Name on ballot:

Austin D. Martin (Shiloh)

Running for:

State House – District 3

Political party:

Libertarian Party

Campaign website:

DoBetterHawaii.com

Current occupation:

Homesteader, Musician, Consultant

Age:

35

Previous job history:

I have worn more hats than most, with experience spanning several industries, and leaned skills from farming to consulting, manual tradecrafts to executive management.

Previous elected office, if any:

Libertarian Party of Hawaii, Chairperson

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people in your district.

I have many qualities that make me a good fit for this job. My district needs someone with the right blend of character, cleverness, and competence to be able to accurately represent our diverse population without getting bogged down in party politics.

No special interests can claim me, nor any single voting block. I don’t owe favors and I treat everyone the same way. Our district needs someone with the skill-sets & aptitude to make good use of the position, to shine some light in the dark places, and to help make sure our people’s voices don’t get drowned out in the divisive party politics. We need someone who is one of us – yet also an outsider to the political cliques. We need someone who will stand up for us, but can put division aside to support good bills help us to recover middle ground. We need someone with integrity, with vision, with a real plan, and who can inspire new ways of thinking in others. We need someone with experience in leadership, but who isn’t a career politician, and isn’t in it for themselves. We need someone who can’t be bought, whose loyalty is not for sale, and who passionately loves our district.

What is the most-pressing issue facing residents in your district and how would you address the problem?

The high cost of living is the most immediate concern that is common to all of Hawaii. Government overreach is a close second in my district.

What would you propose to be done at the state level to help residents cope with Hawaii’s high cost of living?

I have a plan for this which is unlike anyone else on the ballot: I think we should find a way to nullify the Jones Act.

The Jones Act is an old law that was meant to protect the American maritime & shipping industry, but for Hawaii, it has caused devastating unintended economic consequences, raising our cost of living on all goods across nearly all categories. The impact on non-mainland states like Hawaii and Alaska is profound; this 100-year-old law simply wasn’t made with our islands in mind, and the result is sky high prices, far more than even other pacific island economies.

It doesn’t have to be this way – Hawaii can do better.

There are several ways we could free Hawaii from this law, but I will limit my discussion here to my favorite 2 radical ways to rapidly bring down the cost of living and provide real relief for the local economy:

1. The State of Hawaii could select & grant a Port which could be administered by the Hawaiian Kingdom, which would not be subject to the Jones Act, since it would not technically be a US port. This would also be a major step to fulfilling our legal obligation to reconcile with the wrongs committed against the native government, and would benefit every person in Hawaii by bringing prices way down across the all categories, and opening up Hawaii for trade. Our laws actually compel the state government to take steps like this to address & reconcile the wrongful overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Why not do so in a way that benefits everybody – uniting our people for mutual benefits, rather than dividing us further? I think it can be done.

Or

2. We invoke states rights to nullify key sections of the Jones Act for the entire state of Hawaii, allowing for fast relief from rising prices. There are drawbacks to this plan, but I would absolutely support this as well.

In either situation, our local economy would be unleashed and lifted up to new heights, and our independence & freedom would be expanded. This is especially true if Hawaii embraces policies that allow local businesses to trade freely, and relaxes the regulatory burden on the little guys.

Hawaii could be wealthy and prosperous, not from exploitation, but from the organic prosperity that comes with being a natural shining economic hub, perfectly positioned between the East and the West. All we need is a little common sense, and a willingness to find the middle ground to move our community forward to a brighter future.

We can Do Better.

What can the state Legislature do to help Hawaii home and condo owners with rising property insurance rates?

There are a number of things that can be done to remedy this problem:
1. Carefully revise the insurance laws to allow for more competition in the banking and insurance market spaces. This is the cheapest & fastest way to reduce prices, and presents the least risk of unintended consequences.
2. Reduce the cost & burden of government intervention in the insurance markets, allowing more flexible & varied coverage plans to exist
3. I would seek to implement bigger-picture ideas to address the long-term root causes of the economic issues; if we are mandated to buy insurance, and our choices our highly limited by regulations, then the insurers don’t have to lower prices or offer good service to sell their product. I like the concept of insurance, but don’t like how often the big companies use their leverage to control decisions we make with our private property, and their leverage is backed up by the government itself.

It may seem tempting to interfere with the market, and to simply “force” the insurance companies to lower rates, but this would almost certainly backfire & bring about dire unintended consequences. Price controls never work the way central planners want. We have to look deeper at the actual causes of the issue, and address those causes.

Can Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy be diversified, and, if so, what can state government do to support the effort?

Absolutely! As I mentioned above, opening up a port for free trade would bring about an economic transformation to Hawaii; it would change the game.
As far as what our state government can do to support it? I’m glad you asked.

1. Refrain from the temptation to regulate every new idea – we would already have several notable industries blossoming here if our well-meaning regulators could refrain from attacking every new industry before it even develops. Gee… It’s almost like there’s big money here already that doesn’t want to risk sharing its powerful influence over Hawaii…

2. We could relax regulations & lower taxes on local small businesses and all self-employed people – we need our entrepreneurs & inventors to be free to work their magic.

3. Fix our broken courts. Our courts & judges need oversight, transparency, and accountability. The Rule of Law is the foundation of civilized society. Not very many businesses would want to trust their survival to a state with broken courts that only occasionally respect constitutional rights. We need solid dispute resolution, and meaningful justice.

These may not seem like the easy fix of “let’s print more money and give it to [insert special interest here]”, or “let’s beg the federal government for more money” to ‘fix’ our problems.”
Those aren’t really fixes. That kind of politics is a big part of what got us here in the first place. To really address these issues, we need the courage and wisdom to deal with the root causes, and not just the symptoms. Beware of any politician that promises easy fixes by spending money to appease groups of voters. We are in a real economic mess, and it will take difficult choices, clever thinking, and cooperation to turn things around. But I know that together, Hawaii can do better.

What would you propose to help increase affordable housing in Hawaii?

1. I would relax the regulatory burdens on landowners & homeowners; in general, we should not need government permission to use our own properties. Proposals along this alone, such as streamlining or even eliminating some of the permitting process would allow owners to build more units for less cost, and would bring down the cost of housing dramatically.

2. I would relax or eliminate excessive burdens & harmful regulations on private rental transactions which fail to protect the interests of all parties, bringing risks & prices down.

3. Reduce risks for homeowners by preventing the abuse of “squatter’s rights” and other legal forms of hostile possession, increasing the market pool and further reducing costs.

4. I would address root causes of our economic problems so that Hawaii can be weaned off of its dependence on unsustainable government services, reducing the overall need for affordable housing options. This would reduce the intervening hand of government, which is always driving prices up. My policies, importantly, would decrease the need for affordable housing in general by making our people richer. My plan is to make the government work for you again, and not corrupt special interests.

What can state government do to better support and improve public education in Hawaii?

The best thing the state government can do is to get out of our way.

The community is the best group to administer and run their own schools – rather than the wasteful & costly state government.

But there is a deeper problem here:

Each parent has a constitutional right to raise their own children as they see fit, including making choices about their schooling. We should respect homeschoolers, private schools, community co-ops, and charter schools, and allow MORE choices to parents, which means LESS government interference in education.

The state government’s clumsy intervention takes these choices away, rather than improving access.

Education is FAR too important to leave to the heavy hands of government.

I think we can do better.

Should the state continue to pursue building a replacement for Aloha Stadium in Halawa? Please explain.

No strong opinion.

Should members of the state Legislature have term limits like Honolulu’s mayor and City Council members?

Yes. Limit the power and the potential for abuse. Perhaps the limits can be relatively long, at least enough to accomplish results for public servants who earn their seats by doing great work – but there should be limits.

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make local government more transparent to the public?

1. More elections, less appointments. The Governor’s office is FAR too powerful – the most powerful in the entire US, actually.

2. Elected County Sheriffs who are accountable to the People

3. Referendums: Reasonably easy citizen ballot initiative processes need to be adopted so that the People can bypass the government, when they feel their leaders are out of touch.

4. End all unconstitutional immunity doctrines – and stop the abuse of qualified immunity to protect government actors when they break the law and cause harm. The law should be applied equally.

5. The sunshine law should apply to the legislature. In fact, they should be forced to live under most (if not all) of the laws they pass – but it doesn’t really seem to work that way, does it?

I have more ideas on this, but I will save those for another column.

What will be your top priority if elected?

Hawaii has a corruption problem & a cost of living problem. I know how to hit both of those issues with the same stick.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

I probably don’t actually BELONG in the government because I’m not a parasite… but I’m here; I’m sincere, and SOMEONE needs to really do something about this mess.

Let’s Do Better, Hawaii.