Harvey submits name for congressional race

Among the candidates that will be on the Democratic ticket for Congress this year is Mark Harvey. Born in India, Harvey said his father was a missionary. When he was three, they returned to the United States; Harvey was born a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

At 17, Harvey’s dad came to Riverton and he graduated from Riverton High School in 1967. Working ranches for 17 years, often with the sons of pioneers, Harvey said he “learned western ranch tradition in a hurry.”

As to why he chose to run for Congress, Harvey said he was inspired by the “cowboy health care plan.” He explained in the 1880’s a doctor named Amos Barber set up shop at Fort Fetterman, outside where Douglas is now. “He began, as far as I know,” Harvey said, “the first universal healthcare system in the United States” for the cowboys on Powder River.

Those cowboys made about $30 per month, Harvey further explained, and Barber set it up to where cowboys could put in a dollar each month into the pool. Barber and his staff promised any cowboy that got seriously hurt up in the Powder River could be brought into Fort Fetterman and treated until they were back on their feet. Naturally, Harvey said, all of the cowboys contributed to the fund.

“My cowboy healthcare plan,” Harvey said, “is just that. That everybody pitches in one thirtieth of their profits. A level playing field, no exceptions, no breaks, no exclusions, everybody in the United States puts in one thirtieth of their annual salary.” The plan would work, he added, because the corporations and the extremely wealthy would have to fork over their share as well.

The fund into which everyone’s money would go would not just be for healthcare for the nation, he noted, but any left over would be used to feed the hungry, support the country’s infrastructure, help victims of natural disasters and provide any other support needed in the nation.

Another idea Harvey has is to do away with an all-volunteer Army and have a draft system again. “Each young person in the United States would need to serve two years,” he said, “but they would have the choice of either joining the military if they were so inclined or give service to the country which ever way they were best suited for,” as long as it was in service to the country.

Harvey noted he’s running against Travis Helm and the two have been visiting. “I have nothing but the utmost respect of Travis,” Harvey said. “He’s a good man.”