Connersville News-Examiner profile
Darrell Smith wrote a fine profile of me for the front page of the Connersville News-Examiner. CLICK HERE
In general, I am quite pleased, but I will take one little quibble. He says at one point that I "somewhat" supported the Iraq war. Now this is probably what Cool Hand Luke's warden would call a "failure to communicate." My bad, no doubt.
I don't recall our interview exactly, but I typically say that I "somewhat reluctantly" supported the war. I did not support the original 1991 war, and it took a good bit of convincing to get my support.
However, I did support going in to Iraq, and still think we're doing basically the right thing - though I might argue with some of the tactics. I fully support doing whatever is necessary to finish the job. We might have to be somewhat harsher than we mostly have been. Also, I won't balk at us being there for several years or spending some money. That's what it might realistically take to get at least a half decent government going and able to control the country, though I predict it settles down a lot within the next six months.
I'm just not wanting to be mistaken for John Kerry. Thanks.
Anyway, here's the story:
Laurel's Barger runs for Senate
BY DARRELL SMITH/Staff Writer
A Whitewater Valley man is stumping the state to get his Libertarian message out to voters in the race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Marvin Scott.
Al Barger, 41, of Laurel has been on the campaign trail since being nominated by the Indiana Libertarian Party Central Committee in early June.
He concedes he is a long shot but maintains there is a reason for his candidacy.
"I will say, it's unlikely that I can unseat Evan Bayh, but every single vote that shows up in my column is one clear message being sent that you think there is too much government and it needs to be pared back to its constitutionally-authorized functions," he said.
Barger graduated from Laurel High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Ball State University with a major in journalism and minors in political science and psychology.
"I turned 18 just in time to vote in 1980," he said. "Before I had met another Libertarian, I was getting Ed Clark (Libertarian candidate for president) literature in the mail and taking it door-to-door in Laurel. It just immediately made sense."
He said his judgment at that early age - that Republicans do not really believe in limited government and second amendment rights - has been confirmed.
Gun control is just one of the issues in which the federal government has overstepped its bounds, he said. He calls himself a Barry Goldwater conservative and said there is no place for him in today's Republican Party.
"What the Congress is suppose to do is outlined in the U.S. Constitution," he explained. "They are specific and limited duties. The one thing the federal government is suppose to do is national defense - stop people from coming in and killing us - and then a small handful of lesser responsibilities outlined specifically for them such as making copyright laws and printing money."
He said his father, Howard, and grandfather, Brown, started a combination convenience store and sporting goods store, including the sale of handguns, in the mid-1960s. At that time, former Democratic Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh, Evan Bayh's father, and his friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., led the passage of the gun control act which resulted in additional paperwork and federal inspections on gun shops, Barger said.
"They (father and grandfather) just gave up and got out of business," he said. "I tend to take a dim view when I see the son supporting yet more gun control."
Barger said the federal government has no responsibility in the war on drugs, that the task is an obligation of the states.
"And likewise, where in the constitution does it say the federal government has any authority to be involved in education?" he asked. "In my mind, the federal Department of Education is unconstitutional, it has no authority for that."
An issue he said is high on his priority list is Social Security.
"In the first place, it's unconstitutional," he said. "There's nothing in the constitution authorizing the federal government to take charge of our retirement money, and look what happens."
He said 15 percent of a worker's paycheck is taken off the top for Social Security and squandered. He said U.S. presidents and congressmen should go to jail for financial mismanagement.
"What the Congress, including Evan Bayh, has done is a thousand times worse than anything Ken Lay (former Enron CEO) or WorldCom or Tyco ever dreamed of doing," he said.
Barger said the government has no business being involved in marriage, except for the oversight of contracts between people over issues such as money.
"The government should restrict its role to contract law. If you want to sign a contract recognized by the government that you've got inheritance rights, that's great," he explained. "As far as being a marriage, you can take that to church and it's between you, the church and God."
He said he believes personally that - as the bumper stickers read - "abortion stops a beating heart." But he is not comfortable giving the federal government authority over what is inside a woman, he said, and he could consider some state-level regulations, including parental notification.
Barger calls himself hawkish on issues such as terrorism, and he said he "somewhat" supported the Iraq war.
He said he did not support President Bush signing the McCain-Feingold campaign reform act into law because it was unconstitutional.
He said Bayh has $7.4 million in his campaign spending chest, and that he does not have a problem with that as long as he was included in any debates between Bayh and Scott.
In general, I am quite pleased, but I will take one little quibble. He says at one point that I "somewhat" supported the Iraq war. Now this is probably what Cool Hand Luke's warden would call a "failure to communicate." My bad, no doubt.
I don't recall our interview exactly, but I typically say that I "somewhat reluctantly" supported the war. I did not support the original 1991 war, and it took a good bit of convincing to get my support.
However, I did support going in to Iraq, and still think we're doing basically the right thing - though I might argue with some of the tactics. I fully support doing whatever is necessary to finish the job. We might have to be somewhat harsher than we mostly have been. Also, I won't balk at us being there for several years or spending some money. That's what it might realistically take to get at least a half decent government going and able to control the country, though I predict it settles down a lot within the next six months.
I'm just not wanting to be mistaken for John Kerry. Thanks.
Anyway, here's the story:
Laurel's Barger runs for Senate
BY DARRELL SMITH/Staff Writer
A Whitewater Valley man is stumping the state to get his Libertarian message out to voters in the race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Marvin Scott.
Al Barger, 41, of Laurel has been on the campaign trail since being nominated by the Indiana Libertarian Party Central Committee in early June.
He concedes he is a long shot but maintains there is a reason for his candidacy.
"I will say, it's unlikely that I can unseat Evan Bayh, but every single vote that shows up in my column is one clear message being sent that you think there is too much government and it needs to be pared back to its constitutionally-authorized functions," he said.
Barger graduated from Laurel High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Ball State University with a major in journalism and minors in political science and psychology.
"I turned 18 just in time to vote in 1980," he said. "Before I had met another Libertarian, I was getting Ed Clark (Libertarian candidate for president) literature in the mail and taking it door-to-door in Laurel. It just immediately made sense."
He said his judgment at that early age - that Republicans do not really believe in limited government and second amendment rights - has been confirmed.
Gun control is just one of the issues in which the federal government has overstepped its bounds, he said. He calls himself a Barry Goldwater conservative and said there is no place for him in today's Republican Party.
"What the Congress is suppose to do is outlined in the U.S. Constitution," he explained. "They are specific and limited duties. The one thing the federal government is suppose to do is national defense - stop people from coming in and killing us - and then a small handful of lesser responsibilities outlined specifically for them such as making copyright laws and printing money."
He said his father, Howard, and grandfather, Brown, started a combination convenience store and sporting goods store, including the sale of handguns, in the mid-1960s. At that time, former Democratic Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh, Evan Bayh's father, and his friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., led the passage of the gun control act which resulted in additional paperwork and federal inspections on gun shops, Barger said.
"They (father and grandfather) just gave up and got out of business," he said. "I tend to take a dim view when I see the son supporting yet more gun control."
Barger said the federal government has no responsibility in the war on drugs, that the task is an obligation of the states.
"And likewise, where in the constitution does it say the federal government has any authority to be involved in education?" he asked. "In my mind, the federal Department of Education is unconstitutional, it has no authority for that."
An issue he said is high on his priority list is Social Security.
"In the first place, it's unconstitutional," he said. "There's nothing in the constitution authorizing the federal government to take charge of our retirement money, and look what happens."
He said 15 percent of a worker's paycheck is taken off the top for Social Security and squandered. He said U.S. presidents and congressmen should go to jail for financial mismanagement.
"What the Congress, including Evan Bayh, has done is a thousand times worse than anything Ken Lay (former Enron CEO) or WorldCom or Tyco ever dreamed of doing," he said.
Barger said the government has no business being involved in marriage, except for the oversight of contracts between people over issues such as money.
"The government should restrict its role to contract law. If you want to sign a contract recognized by the government that you've got inheritance rights, that's great," he explained. "As far as being a marriage, you can take that to church and it's between you, the church and God."
He said he believes personally that - as the bumper stickers read - "abortion stops a beating heart." But he is not comfortable giving the federal government authority over what is inside a woman, he said, and he could consider some state-level regulations, including parental notification.
Barger calls himself hawkish on issues such as terrorism, and he said he "somewhat" supported the Iraq war.
He said he did not support President Bush signing the McCain-Feingold campaign reform act into law because it was unconstitutional.
He said Bayh has $7.4 million in his campaign spending chest, and that he does not have a problem with that as long as he was included in any debates between Bayh and Scott.
posted by Al | 1:15 AM
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