Written by Michael Thervil
Just before the weekend, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with democratic political candidate Steve Keough who is running for the Texas Senate at a local Starbucks. According to his opening speech at the border wall at Brownsville, Texas he is looking to end the reign of Ted Cruz as the Texas Senator. He is running to restore the rights of Americans to decide healthcare issues in confidence with their healthcare provider, without the invasion of their privacy or impairment of their decision by know-it-all extremist politicians.
During our conversation we talked about the following topics:
Education
Russia
China
BRICS+
Guns
Abortion
Immigration
Drug Epidemic
Felons and Prison Reform
Supreme Court Ruling On Affirmative Action
Steve Keough is a retired naval officer with extensive knowledge on submarine operations. Being in the U.S. Navy, he has traveled all over the world and his background is in Asian Studies. Moreover, Steve Keough has a lot of foreign policy experience involving China and Taiwan and he also speaks Mandarin.
On the topic of Affirmative Action, political hopeful Steve Keough’s perspective is by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the other Justices striking down on Affirmative Action, he thinks that they were “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. He thinks that Affirmative Action is a vital program that has helped people, especially in Middle America. While talking about the topic of Affirmative Action he took the time out to reflect on a personal friend of his who actually needed Affirmative Action to gain entry into college. Even though his friend had the grades – he still needed the boost that programs such as Affirmative Action provided. On this topic he is a fan of “fundamental fairness” for all students and especially Black American students in academia.
Another thing that he brought to light was the fact that not many people understand how college admissions actually work. He stated the following paraphrasing: “it's about more than having great grades. It’s about engaging in community service”. Steve Keough also stated that one of the most important questions people who work in college admissions ask is “is this candidate going to be a good leader for the community?”. This is why community service is so important in high school. He also thinks that college admission across the country is fair when selecting students for entry into their colleges and universities.
When asked: “What was your defining moment that made you run for Senator?” he stated that: “My defining moments were really across various issues, but for the last number of years I’ve watched the democracy of the United States become eroded by politicians who are in it for themselves rather than helping people”. He went on to say that: “Many politicians are in it for themselves, but they are hurting people”. During the interview we inquired about how and why so many politicians turn out this way, as we made it clear that we understand that politicians no matter what ticket (Democrat or Republican) subscribe to they do not start off with being in office for themselves. So, we asked Steve Keough “How does it get to that point? We are quite sure politicians don’t start off like that. We think that it starts off with them having a genuine interest in helping the American public. Where is the turning point in which they [politicians] turn out that way?”
Steve Keough stated that: “There have been rulings that have created a large economic interest that can be channeled through the electoral process. What that does is that it creates huge financial penalties for a politician if they don’t fall in line from donors or potential donors. Right now, there are Super PACS (I’m not against Super PACS); but there are big entities that if you don’t toe the line you’re going to get challenged.” We asked him to define “challenged” and he said: “Political candidates challenge coming at you.” He stated that: “It’s that dog eat dog mentality that has been amped up over the last 10 years or so – Citizens United is an example”.
He describes himself as an advocate for Pro-Democracy. Steve Keough thinks that all too often politicians tend to lose that much needed broad sense of awareness. What he means by that is, for many politicians they tend to become “professional politicians” in which that's what they do. At some point in their career, it stopped being about serving the American People and they became very narrow minded to the point where the only thing they start thinking about is how their actions are going to help their base. He equated that kind of mentality to “baggage” that so many politicians carry around. That baggage that politicians tend to succumb to “is like an old beat-up suitcase that’s really ugly and smells bad. That baggage kind of follows these folks around and really distorts their views on policy.”
Steve Keough also touched on what’s happening around the border. He stated that many migrants are falling victim to the dense and thick “underbrush”. He emphasized the importance of this because he stated that “The U.S. Government has placed razor wire within the underbrush which is a violation of the United Nations Commission of Humanities”. “They don’t even put signage up. Even in war zones you’ll see them put signage up. That sort of inhumanity and cruelty is to create terror, rather than to fulfill our duties and responsibilities.”
When asked why Mexicans were allowed into the country from the border and the Haitians and the Cubans were sent back Steve Keough stated the following: “I don’t really know what the facts are or where that was. What is clear though is that all immigrants for the most part on the southwest border (Texas and Mexico) are really challenged by the immigration system right now. Right now, the immigration system that we have is not a horrible system, but it is so out of date that there are so many ways that people can be ousted or not even allowed to come for their first interview.”
“So that’s part of the problem here. Typically, the reason why some people get sent back or denied entrance right at the first entry point is because they don’t have a check out ticket like in the line when you buy cut meat in the grocery store. That’s the order you go by down there on the border, there is a process for that, and you have to get in line and then you get an interview scheduled. Lots of times, folks don’t know that; they haven’t been given that information clearly.”
On the issues surrounding drugs in America. He stated that the community social services have been gutted starting from the days of the Reagan Administration. He expressed that as a Senator fixing the social services is on his priority list. He also brought light on the fact that many people are shut out of obtaining both mental health and social services in general because of traveling distance, many people may not have the time, then if they get there are the wait times, and because so many facilities have been simply shut down. Combined with this topic was the conversation of felons and prison reform. Steve Keough stated that: “I think for a lot of people it’s not unreasonable to say that if someone has committed murder and they have done their time, there would be a question from the [victims] family was that enough time?”
“So, there is always this natural questioning of whatever the judgment was. The reality from the legal perspective is if someone has done their time then they shouldn’t have that used against them like in a hiring setting. What we have now is the traditional system. There are certain industries that will hire “ex-cons”; it shouldn’t be that way it should be equal opportunity if you’ve properly – done your time.” So, it’s safe to say Steve Keough is one who believes in employers giving felons equal opportunities to gain meaningful (not minimum wage) employment so they can have the same economic opportunities as anyone else, they have served their time. This is something that many politicians refused to talk about and or take any real action on. Denying someone employment opportunities because they have been convicted of engaging in a crime is a form of discrimination. Let us remind you that economic discrimination does nothing more than encourage people to commit more crime. It is a vicious perpetual cycle that should be at the top of everyone’s list to do something about.
When it comes to gun ownership and gun control, Steve Keough’s position is that of sensible gun ownership and gun control. On the divisive issue of Red Flag Law, he holds the position that it should be ok to report someone if the person reporting perceives that an individual being observed presents a threat to their lives and the lives and safety of others. It is also his position that a person should have the right to make a report anonymously without fear of repercussions. As a retired Naval Officer, he is also a proponent of people obtaining firearm classes to increase the amount of gun ownership awareness, legal parameters, and general firearm safety. He stated that sometimes it is ok for people that are going through things such as depression to have separation time from their firearms and once they have been cleared by a doctor, they can resume their right to firearm ownership. In a nutshell he is for pro-gun sensibility.
On the subject of Russia. We asked him what is the first thing that comes to his mind when hears the name Vladmir Putin he said: “he’s kind of an evil guy”. He stated that he’s been to Russia and the Republics around Russia in the 1990’s engaging in Pro-Democracy work. Steve Keough went on to say that “Putin was a dangerous man, and no one needs to prove that he’s very untrust worthy and a true believer in the past and he’s not a believer in human rights.” He also stated that he doesn’t think Putin can change. He recognizes Ukraine as a separate sovereign nation and that Russia invaded a sovereign nation because it wanted to. Steve Keough also thinks that the United States should continue to support nations that share the same values that the United States does such as human rights and democracy.
Overall, it is our position here at VEDA that Steve Keough has a lot of knowledge and wisdom in terms of geopolitical affairs and is worthy of running for the Senate Seat he is running for. It was an absolute pleasure to have the opportunity to sit with him and listen to his thoughts on not only the topics that were highlighted within this article but the entire recorded conversation which is made available for your listening pleasure. What we enjoyed the most about Steve Keough was that he was transparent as well as open to other ideas and perspectives when it came to both domestic and international affairs.
It was refreshing to hear him speak on how and why so many of our politicians seem to bow down to the political pressures that they face once they get into office. This is a very unfortunate occurrence because it allows outside entities to drive our political process and skew the trajectory of this nation not in the best direction of the American people but in the direction that greatly benefits these entities themselves. This is something to think about. The question of the day is: will America continue to allow private entities the ability to skew our politicians? Maybe if Steve Keough gets into the Senate Seat all of that could change.
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