Chuck Harder
Encyclopedia
Chuck Harder was a former radio
disk jockey turned talk show
host in White Springs, Florida
, USA. He is originally from Elgin, Illinois
. He is no longer on the air.
. He later became a talk show host at stations in Tampa, and then New York City
where he gained a reputation as a consumer advocate. Feeling that he was being forbidden from discussing controversial topics on the air, Harder would return to Tampa in 1987 with the idea of forming a radio network, The Sun Radio Network, to syndicate his show called "For The People", which was carried primarily by commercial rural AM radio stations and shortwave radio. Originally broadcasting from the garage of his Tampa home, Harder and his wife Dianne later purchased the historic Telford Hotel
in the town of White Springs to serve as studios. In its early years Harder's show used an interpretation of the folk song
"Way Down Upon The Suwannee River
" as its theme music
.
and Rogers Kirven fell through in June when McCotter backed out of the deal. In December 1989 the network was acquired by Kayla Satellite Network which was approximately half owned by Liberty Lobby
http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/HateTalkRadio.pdf. Chuck Harder soon found his show dropped from Sun and founded a new radio network, the Peoples Radio Network.
The Peoples Radio Network was founded as a nonprofit organization, and Harder broadcast his show from studios in the Telford Hotel in White Springs, Florida. The Peoples Radio Network also published a newspaper, the National News Reporter, sold memberships, and sold books and other merchandise through a mail-order catalog. PRN members were sent a booklet of consumer advice by Harder, How to Squeeze Lemons and Make Lemonade, and a subscription to the Peoples Radio Network magazine.
At its peak in the early to mid 1990s, For The People radio show was carried on over 300 radio stations, second only to Rush Limbaugh
and had a similar audience as Bruce Williams, then one of the biggest shows on radio.
The most frequent guests on his show during its heyday were Ralph Nader
and Pat Choate
. Choate would become a co-host of the show for a period in the mid-1990s. Other guests spanned the political spectrum and have included Alexander Cockburn
, Lenora Fulani
, Ross Perot
, and Richard C. Hoagland
. Baltimore
radio personality Les Kinsolving was a regular commentator on his show. The appearance of Eustace Mullins
at least a dozen times on his show in the early 1990s proved to be his most controversial guest ever, earning him a critical article in the left-leaning The Nation
magazine http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1367/is_199504/ai_n6388368, and Harder did not invite him back on the show and took steps to distance himself from Mullins' views in early 1994.
show; and the move of Larry King
's evening talk show into afternoons.
The Peoples Radio Network's nonprofit status became the subject of an Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) audit in 1994. The audit followed the 1992 presidential elections, alleging that PRN had attempted to influence the election against then-president George H. W. Bush
. By the time of the audit, Harder had turned critical of then President Bill Clinton
.http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16587. "Harder, however, dismisses the notion that it was remarks about Bush that prompted the audit. He sees it clearly as coming from the Clinton White House.
In 1992 PNI published a newspaper, the News Reporter, which had a circulation of about 40,000. In Harder's words it was a "feisty little independent paper" that was too feisty for the incoming administration. During this time period there was also half hour shows airing first on Main Street Television Network which was sold to become America One
on LPTV stations around the country. Some of these shows, essentially videotaped radio shows, were sold in "packages" to listeners (or readers through the bookstore) like the "BIG 6 PACK" that also were bundled with items like a reprint of the declassified U.S. Air Force "Operation Garden Plot
" program.
"We were doing a lot of muckraking, and I know we hit the radar screen at the DNC," Harder told WND. "We looked not only into George Bush's dirty laundry, but Bill Clinton's. We wrote a series of articles prior to the election about Whitewater and the strange deaths near Mena Airport. We also called attention to his sexual encounters."
Buried in paperwork by the audit, Harder eventually chose to seek investors to make PNI a for-profit organization and found the United Auto Workers, who agreed to buy PNI's assets and create a new company with Harder called the United Broadcasting Network.
The deal soon turned sour, adding a series of lawsuits on top of the audit. According to one suit, Hillary Clinton allegedly complained to the UAW over its partnership with Harder and the networks insensitivity "to the wishes of the president and Mrs. Clinton in conjunction with its on-air contents." The IRS audit continuing several years, Harder and his co-host Pat Choate searched for a funder for a new for-profit network which would not be subject to the restrictions on political advocacy of a nonprofit. The People's Radio Network included hosts such as Jack Ellery, Joel Vincent (Howard Hewes), Paul Gonzalez and Jerry Hughes
.
In 1996, Harder and co-host Choate joined in a venture along with the United Auto Workers
to start a new for-profit radio network, the United Broadcasting Network. Harder's Peoples Radio Network was subsumed into the new network. Within three months the deal turned sour, and Harder was forced off the air, with the UAW assuming control over the new network's content. Pat Choate would become H. Ross Perot's vice president
ial nominee in his election campaign. Without its only well-known talk show host, the United Broadcasting Network soon declared bankruptcy
. Harder and Choate would both become embroiled in lawsuits against the UAW over the debacle.
Harder would return to the airwaves within a few months, but with a much smaller number of stations, around 100. After an accident in 1999 that left Harder's legs paralysed
, increasing consolidation
in the radio industry, and shifting political winds after September 11, 2001 attacks
, the number of affiliates began declining until the show was being heard almost exclusively on shortwave radio station WHRI. This too would end, and For The People was heard via satellite
and the internet
and a small number of AM radio stations.
After his accident, Chuck Harder planned to start a new television channel, New Abilities TV, with programming of interest to the handicapped
community. This venture fell through and Harder was forced to offer the network for sale. http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200503/1111724366.html
In 2004 the TalkStar Radio Network began carrying Harder’s For the People program in the US. In 2006, Harder's show was available on shortwave via radio station WWCR
(this ended in 2007). In early 2009, Harder announced the publication of his latest book on American political, social and economic trends entitled "Will We Ever Learn? The Man Who Sees Tomorrow." By late 2009, Harder's show could only be heard on the Internet through streaming audio; a few months later, this was discontinued and for the first time since around 1975, Harder was off the air completely. Reruns of Harder's show resumed on TalkStar's Web site in December 2010.
and liberal
ideologies
, but he was neither a libertarian
nor a religious conservative
. He tended toward a mix of fiscal liberalism and cultural conservatism although there were exceptions. On some issues, such as taxation and foreign policy, he took a mix of liberal and conservative views on the same issue.
Harder was opposed to free trade
agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) as well as international organizations such as the United Nations
(UN). He favored a moratorium on legal immigration and the deportation of all illegal immigrants
.
In addition to his economic views, Harder also frequently discussed conspiracy theories
during the 1990s.http://www.chuckharder.org This was largely confined to the early and mid-1990s, a period when conspiracy theories were a hot topic on several talk radio shows (including Art Bell
and others). In recent years, conspiracy theories had no longer been a major feature of his program.
A key economic doctrine of Harder's was that free trade with China
and Mexico
would cause so many Americans to lose jobs or get paid less that the American retail economy would collapse from a lack of middle-class consumers who could afford to be constant purchasers.
Harder's views on taxation were illustrative of his populist mixture of liberal and conservative views. He favored a heavily graduated income tax and increasing taxes on the wealthy, but also believed the Internal Revenue Service
to be guilty of abuses in auditing taxpayers, and he supported the abolition of the business tax which he considered "double taxation".
Another area where Harder simultaneously promoted a mix of liberal and conservative views was environmental
issues. Harder believed overpopulation
was a threat to the environment and had guests from such groups as Negative Population Growth
on the show. Harder was a strong supporter of alternative energy
and building or rebuilding extensive mass transit systems in the United States, particularly passenger rail. He was critical of the Reagan administration
for defunding alternative energy, Amtrak and mass transit, and critical of every president since for promoting free trade agreements and globalization to the detriment of American workers. A common theme discussed by Harder was how National City Lines
bought out and closed urban mass transit systems in the United States. But Harder also supported oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
and bringing back jobs in the timber industry by increasing the amount of logging
, and had often featured guests from groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute
and the Heartland Institute
who are skeptical of global warming
.
Harder advocated a Swiss
-style neutrality on all foreign policy, especially as it related to the Middle East
. He did, however, believe that China
was becoming increasingly powerful
and posed an economic and military
threat to the United States. Since 9/11 he had discussed U.S. foreign policy more. He took a hawkish view toward the War on Terror
, supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
, but opposed the U.S. war in Iraq
which he believed was an unnecessary distraction from winning the War on Terror. He did say that militant Islam
posed a major threat to U.S. and world security.
radio receivers as his show was being widely heard on the international broadcast bands despite being targeted exclusively towards a domestic audience. The PRN-1000 was made in the U.S. by R. L. Drake Company
, and was basically a budget-version of their SW-1 shortwave receiver. Other lower-cost shortwave receivers sold by the Peoples Radio Network were made in China
by Sangean
. Harder acknowledged and lamented this fact, but stated that no low-cost (under US $100) receivers were being produced in the USA.
Also sold via For the People were antique pocket watch
es - a favorite collectible
of Harder's - especially those made by the Elgin Watch Company
. Harder remembered (and often cited) how the company's factory in Harder's hometown closed down and shifted production of its timepieces overseas.
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
disk jockey turned talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host in White Springs, Florida
White Springs, Florida
White Springs is a town in Hamilton County, Florida, on the Suwannee River. The population was 819 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the town had a population of 828...
, USA. He is originally from Elgin, Illinois
Elgin, Illinois
Elgin is a city in northern Illinois located roughly northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois...
. He is no longer on the air.
Early radio career
Harder's radio career began during high school as a DJ at a local AM radio station in his hometown of Elgin, IllinoisElgin, Illinois
Elgin is a city in northern Illinois located roughly northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois...
. He later became a talk show host at stations in Tampa, and then New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he gained a reputation as a consumer advocate. Feeling that he was being forbidden from discussing controversial topics on the air, Harder would return to Tampa in 1987 with the idea of forming a radio network, The Sun Radio Network, to syndicate his show called "For The People", which was carried primarily by commercial rural AM radio stations and shortwave radio. Originally broadcasting from the garage of his Tampa home, Harder and his wife Dianne later purchased the historic Telford Hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in the town of White Springs to serve as studios. In its early years Harder's show used an interpretation of the folk song
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
"Way Down Upon The Suwannee River
Suwannee River
The Suwannee River is a major river of southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long. The Suwannee River is the site of the prehistoric Suwannee Straits which separated peninsular Florida from the panhandle.-Geography:The river rises in the...
" as its theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
.
Peoples Radio Network
A move to acquire the Sun Radio Network in March 1988 by Florida businessman Jim McCotterJim McCotter
Jim McCotter is a United States entrepreneur, the CEO of Maverick Jets and controversial founder of the "Blitz Movement" which became the Great Commission Association of Churches. He was also a member of the Council for National Policy as well having been a holder of national and international...
and Rogers Kirven fell through in June when McCotter backed out of the deal. In December 1989 the network was acquired by Kayla Satellite Network which was approximately half owned by Liberty Lobby
Liberty Lobby
Liberty Lobby was an American political advocacy organization founded in 1958 that went bankrupt in 2001. It was founded by Willis Carto. In their own words,-Antisemitic world-view:...
http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/HateTalkRadio.pdf. Chuck Harder soon found his show dropped from Sun and founded a new radio network, the Peoples Radio Network.
The Peoples Radio Network was founded as a nonprofit organization, and Harder broadcast his show from studios in the Telford Hotel in White Springs, Florida. The Peoples Radio Network also published a newspaper, the National News Reporter, sold memberships, and sold books and other merchandise through a mail-order catalog. PRN members were sent a booklet of consumer advice by Harder, How to Squeeze Lemons and Make Lemonade, and a subscription to the Peoples Radio Network magazine.
At its peak in the early to mid 1990s, For The People radio show was carried on over 300 radio stations, second only to Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
and had a similar audience as Bruce Williams, then one of the biggest shows on radio.
The most frequent guests on his show during its heyday were Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
and Pat Choate
Pat Choate
Patrick Choate is an American economist who is perhaps most known for being the 1996 Reform Party Vice President candidate, the running-mate of H. Ross Perot...
. Choate would become a co-host of the show for a period in the mid-1990s. Other guests spanned the political spectrum and have included Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
, Lenora Fulani
Lenora Fulani
Lenora Branch Fulani is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist. She may be best known for her presidential campaigns and development of youth programs serving minority communities in the New York City area...
, Ross Perot
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
, and Richard C. Hoagland
Richard C. Hoagland
Richard Charles Hoagland, is an American author and a proponent of various conspiracy theories about NASA, lost alien civilizations on the Moon and on Mars and other related topics....
. Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
radio personality Les Kinsolving was a regular commentator on his show. The appearance of Eustace Mullins
Eustace Mullins
Eustace Clarence Mullins, Jr. was a populist American political writer, biographer, and antisemite. His most famous and influential work is The Secrets of The Federal Reserve, described by congressman Wright Patman as 'a very fine book [which] has been very useful to me'...
at least a dozen times on his show in the early 1990s proved to be his most controversial guest ever, earning him a critical article in the left-leaning The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1367/is_199504/ai_n6388368, and Harder did not invite him back on the show and took steps to distance himself from Mullins' views in early 1994.
Network declines and goes silent
While still popular, the Peoples Radio Network declined during the mid- to late-90s because of several factors: radio consolidation, where big chains began buying radio stations and replaced programming with conservative, political-type talk programming; the expansion of the Rush LimbaughRush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
show; and the move of Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
's evening talk show into afternoons.
The Peoples Radio Network's nonprofit status became the subject of an Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
(IRS) audit in 1994. The audit followed the 1992 presidential elections, alleging that PRN had attempted to influence the election against then-president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
. By the time of the audit, Harder had turned critical of then President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16587. "Harder, however, dismisses the notion that it was remarks about Bush that prompted the audit. He sees it clearly as coming from the Clinton White House.
In 1992 PNI published a newspaper, the News Reporter, which had a circulation of about 40,000. In Harder's words it was a "feisty little independent paper" that was too feisty for the incoming administration. During this time period there was also half hour shows airing first on Main Street Television Network which was sold to become America One
America One
America One is an over-the-air television network in the United States. The network serves over 170 LPTV, Class A, Full Power, Cable and Satellite affiliate stations...
on LPTV stations around the country. Some of these shows, essentially videotaped radio shows, were sold in "packages" to listeners (or readers through the bookstore) like the "BIG 6 PACK" that also were bundled with items like a reprint of the declassified U.S. Air Force "Operation Garden Plot
Operation Garden Plot
Operation Garden Plot is a general U.S. Army and National Guard plan to respond to major domestic civil disturbances within the United States. The plan was developed in response to the civil disorders of the 1960s and is now under the control of the U.S. Northern Command...
" program.
"We were doing a lot of muckraking, and I know we hit the radar screen at the DNC," Harder told WND. "We looked not only into George Bush's dirty laundry, but Bill Clinton's. We wrote a series of articles prior to the election about Whitewater and the strange deaths near Mena Airport. We also called attention to his sexual encounters."
Buried in paperwork by the audit, Harder eventually chose to seek investors to make PNI a for-profit organization and found the United Auto Workers, who agreed to buy PNI's assets and create a new company with Harder called the United Broadcasting Network.
The deal soon turned sour, adding a series of lawsuits on top of the audit. According to one suit, Hillary Clinton allegedly complained to the UAW over its partnership with Harder and the networks insensitivity "to the wishes of the president and Mrs. Clinton in conjunction with its on-air contents." The IRS audit continuing several years, Harder and his co-host Pat Choate searched for a funder for a new for-profit network which would not be subject to the restrictions on political advocacy of a nonprofit. The People's Radio Network included hosts such as Jack Ellery, Joel Vincent (Howard Hewes), Paul Gonzalez and Jerry Hughes
Accent Radio Network
The Accent Radio Network is a Florida-based radio network with a Christian-conservative political point of view. Accent Radio Network was built in the summer of 2000 and went on air December 4th 2000. The satellite radio network has a wide range of programs from discussions of current events and...
.
In 1996, Harder and co-host Choate joined in a venture along with the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
to start a new for-profit radio network, the United Broadcasting Network. Harder's Peoples Radio Network was subsumed into the new network. Within three months the deal turned sour, and Harder was forced off the air, with the UAW assuming control over the new network's content. Pat Choate would become H. Ross Perot's vice president
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
ial nominee in his election campaign. Without its only well-known talk show host, the United Broadcasting Network soon declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Harder and Choate would both become embroiled in lawsuits against the UAW over the debacle.
Harder would return to the airwaves within a few months, but with a much smaller number of stations, around 100. After an accident in 1999 that left Harder's legs paralysed
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
, increasing consolidation
Consolidation (business)
Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...
in the radio industry, and shifting political winds after September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, the number of affiliates began declining until the show was being heard almost exclusively on shortwave radio station WHRI. This too would end, and For The People was heard via satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and a small number of AM radio stations.
After his accident, Chuck Harder planned to start a new television channel, New Abilities TV, with programming of interest to the handicapped
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
community. This venture fell through and Harder was forced to offer the network for sale. http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200503/1111724366.html
In 2004 the TalkStar Radio Network began carrying Harder’s For the People program in the US. In 2006, Harder's show was available on shortwave via radio station WWCR
WWCR
WWCR is a shortwave radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. WWCR uses four 100 kW transmitters which broadcast on 14 different frequencies....
(this ended in 2007). In early 2009, Harder announced the publication of his latest book on American political, social and economic trends entitled "Will We Ever Learn? The Man Who Sees Tomorrow." By late 2009, Harder's show could only be heard on the Internet through streaming audio; a few months later, this was discontinued and for the first time since around 1975, Harder was off the air completely. Reruns of Harder's show resumed on TalkStar's Web site in December 2010.
Harder's political and economic beliefs
His populist political views comprised elements of both conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
ideologies
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
, but he was neither a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
nor a religious conservative
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
. He tended toward a mix of fiscal liberalism and cultural conservatism although there were exceptions. On some issues, such as taxation and foreign policy, he took a mix of liberal and conservative views on the same issue.
Harder was opposed to free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World...
(GATT) as well as international organizations such as the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN). He favored a moratorium on legal immigration and the deportation of all illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
.
In addition to his economic views, Harder also frequently discussed conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
during the 1990s.http://www.chuckharder.org This was largely confined to the early and mid-1990s, a period when conspiracy theories were a hot topic on several talk radio shows (including Art Bell
Art Bell
Arthur W. "Art" Bell, III is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show, Dreamland...
and others). In recent years, conspiracy theories had no longer been a major feature of his program.
A key economic doctrine of Harder's was that free trade with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
would cause so many Americans to lose jobs or get paid less that the American retail economy would collapse from a lack of middle-class consumers who could afford to be constant purchasers.
Harder's views on taxation were illustrative of his populist mixture of liberal and conservative views. He favored a heavily graduated income tax and increasing taxes on the wealthy, but also believed the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
to be guilty of abuses in auditing taxpayers, and he supported the abolition of the business tax which he considered "double taxation".
Another area where Harder simultaneously promoted a mix of liberal and conservative views was environmental
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
issues. Harder believed overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
was a threat to the environment and had guests from such groups as Negative Population Growth
Negative Population Growth
Negative Population Growth is a membership organization in the United States, founded in 1972.NPG works on overpopulation issues and advocates a gradual reduction in U.S. and world population. NPG believes the optimal population for the United States is 150 to 200 million and that the optimal...
on the show. Harder was a strong supporter of alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
and building or rebuilding extensive mass transit systems in the United States, particularly passenger rail. He was critical of the Reagan administration
Reagan Administration
The United States presidency of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Reagan administration, was a Republican administration headed by Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1981, to January 20, 1989....
for defunding alternative energy, Amtrak and mass transit, and critical of every president since for promoting free trade agreements and globalization to the detriment of American workers. A common theme discussed by Harder was how National City Lines
National City Lines
National City Lines, Inc. , was a controversial company founded in Minnesota, United States in 1920 as a modest local transport company operating two buses which was reorganized into a holding company in 1936 with equity funding from General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and...
bought out and closed urban mass transit systems in the United States. But Harder also supported oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...
and bringing back jobs in the timber industry by increasing the amount of logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
, and had often featured guests from groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...
and the Heartland Institute
Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is a libertarian, American public policy think tank based in Chicago, Illinois which advocates free market policies. The Institute is designated as a 501 non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service and advised by a 15 member board of directors, which meets quarterly. As of...
who are skeptical of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
.
Harder advocated a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
-style neutrality on all foreign policy, especially as it related to the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. He did, however, believe that China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
was becoming increasingly powerful
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
and posed an economic and military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
threat to the United States. Since 9/11 he had discussed U.S. foreign policy more. He took a hawkish view toward the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, but opposed the U.S. war in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
which he believed was an unnecessary distraction from winning the War on Terror. He did say that militant Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
posed a major threat to U.S. and world security.
The For The People Catalog
Harder advocated buying only American-made products whenever possible. During the 1990s he distributed a catalog of made-in-the-USA products and a number of shortwaveShortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
radio receivers as his show was being widely heard on the international broadcast bands despite being targeted exclusively towards a domestic audience. The PRN-1000 was made in the U.S. by R. L. Drake Company
R. L. Drake Company
The R. L. Drake Company is a manufacturer of electronic communications equipment located in Franklin, Ohio. It is also known for its line of equipment for amateur radio and shortwave listening, built in the 1950s through the 1980s.-History:...
, and was basically a budget-version of their SW-1 shortwave receiver. Other lower-cost shortwave receivers sold by the Peoples Radio Network were made in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
by Sangean
Sangean
Sangean is a globally active Taiwanese electronics company specialised in radios. The company was founded in 1974 and has built its worldwide reputation especially on shortwave radios and recently also made a name for itself with digital receivers...
. Harder acknowledged and lamented this fact, but stated that no low-cost (under US $100) receivers were being produced in the USA.
Also sold via For the People were antique pocket watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
es - a favorite collectible
Collectible
A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...
of Harder's - especially those made by the Elgin Watch Company
Elgin Watch Company
The Elgin National Watch Company, most commonly known as just the Elgin Watch company was a major US watch company.-History:The Elgin National Watch Company, was founded in August 1864 as the National Watch Company. A number of former associates of the Waltham Watch Company and Chicago watchmaker J.C...
. Harder remembered (and often cited) how the company's factory in Harder's hometown closed down and shifted production of its timepieces overseas.