Indiana governor candidate Q&A: Donald Rainwater on the issues

Riding on an anti-government wave in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns, Libertarian Donald Rainwater earned a remarkable 11.4% of the vote in the 2020 gubernatorial election.

He's back for another try. If he gets access to the ballot, he would compete against likely Democratic nominee Jennifer McCormick and the Republican nominee, for which there is lots of competition: Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former state Attorney General Curtis Hill, former Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers and Indianapolis mom Jamie Reitenour.

Rainwater, a software engineer and Navy veteran, lives in Johnson County.

IndyStar asked Rainwater, as well as the seven other candidates for governor, a set of questions about issues relevant to the 2024 race, some of which were submitted by readers. This interview is edited for length and clarity.

Q: What do you think sets you apart from your competition?

A: I consider myself the only true political outsider in the race for governor. I still honestly believe in limited government. I don't believe any of them do. They are running for governor in order to have the ability to spend the largest state budget in the history of the state of Indiana. My intent is to run for governor so that I can reduce the size and scope of state government and stop the growth of big government in Indiana.

Q: What would be your first priority as governor?

A: I think my first priority would be to get with the members of the General Assembly, find the people who actually agree with me but are afraid to go against their party, and try to work with them to start eliminating the state income tax.

My proposal is that we, first of all, do away with assessments on residential property and set the property tax at 1% of the purchase price of the property. Period. It never goes up. I would then like to limit the amount that is paid in property taxes for residential property to 7% for the lifetime that you own that property. We pay a 7% sales tax; I believe that when you buy a home, when you buy a residential property, you should have the opportunity to truly own your home. The only way you do that is to not have to pay the government for the right to keep it. And in Indiana, if you don't pay your property taxes, they take your property. That's asset forfeiture, and I believe that it's criminal that government makes you pay them for the right to keep your property.

(Rainwater advocated further for eliminating the vehicle excise tax, the tax on utilities, and the gas tax.)

We need better government, not bigger government. We need better government for all Hoosiers. And the majority of Hoosiers are being ignored, and the way we help the majority of Hoosiers is we stop taxing them to death.

Q: Donald Trump looms large in today’s politics. What’s your posture toward him?

A: My personal opinion is that there are things that he did that I thought were very good during his term in office. There are things, like raising the deficit, that I didn't like. From a personal level, there are things that he does and says that I don't necessarily agree with. But I think that there are a lot of presidents that we've had, that were probably, in private, just as disagreeable as some people feel he is in public.

Q: Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen from him?

A: No, no more than any other election has ever been stolen. I believe that there are issues with how we conduct elections in most every state. Anytime you have two political parties that control the way that elections are conducted, that limits access by other political entities. As a matter of fact, after I got to almost 12% of the vote in 2020, a member of the Republican legislature tried to submit legislation to further restrict Libertarians' ability to run a statewide campaign. This is a problem. We do not have across-the-board equality when we have two parties that control things.

Q: Where do you stand on Indiana’s new abortion law and what changes to it would you support?

A: I would have to look at the changes and and consider them carefully. I am a pro-life Libertarian. I believe that the American College of Pediatrics, I believe it was in 2017, issued their opinion, saying that at conception, new DNA is created. I believe that we in this country believe in the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life, if it is new DNA, scientifically, would then start at conception. And if we are going to protect life, then we should protect it from its beginning.

Q: So you support the new law?

A: For the most part, yes. I believe that there are good-faith arguments for differences of opinion. And I believe that those things should be discussed and debated both in the legislature and in the courts.

Q: Gun violence is an epidemic in today’s American society. How should Indiana respond?

A: Violence is the problem. I think when we restrict it to the words "gun violence," we are saying that we have a problem with guns. We don't have a problem with guns; we have a problem with people. We have a problem with people, first of all, having a lack of hope. Much of the violence that we see is either people trying to carve out a life for themselves where they don't see any hope, so they feel like they have to resort to violence to do it. And I think we also have a society where we encourage violence as a solution if you don't like the way things are going. I think we need to do a better job of providing people with hope. First of all, this goes back to the taxation discussion. When people can't afford their groceries, when somebody can't get a job that pays their bills because we're shutting down the economy ― unless it's for one of these high-paying technical jobs ― when we're shoving every high school student in the college, whether they need to go to college or not.

Part of the violence that we have is due to the black market drug trade. If we decriminalized and legalized cannabis and allowed people who today are using it as a black market means of making money to actually be a business owner, maybe we could cut down on some of the violence. Here again, the gun is not the problem.

Q: The 2023 legislative session dealt with culture war topics such as LGBTQ issues and school library books. Where do you stand on those issues?

A: I believe that this country was founded on the concept that you should be able to pursue your destiny without government infringing upon your rights. Now, that also means that you're going to be able to do things, as long as you don't infringe on someone else's rights, that people may not agree with. That's OK. If you allow government to infringe on someone else's rights, you are giving them the ability in the future to infringe on yours. Parents have been given the responsibility by the creator to take care of their children. Now, in the case of abuse or neglect, then government should step in. But that should be a very well-guarded intervention. I believe that our legislature in the state of Indiana has decided they'll be the parents. And I disagree with that.

So most of what was done in the last legislature, I would say was too heavy handed. But I also believe that we live in a time when everybody wants to use Thor's hammer, and government is not supposed to be Thor's hammer. Government is supposed to be Captain America's shield. Every once in a while, he throws it, but he throws it in defense. It is a defensive weapon. And government should be there to defend our individual rights and not much else.

Q: Should citizens have a right to collect signatures to put questions on the ballot without legislative approval?

A: First of all, I would say that if we believe that government is of, by and for the people, then the people already have that right. The government is just infringing on it in the state of Indiana by not allowing it. I believe we should have recall. I believe we should have ballot initiatives. I believe we should have referendums. And I believe that we should encourage participation.

Term limits is another thing. When I become governor of the state of Indiana in January of 2025, I'm going to go to the legislature and ask them to make sure that the term limits that are currently imposed on the governor's office are imposed on all statewide offices and on the members of the legislature.

Q: Why should Hoosiers choose a different party for leadership?

A: Because Hoosiers should choose a person to serve. I don't want to lead the state of Indiana; I want to serve the state of Indiana. I think when we elect leaders, we make a huge mistake. Because for you to be able, as a voter, as a citizen, to pursue your destiny, you need to be your own leader.

You don't need somebody telling you, here's what you need to study in school. We're gonna create a program where, if you go to the school we tell you to, and you study the program we tell you to, we'll pay for your school. But if you do what you wanna do, we won't. That, to me, should be offensive to every citizen of the state of Indiana. That is basically manipulation.

I don't want a government that manipulates me. I want a government that respects and safeguards my rights. And I can guarantee the voters of the state of Indiana that the only candidate running who truly wants to safeguard the right of the individual citizen is Donald Rainwater. The other candidates are bought and paid for by somebody.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.