449: Meet James Sceniak, Candidate for Libertarian Candidate for US Senate (Indiana)

Brian Nichols  
Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, happy Thursday there, folks, is going to be welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us on of course, another fun filled episode. I am as always, your humble host. And I must be getting comfortable here in the great state of Indiana because I have had not one but now we're having two US Senate candidates, James C. And Nick has joined the program. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Hey, Brian,

James Sceniak  
thanks for having me

Brian Nichols  
on. Absolutely. James, thank you for joining us on the program. And thank you for as I say to every candidate out there who's running with a big L next to their name, thank you for doing your part, bringing the ideas of liberty to the masses. And I say that particular particularly as I said, back when I was talking to William Henry, a few days earlier here in the Hoosier State, which I am now planted my flag is his home sweet home. So thank you for being one of the two candidates that I learned who are running for US Senate here. And obviously we are currently in the process of narrowing down who will be the ultimate candidate as we approach 2022. But before we get there, James, let's introduce yourself to the audience. So who are you? And let's ask the real question here. Why on earth did you want to run for US Senate?

James Sceniak  
Well, I'm doing sunyac. And a little bit about me as far as the libertarian PRI. I'm a national member, I'm a 1984 society member, but I have a lifetime, who's your member. And most importantly, I am a member of my local affiliate. So I believe all this is important as when you run for Libertarian Party to make sure you're involved in to see the concerns, and to truly represent the libertarian aspect. And why I decided to run is just that I wanted someone at the top of the ticket who can represent the virtues and values and communicate it to Hoosiers all over the state would be able to pull in both from the Democratic side and the Republican side to the message of freedom so that they're more open, and that we can support other races, like the most important one is the Secretary of State race, about access. So I'm absolutely excited for what 2022 holds. And this is absolutely thrilling to be where we're at.

Brian Nichols  
Absolutely cannot agree. Enough. And I say that now especially being here. Let's see Grandal for weeks, I think officially Yeah, four weeks, and then some change. And it's it's definitely refreshing to see, the atmosphere here is so different. And you get to really appreciate. Yeah, the ideas of liberty, like not only are they right, and they you know, we can argue about the principles and such to people all day long. But when you go out and you actually live it, you're like, Yeah, this is this is the way that the quote our good friend, the Mandalorian. Right, this is the way um, but with that being said, there are still areas that we can we can get better at here in Indiana. And I'm learning that along the ways. I've had conversations with people. And one of the areas that was brought up on your website, as I was perusing through was medical freedom. And I'm curious, because I'm coming from a state like Pennsylvania, where hey, we might actually be ahead of the game out there. But I'm coming out to hear to Indian, I'm finding out it might be a little different. What's going on James with terms of medical freedom, and how would you approach things from a US Senate perspective?

James Sceniak  
Well, for medical freedom was something huge in our last election cycle. And rainwater touched a lot of our math mandates and the idea that the governor can mandate medical decisions, which I believe mask our medical decisions, but we saw even more intrusive and wasteful on the federal front. And that's vaccines. Vaccines are a huge issue. Right now, we saw all the truckers in Canada, but it's very relevant. It's relevant to Hoosiers. But the idea is is that politicians should absolutely not be our physicians. And there's reasons that they can't make medical blanket medical decisions for all of our nation. So we need senators to represent us and represent medical freedom. And the example I love to give is if you pull out any medication in your medicine cabinet, and you look at a pill bottle, you'll see side effects and the reason side effects are on that bottle is because that medication negatively affected somebody somewhere. So the idea that politicians think that you make blanket medical decisions is ridiculous because we as individuals have to weigh the consequences of taking that medication. And often it is proactive and better to take that medication our physicians can help us make those choices. But politicians can't and it's absolutely ridiculous that we have to fight this right now.

Brian Nichols  
Yeah, and let's go towards the other area of medical freedom that I was also referring to and that is the cannabis world. I know New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states out there in the Northeast have been actually leading the charge in legalizing cannabis. Now granted, that's also while they're simultaneously raising taxes exponentially, pushing people out of states with just these insane mandates and burdens for small business. So I'll take the little things that that maybe we don't necessarily have here in all the right checkboxes being checked off for the Liberty world. But let's talk about the medical freedom from that perspective. I know I drive down the main road here, I see there's Delta eight sign so I know that we're in the CBD, CBD slash Delta eight world, but the Delta nine and the actual, you know, the THC component of things. That's not an area that Ninian has really taken a step towards Am I correct there?

James Sceniak  
No, Kevin, this is a an issue in Indiana that we haven't addressed properly. And we're backwards on. If you look at Michigan, and you look at Illinois, they're both proactive in many Hoosiers across the border and get them in a patient that they need. But the medical front, you know, there is medical benefits to cannabis. And you know, whether we do it, take it orally or whether, you know, forces to smoke it, there are positive things about it. And we absolutely need to take a step in the right direction. And Indiana needs to stop being so backwards on this and we can talk about the taxation part. And that's another issue. But we're still backwards, we can't even get to that issue. Because we whatever reason are still making victimless crime illegal. So let's get somewhere with this issue. And we'd have any to be scheduled on the federal level so that you know, the states have no excuse.

Brian Nichols  
Yeah, in let's just say, Let's go that route, because that's where a lot of people are asking questions. And that's sometimes where we do drop the ball. And I've talked about this many a time on the show, where we'll have libertarian candidates talk about all the things that are wrong, but don't effectively articulate a real tangible solution to get us to a better outcome. So James, you mentioned approaching things from a federal perspective, could you dig into a little bit more, not just from the canvas perspective, but more across the board for medical freedom? How would you use your position in US Senate for a libertarian perspective to help enact more pro Liberty approach to medical freedom?

James Sceniak  
Again, with cannabis, definitely, you know, you're talking about the solution sets, the scheduling at our doctor in Indiana said you wanted to do anything. So Scott, he's scheduled. So let's do that. And that's the first and immediate action on the cannabis front on medical freedom is just the idea that we need to acknowledge that freedom or individuals is absolutely a priority. And we need to make sure that we're not misusing national emergencies. You know, we're two years into a national emergency emergency doesn't last two years. That's just a ridiculous way to use that to over regulate. And we need politicians who are willing to stand up and say, Hey, stop using our emergency powers. Let's get back to allowing people to practice how they want as far as medical decisions. And that's one of the biggest aspects we can do right now. And you're absolutely right solutions need to be in front of the return issues. If we're not coming up the general public with a solution, then we should have a candidate at all, we have to present that signatures. And that's how we'll get votes.

Brian Nichols  
And talking about presenting solutions, because this whole medical freedom, you know, talking about the war on drugs, this all has some correlations over to the other side of the aisle, when we're talking about veteran issues. I talked about this with Wiley grey in the show a while back, talking about using alternative forms of medicine, specifically focusing on alternatives in the world of psychedelics and seeing that we do have a direct correlation towards other alternatives being popping up out there. However, back to the point, we do have some unfortunate, institutionalized systems in place that do need some fixing. So vet care. What's that? That's on your platform? James, could you dig into that a little bit more?

James Sceniak  
Yeah, definitely. Some bacteria is I guess, mission, libertarian orientated. And when I first announced I was running, I was actually working on a bar as a bartender and a veteran came up to me, he was a Republican, and he said, Okay, so I like what you're saying so far. But what are you going to do for me as a veteran? And so I was like, Okay, I, you know, I brought up the Second Amendment brought up Liberty minded libertarian principles. It's like, none of that is for me, as a veteran. What are you going to do for veterans out there? Okay. You tell me, what can I do for it? And he goes, absolutely, we need to make a difference with the VA. He says it's intrusive, it's wasteful. It's not serving me. And I absolutely hate going to the VA. So when I'm on the debate stage with Todd Young, I absolutely want to look at this in the eyes and say, when was the last time you got your medical care at the VA? Because I know he hasn't gotten his medical care there. And the issue is, is our veterans are having to go to a program that's not serving them. So I came up with a solution. It's called the back care solution, and it uses a veterans personal care account. And if you want to kind of look at the inside of it, it might develop kind of similar to a health savings account is completely different. Because what it does is it takes the wasteful spending that we currently use for the VA and eliminates the VA altogether, which is libertarian and takes that money and directs it directly to the veterans so that they can get their personal care wherever that they choose, and from whatever physician best meets their needs. So it allows them to have medical freedom as well, absolutely excited to present this as a solution. And, again, it's libertarian. So it's great show that we do come after my solutions,

Brian Nichols  
we absolutely need to show solutions. And I love what you did there. But you actually just kind of proved a little sales point that we talked about here in the program quite a bit in terms of you were talking to somebody and then you ask them, what is it that you see as a problem? Where do you where do you see things being wrong? And then guess what they told you. And then I think sometimes we forget, people will tell us what their problems are. But we just have to ask them and then shut up and listen.

James Sceniak  
I mean, everyone a few things. One, you as a politician, they forget that it's a public service position. So I'm there to serve them, I'm there to hear their concerns. And whatever's on their mind, they need to be able to present to me and that's part of the approachable aspects. And I campaign, I'm approachable. And I believe that that is absolutely true. As I'm talking to people from across the aisle, both on the Democrat and Republican side, we can have these conversations and open them up the ideas of freedom. So I'm so excited for that aspect. And, again, communication, just the view that you're letting people know that I'm truly a want to represent them. And I'm out there advocating for them. So I'm excited for that.

Brian Nichols  
It makes it a lot easier when you meet people on the issues that they care about. So right now, what's an issue? I am hearing constantly, whether it's I'm in the grocery store, and I hear somebody's looking at the prices of meat, or just the prices of everything. If I'm you know, walking down the road, and I hear somebody when they're grabbing a coffee talking to somebody else about how all of a sudden gas prices seem to be going up, across the board costs are increasing inflation is really it's on everybody's mind. And I think right now, people are definitely looking for some fiscal sanity, which ironically enough happens to be the third platform on your website. So James, talked to us about fiscal sanity from the perspective of a senator from the Hoosier State.

James Sceniak  
Yeah, so fiscal sanity is something Washington's left completely behind. That's what we have to call infinity at this point. It's absolutely ridiculous. And this is something that Todd Young is not represented Hoosiers on either side of it again and take this to the bait to him. But every budget that comes across his desk, he ends up signing, so we might as well call it a spending spree at this point. And we're seeing in real time that how it affects users. And that's inflation. Some conservative Mark say is at 8% right now. And you know, when I told my desk, thank God, it was a lot worse because I started campaigning, and it was 30 bucks to fill my gas tank just the other day, I filled it up for $37. Real time, you know, going out to a restaurant, a $30 meal, and now, you know, ends up being $40. I had family of four say that they spent $75 at a restaurant, and inflation is hitting every budget in the Vitor state. And so we're seeing it as a very real issue Hoosiers, and they want real solutions. And Tom gun doesn't present that he'll blame inflation on I just watched an interview where he blamed it on the supply chain, etc. And he went on everybody by himself. But if you look at his spinning record, he is the second worst Senator when it comes to deficit spending. So I promised as a senator, when I go into Washington, I won't pass any deficit spending will keep the government open. But when it comes to, you know, wasting money, I will I truly believe that we're putting a burden on our future generations that is absolutely unnecessary. And we just need to take responsibility and bring that fiscal sanity back to Washington and back to Hoosiers so that they can better use their money and have more money of their own that they deserve.

Brian Nichols  
Now, speaking of areas where people have seen money wasted, and I talked about it, and maybe more so hinted at it earlier was this area that we call the war on drugs and we see that this correlates right into the fourth area on your your campaign website that you want to focus on and that is criminal justice reform. And this is a conversation we've seen especially over the past few years really take hold. So what would be the approach from a US Senate campaign? Libertarian criminal justice reform? Are we just gonna let anarchy run rampant and make all drugs legal and let all the convicts out? James?

James Sceniak  
Well, I always present a an incremental approach to freedom and a lot of times when we talk to extremes, like you just said, we immediately turn yours off. So we got to talk about real solutions and how that will look at who's your level. So the first the scheduling cannabis, and allowing, you know, as to not waste prosecution, money on prosecution, but actually help Hoosiers financially from financial aspect. It also helped with the criminal reform. But we shouldn't be playing, I believe our nation is currently one of the top for incarcerated individuals. So how can we call ourselves a free nation where incarcerate in putting more assistance in jail than any other nation, which is something that is on my heart, and it's on my mind of how we can change the system to better represent and to free more individuals. So service, that's a huge one. Other drugs, you know, I advocate that, like alcohol, for example, we can free up a lot of these allow people to use them how they see. But for an alcoholic to get help it you know, you go to AA or whatever, but you don't have the same prosecution, you don't have to worry about the law coming after you unless you have a DUI where on the drug front, you're always having to worry about that law aspect. So if we take that out of the equation, more people will be willing to get help for the issues that they do have with drugs, and be able to better serve their communities. And for those who choose to use it, that's their freedom and their rights as long as they're not harming other individuals. So we definitely can do a lot better for our criminal reform and I'm excited to present some of these on the Washington for on the federal issues and it'll be definitely something that I'm gonna advocate and fight hard for.

Brian Nichols  
Alright, James, now I got to push back a little bit as I'm scrolling through your website and something is noticeably missing. And I think it's something that we've all been experiencing the past few years, lockdowns, COVID, all that insanity. Talk to me, what is your approach to the COVID? regime? did things go too far? And if so, what would we be doing differently from a federal perspective?

James Sceniak  
Okay, absolutely went too far. Lockdown. I really talk about the infringement of rights. One of them I like to talk about in the Hoosier State because I feel like it's really relevant to Hoosiers is the freedom of religion and be shut down churches. So on the Republican side, on the very conservative side, we solve in shutting down their churches, and I don't think that's going to resonate with Hoosiers. So absolutely advocating for freedom. But yeah, COVID lockdowns to help. I think we, when we saw the 14 day, okay, let's slow down this thing. Most of us can get on board, we saw responsible way to do this. But it didn't help and 14 days turn into weeks and months. And you know, we just saw on the federal level that to your emergency aspect, it's still an effective. So this is definitely something that on a federal level, they've overstepped they're using it to they're using it basically to take more power than they need. So with COVID, it's just an excuse to have more power. And it's more a tip of critical of the politicians when they can get haircuts and weekend. I actually tell many people this, but when I was kind of a protest, I never got a haircut until the we could open up all barber shops, and try to get really long hair, but I do. A lot of politicians were getting their hair cut illegally. And so there's definitely a double standard. And that was dinner needs to be shown. And we need to take back our freedoms as individual, a politician don't have special privileges. So let's bring accountability to back to Washington.

Brian Nichols  
I don't know James, I've heard the rumors that some animals are more equal than others. That's the rumor at least Alright, so we we've learned in terms of what people can do to help support you. But we want them to be able to do more without them be able to go find you and keep up to date with ultimately happening. So where can folks go ahead and find your campaign, but also, they want to go ahead and learn more, dig into more the issues, we're going to do that?

James Sceniak  
Yeah, so definitely my website, www SR for Senate calm. And then my Facebook, we're active on there. And I've been going around the whole state. So we'll be traveling to all the affiliates and their conventions. And between me and my team, we will hit agreed every convention. So you know in person is great if you can make it to any of those conventions and the state conventions coming up in a week and a half. Or if you can reach out to me on Facebook, I would love to have a conversation with you. But definitely important issues. My website www CDIAC. For senate.com. I'll definitely

Brian Nichols  
be in Indiana as a convention there. I'll actually be doing some sales training for folks. So if you are going to be attending the Indiana State Convention will please make sure you do me a favor and stop by and how about this as we wrap things up, James, I want to give you the last word to maybe give some words of advice to the audience but also specifically, let's go ahead and give your your elevator pitch. Why Should folks be interested in supporting James CDIAC as we approach the election here in 2018 22

James Sceniak  
Yeah, so definitely, my first thing I want to tell people, my advice to you is stand up for what you believe in, stand up for the freedoms that are being taken away, stand up for who you want to fight for, you know, I look at my nieces, and I want to fight for their generation and future generations. So continue to push on the issues that are important to you. And don't let anybody tell you that your voice doesn't matter. As you believe that, you know what we need to say candidate for Hoosiers, I have the ability to debate Tatyana at the Prisma. And I'm excited to take these Liberty minded issues to Washington, I have a great platform, I have a great team and I have what's needed to win this race. But also, most importantly, I'm building up the LTI in and I'm excited for that pro growth campaign. And that's coming behind your local candidates is shining that spotlight on them so that they are able to win their local elections. We can do this together. And that's exactly how we're going to do it. So definitely consider me for the nomination for the US Senate race. I'm excited to be here. And I'm excited to be carrying this torch. So let's go into November strong and let's have strong candidates to fight behind.

Brian Nichols  
Please, folks, please, we need strong candidates, but 100% it makes our jobs in the sales world a lot easier when you have a stellar product. And folks if you want to go ahead and learn more about James's campaign Well, yes, we will include the link to his website in the show notes. All you got to do is click the artwork in your podcast catcher, it will bring you the Brian Nichols show.com where you can find today's episode with James, the entire transcript of today's episode as well as all the links and plus all 440 some odd other episodes. They were approaching episode 450. If I'm not wrong there James might be tomorrow's episode. I got to double check and see. But yes, it's been a blast. James, thank you so much for joining us on today's show. Any last thoughts here as we wrap things up for the audience?

James Sceniak  
Yeah, let's fight for liberty together and let's do this.

Brian Nichols  
Oh, man, let's do this. Indeed. Well, that being said, Folks, thank you for joining us on today's episode. Yes. Again, links in the show notes for James's campaign. But with that being said, it's Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for James ENIAC. We'll see you tomorrow. Alrighty, James, we are

Transcribed by https://otter.ai