A few months ago we at Liberty Maven interviewed B.J. Lawson following his decisive primary election victory for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. It is now time to continue that interview as his general election campaign continues to heat up.
Lawson has been called “Ron Paul Jr.” and has been enthusiastically endorsed by Ron Paul himself. Lawson faces an uphill battle in his largely Democratic district, but he is charismatic and is not your average Republican. We encourage all Liberty Maven readers to donate to his campaign. As you will see in this interview segment and the last one, B.J. Lawson is uncompromisingly dedicated to individual liberty and the U.S. Constitution.
LM: In recent political history there has been much debate about term limits for Congressmen yet not much has been done about it. What is your view on congressional term limits?
Lawson: I do not believe term limits are a panacea — they will limit the terms of good, principled representatives just as surely as they will limit corrupt and incompetent ones. Ultimately, voters need to enforce term limits.
I believe that eliminating the Congressional pension plan would be much more effective than simple term limits. It’s one thing to go to Washington to serve the people. It’s another thing to “serve the people” and receive a lifetime of pension benefits and free health care as a result. Congress must not have financial incentives that encourage it to be a career. When elected, I will not participate in the Congressional pension program that is an insult to the American worker.
Although Ron flounders a little at the end there, he pretty much sums it up in a way that I think a lot of us have never fully considered: 16% of the country votes for one candidate, and the rest of us, the true majority, are all left feeling like “the minority”. Footage below, including what we can and need to do about it:
Neil Cavuto had a fantastic interview with Ron Paul today, in which they both discussed the election itself, as well as the policies and ideas of Ron Paul, and even the GOP’s utter shock when this “fringe” candidate ended up being a true force to contend with.
In at least two spots, Neil perfectly sums up the stance of Ron Paul and the Revolution, paraphrasing “Look, you guys [GOP, McCain, etc.] are the ones who abandoned the party, not me. I’m going back to what our roots are.”
We here at Liberty Maven are excited to have the opportunity to interview a true patriot candidate who some have called “Ron Paul Jr.”. His name is William “B.J.” Lawson and upon reading his answers to our first segment’s questions it is obvious the Constitution forms the backbone of his beliefs and his campaign to represent North Carolina’s 4th District in Congress.
If you haven’t heard of B.J. Lawson until now and you are a lover of liberty you are in for a treat. If we could cast a spell on every single person in the country to donate and help out with Lawson’s campaign we’d do it. In that vein please enjoy the first interview segment below and then head over to LawsonLibertyFund.com and pledge $5 or $300 to help out with his Ron Paul style money bomb on June 29th.
LM: What was your motivation for running for Congress? You are facing an incumbent Democrat David Price in an overly Democratic district; however back in 1994 a Republican unseated Price thanks to the “Contract With America” effort at that time. Does that previous defeat of Price give you hope for victory over him this time around?
Lawson: My motivation running for Congress is to advance a Constitutional federal government, and to question the “politics as usual” that is bankrupting our country and eviscerating our freedoms. Today’s political process is simply broken: we have legislators who don’t read bills before they vote, we have Congress delegating rule making to unelected bureaucrats and lobbyists, we have legislators piling special favors into legislation that is deemed likely to pass, and few even question if proposed legislation is the Constitutional role of the federal government. These are symptoms of a political process that no longer represents the people.
While Price was defeated once with the 1994 Republican landslide, this year’s environment is much different. The Republican party is adrift, and lacks a clear platform after the past eight years. Furthermore, our district is a strongly Democratic. However, the vast majority of voters know we need change — and David Price, as a 22 year incumbent, personifies the status quo.
It’s not so much his 1994 defeat that gives me hope for victory, but more what he’s done since his 1996 re-entry into Congress: not much. Rep. Price is an Establishment candidate whose voting record reflects the party line, and shows little leadership or concern for the critical questions facing our nation: out of control inflation, unsustainable government spending and entitlements, declining civil liberties, and failed interventionism abroad.
The voters are demanding change, and this year they have a choice for principled leadership advocating a Constitutional federal government.
One of the unique things about Vern Mckinley is that he saw what was broken and decided to try to fix it before Ron Paul declared his run for President. Mckinley decided to run for Congress in December of 2006. He was a Ron Paul Republican before the term even existed. It is this kind of foresight that deserves recognition and is demonstrated in this, the second part, of his interview with Liberty Maven.
LM: Let’s continue with one of the questions I’ve been asking the other candidates. Who is your favorite founding father and why?
Mckinley: Like most liberty-loving Virginians, Thomas Jefferson is at the top of my list. I am amazed at how many of his quotes are so timely and on-the-mark today and how prescient he was on many issues that are important to my own campaign. For example, in my discussions on our campaign website on term limits I note this gem of his: “”Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on them [offices], a rottenness begins in his conduct.” This is a timeless indictment of career politicians before the concept was even known.
Obviously the fact that Jefferson was a slave owner undermines much of what he had to say in his writings and other work, but as I believe Roger Pilon of the Cato Institute once put it, this demonstrates how long-standing the practice of politicians saying one thing in their political life while practicing something completely different in their personal life, which we see examples of to this day.
Today we complete our interview with Amit Singh who is running for Congress in Virginia’s 8th District. To learn more about Singh and to donate to his campaign visit his website: Amit08.com.
In case you missed the earlier interview segments here are parts one and two.
For all Liberty Maven interviews check out the interview page.
LM: What do you feel are the best steps to take to solve the rather complicated illegal immigration problem in the United States?
Singh: There is no silver bullet to solve the illegal immigration problem. I believe we need a multi-faceted approach which starts by punishing companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers. This practice is the major incentive for most illegal immigrants to come to America in the first place. There is no doubt many companies in the US need employment surges during peak seasons and with a non-existent guest worker program they often rely on migrant workers. The US needs to implement a common sense guest worker program which requires immigrants to apply in their native countries and allows them to easily maintain their families abroad while being able to help the US economy with their labor. The guest worker program will also disincentivize immigrants from bringing their families to the US which are an additiona burden on our schools and hospitals.
Securing the borders through physical and technical means will likely slow down illegal immigration but will not end it and will cost an enormous amount. A better engineered solution for the borders is to shift most of the 100,000 troops in Europe and 60,000 troops in Asia into the National Guard and Border Patrol. Currently, the US only has 11,000 border patrol agents for both the Mexican and Canadian borders combined.
LM: In one of your previous answers you mentioned supporting Congressional term limits. Would you sponsor legislation to implement the limits? Do you believe it requires a Constitutional amendment to implement them?
Singh: Yes, I would sponsor legislation to implement term limits because Congress members with seniority have a disproportional affect on those who never elected them. I would probably lean towards a Constitutional amendment only because the States are not incentivized to limit their legislators terms because as they gain seniority they are better able to get earmarks and other benefits for their districts and states.
Unfortunately the nature of politics has changed with special interest money which practically guarantees incumbents to win over and over. Realistically, I am pretty sure Congress would never vote to regulate themselves but I would still try.
As always check out all of the Liberty Maven interviews available on the interview page.
LM: Could you elaborate more on the previous question on Congressional term limits? Wouldn’t a Constitutional amendment be necessary to institute them?
Sanders: An amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be necessary to institute term limits for congress. I am in favor of such an amendment.
Amit Singh is running for Congress in Virginia’s 8th District. He was kind enough to agree to participate in an interview. As you can tell from the interview he is dedicated to a limited and more open federal government. Please help his campaign by donating at his website: Amit08.com.
This is part 1 of the interview. For all Liberty Maven interviews check out the interview page.
LM: Your website (Amit08.com) has a very good description of your professional background. Could you complement that information with information about some of your hobbies and interests outside the professional realm? Additionally, could you elaborate a bit more on why you have decided to run for Congress?
Singh: I love to listen to live music especially bands like Dave Matthews that do a lot of improvisation during their performances. I used to collect a lot of live concert recordings but it is too difficult to keep up with nowadays. I also love to play basketball. I play in a league at work and I think it’s a great team sport that has a lot of skills that transfer to other areas. A little cliche, but I love to travel. I try to visit one new country a year. Last year I went to China which was amazing. This year I was hoping to go to Turkey but I’m not sure if that will happen given the campaign!
As far as running for Congress, I have always been a doer, for example I started my own company when I got frustrated working for others. I have written Jim Moran (the current VA 8th District incumbent Democrat) dozens of times with no response. This year, inspired by the presidential election and uninspired by local candidates, I took it upon myself to spread the message of limited and transparent government. Running for office is a great way to express your views and even make a difference.
LM: President Bush and Congress recently worked out an agreement on an economic stimulus bill. If you were in Congress for the vote on this bill would you have voted for it?
Bailey: It is truly amazing how quickly Congress can act when it stimulates their reelection. Since Congress is running a deficit of one billion dollars per day, any additional spending will be offset with a further devaluation of the dollar causing a loss of buying power equal to the “rebate”. The money for the “stimulus” bill will be paid with money borrowed from China and Saudi Arabia.
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