SOCIAL: About Badnarik Libertarian Presidential Candidate

As a Libertarian, Badnarik emphasizes individual freedom, personal responsibility, small government and a non-interventionist foreign policy. He favors immediate withdrawal from Iraq, the elimination of the federal income tax and dramatic reductions in the size, scope and
power of government.

The Libertarian Party, founded in 1972, is America�s third largest political party. More than 600 Libertarians serve in public office at all levels of government.

He bases his political views on rights which he says by definition are individual rights, not group rights or community rights.

�You can make your own decisions even if they are stupid,� he stated. �Your rights are inherent in you. They are in every cell of your body... the only limit you have on your rights is the equal rights of others,� he said.


For example, he said, you have the right to keep and bear fire arms but you don�t have the right to misuse that fire arm.


An individual has the right of free speech but not to have someone else pay for his healthcare.


�You don�t have the right to your neighbor�s property. That is a non -sequitur,� he said.


He added the opposite of rights are privileges which are actions that require permission and can be taken away. Too many people, according to Badnarik, confuse the two and that creates many conflicts in society.

** The Second Amendment is "not negotiable," and Badnarik refuses to get a Texas concealed-weapons permit � because "rights do not require permission."

**The USA PATRIOT Act: It violates the Fourth and Sixth Amendments (against unreasonable searches and closed trials).

**Affirmative action: "Either we are all created equal or we are not. ... Affirmative action does almost as much harm as slavery."

**Opposes: federal subsidies for agriculture, mass transit, public education, foreign aid of any kind, and all nonconstitutionally specified programs. "We're going to stop taking their tax money [and] the people will become richer than their wildest dreams."

**The military: He would bring home all U.S. troops now based in other countries. "The reason our country was attacked [on Sept. 11, 2001] was because we are an empire builder."

**Campaign finance reform: an unconstitutional restriction on free speech as well as "stealth protection for incumbents."

**The war on drugs: "The cure is worse than the disease. ... Your liberty allows you to make bad decisions."

**Same-sex marriage: "The federal government has no business telling anyone what they can do in their be
drooms, and if someone else does not like it that's too damn bad."

**Third-party candidates: "Not voting your conscience is a wasted vote. If you are in prison and there is a 50 percent chance you would get lethal injection, 45 percent chance you would get the electric chair, and five percent chance you could escape, would you vote for lethal injection because that is the one you are most likely to get?"

**Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt: "Both dictators and evil. I rail against Roosevelt the most. He did what Hitler did, only Hitler said what he was doing."

**Community: "Communities don't have rights. Only individuals in the community have rights. ... That idea of community rights is firmly rooted in the 'Communist Manifesto.'"

**"If you expect the government to get better by itself, you are probably smoking something not currently legal."

sources:
home.att.net...
www.austinchronicle.com...

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[edit on 30-9-2004 by TrueLies]