Jonathan Bannon Maher | United States Senate   A compilation of questions journalists have asked along with edited answers. Journalists are welcome to quote any sentence. Why are you running? That's a two part answer. The first is my desire to help others, as an result of my perspective on life developed through the influence of my family and personal experiences that have shaped my thought processes. I've long believed in John Fitzgerald Kennedy's statement that we must "do our part, to build a world of peace, where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before this task or hopeless of it's success. Confident and unafraid we must labor on." The second is that we are dramatically short on intellectual resources in the United States Senate. I don't doubt that we all seek a better future for America, but the seasoned bureaucrats occupying the chamber can't agree on what that future looks like or how we get there, they haven't envisioned the possibilities and paths and are left paralyzed assessing risks and success probabilities, and that's because they don't understand the science underlying emerging technologies and architecture of capital market structures that will allow us to build a more prosperous future while using the process as an instrument of peace through interdependence. So instead they try to hold onto or regain power by falsely diving people to drive donations and voter turn out. There are individual exceptions, but as a group, they're treading water and others are coming up on us from behind. I've seen in person how the markets actually work at the New York Stock Exchange, Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, and writing software used to trade billions of dollars at a hedge fund. My understanding of the scientific drivers of our future prosperity (along with all of my biographical details and policy positions) is covered in my most recent book, The Destiny of Humanity, which I sent to the leaders of every country on Earth and is available as a free download on my website. King Norodom Shihamoni commented of my book "I am confident this book will surely attract much public attention to the task of building a peaceful and prosperous world for all." Can you win? Absolutely. The majority of residents don't know the incumbent Senator's name, of those who do, the majority don't like him, and his contributions in the Senate have been unremarkable. All other potential competitors are lightweights. I may be young, but I'm the most qualified because I'm by far the only candidate with the intellectual capacity to address our most important challenges. And between Frank Lautenberg and I, we bring combined average experience of 60 years. Are you a Democrat or Republican? I don't know that my political beliefs uniformly adhere to an individual political platform. I am presently registered with the Federal Election Commission as unaffiliated. What are your biggest challenges? I have a couple of challenges, the first of which is my age. I recently filed campaign registration papers at the age of 29, and if I am elected, which I absolutely believe is possible, it won't validate the life experience of those in power, with the exception of Joe Biden who was elected to the Senate at 29 -- so there is a structural impediment to establishment support. The second, is that I'm gay, though as I write this I'm thinking about how much has changed since I first decided to run. The third, is the benefits incumbents have in our political system, with the ability to allocate tax payer money in exchange for campaign contributions and votes, which is supposed to be illegal but happens regularly, which is why I will be introducing in the Senate a bill requiring members of congress to disclose any requests to federal agencies made on behalf of campaign contributors. The fourth is that I always work to do right, even when there are personal costs, and for that reason I have found that bad people are drawn to attacking me. I anticipate having to contend with some hateful liars and some who lack the intelligence, judgement and courage to put their complete and unwavering support behind me. Why New Jersey? I was born on the upper east side of Manhattan in New York City, and both of my parents grew up within a radius of 25 miles, my mother in northern New Jersey, my father on Long Island. My great grandfather was an Irish immigrant who came through Ellis Island and later became a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and my great great grandfather on the other side of my family, for whom I was named, owned a ship building company along the Hudson River that runs between New Jersey and New York City. My grandfather was a professor at Fordham, and my father has worked on Wall Street for 35 years. My family bought a house near my mother's large extended family in New Jersey and I attended nursery through high school in Ridgewood, moving through West Side Presbyterian, Willard Elementary, George Washington, and Ridgewood High School. New Jersey is the only area that has nearly all of the amenities of New York City but with grassy plains, and is officially and appropriately deemed the Garden State. What issues specific to NJ do you intend to address? Senators direct federal policy that filters down to all states. That having been written, I will work toward policies that directly address the needs of residents within my sphere of influence, and ensure that New Jersey receives an appropriate allocation of federal resources. What's your background? I am the author of two books, Building a Successful Organization, covering topics including leadership, decision making and strategy, and The Destiny of Humanity, covering topics including war, poverty, trade, clean energy, economic development, and space exploration. The Destiny of Humanity was sent in May of this year to the leaders of every country on Earth in May of 2011. I started and ran an Internet Service Provider, Host1.com, as a hobby from the time I was 12 through college, have music licensed by MTV, created a health care startup Sick Away From Home, wrote software used to trade billions of dollars at an investment manager, and have work experience at companies including Bear Stearns (J.P. Morgan), Deutsche Bank and the New York Stock Exchange. What do you hope to achieve? To build permanent structures that will allow for the organic out growth of prosperity and peace. A journalist recently asked me what I was talking about when I responded with an answer similar to that and told me I'm supposed to simply repeat "Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.", and that is in practice the effect. Jobs have been flowing out of the country accompanied by downward wage pressure, because if a job can be done for less money somewhere else it will be, if a good or service can be purchased for less money somewhere else it will be -- look at the recent default of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra whose competitors in China produce solar panels at a quarter of the price -- though I'm not suggesting that we use China's labor model where political prisoners have sued Adidas for having to sew soccer balls with their teeth, beaten by guards if they're off quota -- reminiscent of quilting time in Happy Gilmore. The short and medium term driver of domestic economic prosperity and improved living standards is to reduce the cost of living -- part of the reduction in cost of living can be retained by individuals to improve living standards, and part will organically increase jobs in all industries by lowering the cost of labor and in turn lowering the costs of goods and services produced to increase exports. In my most recent book I specify in detail the ways to reduce the cost of living (housing, food, energy, transportation, etc.), the first of which Barack Obama started on with the recent mortgage refinancing effort. Additionally, very briefly, all transportation vehicles must be electric, which isn't even a point worth debating, since the world has only another 20-50 years of oil, and run on electricity produced by geothermal resources, which are completely clean, infinitely abundant, effectively free after setup costs, and will immediately create domestic construction jobs. The CFTC must aggressively prosecute commodity market manipulators who drive up the costs of food and gas to take money out of your pocket to pay for extra homes and exotic trips. However, the long term driver of domestic prosperity is education, developing the capacity to find new ways to innovate, to do more with less, to make things of value. The country that leads the world in education today will lead the world tomorrow. Finally, a durable peace among nations can never be secured through force -- we must arrange for trade relationships to be developed with hostile nations to integrate them into the international community in a productive capacity while allowing for the natural attrition of our military spending which exceeds that of all other countries combined. What led you to this position? I had the opportunity to work before and during college as either a consultant or an intern at the New York Stock Exchange, Merck, Volvo Corporate, Toys R' Us Corporate, Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, and after college writing software used to trade billions of dollars at a startup investment manager. I've taken every job that I've ever had based on how much I could learn from it. I've had opportunities to work for companies that were more prestigious than others, opportunities that paid better than others, energy consuming organizational affiliations that would enhance a resume but were otherwise empty. It's been said that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I've always chosen the opportunities that would would most build my intrinsic capacity. Do you have any higher goals like running for Governor after the Senate? I consider a Senator above a Governor, as Senators influence the allocation of trillions of dollars. I have absolutely no interest in ever being a governor, only in setting federal policy. I imagine the indirect question here is would I ever consider running for President. From everything I've seen, Harry Truman put it best when he said that "the oval office is the crown jewel of the American penal system." And you have to carry around bags of your own blood when you travel because there's a 1 in 10 chance of being capped like Tupac. Where do I sign up? What was the process of writing your two books? Thousands of hours of tedium. There were just enough moments where I was inspired by what I had produced to compensate for the pain of presenting the bare truth, personally and intellectually, even if I had to scrap whole sections or ideas that I realized upon reflection weren't accurate. What was their intended audience? The target audience for my first book was simply anyone that wants to build or participate in building a successful organization. The second was compiled specifically to be sent to the leaders of each country. I am the only person to have ever done that. I'm confident all of the seeds in my book have taken root globally.