Kerry Kantor Libertarian Candidate in 2000 for U.S. House of Representatives - Colorado District 5

Philosophy

"Freedom works!"

America is the wealthiest, most powerful nation the world has ever known because - we're so genetically superior to everyone else? That's preposterous of course. Because we happen to have more natural resources than anyone else? I think not (consider Russia & Japan). No, we've gotten here because the experiment worked. Freedom works! Unless you believe we really are genetically superior, how else can you explain our incomprehensibly better quality of life with respect to the rest of the world? So, I am intrigued that the libertarian party, seemingly the only organized group advocating unadorned freedom for all, has such an impossibly difficult time getting people elected to public office. I wish I knew what it meant. Still, I believe, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, that fundamentally people do recognize the value of freedom. Call me an idealist.

Whether or not I really am better suited for this office than my opponent, depends on what my constituents would have me accomplish. If, for example, I would be expected to bring home to Colorado more tax dollars, then it is likely I am not better suited at all (for one thing I consider it stolen money - you can call it what you like - notwithstanding that some of it was stolen from us). I recognize that my approach to public service might not be practical in the day-to-day intrigue government has become. For, as someone who's goal it is to reduce my own power, as well as that of my peers, building temporary alliances, which is the bread and butter of modem politics, will be a constant challenge for me.

However, running as a libertarian, and therefore as the longest of longshots, it should be clear that I am not in this for the power. If that were my goal I'd make the run with a party where I had some decent chance of being elected. So, what's left is the simple truth that I am in it as a defender of freedom - everyone's freedom - fighting the odds like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. How useful one finger in a great big dyke is, remains to be seen. But, as long as this is still America, where freedom is supposed to mean something special, that automatically makes me better suited than anyone who is willing to compromise our freedoms in the name of expediency and more loot.

Goals

• Return government to its rightful role as the protector of rights, not the provider of services. Rid the public of its continuing burden to support all other activities.

• Restore property rights, which means returning absolute control over how property is used to the property's owner. The most important properties of all are our own bodies, and no exception is made for this particular kind of property.

• Eliminate the power of the government to interfere in peaceful, non-coercive agreements between consenting adults.

• Repeal all laws that allow the government to engage in any activity that is illegal for individual citizens, such as taking money under threat of force.

Biographical