what the Bible says. His conviction is deep. He believes that the foundational freedoms of this nation must be restored to the education system. He promotes the idea that individuals must know their freedoms and the role and purpose of government or there citizens will allow a tyrannical government.
Much of his message was to put the words of the founding fathers into the context of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In Sherman’s view, happiness equated (at the dawn of the United States Constitution) to personal property. It was then that he explained his opposition to the use of eminent domain for private profit endeavors.
Liberty is also a function of private property. Property taxes, to Sherman, are renting your property from the government after paying the bank. COVID, to Sherman, was an example of “trampling” liberties. Here he promotes people thinking for themselves and compares use of vaccines, masks, etcera as ways to be thoughtful of your neighbor, but mandates being outside the bounds of liberty.
Life begins at conception, according to Brad Sherman. As he is opposed to abortion, he is opposed to assisted suicide. He spoke to the system in Canada where assisted suicide can be accessed.
Pursuit of Happiness ties back to goals and purpose in life. He lays that loss at the feet of current culture and the absence of reinforcing rules. He supports posting the ten commandments and suggests that may help restore for youth, especially, a purpose in life.
He makes four promises:
1) If I make a mistake I admit it
2) I won’t please everyone
3) I can’t be bought
4) I speak to Almighty God and ask God’s guidance to make decisions.
Of bipartisan communication he says “flags go up whenever I am speaking to the other side, but sometimes they do have a good idea.”
He talked about how ESA (school vouchers) worked and questioned how a parent can use them if a parent never touches the credits. He does believe the competition will make public schools better. He believes the money should follow the child.
He shared some history from the development of the Constitution. He believes the founders meant for a Christian nation and does not believe in neutrality. He does not believe in forcing anyone to be Christian, that a person must come to Christianity on their own. He says, “Somebody’s values must shape public policy otherwise we have chaos.”
He is highly interested in developing strategies to develop and support small communities. One of his suggestions is to allow people who have lived in Iowa ten years or longer and 65 or older to pay no property taxes. He adds that he is open to all suggestions.
He is not a fan of wind turbines for energy. He does support organic farming, SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) to produce nuclear electricity. He is most concerned about state policy. They need much more research.
To improve transparency in government he suggests more and better auditing. If there is no record it should a big problem. He wants a much more robust system of accountability.