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Richard "Jay" Edgar
Libertarian Candidate for 4th District US Congress
Send A Voice for Liberty To Washington
Welcome to my campaign website.
In an era where politicians brag about their accomplishments of more government programs, I want to reduce the size of the federal government. I advocate smaller, less intrusive government that values individual liberty.
I'm proud to live in the freest and most prosperous nation on the Earth. The parties in power have been continually chipping away at our freedoms and strangling us with bureaucracy and nanny-statism. The voters need to wake up and send a message to Washington that enough is enough.
I would best describe my political philosophy as being fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I want to keep the federal government out of your bank account and your personal life. The political left wants to prevent you from keeping the money you earn through excessive government social programs, while the political right wants to dictate their version of morality to you. I want you to keep your money and decide moral issues for yourself.
The federal government eats up too much of our money. 48.5% of our nations income is confiscated for federal, state, and local taxes. The federal government is way too big and is growing exponentially.
The original constitution only spelled out three federal crimes, treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. There are now more than 3,300 federal crimes. In 1981, when Ronald Reagan took office there were 20,000 federal prisoners. Now there are 171,000 federal prisoners. According to numbers from the Justice Department we had 2.03 million of our citizens in prison last year. That equates to about 700 of each 100,000 citizens. According to the Justice Policy Institute two-thirds of them are there for non-violent reasons. According to most sources the US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world (this is debatable, numbers from North Korea are hard to find or verify).
I'm proud to call myself a Libertarian. Libertarianism is based on the premise that no one should be allowed to initiate force on someone else. The only force that should be used is to protect yourself or your property. Government should not be used to initiate force upon others. It should only be used to protect the rights of the individual.
From the National Libertarian Platform - "We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose."
The great political issue of our times is not liberalism versus conservatism or capitalism versus socialism. It is personal responsibility and freedom versus governmental paternalism and domination.
For a more detailed analysis on my stand on various issues please explore this website. Feel free to email me with any questions on my campaign or comment on my platform.
Time until polls open on November 7th 2006:
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