As if battling three-term veteran Sen. Charles Grassley wasn’t tough enough, Libertarian candidate Donald Hennig must surmount the additional obstacles that come with being a third-party candidate.

“One of the biggest problems with being a third-party candidate is just getting on the ballot,” he said.

Hennig, who grew up in Illinois and went to college in Florida, said his campaign is “well on the way” to obtaining the 1,500 signatures required to get on Iowa’s ballot.

“We’re doing quite well this year on the signatures,” he said.

If he garners enough support, Hennig’s bid for the U.S. Senate against Grassley and former state representative David Osterberg will be based on a philosophy of smaller, less intrusive government, he said.

“It’s time to say ‘Enough!'” he said in a press release. “As your United States senator, I would oppose [President Bill] Clinton’s attempts to expand government at your expense.”

In an interview with the Daily, two key points Hennig stressed were radical changes in Social Security and education.

Asked about how he would save the imperiled pension program, Hennig answered bluntly.

“It can’t be saved. There’s no way to save a program like that, and we need to get rid of it,” he said.

Hennig said he has a plan that will end Social Security without hurting anyone.

“If we end Social Security, we can immediately give everybody a 12 percent raise,” he said, referring to the federal payroll tax, the cost of which is now split evenly between employer and employee.

“That’s money that they could be paying to you,” he said.

Hennig said he would terminate Social Security enrollment in the year 2000, with current workers given the choice to stay in or drop out.

If they chose to drop out, the federal government would return money they had already paid in, he said.

If they elected to stay in, they would be required to put their 6 percent into an approved retirement account.

Current beneficiaries, Hennig said, would get annuities financed by the sale of government assets, such as gold reserves and office properties.

These investments would give an equal or better return than the current program, he said, because “even the worst investors can get a better return than Social Security.”

In the area of education, Hennig outlined more direct cuts.

“I support the complete separation of education and state,” he said, adding that he would “absolutely” abolish the U.S. Department of Education, “unlike the Republicans, who promised to do that 15 years ago and still haven’t.”

Hennig said “it’s frightening” to him that politicians in Washington have been increasingly involved in schooling at the state level.

“Education is just not a legitimate function of government,” he said. “The states really already have control. The problem is that the national government is sticking its nose in more and more every year, and that’s what I’d like to stop.”

Even though this is the first time Hennig has run for office, he said it’s something he’s “been thinking about doing for a long time.”

Hennig entered the race at the request of the national Libertarian Party, but he said he has a personal stake in the campaign as well.

“At this particular point in time, I’m not too happy with what’s going on in Washington,” he said.

The Libertarian Party has 23,000 members and is the third-largest and fastest-growing political party in the United States, Hennig said.

“This year looks pretty good. For the Libertarian Party as a whole, 1997 was the best,” he said. “We ran the most candidates ever, and it looks like ’98 is going to beat ’97.”

The party was founded in December 1971 in Denver, Colo., as a “party of principle,” Hennig said. He contrasted that with the major parties. “They have no guiding principle whatsoever. They do whatever they have to to get elected,” he said.

Before joining, members must sign a statement saying they do not advocate the initiation of force to achieve social or political goals, Hennig said.