Posted on 10/31/2004 12:43:54 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
There's more than one Texan on the ballot for president this year.
Libertarian Michael Badnarik — the only third-party or independent presidential candidate on the Texas ballot — is from Austin.
Badnarik campaigned in Houston on Saturday and will spend the rest of his time on the trail in his home state.
"I'm a legitimate candidate from a legitimate party," he said at a gathering of about 25 people at a Clear Lake-area Fuddruckers.
Badnarik is actually on the ballot in more states than Ralph Nader. Badnarik is on 48 ballots. Nader is on 35.
Election Day could be a watershed year for the party, Badnarik said, if it is able to garner 1 million votes.
He's been traveling the country since January; he packed up his place in Austin, put all of his belongings in storage and hit the road.
Within five months he put 25,000 miles on his car.
He tries to get media attention wherever he goes, often doing six interviews a day with local media.
He has been largely ignored by the national press.
Badnarik was arrested in St. Louis for trying to gain admittance to the presidential debate.
"It's been like living on a roller coaster without getting off," he said of his bid for president.
He's spent about $1 million on his campaign, with $300,000 going toward TV ads in a few states, primarily New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.
Badnarik is running, he said, because he can't vote for President Bush or Democratic candidate John Kerry and respect himself in the morning.
He cannot support a candidate who will continue the war in Iraq or operate government in a deficit, he said.
Badnarik, a computer consultant, stresses individual rights over government intervention, and limited regulation of business.
He says the war in Iraq is a failure and that there is no exit strategy. He has maintained that Libertarian philosophy supports gay marriages, arguing that government should not decide who can engage in a marriage contract.
The federal government's job is limited to three things, he said — national defense, coining money and operating the post office. He says the government should not have a Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Badnarik says he wants to cost both Bush and Kerry the election, but at the same time he isn't packing his bags for the White House just yet.
"We are just beginning this fight," he said. "We will continue to exist, and we will restore liberty."
kristen.mack@chron.com
You folks who don't seem to be able to grasp the fact that the world is entirely different from the one our founders lived in. It's actually a pretty simple concept to grasp.
"He's spent about $1 million on his campaign, with $300,000 going toward TV ads in a few states, primarily New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona."
He's lying. I've seen a number of his Bush-bashing ads in Ohio. They have had to cost six figures here alone. It is obvious, given this interview, that his strategy is to attempt to win "legitimacy" by throwing Ohio, and the election, to Kerry by siphoning off Bush votes.
Somebody needs to have a serious question and answer session with this anti-American parasite.
Trying to run away from your original presumption?
29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. Accomplished by the Declaration that the Constitution is a living document
LOL
Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express last night, huh?
What was my original presumtion?
"Not at all, realizing that we don't live in the era of the founders is far from dangerous. Pretending that the world hasn't changed is dangerous...and very foolish."
how?
LOL
Do you mean 60K? Browne got 0.36 percent or 384k in 2000.
The logic you are employing there can and has been twisted numerous times by enemies of freedom. You and I both agree that the LP is f@#&ed up. Big time. There's a ton of things to trash them on. Why must you use an unconservative argument to do so?
The fact that the world is an entirely different place then the one the founders lived in is not an argument conservative or otherwise, it's just a statement of simple fact.
Lorde Nelson explained my point much more eloquently than I can in posts 145 and 146. Check them out for an idea of where I am coming from on this.
Can we at least both agree that human nature remains the same and that we should hold absolutionist views on issues such as the first and second amendments? Can we meet in the middle there?
Yes!
Lord Nelson was rambling about national values, whereas I was responding to a statement about foreign affairs...there is hardly any relationship to either posts.
See 177. When dealing with foreign enemies of this nation, which prompted by original responses, trying to pretend that the world hasn't changed since the time of the founders is foolish.
So you are indeed then an absolutionist on Constitutional rights? You claim not to disagree with any of Ron Paul's domestic positions, so I suppose you are.
As a former MI soldier, I agree. What about when dealing with domestic issues though?
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