Tell us about yourself and why you feel you're a good candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives?
“My name is Stefanos Freeman. I was born in Springfield at St. John's, which we now know as Mercy. I've worked a lot of the jobs that people didn't really want to have in the area, in the factories and in the schools and in rehab. So, I’ve got a general idea of what's going on with the district itself. A lot of folks, they're not exactly doing well. Generally speaking, one thing that's not really representative of the district is I actually do have a college education. But like a lot of folks nowadays, the college education doesn't really bode well as far as necessarily getting the job that you want. That being said, I think that really gives me a unique perspective that is not really there in Jeff City right now. And so, what's going on right now is, basically everybody represents some big organization. And so, the interest of these organizations get put on the forefront instead of what actually is material to the people themselves in the district."
Which issues are most important to you and why?
“I'd say probably the most important issue, well, for most folks in the area, other than the general economy, is the homeless situation. In that particular case, I think what we really have is what I'd call a homeless industrial complex. Either the government or the nonprofits or other organizations that are out there, they're all basically incentivized through state money to just get more and more people here so that we don't even know if a program actually works because it's a rotating system. And so, the people who are actually here can kind of get thrown in the cracks, or either way, it wouldn't really matter because the organization gets more funding by getting more bodies. And so what we need to have is some sort of residency requirement. That way, it's actually manageable. I mean, it could be anything from having a family that has a utility bill in there sometime in the last three years, something that just stems the tide, because we just get a lot of coastal homeless folks from larger cities. And so, we don't even know if things are going to work here. So that's one big issue. Now, that being said, we also have issues with not enough technical skills. I mean, people think that they're all going to be influencers or something real abstract and have jobs where they're just pushing papers around instead of actually doing something's material. Like vo-tech for the kids, because we do have upper-level technical schools, but it's going to cost you thousands of dollars just to figure out if you like that. And so, I mean, if you want to try lots of different trades, then you don't really have that opportunity. And so it'd be good to actually work with the community and work with one another to actually make sure that we can have in the schools more technical and financial abilities, because quite frankly, right now it's writing checks and doing an employment...application and that's about it.”
Why did you decide to run for office?
"Well, OK, first of all, I heard all of the nonsense being spoken. I actually recently wrote a book about this called ‘Politicians Wear No Clothes.’ Basically, what we have right now is a situation where all our political discourse is thrown into an echo chamber, so you don't have to control people by just controlling one on the individual level because you control them in a group level by funneling them into either Republican or Democrat and then making sure Democrats and Republicans all think alike. And that's just not a person's reality. That's not what I see every day. Granted, I do hear people talking on some of the talking points they hear, but you usually can tell because it's almost word for word what you just heard on the radio or just seen on TV. And so, it gets to be one of those things where you just hear the same thing. Like my question, 'how is funding and supporting a bureaucracy the same thing as defending democracy?' Now, I can make an argument that maybe there's something to that, but it's just those things aren't being brought up. Everything's just dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. And that's just simply not something that I think we can afford. Actually, I mean, back to what I was saying before about technical skills and getting people motivated to actually do something. I mean, we have the stick. Life gives you the stick. We don't have enough carrots getting people to do something that they're doing that gives them self-agency where they're actually part of it, which was actually the thing they want to do. And I unless — I mean, we have a population collapse. We have too few young people that actually have something to look forward to in life. And so, with China getting bigger, our economy getting worse, our federal deficit, all that, we need to be just getting in gear, and we don’t have time to mess around. The stick doesn't work.”
What do you think makes your district unique? And how would you represent that in Jeff City?
“Well, actually, I mean, I don't really, as far as the state's side, I didn't have to...well, OK. I was told that it's the most transitory district in the entire state. Now, I had to be told that because I didn't know that. I didn’t know people move in and out, but I've not been everywhere in the state. So, what's really unique is that it is transitory. I mean, walking door to door, almost, particularly a couple of years ago, it almost feels like we were in a refugee zone. I mean, we had people from all over just abandoning these major cities, coming here to just try to survive because all the problems that they have in these bigger cities that were big city politics just does not bode well, and it's kind of destroyed people's lives. And so they're just coming here trying to, you know, make it best that they can. And so our district is basically, I mean it's basically, long story short, about Norton to Grand to National to Kansas Expressway, some nooks and crannies, my own being among those, it's a little outside of it, but it's basically historical Springfield, what's always been Springfield. Well, minus the north/south split they had years ago. So, it's always been the area of historic Springfield. It's the area that they're trying to revitalize it. I mean, I see what they're trying to do with downtown area, for instance, the Springfield plan they have. And I mean, it's basically trying to turn it. I mean, Bricktown tells you right there, (editor’s note for clarification: Mr. Freeman is comparing Missouri State University’s ‘Brick City’ branding in downtown Springfield and the ‘Bricktown’ district in Oklahoma City) they're trying to turn it into what they've done to downtown Oklahoma City. They're trying to turn it to the Landing in St. Louis or Westport in Kansas City. So, I see what they're trying to do, and I understand how there could be some benefits with that. So, that doesn't really fit in really necessarily with what people are wanting to do as far as their individual stuff, because what they try to do is push people out, like the Halloween place (Hotel of Terror) and try to push them out of business to adhere to what they see as what their vision is. And sure, they have a few focus groups where they, you know, try to get out to the community and see what they want. But it's really kind of a top-down approach, and we need more of a bottom-up approach.”
Running for office as a state lawmaker opens you up for scrutiny and criticism. Do you feel that the personal costs for you and your family are worth it and why?
“Yeah. Running for office destroys your finances. Myself, I was bit by a dog. I tore my tendon in my foot. I'm still feeling the pain from that. I, you know, and I was laid up. That's when I wrote the book, because I was laid up because I couldn't walk nowhere. Because I had a ruptured peroneal tendon in my foot. I mean, it is taxing, but it gives you something to look forward to, because I do see the look of people's faces and what they say. And I mean, you'll find surprises all the time, like we're not as divided as you might think we are. I mean, people who moved from other countries and young Black men are actually some of the best interactions I have, which you wouldn't typically think would be a Republican’s situation. And that's just not right now. That's how it was a couple of years ago. So what I'm trying to say is you don't really know exactly what's going on in someone's heart and what's going on in their minds. People act differently, and you can see how much better people can be off. And, you know, we all need something to look forward to. I mean, a lot of people, they run for office, and they become the worst. I find, running for office, you become better.”
How productive do you feel the Missouri legislative sessions have been in the past few years? And what, if anything, would improve the productivity and effectiveness?
“The number one thing that would probably help with the effectiveness? Well, we need to get back to actually doing the Constitution where we have single issue bills. I mean, I'm not as strong as some people might want to be on that because no one's actually doing it at all. So I do believe there has to be a balance where, say, if everybody, you know, Republicans always talk about small government. But at a certain point, certain corporations, particularly international ones, become a governing body in and of themselves, or certain trade unions become a governing body of themselves. And so, especially in recent years, we can see that a lot of times, just because it's not certified U.S. Government document, it still has an effect on everybody's life in a way that, you know, people don’t really have a say. So, I mean, I would like to see more open discussions where people actually see transparency so they can see who's voting for things, because really, I mean, I talk about the people in the street not being divided. Oh my. The politicians up in Jeff City aren't divided at all. I mean, except for a few fringe areas where say, it caters to the group that gives them money on a couple of issues like say, maybe some teachers' issues or a few things like that. They agree on almost every single thing that passes. It's actually, you ought to look, it's actually the U.S. House website, you go to the third ran and then you look through and you scroll down and find perfected. You click on that and then it'll show you the bill, and you can go over there, and you go back to that page, and you click on there and show you what the votes are. It's almost always unanimous. If they're not voting for it, they're voting absent. They're just not there. I mean, it's actually it's astounding when you look at it. And quite frankly, it's the same people voting for the stuff they pretend like they don't want. I mean, it's not a coincidence that Medicaid's ran by a private corporation, OK?”
To conclude. What's something you'd like to share with voters, something about you that most people don't know.
“Well, that's like asking the meaning of life, I mean. Well, I'm ambidextrous, so, yeah, there's that. Well, you know, I've spent my whole life, like I said, I've been here. I've kind of, I'm one of those folks that no matter what I'm doing, I'm always thinking about other things. Like I said, I did write a book about all this stuff because I do see all the nonsense that's going on there. I try to put everything together so it can, so you can see it as a whole. Now, when I look at things, I don't necessarily look at just what's going on right there. I mean, I understand this is more of a personal question of what's going on in my personal life. I'm a single father. So that, I mean, especially in my district, single parenthood is a big thing. Quite frankly, it's astounding how many fathers are now the ones that are sole raiser of their child, and how many grandparents are the ones raising their grandkids. I mean, we just need a lot more, you know, incentives. You know, as far as helping people out there. I have all kinds of hobbies. I wood carve, I paint pet pictures. I mean, ironically enough, this is actually kind of funny because I started doing drawing again and playing guitar and things like that recently because I actually, I've been cultivating these things in my daughter, and she called me out and said, 'hey, you do it.' So, I'm doing it. And like, there's things I hadn't done in years that now do better than I. I mean, I don't know how you could not do something in years and get better at it, but, I mean, that's just from a personal perspective.”
I appreciate you being with us. Thanks again. That was Stephanos Freeman, Republican candidate for Missouri House District 132.