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.
