What Would You Ask the Libertarian Party Candidate? (FReeper to Interview Him)

Libertarian Party

[governsleastgovernsbest]

On October 5th, for purposes of a local TV program I host, I'll have the opportunity to conduct a one-hour, one-on-one interview with Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party presidential candidate, who is said to be polling as much as 3% and who could conceivably impact the race in a number of states.

I'd be interested to hear from my fellow FReepers. What do you know about Badnarik? What questions would you want to see asked?

Your thoughts?

[Cultural Jihad]

"Tell me, Mr. Badnarik, why the ideology-addled L.P. believes that the supposed 'right' to choose evil (which results in an early death, slavery to vice, and the pursuit of unneeded suffering) is more sacrosanct than the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Is this the candidate with the purple face?

Here's a photo of him I found on the net. Unless I'm mistaken he doesn't appear purple.

[swilhelm73]

How about;

At best you will have no effect on the election, at worst you hand the contest to John Kerry who is opposed to any notion of libertarian thought.

So what exactly do you hope to gain from this run?

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

There was a small party candidate that had a purple face. I wondered if this was the one? Does not look like it.

[asgardshill]

Here's Blue Boy. He was the LP candidate for some office in Montana.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I'd ask about tips on how to pass the time and look busy ;~D

[jwalsh07]

I don't think the owner of the thread likes our suggestions much. :-}

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Good question, though I wouldn't expect to get a straight answer.

[Huck]

Got any papers?

[Dead Corpse]

I'm a Boortz type libertarian who plans on voting for Bush. About the only thing Bush could do to loose my vote between now and November would be to sign a piece of gun control legislation.

If Michael had come around to Boortz's analogy of putting the flames out on your neighbors house BEFORE the fire spreads to your house, in regards to the War on Terror, then he'd be getting my vote instead of PATRIOT Act/$1Trillion Drug Benefit/Free SS for Mexican Illegals/Federal Funding for Abortion Clinics "compassionate conservative" Bush.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Actually, I find a number of the suggestions very informative and helpful. I am a committed Republican and supporter of W, and didn't know much at all about Badnarik and the LP.

So the threada has been very helpful - particularly regarding the LP's open borders policy, which I find shocking during an ongoing war on terror.

[Jim_Curtis]

A liberal is raised to hate conservatives ( Republicans ). The hatred for conservatives motivates them more than their love for Ratism.

When reason overcomes upbringing and the young rat realizes that it must leave its "ratism" behind, it will be disposed to become a Libertarian because it can't become a Republican.

Once you have a "reasoner" ( they tried to spoil the word with a CBS personality ), he will become a conservative eventually once brainwashed upbringing dissipates.

"Should your next door neighbor be able to run a "Crack House/Whore House"?

"Should Utah have the right to be a "dry state"?

"Should a state be able to legalize abortion while the child is born but still attached to the umbilical cord"?

[HighlyOpinionated]

Questions for Mr. Badnarik:

A- What kind of political history do you have that indicates you have the qualifications to garner support from the US Congress to support your platform?

B- If you are elected as President of the USofA, who will you choose to fill your Cabinet?

C- Have you run for a more 'local' office than the Texas House of Representatives? If not, why are you starting "at the top" rather than at at a more local level of politics? Besides the Libertarian Party, where is your voting support coming from? (What sector of the population?)

D- Who chose your Vice-President? The Libertarian Party or yourself? And why?

E- What are your thoughts about the Electoral College? Has it outlived its usefulness?

F- What are your views on supporting a Constitutional Amendment to change the way Vice-Presidents are chosen so that the Presidential Candidate with the most popular vote becomes President of the USofA and the Candidate with the second highest popular vote becomes Vice-President?

G- What is your position concerning term limits for Congress? Would you propose a Constitutional Amendment to limit Congressional terms similar to the term limits on a President? How would you get Congress to agree to such a dramatic change in their lifestyle?

H- What do you think is the most important plank in the Libertarian platform? If you are NOT elected President, do you have any plans to lobby Congress to support the Libertarian platform? And if not, why not?

I- It seems that the public only hears about the Libertarians during a Federal election year. How many Libertarians run for local offices? Can you name some Mayors, Commissioners, or other local political positions held by Libertarians? Are there any Governors who were voted in as Libertarians?

[swilhelm73]

What is the interview format?

[Dead Corpse]

Don't let the flying monkeys here confuse the issue. Not all libertarians are as they are portraying them. Sometimes with a heavy amount of libel tossed in.

Open Borders during war time is suicide.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

One-on-one for a full hour. No restrictions.

[Jaysun]

There's a few things about Badnarik that I take issue with. To be expedient, I'll just skip the small talk and list them below:

War in Iraq, Middle East: Badnarik seems to subscribe to the liberal notion that we've brought terrorism on ourselves. I've heard him note the sanctions against Iraq and our support of Israel as reasons why the terrorist want to murder us. He discounts the fact that their core beliefs justify killing anyone who isn't Muslim. He believes that if we'd simply change our ways the terrorist will follow suit. I think that's a dangerous stance. The terrorist are lunatics, and preemptive military action is one of the key ways to neutralize them. Overall, my gripe is that Badnarik seems to be weak on defense.

Gay Marriage: Mr. Badnarik is in favor of allowing homosexuals to marry, I am not. I see homosexuality as a sexual act. Indeed, to be a homosexual you must have sex with someone of the same sex. The homosexuals are a group of people whose entire identify is based on a sexual act. It's absurd to give recognition to groups of people based on their sexual behavior. We don't recognize any other sexual act (those that have sex in groups, those that abstain from sex, etc) as needing special recognition or protection. To start dividing the country into small groups that each compete for power or favor would detrimental to America. Let gays be gays, but remember that it's just a sexual act that deserves no more recognition than any other sexual act.

Law enforcement: This may stem from a lack of understanding on my part, but I think that Badnarik's crime prevention policies need some work. He advocates restitution to the victim, which is fine, but he only advocates prison for unreformed violent criminals or that refuse to pay restitution. There's a lot of holes there. When is someone unreformed? Who decides if the criminal is truly unable to pay or unwilling - and how do you curb abuse of that decision? If a criminal is behind bars it's impossible for him to commit more crime. That isn't so for a criminal that is simply made to pay restitution and is otherwise allowed to roam free.

Drugs: I'm not certain of Mr. Badnarik's stance on the drug issue. If it is to legalize drugs, I disagree. We all know that the "war on drugs" hasn't worked but we should try something other that simply legalization. Like anything else, if drugs are made more readily available the number of people that use them will increase. I just don't see how that can be good.

I'm tired of typing and my wife just walked by with a Victoria's Secret bag in her hand. Gotta go.

[swilhelm73]

Then it would seem you could ask him such a question. Certainly it is the most important one for a third party candidate.

Nader, for example, has fielded the same question repeatedly, and with a coherent response.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Lucky guy.

Thanks for the info. I find the points on the war and law enforcement of particular interest.

[null and void]

As a Libertarian, I signed an agreement that I do not advocate the initiation of force.

I didn't agree to not respond to force.

Nor did I sign a suicide pact.

Why is the party unable to recognize 9/11 as an initiation of force, and advocate responding appropriately, i.e. kill those who mean us ill first?

BTW, I'm no longer a "card carrying" Libertarian...