by Mari Radtke – Jim Carlin, a Sioux City attorney, spoke to a small crowd on Tuesday August 5 at Yesterdaze Memories in Sanborn. Carlin launched a bid for United States Iowa Senate. His incumbent challenger is Joni Ernst. Carlin previously faced off against incumbant Chuck Grassley for a senate seat.

A Massachusetts native, Carlin arrived in Iowa following his 1983-1985 Army tour. He founded his law firm at that time specializing in malpractice and injury litigation, according to his Wikipedia biography. He earned his J.D. from Marquette University Law School.

The political career of Jim Carlin in Iowa includes being a member of the Iowa House of Representatives for the 6th district in 2017. He filled the seat following the retirement of Ron Jorgensen. He was elected to the senate that same year.

A question opened the presentation by Carlin. He asked, “When was the last time government worked for you?” He supports that the government is to be run by people, not the people being run by government.

A backbone principle Jim Carlin promotes is change to the Federal Reserve system. He spoke about how loans during COVID were made by the reserved to private equity and investment firms. He states, “It caused a 60% rise to real estate.” He wants accountability for the federal reserve or it is gone.

He also questions the cost increases in health insurance. He wants to know how these increases were authorized. According to Carlin, who earned his BA in Economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst, BCBS and United Health occupy 58% of the (health insurance) market. It affects monetary policy and wants accountability to the people when people pay their bills.

Carlin’s beef with student loans goes to what he describes as (President) Obama doubling the interest rate on student loans. The average age of first time home buyers is 39. He questions the motivation being heavy student loan debt delaying a home purchase and a family. He calls this “class strangulation” by monetary policy, adding, “It’s not leadership. It’s corruption.”

An economic concern occuring is the freefall of the dollar. “We need it to be predictable and stable, supporting the free market.

Superpacks are big on Carlin’s hit list for political structures that must go. He outlined how they work. He described how Company A can donate unlimited money to not for profit B. Not for profit B can in turn donate unlimited resources to any candidate. And it’s all untraceable. But your $25 check directly to a candidate requires specific reporting.

A quiet, conversational question and answer period with the 15 or so attendees was filled with exchanges of ideas and concerns. The video can be viewed on our websites thesanbornpioneer.com or on our belltimescourier YouTube channel.

Watch for more candidates brought to O’Brien County by the Gaza Patriots, a group of O’Brien County citizens working to learn in order to effect change that returns power to the people and imposes accountability on government.

Jim Carlin is married with three children and resides in Sioux City.