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Badnarikisms

Quotable Quotes from An American Revolution: On The Campaign Trail with Michael Badnarik

On Voters’ Receptiveness To His Message

It’s so easy. It is so easy. I mean how can you argue with the Constitution? How can you argue with private property rights? Nobody in their right mind will argue with that, and if I can get into the debates…. I mean, I won the debate against two principles Libertarians. How can I lose against the Republicans and Democrats? The hard part is not going to the White House. The hard part is going to be getting into the debates, and we can do that. We can do that. I’m very excited about our possibilities. If I can get into the debates, I’ll win the debate.

Quoting George Washington at the Libertarian Party Convention in May 2004

Good evening fellow Americans. I’d like to share a quote from George Washington: ‘Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force, and like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.’

If you lived in a log cabin, you’d require fire for your survival. You’d use the fire to heat your home and to cook your food. Fire is such a necessary part of your survival that you’d create a special place for fire. It is called a fireplace.

Government is necessary for our survival. We need government in order to survive. The Founding Fathers created a special place for government. It is called the Constitution.

Anytime the fire is in the fireplace, it is a good fire. Anytime a fire gets outside of the fireplace, it is a bad fire. Conversely, anytime the government stays within the limits of the Constitution, it is a good government. Anytime the government is outside the Constitution, it is a bad government, and it is time to stomp it out.

“Church Permits” –How the government got away with creating the Patriot Act

We need to stand up and remind them what the proper balance of power is. We the people are the source of all political power in the United States. We are sovereign citizens: they work for us. So why are we filling out concealed carry permits?

Anybody here (ever) fill out a form that allows you to go to church on Sunday. How many here have a church permit? Nobody in West Virginia goes to church? Or no one is silly enough to ask for a permit?

Well, the Second Amendment works the same way. How many of you have a concealed carry permit. Come on, be honest. (Several hands go up). Why do you fill out the paperwork? How is the Second Amendment any different than the First Amendment?

That's the chink in the armor: if they can get you to apply for a permit, then it’s just a short stretch to passing the Patriot Act and searching your house without a warrant. Technically, it says they'll deliver the warrant 90 days after they search your home. And the check is in the mail, and I'll respect you in the morning. How stupid do you have to be? If you haven’t bitched and complained, do you think they're going to send you a warrant after that? The Patriot Act is probably the most egregiously unconstitutional document that’s ever come out of Congress. We’ve already got 300 cities that have passed resolutions declaring it unconstitutional. And we’re going to let Congress get away with that?

If you or I break the law, we go to jail. If a member of Congress violates the supreme law of the land, they just get re-elected. And the really sad part is that we're the ones who re-elect them. That's like buying the rope to your own hanging.

We cannot sit back and continue voting for the Republicans and Democrats! We can’t! That’s political suicide. We have to get…we have to get an American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin said that there’s a difference between revolution and rebellion. Revolution is an astronomical word. A planet revolves around the sun, and after it finishes a revolution, it returns to its starting place. Well the human starting place is private property and individual rights. And for a short period of time we gave up those rights to live under a king. They were proudly British, and 15 years later they changed the way they thought and decided the taxation without representation was really not a cool thing.

Bill O’Reilly Chickens Out

I was supposed to be on Bill O’Reilly’s program. Unfortunately, four hours before we got to New York to be in the studio, his producer called and cancelled. All right, so they had ‘late breaking news.’

Well, a few weeks later, O’Reilly made the challenge on the air that he would challenge anybody to a debate on the Patriot Act. Well, my staff sent a formal response back within half an hour, saying that Michael Badnarik would be happy to debate Bill O’Reilly on the Patriot Act.

Well, apparently Bill O’Reilly’s producer has told us that we misunderstood. Now I don’t know if we misunderstood the word ‘debate’ or the word ‘anybody’, but apparently Bill O’Reilly doesn’t want to talk to me, and I consider that good news.

Why We Must Be Willing To Fight For Our Liberties

Imagine George Washington talking to the troops at Valley Forge: “You know guys, we’ve worked hard. You know, we’ve come a long way, but it’s really bitter cold. I mean we’re freezing to death, we’ve got no shoes on, and nobody can expect us to take a boat ride in this kind of weather. And even if we did, there are 600 Hessians on the other side. So, we gave it a good shot. Let’s all go back, and we’ll have tea and coffee back in Monticello or something like that.” Mount Vernon, excuse me.

Imagine, if you will, Patrick Henry calling Thomas Jefferson on the telephone: “Hey Thomas! I’ve got this really great idea. We’re going to tell the King that it’s really not fair for him to pick on us because England is so much more powerful than we are. And, you know, we’re going to just basically beg for leniency, and it all ends up with, ‘Give me liberty…please?’”

Does that even resonate with anybody?

Now, how about the soldiers who invaded the beaches at Normandy? Do you think they sat around and said, “Well, I don’t know…gosh, you got all these machine gun nests…all that barbed wire. This is pretty dangerous…I don’t think we ought to go.”

How about all those people who literally fought for liberty?

I am doing everything I can to get the message out and to fight for liberty, just like the Founding Fathers. When they wrote the Declaration of Independence, they concluded that document by pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Jon Airheart (Michael’s aide on the road) and I have sacrificed our lives, what little fortunes we have, and our sacred honor to take this campaign all the way to the election.

The question is: if you were living there in 1776, would you have signed the Declaration of Independence? Would you have signed on the dotted line, knowing that you were possibly signing your own death warrant? How much are you willing to do for Liberty?

Would you like to see a government where we eliminate the IRS and let people keep their money? Would you like to eliminate the Department of Education so that teachers can actually teach our students?

…I have had Democrats and Republicans come to me and tell me explicitly that they are dissatisfied with their own parties. They make promises during the campaign, and then they get in and just continue to do the same old stuff. They’re looking for an alternative.

The War in Iraq

I'm fairly convinced, and I think that 50% of the American people are convinced that we didn't have enough information to go into Iraq. Clearly, the White House administration is trying to shift the blame to the CIA, indicating that the CIA gave them faulty information. I don't know what the President knew or what the President believed, but I am also aware that the CIA claims that they tried to indicate that this was marginal information, and it was not hard and fast intelligence.

Now that we stand in the position that we do, I think that it would be more appropriate for George Bush to develop an exit strategy to bring our troops home, as I promise to do if I am elected.

John Kerry is on record as promising to send more troops to Iraq. To say that Kerry is less in favor of the War should not be construed to mean that he is opposed to the War. I 9will bring our troops home as safely and quickly as possible, with the priority being to minimize the number of injuries and fatalities in that process.

Military Stop-Loss and The Draft

Both the Bush and Kerry administration are strongly supporting the return of the Draft. The military already has a stop-loss program, so that people who are in the military who are supposed to get out…their term of duty is over…the military is rejecting that. It’s not honoring that and saying, “I’m sorry, but you’re in. You don’t get out unless we let you out.” And so they are already trying to stem the flow of people leaving the military. And when that isn’t sufficient, they’re going to resume the Draft, which is involuntary servitude.

Libertarians believe in voluntary interaction in everything we do. And even members of the military have told me that they want a volunteer army. You do not want to be in a foxhole standing next to somebody who doesn’t want to be there. You have to trust your life with that person, and the military…men and women in the military…don’t want to trust their lives to somebody who really doesn’t want to be there. They lose that “esprit de corps” that is so necessary when your lives depend on the people next to you.

If you think that the United States shouldn’t be in Iraq, voting for Kerry is not the way to do it, because he has promised to send more troops to Iraq. So if you want to bring the troops home, you need to Libertarian. You need to vote for Michael Badnarik in November.

Taking Care Of The Needy When Government’s Size Is Reduced.

After September 11th, Americans voluntarily contributed five billion dollars to the people of New York because they understood that a terrible tragedy had occurred, and they empathized with that, and they reached into their wallets, and they made sure that the people of New York had whatever money it took to rebuild after the disaster

The government never does anything successfully. We had less people homeless and less people out of work before 1933 than we do now. When the government promises to give people all this money, there’s a disconnect between the people who are giving the money and the people who are getting the money.

In a much better system, when your neighbor is out of work, if you’re concerned about your neighbor, you’ll bring them in…allow them to sleep on the couch…give them a hot meal. But the assumption is that your neighbor is going to be out looking for a job. If your neighbor sits on the couch and starts watching TV all day, it’s not going to be long before you basically kick them out into the street because they are not trying. That’s precisely what happens when the government sends out welfare checks.

We are going to improve the economy. We’re going to get rid of the cost of government. The cost of government is exorbitantly high. We cannot afford the size of our government. And when we get rid of many of these government agencies, that’s going to be more money in circulation. That’s going to be more money in the business sector. And when we eliminate the IRS, most people are going to have 35% more money in their pockets. They’re going to be able to pay off their credit cards, buy a better car, put their kids in a better school, and they’re still going to have money to spend. And there are going to be small businesses springing up like dandelions to provide goods and services so they can take advantage of all that extra money that you’ve got. So not only is that going to raise everybody’s standard of living, it’s going to create jobs. The economy is going to explode exponentially, and everybody is going to be able to have a really good job.

When the government passes a regulation, let’s say it costs $1000…no, let’s say it costs $10,000 to fulfill the obligations of these new government regulations. A big business can write a check for $10,000 with no problem, but if you’re a small business and that $10,000 eliminates your profit margin, there’s no reason to be in business. And you stop. All of these regulations put small businesses out of business, and that hurts not only the small businessman, but also the community that may have been relying on that good or that service. And so government regulations are detrimental to the economy. They eliminate jobs. Every government job that we eliminate basically creates about 200 more. So the best way to increase jobs in this country is to get rid of as many government jobs as possible.

Minimum Wage

Minimum wage does just the opposite of what it’s intended to do. The minimum wage presumably is going to raise people up so that they can have more money to spend. What it actually does is put more people out of work.

If you’re a small businessman, and let’s say that you can afford $3/hr to pay someone to do a particular job for you, and the government comes along and raises the minimum wage to $5/hr…well, you can’t afford $5/hr to pay that person, so what you do is you eliminate the $3/hr job. And so at first blush, it sounds like minimum wage is going to give everybody more money. What it really does is it eliminates the $3/hr job that somebody might have had. So instead of having $3/hr, now they have no dollars an hour. Minimum wages raise the bar higher so that fewer people can reach the bar.

The War on Drugs

A lot of the information that is broadcast about the Libertarian Party is false. For example, it’s widely understood that Libertarians don’t care about drugs, and we don’t care if our children take drugs. That’s a ludicrous proposition. Libertarians love their children at least as much as the Democrats and Republicans …probably more! And we do not want our children to take drugs, but we recognize that the War on Drugs is a failure. We’ve been fighting the War on Drugs for five or six decades, and the problem is now worse than it was when we started this whole War on Drugs.

Health Care and Prescription Drugs

Look at our health care system. How many people here are really confident that you can buy all the health care that you need? (No hands go up.) Not a single hand. Why not? Because the Food and Drug Administration has a 10 year testing period for drugs that costs about a billion dollars. How many economics majors here can tell us who is going to pay that billion dollars? Is there any question that they’re going to pass it on to you in higher prices?

The government is in control of our health insurance. They decide what tests you’re allowed to get, what tests you’re not. And because the doctor knows the insurance company is paying, do you think they’re going to charge you, oh, maybe a few dollars extra?

My mother went to the doctor for a blood test. You know, a blood test…takes three minutes…they take a little sample of blood? She didn’t have to pay for it; the insurance company paid for it: $600! For a blood test! And you wonder why health insurance is unaffordable?

Anytime you want high quality service and low prices, you have to go to the free market. Without competition, there’s just basically monopoly.

How many people want to have more money than they know what to do with? Wouldn’t that be a nice problem to have! Maybe we could start by not wasting it on government bureaucracy. Maybe we can kinda shrink the Federal government, and…I don’t know…let you keep the money that you worked so hard for?

In any decision about your life, either you can make that decision, or the government can make that decision. Who do you think would be the best person to make decisions about your life? Is there anybody here who really wants the government to make your decisions for you?

I talk to colleges all the time, and college-age students, depending on what grade they’re in…

The first question is, how many people here still live with Mom and Dad? And depending on the age group, there’s always a percentage.

Second question: how many people plan to still be living with Mom and Dad five years from now? Not a single hand!

Why not? Why are you so eager to get your own apartment? Don’t you love Mom and Dad? Have Mom and Dad just been really, really terrible to live with? Don’t Mom and Dad love you anymore? Why do you want your own apartment?

(Asks audience member) Why do you want your own apartment? (Repeats reply) To make your own decisions! It’s a biologically built-in process! That’s what grown up is all about, is to get out on your own and to make your own decisions!

Well, if you don’t let Mom and Dad make decisions for you, and presumably Mom and Dad love you, why would you let the government make decisions for you? Is the government smarter than Mom and Dad? Does the government love you more than Mom and Dad?

Come on! Let’s grow up. Let’s move out of the house. Let’s tell the government: Sayonara! You’re not going to make decisions for me anymore. You’re not going to pick my health care. You’re not going to pick what subjects are taught and how they’re taught in my child’s school. You’re not going to take my money and spend it wisely for me. I’m going to that. I’m going to be an adult. I’m going to make all of the decisions about my own life. Because, frankly, I’m smarter than you are, especially when it comes to what I want!

More About Taking Care Of The Needy, The Poor, And The Elderly

The biggest complaint that people have when they hear a libertarian say, “We’re going to get rid of all these government agencies….” What’s the first complaint? “What are we going to do about our old people and the poor? What’s going to happen to all the people who are unfortunate?”

Come on! Do you think that Libertarians are going to let anybody starve to death?

Americans are the most generous people on the face of the earth, bar none. Absolutely nobody else is as generous as we are. How much money do we spend in foreign aid? How much money did Americans give to the City of New York within one month of the September 11th disaster? Do you know that we voluntarily contributed five billion dollars? That’s with a “b”! Do you know how much five billion dollars is? That’s a lot of money! Was there an IRS agent knocking at your door telling you what your fair share was? Did we have police officers coming up and shaking you down for money? How did we contribute five billion dollars to NY?

Because we care! Nobody cares as much as we do. We will not allow anybody to starve to death.

How much more generous could you be if I let you keep your money? Let’s get rid of the IRS: now you’ve got more money to give! Wouldn’t you be more generous?

The best way to help the unfortunate is to, first of all, make health care affordable, get the government out of it, then we can pay for the health care! Then, if somebody really needs a heart transplant, “Well that’s all right. I’ve got a hundred bucks. Here you go!”

Everybody would be more fortunate with less government. Government is the problem. It is the parasite that drains your livelihood out of you. It steals half of your money, and then taxes you on more than that!

If we really want liberty…if we REALLY want liberty…then we need to go out and get it, we need to take it, because nobody is going to give it to us. And we need to do it now. Today. This year. 2004. November 2nd…. Let’s surprise the world. Let’s scare the tar out of the Democrats and Republicans.

Protecting The Second Amendment To The Constitution (Gun Rights)

 I just want everyone to know that 20,000 gun laws in the United States are unconstitutional. They infringe on your right to protect your life, the lives of your loved ones, and your property. And if I’m elected President, all of those are gone.

Nader

(Questioner) It’s coming up on November, I’m a disaffected voter, and I’m not happy with Bush, and I’m not happy with Kerry. But the name that I keep hearing is Nader. So tell me, as a disaffected voter, why should I vote for you and not Ralph Nader? Why?

Because I’m already on the ballot in 30 states (as of July 22), I already have enough potential electoral votes to win. Ralph Nader has disenfranchised himself from the Green Party. So the Green Party is on the ballot in 23 states; Ralph Nader is on the ballot in three (also as of July 22). So Ralph Nader has more name recognition than I do, today, but he has far less political clout. If you are truly trying to send Washington a message, you can scare the heck out of the Democrats and Republicans by voting Libertarian. The only wasted vote is when you vote for a candidate you don’t respect.

Gay Marriage

My position on the issue of gay marriage is simple. Individuals have rights. Gays are individuals. Case closed.

The question really is: does the government have any justification in defining what is or is not marriage, and the answer is no. Why would I leave it up to the states? It's not the state who is authorizing this marriage. It is two individuals who have chosen to live together. It's up to them. As long as they're not hurting me, I don't care.

The first marriage licenses were issued by the government in an effort to prevent or regulate interracial marriage. Marriage licenses were generated due to racial bigotry, and this marriage amendment is based on sexual preference bigotry.

Social Security

One of the things I’m always accused of is, we wanna, like, just yank Social Security out.

Well, let me ask one question: How many people on Social Security feel secure? (one hand goes up in a room of 75 people) I mean, Social Security is very much like the Titanic with the propellers up in the air. You don’t have to be an admiral in the Navy to know that this boat is going to sink!

We don’t have to “rip” Social Security out. All we have to do is give people a better choice, just like they did in the country of Chile. Chile made a private retirement fund available. You didn’t have to…you could keep your government Social Security, or you could do the new-and-improved private, free-market retirement plan. In two years, 98% of the people left the government plan. If you’re on the Titanic, and I come up with a real boat, how many people do you think are going to volunteer to get on?

Media Attention

The Libertarian Party is already a political force. I gave a speech in Tennessee, and the speech was (for) a small government rally. And there were easily half a dozen Democrat and half a dozen Republican office holders, who took the microphone and expounded the virtues of lower taxes, of smaller government. And as the presidential candidate, I was honored to be the last speaker. And I pointed out that all of our Democratic speakers wanted small government. Most of our Republican speakers wanted smaller government. So if small government was a good thing, I pointed out that Libertarians believe in smallest government.

The important thing is that the newspaper the next day…. Now, as Libertarians, most of you know what a typical newspaper report is all about. The Democrats did this. The Republicans said that….oh and by the way, and the Libertarians were there.

The next day in Tennessee, there was a newspaper report, that said, “Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Presidential candidate said…” And they quoted about 80% of my speech…accurately! My favorite paragraph was the last paragraph that said, “The Democrats and Republicans were there.”

The Presidential Debates

There is no doubt that I will win the presidential debate. The question is: can I get into the debate? And all I need to get into the debate is a little bit of public notoriety. If we can get everybody to understand that there is a third choice, and that Libertarians want the same thing all Americans want, then when the newspapers and television crews go out interviewing people, asking if you’re going to vote for Bush or Kerry…if we can get 10% of the people to use “Badnarik” or “Libertarian,” then we will be invited into the debates.