Candidate for
United States Representative; District 3; Libertarian Party

Americans declared Independence in 1776 to institute "new Government" to secure "unalienable Rights." Among these are "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Also among these are rights to private property.

But now government takes private property:

• by eminent domain condemnation to give to businesses that pay more taxes.
• by designation of critical habitat for endangered species,
• by seizure from owners of prohibited drugs, and
• by purchase of more wilderness, wild rivers and wetlands from willing sellers.

Non-government organizations solicited contributions to protect "endangered" species, "critical" habitat and "drug-free" minds. But instead of reliance on voluntary action, promised protection invariably meant more government intervention against development of rural land, against development of water storage, delivery and drainage, and against cultivation and distribution of some species of drug-producing plants.

Embracing environmental- and mental- protectionist agendas, Congress passed laws against human disturbance of government-designated critical habitat for government-listed endangered species, like the wide-spread but intermittent desert pools populated by ubiquitous fairy shrimp. And Congress passed laws against human possession of certain plants, like cannabis.

Newspapers spread and thereby lent legitimacy to communist-influenced environmental advocacy for taking development rights from land and water-right owners by government redistribution of property rights. Purveyors of both legal and illegal drugs gained greater profits by government interference with competition.

But we all lose opportunities for private enjoyment of life and liberty when government takes private property.

We all lose opportunities to profit from creative use of individual knowledge and skills in development of privately owned natural resources when government takes private property.

We all lose personal incentive to create private wealth. We all lose when there is less private wealth to trade.

Government schools program children to trust decisions by majority rule and distrust free markets for exchange of private property. But government redistribution of wealth wastes wealth. Workers waste years working to serve wasteful government consumption of wealth.

We all gain precious years of financial independence by ending taxes and government property takings. Environmentalists and drug-prohibitionists can persuade without using government property takings and imprisonment to threaten and punish people into involuntary compliance.

To be free from communism, we must limit government power to take private property.

To save liberty for our children, we must teach our children to honor private property rights.

To keep liberty protected from government assault, we must vote Libertarian.

Libertarians protect natural equal rights, including life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and property by limiting government power to its Constitutional authority -- the consent of the people.

Congress is obliged to defend American liberty against attacks by foreign governments. Military intervention against terrorist-sponsoring governments, like the former ruling regime in Iraq, is a necessary last resort to restore lasting peace.