For more Nevada Newsmakers, click here. Retired U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown, a Republican candidate of the U.S. Senate, wants to see production of steel, pharmaceuticals and other goods return to the United States, even if that means higher prices for U.S. consumers. "That is not something I shy away from on my campaign," Brown said on Nevada Newsmakers. "For America to become strong and truly strategically independent, again, it will take sacrifice." Brown told host Sam Shad that Americans should face the fact that cheaper goods from foreign nations, "are coming from people who are enslaved." "The years and years of good times in our county have made us weak," Brown said in a show that aired March 11. "It is time for us to see the risk of weakness and also acknowledge that a lot of what we get and consume here in the United States comes off the backs of people who are paid very, very poorly." More than 170 million children are part of the international cheap-labor force, although the practice is banned in several nations including the U.S., according to the International Labor Organization of the United Kingdom. Many children are employed in textile and garment industries, making products that are mainly shipped to the U.S and Europe, according to a report published by UNICEF. "So just from a human-rights standpoint, do we really want to be a country where we get our home-ware cheaply made but it is coming from people who are enslaved like Uyghurs in China?" Brown said. "I don't think that really is what American principles and values should be about." The Chinese state has been accused of crimes against humanity against more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, a large region in the country's northwest, according to the BBC. Meanwhile the U.S. and China are robust trading partners. Former detainees and residents of Xinjiang have made allegations to Western media of genocide, torture, forced sterilization and sexual abuse. When Shad told Brown his stance sounded more liberal than conservative, Brown added: "What I am about is respecting human lives and also respecting workers," he said. "There's been a lot of the greed and consumption here in the United States on the backs of people all over this world who are not paid and treated with the same sort of respect that we would expect and offer our own children." Communist nations such as Russia and China hold power over the United States when our nation relies on them economically, Brown said. Shad reminded Brown that many manufacturing plants were moved out of the U.S. since goods could be produced more cheaply overseas. "In terms of what is produced in the U.S., I'd like to see us producing more," Brown said. "It is not just an issue of steel. It is an issue of pharmaceuticals, issue of chips that going into our technology. "In general, a United States that is producing key and strategic goods is not only good for the U.S., but it can become good for the world," Brown said. "Because tyrant governments, like the Communist Party in China or Russia, will hold the rest of the world hostage by withholding the goods they produce the large portion of." Brown is a West Point graduate who was seriously wounded in Afghanistan in 2008. His finger was blown off and he suffered severe burns over his face and body when he and soldiers under his command were caught in an ambush. His opponent in the GOP primary, former Attorney General Adam Laxalt, spent five years in the Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps, with postings in Iraq and Italy. Brown said his campaign will shift into high gear once the window for candidates filing for office ends March 18. He said his campaign has eight weeks of advertising already purchased in broadcast media, but was not specific on the dates. "Many voters may not be paying attention until filing is over, so we're keeping some of that powder dry for when Nevadans are really paying attention to what is happening in their elections and ready to participate and consume the information," he said. Brown has posted fundraising totals of more than $1 million in each of the last two filing periods (three months each) with the secretary of state. Laxalt, however, raised $1.35 million and $1.4 million in the last two quarters of 2021. First-quarter reports for 2022 are due April 15. "Fundraising is going strong enough that we're going to have a very heavy ad campaign," he said. "And I will tell you this: When it comes down to the time to vote, to the extent that Adam Laxalt has any sort of name/ID lead on me right now, there will be no name/ID lead, come time to vote."
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