Candidate for
United States Representative; District 26

As a libertarian, my commitment is to reducing the size and power of government, particularly at the federal level, and to restoring and preserving the principles of governance enunciated in the Constitution.

Central to libertarian thought is the premise that the nation is its people, not its government. The latter should be restricted to protecting the individual's rights to life, liberty and property.

A corollary to reducing the size of government is reducing if not eliminating its power to tax the people. Many Americans today are not overly concerned about the enormous tax burden borne by the average citizen, because in general terms our economic health has never been better. We live better and longer than ever before, and our unemployment rate is at an unprecedented low. Yet, the shocking truth is that nearly one half of the average working adult's wages is coercively taken by taxation.

Although some theoreticians posit a complete end to the income tax, in the short term most libertarians are willing to consider variations on a national sales tax or a limited flat tax to support such essential national concerns as a strong military defense and a judiciary. With few exceptions, we believe that all other functions now unconstitutionally exercised by the federal government should be returned to the states or to the people.

A drastic reduction of the federal income tax would result in a corresponding drastic reduction in the size of the government, and the end to the host of social engineering programs instituted in the latter part of the 20th century and the bloated bureaucracies put in place to administer them. The people would once again be free to live their lives as they wished, without federal interference, and the states could once again be the laboratories for change envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

In terms of foreign policy, I support free and open trade with all nations as the best insurance against war. I oppose interventions in the affairs of sovereign nations and would withdraw American troops from the approximately 100 foreign countries where they are not stationed. I believe that the United Nations is horribly inefficient, inept and corrupt and would welcome a unilateral US withdrawal from this body.

As a member of the United States House of Representatives, I envision my greatest contribution to be serving the people of the 26th CD as their watchdog over government expenditures and their honest pipeline for information about the true workings of the federal government. Clearly, as a member of a third party, I would have little influence over the self-serving programs promoted by the Republican and Democrat members. I see my greatest value as an apolitical communicator, beholden to no interest groups or power brokers, voting my conscience (with my positions clearly outlined during the campaign) and informing both my consituents in particular and the American people in general through the mass media of the actual machinations of their elected officials.

Particularly as the Internet and the World Wide Web grow and are accessible by more and more Americans, a strong strain of libertarianism has become evident among Americans at the grass roots level. It is the responsibility of individuals such as myself, who have never before considered entering the field of politics, to take the necessary steps to offer these libertarians an opportunity to have their voices heard on the national level.