I have been encouraged to run for office.  Like most libertarians, I have little interest in government nor in being a politician.  I am, however, interested in limiting government's involvement in our lives and in protecting our personal freedoms, economic freedoms, and property rights.  Libertarians run for office, not because we want to wield government power, but because we feel compelled to stop the encroachment on our rights and the ruination of the universal benefits of a truly free society. 

Believe me when I say that I would much prefer to spend my time with my family and friends and playing outdoors than endeavoring to reverse the damage of aggressive governments.  But, I am dedicated to this effort.  I have devoted my time as an officer in different Libertarian Party organizations for the past 5 years.  I am currently the vice-chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut.  I also happen to believe that I would be a valuable representative in the Connecticut State Senate.  As a state senator, I would adhere to a principled libertarian philosophy. 

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."   - George Washington

Libertarians judge legislation based on its legality and whether it imposes restrictions or burdens on individuals who are not affecting another individual's equal rights.   

Economics teaches us that central-planning produces inferior results than that of free people acting to improve their lives.  Even well-intentioned legislation more often has negative unintended outcomes that are unfortunately ignored in mainstream discourse.  While it is understood that a free society will have inevitable negative aspects, a libertarian form of government is the most moral and universally beneficial way for men and women to govern themselves.  It allows for the greatest amount of individual freedom, opportunity, prosperity, openness, fairness, equality, and peace. 

Some people believe government force can be used successfully, if the right people are put in charge of it.  If the right people are in place than the privileged power of government will not be abused and programs will perform more efficiently and successfully, with little adverse outcomes.  These people accept any loss of rights and freedoms to the individual who is not harming anyone as an acceptable trade-off.

Government is made up of people no more special than you and me.  Unfortunately, many of the people in government use the privileged power of government to advance their agendas.  They are encouraged to do this by large voting blocks, corporate interests, labor groups, and other special interests.  The end result of this process is various types of harm done to all of us.  Our government is supposed to be restrained from these activities by the law.  If we decide the law does not matter, but rather that of the will of the voting majority, than the Constitution is truly just a piece of paper and our government is no longer one of enumerated powers.

Many of us believe that we can make our lives on this planet better, more peaceful, fairer, greener, and more prosperous, by returning to a society based on individual rights and by establishing a truly free-market economy, free trade, and a foreign policy of nonintervention. To this end, millions have optimistically involved themselves in the growing world-wide liberty movement.

It is said that a frog thrown into a pot of boiling water will immediately jump out, while a frog in a pot of water that is slowly brought to a boil will remain to be cooked. Perhaps it is still too subtle now for some to appreciate, but everyday I see all around authoritarian signs and usurpation of our freedoms.

Laws and regulations stop you from making decisions for yourself every day. They decide where you can and cannot travel, when you must use personal protective equipment, what you cannot eat, or drink, or smoke, what you cannot sell and buy, how much you are to get paid for a service, what you are allowed to drive, who is not allowed to provide services, to whom you must provide services, what dietary supplements and medical therapies you may choose for yourself, and on. Laws prevent dying people from taking new investigational medicines at risk to nobody but themselves. Right now there are an untold number of people being imprisoned, without due process, by the U.S government on our soil and overseas that have not been charged with a crime. The Real ID Act has been passed and soon Americans will have to present their papers to be allowed the privilege to travel domestically. Citizens are spied upon by government officials without legal warrant.

One common realization that leads people to self-identify as libertarian is the truth that you can only have freedom by giving it away. That is, the only way one can be free to follow one’s own endeavors and interests is to allow others the same freedom to follow theirs. It is also means we should not be forced to support the ideas and endeavors of others. People who do not understand this will often ignore the infringements on others’ liberties that do not affect their personal interests or the public funding of activities that interest them. Surely at some point their personal choices will be outlawed and they will be forced to support that which they are most opposed. This is why it is important to promote the individual rights of everyone, rather than community rights, special interest rights, or corporate rights.

The forgotten truth is that government was accepted by the people living in the North American colonies only for the purpose of protection against force and fraud and that government was not meant to be important to our lives. This is now far from the reality. Once one realizes that our government has become an initiator of force, it is hard to ignore.

In our often well-intentioned attempt to solve more quickly the few problems suffered by any free society, we have created wider-spread, deeper-rooted and longer-standing ones. I am often bothered by recurring realizations of how much more prosperous and happier most all of us would be now, if we had not burdened ourselves with the heavy fist of government.

In attempting to improve the lives of laborers, thousands of pages of regulation make employers less able and willing to hire people. This in turn makes it harder for many to provide for themselves and their families.

Because of our innate compassion, we have tried to help struggling neighbors through public assistance programs. Thousands and their children no longer responsible for providing for themselves have lost the skills and motivation to do so.

In trying to protect people from themselves, governments have imposed on people's rights to self-ownership and privacy. People who are not harming anyone are not allowed to choose their behavior freely, even in choosing potential medical therapies for themselves. Patients must wait years for potential therapies to be approved by the FDA, before they are allowed to use them.

Nations’ drug wars have spent trillions of workers’ money, have cost the lives of innocents, and have made communities violent, with no improvement in the destructive affects of drugs on individuals.

Going well beyond matters of defense, either in the interest of aiding others or in making resources available to themselves, countries have adopted aggressive foreign policies. Military interventions have caused the upheaval and destruction of the lives of families.

Workers around the world have the fruits of their production taxed away to fund the interests of others. Governments have become the largest and nastiest polluters of our planet. Families’ homes and property are seized by government and given to others. Corporations and individuals benefit unfairly from favorable legislation that drives out competitors and harms the consumer.

A result of our attempting to solve our problems through force is the discouragement of ingenuity and entrepreneurialism, the ingredients of self-satisfaction and economic development. Rugged individualism is no longer encouraged and the human spirit has dimmed.

The founders of this nation knew their was a better way.  As we all know America was unfortunately not a perfectly free society for many years, but most Americans did enjoy the benefits of freedom here for over a century.  Many of us look forward to the time when government and politics have little to do with anything except protecting us from force and all of us can again enjoy liberty and its universal benefits.

The Libertarian Party of Connecticut promotes a free-market economy of wealth and abundance, limited government, individual liberty and responsibility, and a foreign policy of nonintervention, peace, and free-trade.