This is the platform statement of Libertarian US Senate candidate Chris Cole:
Unlike my opponents, I have never been for the war, until I was against it. I have always been against it. Democrats and Republicans always promise to "keep taxes low", while I understand that they are already outrageously high. I will never promise you gifts from other people's money, while silently taking your money to give to others. I will give you an opportunity to vote for the liberty we all cherish instead of voting against one evil or the another.
Cole is now scoring 4-6% in polling against the well-funded campaigns of Liddy Dole and Kay Hagan.
Recently, I had the opportunity to pose five questions to Cole, and these are his responses:
1. Libertarian candidates have been polling pretty well in NC this year. What one or two specific items from a Libertarian agenda do you think is resonating with voters strongly enough to make them > consider abandoning both the Republicans and Democrats?
Chris Cole: My suspicion is that they have caught on to the danger of voting for the lesser of two evils. In the past, someone was constantly telling me that he had to vote for A, because B would be so much worse. While I still get some of that, I think more people are recognizing that voting for the lesser evil has only gotten them evil. As Dr. Phil says, "So how's that working out for yuh?" And more people are seeing that they have been wasting their votes all along. Not so much that our message has suddenly turned attractive, but rather that voting the same way has only gotten them the same thing. Now they are open to considering something else. And in NC, the Libertarians are the only alternative.
2. The general wisdom is that Libertarian candidates hurt Republicans more than Democrats, yet your polling numbers consistently suggest you're actually drawing more Democratic support. Why do you think this is?
Chris Cole: Well, I'm openly gay, so the Democrats can't play the victim card with me. And since I have been talking about the same-sex marriage issue from that personal point of view, they can't use that "rightwing" canard they've been getting away with. Of course, the openness of most Libertarians to immigration helps with another Democrat faction, the Hispanics.
3. If elected as North Carolina's Senator, what would be your three primary legislative priorities?
Chris Cole: Ending the income tax, ending the war in Iraq, and promoting a non-punishment approach to illegal immigration (ending the prohibitions on low-end labor that create an economic demand for a black-market to fill that labor need).
4. Hawking some form of universal health care seems to be big this year for both Republicans and Democrats. What do Libertarians offer American voters who may not have health insurance?
Chris Cole: Ending the income tax will provide an instant pay increase, enabling everyone to better provide for their own healthcare. Also, state mandates make a huge difference in insurance premiums in different states. Similar policies cost triple in New Jersey what they do in Iowa, for example, yet individuals are forbidden to purchase coverage from outside their home states. I would use the interstate commerce authority to require states to permit residents to purchase policies from any state, greatly expanding access to insurance. On the state level, I would expect Libertarian statesmen to remove licensing and other restrictions on alternative healthcare, such as chiropractors, giving expanded access to much cheaper healthcare options.
5. Election to the Senate means dealing with foreign policy. Over the next six years, what is the biggest change that needs to occur in American foreign policy?
Chris Cole: In his book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom", Ron Paul gives repeated examples of how a coercive foreign policy has resulted in unintended consequences that were far worse than the situations we were trying to correct. I think that our future survival as a species, much less as a free society, depends on the adoption of a non-interventionist foreign policy. Not only is it necessary for global peace, but also for liberty here at home. The Founders got it right, such as when James Madison said, "If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad."
Thanks, Chris.
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