Name as it appears on the ballot: Ryan Brown 

Age: 27

Party affiliation: Libertarian

Campaign website: RyanBrownNC.org

Occupation & employer: Cloud Engineer. VMware.

Years lived in North Carolina: 27 

1. What in your background qualifies you to represent the people of your North Carolina district effectively? What would you cite as your three biggest career accomplishments?

I was born and raised in North Carolina. I’ve spent most of my life in the Raleigh area but have spent significant time in other areas of the state. I have experience with different cultures in North Carolina but will never claim to know how to solve their problems. I believe government “help” has caused most of their problems.

Greatest Career accomplishments.

1: Helped keep my church up and running during the pandemic, despite the authoritarian measures put in place by federal, state, and local governments.

2: Did not advocate or support the lockdown of 10 million North Carolinians.

3: Did not advocate or support forcing people to take drugs without their consent.

While I haven’t answered your question directly, I do not believe my career achievements lead me to anywhere close to enough data or experience to mandate how people live in North Carolina. I believe that people are capable of making their own decisions that lead to the best outcomes in their lives.

2. What do you believe to be the three most pressing issues facing the next General Assembly? What steps do you believe the state should take to address them?

1: Education, healthcare, and the economy. These are only issues because the people have been looking to the government to provide solutions for the last 100 years and the government has fought the economic reality that governments can not provide adequate answers to these problems. I will focus my work to reduce the scope of the government in these areas.

3. To what extent do you support municipalities exerting local control over issues such as regulating greenhouse gas emissions, criminal justice reforms and police oversight, and passing development-regulating ordinances?

Governments, at all levels, should respect property rights. If the local government is nullifying laws or mandates in defense of property rights and self ownership, I support them.

4. Do you support raising North Carolina’s minimum wage, and if so by how much? If not, what other initiatives would you take to support low-income families in North Carolina?

I do not support raising North Carolina’s minimum wage. I believe it should be abolished. In order to support all North Carolina families, I would advocate for the elimination of income taxes, business taxes, and occupational licensing requirements.

5. With rent, property taxes, and home sale prices all rising, what, if anything, should the state legislature do to address this growing affordability crisis?

Federal, State, and local governments contribute to the rising prices through the debasement of the US Dollar and property taxes. It is a well established economic principle that providing subsidies, price ceilings, or price floors all lead to shortages and lower quality goods. The only way to stop rising house prices is through a stable currency, respect for property rights, and deregulation.

6. Do you believe that the state government has an obligation to prevent the impacts of climate change? If so, please state three specific policies you support to address climate change.

No. Issues related to climate change can be solved via free market innovations and regulation via non government court systems that respect property rights. Current issues with pollution and lack of accountability are caused by government laws allowing certain levels of pollution and court systems that exist to largely rubber stamp every government intrusion of property rights.

7. Would you support an independent process for drawing new legislative and congressional districts?

Yes.

8. Does the General Assembly have a constitutional obligation to comply with the state Supreme Court order in the Leandro case to fully fund public schools and give every child in North Carolina a sound basic education?

Regardless of the Leandro decision, I would try to put forward a North Carolina constitutional amendment to remove the requirement that the state must pay for a sound basic education in North Carolina. Governments, time and time again, have shown they are incapable of providing a good education to students through the public school system. I would prefer the abolishment of the public school system, the removal of taxes that pay for that system, and a completely self regulating free market education system. As with any other service, this would provide the best results.

9. When it comes to teacher pay, North Carolina is one of the lowest-paying states in the nation. Schools across the state are facing shortages of educators, support staff, and other key personnel. Do you support raising teacher pay to at least the national average? What else can the General Assembly do to improve working conditions for teachers and make the teaching profession more attractive to potential future educators?

I do not support raising the pay of educators in the state. The General Assembly should not subsidize teacher pay in any way. The state is incapable of being flexible enough to meet the desires of teachers and the needs of children. This can only be provided in a free market school system.

10. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling this spring that overturned Roe v. Wade. The legal cutoff for abortion in North Carolina is now 20 weeks. Do you believe the 20-week cutoff is too restrictive, not restrictive enough, or just right? As a state lawmaker, would you support legislation that further limits or prohibits abortion in North Carolina, or punishes/criminalizes abortion providers or patients?

I believe life begins at conception. I believe that the only consistent moral position is to have no abortions. However, as we see with the war on drugs and the war on guns, drugs and guns are winning. Simply outlawing something will not make it go away. The only way to get rid of abortion is to change the culture of death that we have in the United States and that can not happen in a top down way.

11. Should North Carolina expand Medicaid? Where do you stand on increasing the number of slots for the Innovations Waiver for special needs individuals?

No. Federal and state governments only make healthcare costs go up and quality go down. De facto government granted monopolies in North Carolina decrease quality of healthcare in the state and increase costs.

12. Do you support reforming North Carolina’s marijuana laws? Do you support full legalization? Please explain your position.

Marijuana should be completely legal and unrestricted for any use among consenting parties. I support the pardon of all non violent drug offenses and their convictions should be expunged.

13. Do you support strengthening gun safety regulations such as expanding background checks, banning bump stocks, and raising the age to buy or otherwise regulating the sales of assault-style weapons? Please explain.

No. I believe all gun laws are infringements.

14. Are there any issues this questionnaire has not addressed that you would like to address?