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Opening
statement at Midland/Odessa League of Women Voters Debate 3/26/03 Hello,
I’m Chip Peterson, I’m a Libertarian running for Congress. I have a website: Chippeterson .com that will
contain the full text of this statement if I run out of time here. I
am here to tell you that I am running for several reasons. First,
the nation is heading for a train wreck on social security and our politicians
keep ignoring that fact!
I wrote a book titled, The REAL Social Security Problem: What Everyone Must Know Before It’s
too Late. Copies are available free to those in the audience, since the book
analyzes the problem and explains it in very simple terms so people can no
longer be fooled about it. Second,
when writing the book I realized that many of the potential solutions to the
social security problem involved Libertarian policies. Some of the most important policies that I support
are the following: 1.
Lower
Tax Rates and Simpler Taxes without Double Taxation. Such policies are necessary so that people will
have incentives to work hard and be more productive, thereby producing more
goods that retirees could consume in the future. 2.
Less
Wasteful Government Spending on Pork Barrel Projects and activities no longer
needed. Wasted resources are gone forever and won’t be available to
support future retirees. 3.
Lower
Levels of Government Regulation.
Such regulation often impedes the productivity of farmers and business, thereby
wasting resources, and again leaving less product for future generations to
enjoy. 4.
Unimpeded
legal immigration for people who want to work in the U.S. People who come to work should be allowed to,
while those who come only for welfare or with destructive intentions should be
excluded from the U.S. Additional production by new immigrants will be helpful
when taking care of future retirees. 5.
A
strong domestic defense policy to protect what we have, ourselves, and our
freedoms. The
above are all basic Libertarian positions. In addition, as you will see if you read my social security book, I
also favor strong family and strong
educational policies, including educational choice or home schooling if that
would be more effective. Choice in
education is also a Libertarian Policy.
I also agree with Libertarian positions that take their guidance from the
intent of our nation’s founding fathers. I
strongly believe in our nation’s Constitution and its Bill of Rights,
which were intended to provide explicit guarantees that government would not
become too powerful and try to enslave its citizens by taking away their rights.
In recent years, unfortunately, some of those constitutional protections and
rights have been eroded as government has grown and reached for more power.
Thus, I want to state that I strongly support first
amendment rights regarding freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom
of the press, and freedom of peaceable assembly and petition to redress
grievances. I also support second
amendment rights of the people to keep and bear arms, and fourth
amendment rights that protect people against unreasonable searches and
seizures. In addition, I support the Fifth
through 8th amendments that guarantee people the right to not be
deprived of life liberty or property without due process, the right to trial by
jury, and the right to reasonable bail. Finally, I support the 9th
and 10th amendments that reserve all rights not expressly given
to the federal government to the people or to the states unless the rights are
expressly prohibited to them.
Thus, like all Libertarians, I support all your constitutional rights and
I urge you to vote Libertarian for me for Congress. |
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Email Chip with any questions. Richard Peterson Campaign, Richard Peterson treasurer |
