Dubuque businessman Rod Blum aims to defend American dream

Dubuque businessman Rod Blum said he's running for Congress to help keep alive the American dream that each generation will live a better life than the preceding one.

Eighty percent of Americans no longer believe their children will be better off than their parents, Blum said, citing recent polls.

To reverse that trend, Blum, 59, offers a prescription of lower taxes, less regulation and a balanced budget.

'I stand for smaller government and more liberty and freedom,” said Blum, who has raised more than $300,000 for his campaign - well more than the other two Republicans, Steve Rathje and Gail Boliver, he will face in the June 3 primary for the open seat in Iowa's 1st Congressional District.

Blum said the top concerns of 1st District voters, as discerned through conversations during the past 14 months, are the weak economy and the Affordable Care Act.

Blum's blueprint for improving the economy includes lower taxes, less regulation, a smaller federal government footprint and full utilization of both renewable and traditional energy resources.

Economic freedom increases prosperity, according to Blum. 'To get our economy back on track we must once again unleash the power of free enterprise and the private sector,” he said.

Blum said he favors a constitutional amendment that would cap federal spending at the historical rate of 18 percent of gross domestic product.

Doing so, he said, would end deficit spending and allow the country to pay down its $18 trillion national debt, which will become a heavy financial drain when interest rates increase.

Obamacare is costing the economy jobs and destroying health care, according to Blum, who says 'it must be repealed.”The nation's tax code should be simplified for the sake of fairness and efficiency, Blum said.

'Every deduction is a favor to a special interest group, and they just keep accumulating. I don't think government should pick winners and losers,” he said.

Consistent with that same principle, Blum said he also would oppose any government bailout of private companies.

In the case of the banks that caused the housing bubble that precipitated the 2008 recession, Blum said the bailout enabled them to 'privatize their gains and socialize their losses.”

Blum, who often cites Ronald Reagan in conversation and campaign materials, said his campaign has five cornerstones: personal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, fiscal sanity, free markets and the sanctity of human life.

'I am 100 percent pro life from conception to the cradle to the grave,” he said.

Blum said he would oppose any federal funding for abortion and would vote against funding for any group that performs or advocates abortion on demand.

Blum said he generally opposes labels and does not consider himself a member of the Tea Party but shares the group's enthusiasm for smaller government and more liberty.

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Bio

Rod Blum

'Occupation: Chairman and CEO, Digital Canal Inc., maker of software for home builders

'Age: 59

'Previous Elected Experience: None

'Hometown: Dubuque