Vote for Life! Vote for Liberty! Vote for Andy!
October 31, 2008 | Uncategorized
Friday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch contains the upcoming election’s Voter’s Guide. The state-wide elections are available online. My answers are below:
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Voters Guide Questions
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What are your three priorities?
Reduce taxes on all Missourians, not just the middle class or the well-to-do.
Eliminate interference in the daily lives and property rights of all Missourians. Bring about a smaller government, reducing expenses and removing non-essential services and returning the money to your pocket book for you to spend as you wish. Who knows best how to spend your hard-earned money: you, or the legion of legislators and rule-makers who work in our state government? |
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What are your qualifications for the office you seek?
I am not a politician — which makes me unique. I have to work for a living.
I am a computer software engineer. We don’t just study a problem or pass a new law further restricting how Missouri does business: we actually solve the problems. Libertarians fight for your individual freedoms and personal responsibility for the choices we make. I am also a Catholic music minister, a singer, a landlord, a small, Internet business operator, a member of Mensa and a newlywed husband. I know what it’s like to have to make ends meet through hard work and a realistic budget. |
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Why should voters elect you instead of your opponent(s)?
Only I will bring about a smaller government. My opponents promise new and expanded programs, spending to the limit of the state’s checkbook from taxes and fees.
Only I will fight for your individual freedoms and liberties, while my opponents have accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions — which they spend wastefully on negative advertising and misleading statements of “truth.” Do they think we are that stupid? No, we are not. Don’t waste your vote — vote for life, vote for liberty, vote for Andy. |
Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Finkenstadt Declares Opposition on Proposition A.
October 15, 2008 | Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Finkenstadt Declares Opposition on Proposition A.
ST CHARLES, Mo - October 15, 2008 — Libertarian Andrew Finkenstadt declared his opposition today to Proposition A
Finkenstadt says, “My opposition to Proposition (A) is due to the anti-competitive nature of the limitation on the number of casinos in Missouri. The other provisions seem an acceptable choice, but the the free market is fundamentally about allowing more choices, which allows businesspeople to compete, which ultimately allows consumers to profit from the reduction in costs.”
Libertarian Finkenstadt explains that, “even though many libertarian philosophies appear in this proposed legislation, the fact remains that the anti-competitive provisions made this unacceptable.”
Finkenstadt goes on to explain, “I like to use the comparison of sewage to pure water. You can take a teaspoon of water and put it in the sewage, and you still have sewage. If you take a teaspoon of sewage and put it in the gallon of water, you also end up with sewage. ”
Continuing, “This restriction to the free market in what would otherwise be an acceptable proposal, still makes it taste like sewage.”
Working a regular “day job” to support his family, Finkenstadt, 42, is a full-time software engineer for Simutronics Corp., a St. Charles, Missouri-based online persistent-world computer game company. He is also a music minister for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Cottleville, Missouri. His wife, Carol, is an administrative assistant at First United Methodist Church in St. Charles. Finkenstadt attended Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) 1983-1987, where he majored in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Andrew (Andy) Finkenstadt is the Gubernatorial candidate for the Missouri Libertarian Party. For more information on Finkenstadt, please visit http://andy4governor.com or email andy4governor@finkenstadt.com.
The Missouri Libertarian Party is one of three established political parties. For more information, please visit http://lpmo.org or call toll-free 877-VOTE-4-US.
My County Magazine: Candidate Survey
October 3, 2008 | Conversations, Positions, Voter Information
My County Magazine, published in Western Missouri, has a comparison of the candidates for public office online. My responses are quoted below.
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What are your top three priorities to accomplish?
REDUCE TAXES on all Missourians, not just the middle class or the well-to-do.
ELIMINATE INTERFERENCE in the daily lives and property rights of all Missourians.
Bring about a SMALLER GOVERNMENT, reducing expenses and removing non-essential services, and returning the money to YOUR pocket book for YOU to spend as you wish. Who knows best how to spend your hard-earned money: you, or the legion of legislators and rule-makers who work in our state government?
How do you plan to accomplish them?
The Governor submits a budget to the legislature. I will accomplish my goals through the power of the VETO, if the legislature attempts to increase the budget I’ve submitted. The state will effectively go on a diet, for its future better health.
In addition, I will call for and support legislation and constitutional amendments to forbid the state government from interfering in its citizens’ lives. The taking of one person’s private property for the benefit of another via eminent domain, all in the name of “economic development,” must be stopped.
How do you plan to pay for them?
All three of my priorities will reduce the cost of government. Therefore, I plan to “pay” for it by giving the money back to the citizens; and once the legislature has reduced the tax rates for all Missourians, both rich and poor, I plan to “pay” for it by keeping the money in the possession of the people.
What unique characteristic or qualification do you possess that makes you the best person for this job?
I am not a politician - which makes me unique. I have to work for a living.
I am a computer software engineer — we don’t just study a problem or pass a new law further restricting how Missouri does business: we actually solve the problems. Libertarians fight for YOUR individual freedoms, and personal responsibility for the choices we make.
I am also a Catholic music minister, a singer, a landlord, a small, internet business operator, a member of MENSA, and a newlywed husband.
I know what it’s like to have to make ends meet through hard work and a realistic budget.
Why should voters elect me instead of my opponents? Only I will bring about a smaller government. My opponents promise new and expanded programs, spending to the limit of the state’s checkbook from taxes and fees. Only I will fight for your individual freedoms and liberties, while my opponents have accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions - which they spend wastefully on negative advertising and misleading statements of “truth”. Do they think we are that stupid? No, we are not.
Don’t waste your vote — vote for Life, vote for Liberty, vote for Andy.
When was the last time you had a one-on-one conversation with a member of the opposite party? What did you hope to accomplish?
Also unique in our state, an office-mate of mine is running for State Representative this year. Two candidates working at the same non-political office running for state office the same year. It must be something in the water.
He is a Democrat. I am a Libertarian. We had been talking about the economy, and the $700 BILLION dollar (or more) bailout that was proposed over the weekend. As has been typical, we agree on many more points than we differ. We were not trying to persuade each other of the rightness of our own views, or the wrongness of the other’s views. We were discussing what would be best for our respective 401(k) plans.
Do you vote a straight party ticket, or what criteria do you use to vote when evaluating a candidate?
I do not. I gather information about each candidate, and each issue. I do not let my feelings get in the way. I evaluate each candidate or issue based on the principles of government that I hold dear: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, individual choices and responsibility for those choices. I never vote for the “lesser of two evils”, because that choice STILL chooses evil. And then I vote.
