IamA No-Name Candidate For President, AMA!

Any reason you decided to run for president instead of another, probably far easier to win, position in smaller scale politics?

Or was it just because you're turning 35 and it's an election year?

I'm hoping to have some very small influence on the national debate. I realize how unrealistic that sounds.

Do you have any political experience professionally? It's a lot more difficult and intricate than most people think.

I ran for president in 6th grade and lost to someone who promised more recess time. Apparently making promises you can't deliver on is universal.

Why do you believe you are qualified to lead our country?

I believe the process to get elected often leaves us with people who are uniquely unqualified - they're too beholden to special interests because if they lose their biggest donors, they lose their job.

I believe in gun rights, but I'm not running to be President of the NRA. So I can say that background checks are a good idea.

I'm not running to be President of the AFL-CIO. I can say that I support unions and encourage people to join them - but that they shouldn't be forced to.

I'm not running to be President of the Koch brothers, so I can say that I believe the wealthy should be able to enjoy their success, but I don't believe that passing billions of dollars down through generations to people who didn't earn it is good for our country.

I'm not running to be President of Wall St., so I can say that a few bad actors doesn't mean all rich people are evil - but the ones that are, the ones who broke the law, should be in jail.

I believe the wealthy should be able to enjoy their success, but I don't believe that passing billions of dollars down through generations to people who didn't earn it is good for our country.

What about passing millions of dollars, or thousands? Just wondering where you draw the line (a quick google search says the IRS puts the line at around $5M).

I'm concerned about extreme hereditary wealth. It would not apply to the vast majority of inheritors.

Would you rather fight 100 Bernie Sanders-sized Donald Trumps, or 100 Donald Trump-sized Bernie Sanderses?

Do I get anyone on my team? I mean I'm spry and all but it's gotta be fair.

Are you more conservative or more liberal? What are your views on abortion, equal rights, and military. I want to know what your political stances are. Also do you honestly believe you can get elected.

Like most people, it would depend on the issue.

I believe we spend too much on our military. We spend billions on wasteful programs and pork barrel projects that often even our military leaders don't want. We can have a stronger military if we cut the fat.

One place where I wouldn't cut is veterans' benefits. We need to take care of those who've served.

Abortion - We could all argue till we're blue in the face on this one, and as a nation we have. I'm pro-life, but it's not a position I'd force on others. The one exception is partial-birth abortion which I'm firmly against in any situation besides the health of the mother.

Equal rights - It's 2015. I think it's shameful this is still and issue.

Regardless of whether not I can win, I'm hoping to at least have an impact on the discussion.

What do you do as a job now? How will your experience with this job help you as president?

I mostly do paid search (Google, Bing ads) for other companies. I started in this line of work back in 2007, just before the crash. I was working for a startup that had managed to raise $300,000,000 in venture capital, and managed to blow through all of it in just a few years. There was no accountability to shareholders and, even though it was public, they got away with sloppy accounting (that's being generous) that overstated revenue by tens of millions of dollars.

A lot of people lost their livelihoods over it. While I support business and am against unnecessary regulation, this experience taught me that the enforcement mechanisms the SEC has for public companies needs strengthening. It's not a free market if the information being provided to large and small investors is false.

how much did it cost you?

The FEC paperwork is free to file, takes 30 seconds online.

If elected, what would be your first priority as president?

Tax reform. It's a mess and we need to start over.

What is your political stance on what kind of bears are best?

So people say black bears, but that's debatable.

Do you plan on updating your profile photo to one where you're smiling, instead of looking like you just lost the Super Bowl in overtime?

Probably not a bad idea.

What is your plan to get on the ballots of a sufficient number of states to make your candidacy viable?

If you win the nomination from a major party I'd be on the ballot in all 50 states. Of course that's an "if."

If you did become president, what steps would you take to get support for your ideas in congress?

Unfortunately Congress these days is less interested in compromise and seems to be focused on waiting for one side to take power long enough to force through an agenda.

It doesn't help when everyone running for President is pushing the ideas of only one side - when your guy or girl wins, you believe you have a mandate to decide everything. I believe if a President runs on a platform of coming together on the issues we all agree on, it puts pressure on both sides to come to the table. I know that sounds naive but we haven't tried it yet.

Who's the greatest president we ever had? Living or dead.

That's a tough one, but I will say I'm a fan of Teddy Roosevelt.

""All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong any one, and do not let him be wronged."

Throw in a [and woman] and that's pretty much what I believe.

What is your favorite movie?

Hook. I don't care what Spielberg says abut it.

How do you feel about the recent conflict between the public and police/ the "Black Lives Matter" movement?

Black lives do matter, and the police are there to serve citizens, not to kill them. Too often that authority is abused, too often an innocent person pays the price, and too often it's a person of color.

I'm in favor of body cameras for all officers, as both a protection for the public and the police themselves - because police lives matter, too, and a cop shouldn't have their career ruined (or worse) in cases of legitimate self defense.

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Depends on his platform, I suppose

First of all, i genuinely think that doing an ama is a great use of the new media to get your word out there and I'd pay attention to your campaign, if I wasn't non-American. Then, the question, I totally agree with you that the way to solve the welfare issues is to actually create jobs, but do you have any actual proposal regarding to this? Any strategy? (I'm asking because frankly, my country needs solutions and I'm taking every good idea I get to maybe help create a new political platform)

Which country? I proposed a trillion dollar infrastructure project that would create jobs now. But long term I believe the private sector is a better producer of jobs and I want to let businesses who play by the rules keep more of their money to reinvest, grow and hire.

What's your opinion on the current Health Care system and what's your ideal solution for making it better?

I think Obamacare was a give-away to insurance companies and I would repeal it - but only if it was replaced with a plan that didn't kick people off their new insurance policies. I don't think that's likely, so rather than try to score political points by shouting about it, I want to see what we can do for the millions of Americans who still don't have insurance. Specifically, I believe non-insured patients should be given the same price for treatment as the insurance companies who are able to negotiate hefty discounts.

What are your thoughts on thorium power alternatives? http://energyfromthorium.com/

While I think eventually all our energy should come from clean renewables, in the meantime if nuclear power can be done safely I believe it's better than burning fossil fuels.

Would you debate Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton?

If given the chance I'd love to.

would you support new legislation that further restricts ownership and/or use of currently available legal weapons? (ignoring futuristic weapons like LASER, electromagnetic, acoustic, microwave, etc).

No, I strongly support the second amendment. As I noted on another comment, I do think background checks to make sure criminals aren't buying guns is a common sense measure.

Do you like Finland?

I've never been, but Reddit tells me it's beautiful.

Isn't it a theoretical impossibility for a third party candidate to win an election after considering the electoral college? Why would I vote for you, versus voting for the least repugnant major party candidate?

My campaign slogan is actually 'Least repugnant major party candidate!'

In all seriousness, I am running as a Republican. At heart, I believe in lower taxes and less government control. In practice, I believe any ideology that makes you argue for letting people go hungry or die of preventable diseases because they can't afford to pay for it is not an ideology to follow blindly.

Edit: I'm not implying that's a plank of the Republican party but pointing out there are times when the desire for less government (which I generally support) conflicts with helping those who need it most.

I recently watched your video on YouTube and believe that you are exactly what this country needs. My question is what can your supporters do to help you and your platform gain more exposure?

Thank you for spending part of your day here with us, Mr. Oliverez!

Thanks for the support! Still working on the website, but if you go to EstebanOliverez.com you can volunteer or donate to the campaign. Of course just sharing the video and getting the word out helps immensely.

What are the fees involved in declaring yourself a candidate, and how are you paying it? From your personal money, donations, bake sale?

The FEC paperwork is free to file, takes 30 seconds online.

If elected how would you go about filling appointed positions to accomplish your goal?

How would you get past the bottleneck the government has worked itself into?

How would you change the current system to allow more people like yourself to get into government?

I don't have a team picked out, but I do think it's important we stop appointing lobbyists from specific industries to positions where they oversee those same industries.

A lot of the bottleneck is because nobody is willing to compromise, even if it gets them what they want longterm.

I'd like us to get back to publicly funded campaigns to stop the crazy campaign spending.

What is your stance on the Iran Deal?

I think it's weak and gives too much to the Iranians, and I believe it's a fair criticism that it left Americans rotting in Iranian jails.

That said, I do not think war would have been a better alternative and we'll have to be vigilant to make sure Iran holds up its end.

Why are you reading from teleprompter? It feels so untrustworthy.

Can't you do a good speech without it?

I used my laptop as a teleprompter. If I knew more people were going to watch it I would have memorized it - and probably found someone to do the sound and lighting.

If you become president and find out the Illuminati exists and will kill you if you go against their will, what will be the safe-word for redditors to pull you out of there and start a revolution?

When being sworn in I will cough twice. Then you'll know.

We're any of your relatives interested in politics?

I had an uncle who was mayor of a town in Michigan and my grandfather worked in the White House in the 70's.

Do you think yourself that you look like a president or just roadside romeo?!

I think I have much better hair than Trump.

What are your thoughts on tony Blair? Your political stance reminds me of him

I like that he was able to adjust and not stick to party ideals that weren't working. Overall he was too hawkish internationally.

What is your favorite dinosaur?

As of this year, Brontosaurus

How will you fix this shit?

Which part in particular?

Not sure if you would be interested in this idea? I realize this country is in trouble. I came up with a new idea called W.I.P. (work incentive program) The idea is to give a reason to the people to get out and get to work also increase cash flow movement which creates more jobs and decreases the real number of unemployed or underemployed. Unfortunately I am not old enough or I would be running.

How would it work? Have you looked at the Earned Income Credit?