Everyone knows our government is broken but nobody feels like they can do anything about it.

Even the most loyal Republicans and Democrats probably agree that our greatest challenges won’t be solved simply by electing more of their own party to Congress. Instead, we need some fundamental reforms to change the way our government works.

Stop money in politics at its source

If my small surgical clinic in Coralville went under, I don’t think the federal government would be there to bail me out. Yet we see time and time again that big companies get special tax breaks, regulations, and subsidies to protect them from competition.

Part of the reason so many incumbents are re-elected is because their campaigns are powered by huge donations from special interests that benefit from this vicious cycle. We should address this problem at its root – by banning corporate handouts, we’ll immediately make it less profitable for corporations to buy members of Congress.

Replace career politicians

Incumbent members of Congress have enormous fundraising power, allowing many of them to win re-election over and over for decades. Today, the 10 most senior members of Congress have served a combined 418 years in Congress.

Americans would be much better-served by citizen-legislators who serve for shorter periods, rather than career politicians who become too cozy with Washington special interests. Americans overwhelmingly support term limits for federal politicians – not only will I fight to make that happen, I vow to self-impose a limit of 5 terms.

Empower independent voters

I am running for Congress as a Republican because I believe in our party’s founding principles – limited government, individual liberty, and equality before the law. Yet it’s still clear to me that third-party and independent candidates face unfair disadvantages compared to Democrats and Republicans. And the 2016 election cycle highlighted several flaws in the presidential nominating process.

In politics as in economics, I believe competition produces better results. I’ll lead the charge to replace the Commission on Presidential Debates, as well as work with leaders in all 50 states to reform ballot-access laws and nominating processes.