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Justin Brady: From the Jethro’s Barbecue Studio, I am Justin Brady. It is that time, it’s time to run for Congress. Everybody and people are throwing their hats in because Randy Feenstra, of course, representative from Iowa’s fourth district. People are throwing their hats in’cause he may consider a governor run. And we’re seeing a theme already. We’re seeing a theme of people wearing Jesus on their sleeve and openly talking about the church’s impact on this country. We’re seeing this theme. We saw it from Adam Steen, who’s running for governor. and You’re gonna see it again today as well. Christian Schlaefer, the candidate for the US House of Representatives. Iowa’s fourth district joins us in the studio. Christian, thanks for coming in.

Christian Schlaefer: Thanks for having me here. I appreciate

Justin Brady: I appreciate really appreciate it. Really quick before we get started. Cool, cool deal from Jethro’s. We, of course, just like fricking love Jethro’s around here. We have a giant Jethro in here. If you ever wanna come by the studio, get a picture. You should do that. Go to Iowapodcast.com and you’ll get a $30 gift card for free. All you need to do is buy a hundred dollars gift card, and they’ll just throw in a $30 gift card for you, I think. that’s pretty cool. So Go to Iowapodcast.com. Scroll to the top to get that deal. Like I said, of course representative Feenstra may be running for governor, and you may be taking that spot. I know some people have thrown their hat in, but here’s what’s so interesting about this is I feel like in the past people put their faith they, they didn’t hide it, but they’d be like, yeah, this is my faith, but it’s separate. And how I would go, And how it would govern is over here. My faith is over here. You’re not doing that at all. You’re, very clear that you would do, I think what you call, correct me if I’m wrong, faith-based governance. Let’s start there. Tell me about what that would be.

Christian Schlaefer: I think it’s interesting you have that perspective, that this is novel in some way. it’s not novel, right? Yes. Faith-based governments leadership through faith, right? I use this tagline, main Street and the church, the two pillars of restoring what I think are American values, but there’s nothing novel. About that? Yes, maybe historically some politicians cowed away from actually talking about it openly, which I think is a mistake. But this nation is a Christian nation. It was founded as a Christian nation. Those who founded it are Christian. And the general structure of this nation is one based on Christian morality and Christian law. So I don’t at all think it’s radical to say that, my faith is my primary guiding force, and that as I go, exploring, getting into government here. Into politics that my primary driver is faith, right? Because ultimately politicians, what they should do is be acting in a moral sense that’s good for their nation and their people. And if you’re a Christian and a person of faith, then your morality is inherently based in that faith. That’s an. Unescapable truth, so I, yeah, I don’t think that’s novel at all. Maybe yes, you are seeing people talk more openly about it, and perhaps that’s a reflection of a sense that our society is trending away from that faith, and we see that as a mistake. And so people feel the need to talk about that more openly. But I definitely don’t think it’s something that’s novel.

Justin Brady: Yeah, You, so you’re, it’s just people are being more open and direct with it now. And maybe before they were talking about just straight up policy. And now they’re like, okay, yeah, policy’s definitely important, but here’s who I am. I’m going to re, I’m going to lead with faith-based government governance. Take it or leave it. This is, People are being more open with it now.

Christian Schlaefer: I think that’s the case. And I think, yeah, I think it is a reaction to a society that has got away from that and a feeling that these things are intrinsically linked, right? Main Street and the church, this is governance, and then this is faith or faith, which leading towards moral principles, right? These things go hand in hand. You can’t have a nation where you are. Policies exist, but those policies are removed from a morality behind them because then what are those policies, right? What’s driving them? Is it just, richest guy gets richest, right? That’s a policy that has no morality behind it, that doesn’t help a people. and I think you see a lot of things in society. I think you’ve seen, probably broach this topic because it’s unavoidable the recent week that we’ve had here in the United States and many of these tragic incidents. And I think all these things are a reflection of a nation that is. Stepped away from its faith, from its moral baseline. And we see the result of many of that thing, many of those things now.

Justin Brady: Yeah. And of course you’re talking about the murder of Charlie Kirk. I am. which we’ve been very clear on this show. I can’t, honestly, Christian, I can’t believe we’re in a time where we need to be clear that it was wrong. I, I don’t, I didn’t, I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect this at all. I come from the we disagree strongly mindset, but. in. But people are openly celebrating the killing of someone who is just talking about their viewpoints. I will say people are celebrating the killing of someone who had Christian viewpoints, and who talked openly about Jesus all the time. How does this impact someone like you who is also very open about your faith? Does this scare you at all? Does this, how does this impact you and your family?

Christian Schlaefer: it’s very heavy for the, this last week I announced a week ago, and this happened shortly after that. And it has since then been pretty much all that constituents come up to me and talk to me about really what this is, what this means of all ages and all demographics, how it got to be here and an awakening, and you cannot. Overemphasize what this will mean for the future of the United States. Things are different now. There’s a fundamental shift in what’s happened. And you said something there, your exact words there that you were surprised that thing that this happened. how old are you?

Justin Brady: I’m 42.

Christian Schlaefer: so you’re a little bit older, This is probably a reflection because me, my demographic, my age, I don’t think anybody’s surprised. I think there’s a reason that you see younger individuals voting more conservative these days, right? Unprecedented that young men especially are voting conservative. How has that happened? They live in a different world. In a different reality. A reality where their faith, where their identity as Americans, as American males as. White American males, you might even say, is under attack every single day. And they are not surprised. They see this vitriol targeted at them. I saw this in college. I have been the, on the receiving end of incidences of violence many times throughout my life. Absolutely. And. I’ve not been in politics before.

Justin Brady: faith and or for your political views.

Christian Schlaefer: political views. But again, those being politics and faith being, inextricably linked, I think people see through it. You say we’re wearing in our sleeve, but I think many people place that association even if you’re not open about it. And no, I’m not surprised this happened. And I can paint for you. Exactly how it got to be here, especially in these particular cases. and I gotta say, like I, I said it here as we walked in, I feel like, walking into Lion’s den a little bit, right? I, I’m gonna say some stuff here, but as I walk through the door, there’s this, we stand with, transgender issues, sign on the door downstairs As I come in and I think

Justin Brady: we’ll clarify that. Here in just a second. but Continue with what you’re saying.

Christian Schlaefer: And I think what I’m gonna say, and I hope what I’m gonna say, you won’t find it as necessary contrary to that idea, right? But that the media and these elements have led us to where we are. They have created a sense where Trump is Hitler, where groups like transgenders are under life and death threat from the right. I think that’s totally unfounded. I don’t think anybody on the right is promoting that. Especially not Charlie Kirk. If you ever listen to what he talks about. These are individuals who already are struggling with something very serious, a very serious dysmorphia about who they are. And they are being told by the media, by an ideological element that they’re under attack, that Christians, that conservatives are coming for them, that we want to harm them, and they’re told explicitly to militarize for their own defense to become angry, to lash out. And then this is the logical conclusion of that action. I, don’t think that’s surprising to anybody. That is transparent about the fact that’s been going on. and I think you will continue to see that you’ve, Charlie Kirk is not the only kind of interrelated act of violence that’s happened recently. We’ve had a number of shootings. There was a shooting in Minneapolis. There’s other school shootings that have happened recently. And no, those aren’t the only incidents of violence in the United States. I’m not pretending that, but these things all do carry a common theme. Yeah. And. It’s simply false conservatives, Christian conservatives, we feel very heavily for these individuals, right? I want every transgender person to feel happy and comfortable in who they are, but we have to face realities, right? And I think those realities are that there are. Two genders. There is man and there is woman. And that if you’re born a man, you are gonna be a man. yes you can. they use the term like pass. perhaps you can do things to your body to begin to pass as not a man, but intrinsically, factually, you are born a man. You are a man. your DNA is always gonna say you’re a man. That doesn’t mean we hate you. That doesn’t mean we want to harm you. That means we think that what’s happening, and maybe even the encouragement. Of, you going down that path is wrong, right? In, in many ways, I think these individuals are victims of a society who’s playing into an, a, mental wellness issue that they have. And I think the solution is, quite the opposite. It is to address these people, to try to help them, to see them be comfortable in who they are and who they were born as.

Justin Brady: And

Christian Schlaefer: When you do the exact opposite, when you feed into that, when you feed into that and then tell them, oh, by the way, you’re also in mortal peril because of these people. I don’t think you get to play, pretend that you aren’t part of the problem that caused

Justin Brady: violence. Yeah. So to summarize what you say is absolutely true because a lot of people, and this is what I hear, is that, Christians and conservatives once you dead. They want this thing. And if you actually look at what. People like Charlie Kirk, and even what you just said right here, which is I don’t agree with this at all. I don’t agree with your lifestyle at all. I don’t agree with your understanding of reality at all. That being said, you deserve love and acceptance and you that I’m. I’m maybe summarizing it the wrong way, but you deserve love. we still love you. And so I think that’s the nuance that a lot of people have lost is when we disagree, that means we hate you. And you’re saying No disagreement is disagreement. I can still love and appreciate you as a human being with dignity. Am I summarizing this right?

Christian Schlaefer: right? I think that’s accurate. I think there is a lens that we need to. Stop many of these things, right? Especially things targeting children, puberty blockers, gender reassignment surgeries. I think these things are moral crimes. They’re not moral crimes necessarily that, is a 12-year-old who goes through that process liable for that moral crime. No. Do I have, do I hate that 12-year-old for doing that? No.

Justin Brady: right. systems

Christian Schlaefer: that encourage that, the systems that facilitate that, the doctors who would, dare. To, do a surgery like that, to mutilate a child. That individual, I think has done something wrong. That individual. I think we need governance, and policy to stop that type of

Justin Brady: stuff. Yeah.

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah. no, there’s no hatred towards the individual. no. Transgender is ever in danger because of my politics. maybe they’re, and of course they’ll make this argument that, you know, by not getting this gender affirming care. not doing this thing that, that we are harming them, that, we’re not feeling to, and I’m, sorry, but I simply don’t buy that you’ll,

Justin Brady: it’s not true.

Christian Schlaefer: hear a metaphor a lot that, you know this, like if you, see a drug addict, you don’t encourage them to become a drug addict. If you see someone with anorexia or if you want, power lifters, they often suffer from big auryxia, right? I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that term

Justin Brady: No, I’ve never heard that.

Christian Schlaefer: they basically look at themselves in the mirror and an anorexic thinks they’re fat, they think they’re skinny, even though these guys are like massive, it’s a serious mental condition, right? But it’s a body dysmorphia, right? Where there’s many lenses on it. And in none of these other cases, do we go to an individual and say, you know what? You’re right. And not only are you so right, you need to take drugs or do really incredible surgeries to your body in order to rectify this. No, I don’t agree with that. I think it’s wrong. And I think the elements that encourage that are doing something incredibly amoral in our society and the fact that. Any, other conservative politicians right now have sit around and allow this stuff to continue at a national level and have for the last decade. I think that there’s a severe failure of Republican leadership and as I run here, you’ll hear a theme from you all the time, which is, we need resolution to actually get things done. We, we are under a moral imperative, right? And that’s maybe that faith, guidance there. Every day that you sit around and some child has, a surgery done on it or goes on puberty blockers that their bone density never reaches a normal healthy level, by the time that, they’ve been on it for a decade and they’re coming out to being adult. If you are sitting around and allowing that to happen when you have the capacity to pass legislation to stop it, I think you are complicit in that.

Justin Brady: Absolutely Wow. And you think history won’t look well on even Republican legislators who let this happen?

Christian Schlaefer: I think it won’t look well on anybody who lets this type of stuff happen. And look at Europe, look at these other countries, right? Many of these other countries started off a little bit softer and have already placed. policy restrictions against this stuff. And most European states, even the most liberal European states, they do not allow many of these procedures, to be done against children anymore, including things like puberty, block blockers, because the medical science demonstrates very clearly that there are acute, long-term bone density, organ development, neurological development issues that are associated with these things. So

Justin Brady: a note on the trans, We support Trans Iowans poster. For those that don’t know, our studio is hosted within Gravitate. and Gravitate is a separate entity and we have zero control over what they put on their front glass. And so obviously appreciate you coming in here, but anybody who comes in here, their views are welcome. We don’t have any political or affiliation signage within our studio, at all, but we can’t control that at all. just for clarification purposes. but I hear where you’re coming from and What you’re basically saying is, I come from a viewpoint where God made man, and made woman. by the way, I have a Bible major for those that don’t know, and you are saying the way God made you now is a beautiful thing. You don’t need to listen to people around you. Telling yourself to inject yourself with things or change something on the outside. The way God made you right now is a beautiful thing and we accept you exactly the way you are as God made you nothing. needs to Change in order for us. to accept you. Fair assessment

Christian Schlaefer: that’s right. And that these individuals should work hard to find acceptance for

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm.

Christian Schlaefer: and this, and maybe not to that degree, right? But everybody is faced with some level of identity crisis like that. And I think maybe as older individuals, older politicians, or maybe there’s, are disingenuous about it. They forget what it was like to grow up and, maybe especially growing up in the age of the internet where you’re influenced all these things, but it is sometimes difficult to, find your place and understanding. And I think if you take a kid who is already struggling with something and you feed them this ideology, Hey, your solution isn’t, fixing all these other things in life, it’s not necessarily working hard. It’s not necessarily, working towards a particular goal. It’s not necessarily giving back to community. It’s that you have, you were born in the wrong body, This kind of absurdity that kids will latch onto that concept because in some ways it’s an easy solution or at least a solution that says, this isn’t my fault, this is a, medical condition that I have, and then I’m gonna run with that. And I think that’s very dangerous.

Justin Brady: so we obviously individuals who are trans or who identify as, trans, I don’t even know what the right terms are. frankly. but they live in a world or they have lived in a world. Where they were, I’m trying to use the right terms here. They were affirmed by their community that this is the way you should go, or if you feel like a woman. You are a woman. And so this has been their reality for a while. And now we’re at a position where individuals like Charlie Kirk, they’re individuals in the White House that say, no, we disagree with this. They’re individuals that are running for office. like yourself. and now we’ve come to a head, right? Where this new reality, or what you would argue reality is conflicting, which is why we’re seeing that aggression. I think. Now part of this you call, the woke mind virus, right? I think this is coined by Elon Musk, if I’m not right, if I’m not mistaken here, but

Christian Schlaefer: I don’t think I’ve ever used that actual term if that was written.

Justin Brady: did you? Not Maybe

Christian Schlaefer: if that was written about me. They, they borrowed that on their own, but fair enough. But fair enough. Yeah.

Justin Brady: did, yeah. Oh, say I appreciate that. but it would this all be called the. I can totally disagree if I’m, Way off here. Is this the woke mind virus? And

Christian Schlaefer: And it, look, I,

Justin Brady: that’s an unfair

Christian Schlaefer: the reason I hesitated. No, it may be a fair characterization, but the reason I hesitate on woke mind virus and this type of thing, is there’s certainly truth to that. It’s a pithy political statement. Okay. But being against the woke mind virus doesn’t stop those surgeries from happening. It doesn’t put doctors in jail who attempt to circumvent the law and continue those procedures. Running for Congress, we need to have acute policies that then translate back onto our society and saying, I’m against the woke mind virus. it may be a summarizing statement, but it doesn’t actually address the fundamental

Justin Brady: have any, it doesn’t have any, depth to it. Sure. So what would, from a legislative standpoint, is it as simple as, hey. 18 plus you can do puberty blockers. You can do whatever you want to, but it’s 18 plus. That’s the rule of the land. Is it that simple? or do you have a different vision for that?

Christian Schlaefer: I certainly think that’s a, I would say that’s a starting point. I would say Im immediately and objectively, there shouldn’t be anything when somebody is a child. Or a, an 18 isn’t actually a cutoff because if you look at scientific literature on childhood development, that hasn’t stopped at. At 18, right? You’re gonna go into your early twenties depending on male, female, depending on various things. So if our concern is partly what is the impact on the human body, irreversible impact on, again, bone, density, brain development, this type of stuff, then I think 18 is perhaps slightly arbitrary in where you’re drawing that like any other medical procedure. A doctor would normally look at you and assess the legitimacy and the need of this, the potential consequences of it, and then they’d make a medical recommendation, based upon that. So yes, I would certainly say that it, at 18, if we’re gonna draw that as the age of adult and that’s the legal basis, then that’s an absolute, but I, do think even beyond that, we should be questioning whether or not, certainly the more severe of the procedure is even has a, basis. There’s many procedures that our society. Doesn’t allow to go forward, right? We don’t let a doctor do whatever they want. They, they can’t chop off your arm, arbitrarily, right? They have to have a medical basis for the things they’re doing. Even cosmetic surgeries require a medical basis, particularly when they have an acute effect on the overall system, and they aren’t just visual in nature. so I do think there needs to be. Continued conversation beyond that, but by and large, yes. The bill that should be passed today, the bill that should would’ve passed a week ago is that children up to the age of 18 or whatever that cutoff’s gonna be, can no longer be the recipients of these type of procedures.

Justin Brady: all of this we’re discussing here within the last 10, 15 minutes, you’re basically saying this is, exact representation. Of what you were saying earlier, which is the country has pulled away from these Christian principles. It was based on, now people listening are say, everyone wasn’t Christians that formed this country. That true. However, the moral compass and the literature they used were Christian based. I think there was just a discussion with this with Ben Shapiro, who’s a Jew on Bill Maher’s show. I think, I don’t know if you saw that a few days ago, but whether you like it or not, the country was based on the Christian, the, those Christian principles And Christian sense. of morality

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah, that, that’s absolutely the case. The country was based on that, the founding philosophical literature, that guided them towards creating this nation was based upon that, right? They drew heavily from, Greek concepts of governance and partitioning of the legislative body, these type of things. But the foundations for the principles that were gonna form this nation, were all Christian based. The individuals were all with very limited exception. Christian individuals and in their personal writings wrote extensively about how this was a Christian nation and they felt very blessed to have a nation, where they could be one people and one religion, and they saw great things that they could accomplish driven by that unity.

Justin Brady: do you think this, Charlie Kirk’s murder, do you think, this moment in history, and this is by the way, not the only one, obviously there were two attempts. on, president Trump that we know of. There were of course, killings up in Minnesota. I can’t remember the legislators there, but, do you think this is a flashpoint and things are about to get worse or do you think this is a reckoning of sorts and we’re going to have maybe a revival? in this country? I, don’t honestly know which path it goes, but do you see one path or the other?

Christian Schlaefer: other? I think that people are, conservatives are very emboldened right now. I think if the intent was to get people to be silent to, to get people to be quiet, then that’s failed. No one will be quiet. That’s true. No, no one will move forward. But we have to move forward with actual policy. We have to move forward. Not with just saying things, not with just lamenting. what’s happened in these individuals, but actually translating that into acute policies, and we’ve talked at length here today about, transgenderism. It’s not just that there are many kind of moral lags and then there is a slightly more a amorphous moral issue this country faces where we just don’t feel like one people, we don’t feel like one community, In small town Iowa. And the reason I love it, and the, reason, I’m here is because we have more of that and we do feel that, but outside of these, small towns, I think it, it feels largely gone. one of Charlie Kirk, one of the last things he tweeted about was that, the country would never be the same because there was that bus stabbing that happened

Justin Brady: The Yeah. The Ukrainian Immigrant. on the Light rail system. Yeah.

Christian Schlaefer: And what we see there, it’s not just the shocking violence, the, failure of our judicial system to prosecute these individuals. The failure of us to address the foundational roots of why we have, these kind of murderous homeless populations in such high amounts these days. But also I was shocked of just by the apathy of the individuals who just watched this girl, Bleed out.

Justin Brady: something else

Christian Schlaefer: that bus. Yeah. And so when we talk about a nation of faith, your faith can’t allow you to do that. If you are a Christian and you see something like that happen, you will get involved. You, you have to get involved, right? If you truly believe in what you say, and, that is a single incident, a kind of an extreme incident, but multiply that a thousand fold, a million fold across every situation we face here in life. If we’re driven as one people with one unified concept, right? if we could define. What an American is, which I think we would really struggle to tru truly define that, oh, it’s somebody that has a US passport. Is that it? Is that what a, is that what a French person is? Or a German person? Is it somebody who holds a French passport? Or is it somebody who has been immersed in a French culture? French ideology. French religion and French understanding. Very hard to define in the United States, and I think when you have that separation, people don’t get involved. They don’t act on behalf of their community. Maybe they only act for themselves, or maybe they put up the blinders and they simply ignore these things going on. But this is an exceptional country. This country continued to be an exceptional country, but it has to be one with a people that understand each other and are willing to work for each other.

Justin Brady: You mentioned rural. you’re a farmer yourself, You’re in rural Iowa, and one of the things you’ve been advocating for is restoring rural, like restoring main street. You talk about arca, you talk about main streets that are crumbling and in disrepair. How would you do that from a legislative standpoint? Because you also talk about smaller government and not wasting money, so I would assume it doesn’t mean writing bills. That funnel more money into smaller towns in rural or does it mean That

Christian Schlaefer: it’s obviously a hard question and it’s a hard question, not because you know the, we know what the answer is, right? The answer is opening up the stores on the main street and putting businesses back there and getting people to move the small towns, right? How do you go about achieving that? And the economy is an incredibly complex, machine that requires a lot of things. That being said, I don’t necessarily think that those two ideas you just put forward are incongruent, right? Yes. We want a smaller government. We want to reduce government waste. I’ll talk a lot about. Returning to the three core principles of the government, right? So broadly, could be described as protecting our borders and protecting our nation of upholding our God-given rights, right? So not being in the way of us practicing our rights, and even beyond that, making sure that we keep our rights. And then the third one is being an efficient organization that provides a limited amount of services to the people, and does that efficiency. Fic. now obviously that’s changed over the time, right? The, those services are very different than they were, and society is very different in necessitating new services, but I do think that you can continue to slash government spending aggressively anyway, that is not benefiting the American people and especially targeting the American middle. Class while still having programs that encourage growth in small towns, right? So yes, there may be tax incentives you can use. There may be spending that’s currently being wasted right now in other areas, which, if you’re still gonna have that spending, you should focus it on small towns. You should focus it on developing the infrastructure that allows small towns to thrive. And that is very complicated. I was just speaking to, constituent here in Iowa the other day, and we were talking about rural development and some of these small towns and how, one of the big problems that they face in their area is that they don’t have a four-lane highway anywhere near them. That is pretty much a prerequisite for many large companies to open distribution centers, all of that type of stuff, right?

Justin Brady: One of the basic check boxes on those

Christian Schlaefer: If it’s not there, not within a certain radius of their location, they won’t do it because the potential disruption to their operations is too high. So as we talk about where does government going? we’re always gonna have infrastructure spending. We’re always gonna have federal dollars flowing to infrastructure. It’s gonna go through the state and be distributed. We can focus to make sure that these things are being used in a way that they open up, the way for businesses to move in. And then those businesses lead to jobs. And those jobs lead to opportunity in those small towns. That doesn’t mean we have to increase our government spending, and in fact we can continue to slash it in all the unnecessary areas at the same time. But that is, I think, a viable way forward.

Justin Brady: Last question On infrastructure and business and how government and business work together. You’re a vocal advocate. or, not Advocate, you’re a vocally against the carbon pipeline for Two reasons. that I can find. Maybe, there are more. One, you’re from Lakota.

Christian Schlaefer: I am.

Justin Brady: And I believe that’s on the pipeline route. So that’s, this is something that’s very near and dear to your heart. You’re obviously in the property rights camp where it sounds like to me. you have Issues via a property rights standpoint, but also because you’re a volunteer firefighter, you have some safety issues as well. Can you tell everybody where you stand in the pipeline and why in those two regards?

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah, so I think those are both great points. I live in Lakota. We have an ethanol plant near us, and that pipeline, we’re at the very top of that line. So we’ll be one of the very first individuals that’s impacted by the use of imminent domain. And when it comes to the pipeline, and people will come and ask me that question, what do you think about the pipeline? What do you think about carbon capture? I try to lens that in one way, what do I think about imminent domain? Because that’s the reason most people in Iowa are upset.

Justin Brady: Mm

Christian Schlaefer: I am against imminent domain. I don’t think we should be using imminent domain for this project, and certainly not at the scale that we’re using it. I think it is against kind of the basic principles of Americans and our freedoms, and I think it’s opening the floodgates to other programs in the future using vast amounts of imminent domain for things that aren’t interstates or electricity, things that benefit all of the individuals. In a region. Th I living at the top of that, our property be one of the very first ones on the list. So you’ll probably, most candidates in this race will say in different terms of strength that they are, against imminent domain at least specifically. I can say that with a little bit of resolution because I’m not just gonna be some politician, I dunno, living in Des Moines maybe. and, not actually bearing the consequence of that. If I talk about Mino domain, if Mino domain continues, if they do start showing up, armed men at our property to say, Hey, we’re digging this hole and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’ll be my property. Very top of that list. And this is a property that my wife and I moved out to a few years ago. We home, we are home setting this place ourselves, shovels in the ground, stick by stick. My wife and I have been building this property, a place to live, a place to raise our, future children. A race to a, place to have a. It would be there as part of our community. And so for somebody to step in and take that away and tell us this is what’s gonna happen with this location, I think there’s a very significant moral wrongdoing going

Justin Brady: and You have a safety concern. This is Probably our final question Here,’cause we’re a little over time, but you also have a safety concern about the pipeline as well. Given your firefighter background. You’ve been trained in how to deal with these things. Yeah. Tell us about the safety. concern too.

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah. So with these carbon capture pipelines, what they’re doing is moving a huge amount of pressurized, gas through this pipeline. It’s buried underground and wind leaks occur, and that gas spills out. What it does is it settles because it’s denser than air, it settles into the ground and you cannot approach these locations. your engine will die. In your car, you will suffocate. There’s basically no way for any volunteer fire department in this country and most real, full-time fire departments to ever approach or help individuals who are in that spill zone. We have the ethanol plant there, right? That is a major industrial location, and if there’s a fire there, we will, we’re trained and we will go fight there. We will go do our very best until they’re able to bring in their quick response team. But we’re told that if there’s a spill at the. Carbon capture. if there’s a burst on that pipeline, we don’t go within miles of it. I don’t have my, I don’t have my hazmat book here with me. But, our standoff distances are significant because of the volume that, that thing’s

Justin Brady: So the, rules that you’re Operating under as a first responder are to not respond. This is literally the rules you’ve been given

Christian Schlaefer: It’s not just a prescription not to respond. It’s an absolute inability. How, if my engine’s gonna die in my firetruck, how can I get close right as soon as I pass through a small hill and that gas has pooled at the bottom of that divot, my engine dies. And now potentially I am suffocating there if I can’t extricate myself. so individuals are told to hunker in place. if there’s a. Carbon leak, but it’s,

Justin Brady: which could also be lethal.

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah. So it’s just hunker there and wait and hope that the gas doesn’t come, settle in your area because nobody’s coming to get you out because nobody can come to get you out.

Justin Brady: Wow. Christian Schlaefer candidate for the US House, of Representatives representing Iowa’s fourth district. That’s what you’re running for. Thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Podcast. I appre I really do appreciate it.

Christian Schlaefer: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I, really appreciate my time here.