A Message for Democrats

Here is the unheralded fact about the race for Congress in Missouri's 7th District: There is no Democrat in this race.

There is a candidate on the ballot with a "D" after his name, but until recently he worked in the office of Republican Governor Matt Blunt. He changed his registration to "Democrat" last year, probably just to be able to run for Congress in a smaller field of Democrats. (Not that there's anything wrong with that -- it's probably pretty shrewd, even if it won't be successful.)

So who should a Democrat vote for? Certainly not for Billy Long, the Republican candidate. And not even for the Republican-turned-Democrat, Scott Eckersley, whose platform echoes Billy Long's in nearly every respect.

Democrats should vote for the Libertarian candidate, Kevin Craig.

Phrased another way, liberals should be libertarian.

The words used to mean virtually the same thing.

Today they appear to mean the exact opposite.

But under the surface there are some shared goals which only liberals and Libertarians share, and not liberals and Republicans.

So click here and study the issues carefully and thoughtfully.

Please leave your comments or questions below. I'm genuinely interested in knowing why liberals believe what they believe.

Last Minute Radio Interviews

This morning I was a guest on the morning show with Nick Reed on KSGF:

View webpage: What did Candidates for the 7th have to say

Click to listen

Yesterday I was interviewed by the local NPR affiliate, which will be broadcast on your local Missouri Public Radio station today at 4:30pm. The unedited recording is available here:

View webpage: KSMU - Missouri's 7th Congressional Seat: Libertarian Kevin Craig

Click to listen

Abortion is Murder

On this morning's Ozarks Virtual Town Hall I was asked about my position on abortion. That page explains it.

When I Googled abortion and my name, my abortion page was not listed. My page on how to end abortion without the initiation of force by the government was listed, as was my page in defense of Ron Paul's views on abortion. But not the central abortion page.

I have to suspect that the abortion page was consciously removed by a human being at Google. I admit I'm paranoid, but I don't see how Google's search algorithm could have indexed the other abortion pages yet missed my central abortion page, which has been on the Internet longer than these other pages, and is linked to from many other web pages and blog posts, including these:

• Constitution Party Alternative
• Ramble & Rumble with Rabbi Eukel
• News-Leader Voices
• Worldview

As it stands right now, Google says there are no pages that link to my abortion page. Not true.

Maybe this post will change that.

Until that gnome at Google deletes it from the index once again.

News-Leader Endorses Billy Long

The election of the Republican candidate is always a foregone conclusion in Missouri's 7th District. The Republican candidate needs the endorsement of no newspaper to win the election.

Nevertheless, the Springfield News-Leader has endorsed the Republican candidate.

I offer a few comments on the endorsement here.

Missouri News Horizon Interview

You can listen to the Missouri News Horizon interview me here:

Kevin Craig, Libertarian : Missouri News Horizon

Listening to the audio is more enjoyable than reading the transcript, I think.

Edge Reacts to News-Leader Coverage

EDGE Boston, which bills itself as "the largest network of local Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) news and entertainment portals in the world," has featured my answers to questions sent to me by the Springfield News-Leader concerning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell":

DADT Becomes Major Issue in Congressional Elections :: EDGE Boston

Wow; I even got a photo!

DADT is not a major issue for me. It's just a minor symptom of a government that has declared war on God and on His Commandments. The major issue is the myth of "the separation of church and state."

A secondarily major issue is at the end of the News-Leader article:

We face economic meltdown if we don't cut wasteful and unconstitutional "big government programs." The military is a "big government program. ..."

"The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unconstitutional, wasteful, and un-Christian. The Bush-Obama regime has committed $10,000 for every man, woman, and small child in America to overthrow the secular government of Saddam Hussein -- who granted Christians religious freedom -- and replace that government with an Islamic theocracy under Sharia law. ...

"Veterans programs are essentially big government welfare programs. All such government programs should be cut, and replaced with voluntary charitable support from the individual, church, and business sectors." He offered more comments on his Web site.

That's correct. Check these webpages out:

• Blessed Are the Peacemakers
• Iraq
• The Defense Budget
• Defense
• Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament
• Is War Ever "Just"
• War and Imperialism
• Blueprint for Afghanistan
• Mutual Assured Destruction
• Swords Into Plowshares
• Was The Iraqi War Biblically Justified?
• Don't Send the Marines!
• Memorial Day 2010
• Mideast Conflict
• Who Owns the Holy Land?
• Weapons of Mass Destruction (RNEP)
• Torture is Un-American
• Military Tribunals
• Vengeance Belongs to God, Not to Man
• Vine & Fig Tree: The American Dream
• The Vietnam War
• World War II and its Lessons
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
• The Draft
• Reclaiming the War Power
• U.S Security Strategy
• Terrorism
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Strategic Nuclear Forces and Missile Defense
• Trade Sanctions
• U.S. Security Strategy
• Iran
• Intelligence
• Oil and the Moslem World
• International Economic Policy
• A Biblical Defense of Pacifism
• A Pacifist for Congress
• Israel: Is the State God?
• Israel: The miracle country turns 60
• Exiting the Balkan Morass
• Patriotism: Loyalty to Country or to God?
• Department of Veterans' Affairs

More important than "DADT" is imperialist mass murder by the federal government and the "patriots" who just follow orders. More important than DADT is the military-industrial complex, which America's Founders condemned when they warned against "standing armies."

I don't even have a webpage on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Oh yes, this blog post: "Don't Ask, Don't Speak." I'm wrong; here's another blog post: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Oops; here's a web page: My secret life under "don't ask, don't tell." (Honestly, I lose track of what I've written. I'm over 1,000 blog posts and webpages now. I have to coax results out of Google.)

Here's my point: anti-war is more important to me than anti-homosexual.

Maybe I give homosexuals too much credit for being "sensitive" and cool, but it strikes me as odd that homosexuals would want to become paid killers for Halliburton and the Bush-Obama regime. A silly stereotype, I suppose.

Voters to Try "New Direction"

ht: Bovard

Voting for Baum Helps "Liberty Under God"

You can help promote "Liberty Under God" in 2012 by voting for Charles Baum in 2010.

I enjoy running for office because it gives me an opportunity to promote "Liberty Under God." I might not have that opportunity if the Libertarian Party loses its ballot status. Without that status, I might have to gather as many as 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot. The Libertarian Party must poll 2% in one of the two statewide races or it will lose its qualified status.

Baum is the Libertarian candidate for Missouri State Auditor. If he gets 2% of the vote, I will benefit in 2012 by not having to collect all those signatures.

Is Baum qualified? I'll vote for him. Here's a message from his blog:

Susan Montee’s website celebrates her experience as an attorney and CPA, which she feels makes her the most qualified candidate to be Missouri’s State Auditor.

Tom Schweich proclaims how he loves to do audits.

I readily concede that both Tom and Susan can do a better audit than I do. I would love to have them on my staff.

However, the State Auditor has a staff of 125 people, many qualified to do a great audit. In fact, many of the audits are not even done by Susan. She just oversees them.

Susan claims to have saved Missouri millions of dollars. However, there is no accounting of this, which is kind of ironical in that the State Auditor has no real verification that she has saved the state any money.

The State Auditor’s budget is close to $5,000,000 and we really have no accounting of whether or not it pays for itself.

What we need is an auditor that can actually save the state of Missouri money.

Accountants are good at doing accounting, but not usually that good at achieving action and results. That takes a different skill. What we need is an auditor that can aggressively carry out the recommendations in the audit. How many of Susan’s staff’s recommendations are carried out? We don’t know. She does her audit, makes recommendations and moves on to the next audit. No real follow up.

We live in a society that loves to create volumes of paper. In fact, we are overwhelmed by paper. In 2009, Susan had overseen 151 audits, thousands of pages all buried away somewhere read by almost no one, like the 2,200 page financial reform bill that no one reads and no one knows what it will mean.

What we need today more than ever is simplicity, action, and leadership, not more audits. If the state auditor's job is to do audits and provide transparency, Susan has done a great job; but if it is to actually save the state money I’m afraid she falls short.

Accountants are great at counting the number of trees in the forest, but often miss the forest.

-----=====******O******=====-----
Charlie is a native Missourian, born in St. Louis, who lives in University City with Carol, his wife of 38 years. The Baums' daughter, Jennifer, is currently married living in Minneapolis with her husband Justin and daughter Camille. Charlie earned his bachelor's degree in Business with a major in Finance from the University of Missouri - Columbia and earned his master's degree in Teaching from Webster University. Charlie is a Certified Financial Planner and a Principal at Renaissance Financial in St. Louis. He has also earned the designations of Chartered Financial Consultant and Chartered Life Underwriter over the course of his career. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and is regularly relied on to mentor new advisors who join his company. Prior to his work in financial services, Charlie was a junior high school teacher in University City. Charlie has served on the boards of the Family Support Network and the Crisis Nursery in the St. Louis area.

-----=====******O******=====-----
An argument can be made that his opponents are more "qualified" than Baum, but they aren't motivated like a libertarian is to shrink the size of government, and voting for them does nothing to promote "Liberty Under God."

Individual audits are supervised by an auditor-in-charge, who normally is a senior auditor. Audit fieldwork is performed by senior auditors, staff auditors and audit assistants. Approximately 150 persons are employed by the state auditor’s office. About 50 percent of the audit staff are CPAs. That figure represents a marked increase from earlier years; in 1974 only about 10 percent of the staff were CPAs. [MO Manual, 2005-2006]

5,000 Year Leap

Glenn Beck promotes a book called The Five Thousand Year Leap. It contains "28 Ideas that Changed the World." Since I've already been Banned by Beck for digging deeper than the principles of his "9-12 Project," I might as well incur further wrath for digging deeper than the "5,000 Year Leap." Especially since I admit I haven't even read the book. Don't even own it.

Here are the 28 principles, with comments and links to my campaign website:

1. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is natural law.

I have explored the meaning of the phrase "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" on my website. It means the Bible. It does not mean that we look at "nature" and see that lions eat gazelles, and conclude that therefore Democrats should tax the rich. In this sense, "natural law" is a myth. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is God's Law, or "Theonomy," rather than autonomy.

America's "Organic Law" declares that "religion, morality, and knowledge" are "necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind." "Religion" means revelation from God. It is not "natural," but supernatural.

2. A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.

This is correct, provided that "virtue" and "morality" are defined by the Bible.

3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous and a morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.

I agree that electing virtuous leaders is better than electing leaders without virtue. But this principle is wrong-headed. Education is more important than leaders. Bad education will produce voters who elect bad leaders. You can have a prosperous society without leaders, not but without parents who take control of their children's education and make every child a leader in the life of someone else in society. Not a leader by control, but a leader by influence. Compare #26.

4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.

True, but true only for the true religion, not true for any false religion. A false religion, like the religion of Secular Humanism, leaves people in darkness, not freedom.

5. All things were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent and to him they are equally responsible.

True.

6. All men are created equal.

True.

7. The proper role of government is to provide equal rights, not equal things.

True.

8. Men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

OK. I prefer speaking of duties rather than rights. [And is it "Unalienable or Inalienable?"]

9. To protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.

The second part is true. But it's not as though God is somehow obligated to protect man's rights; that man backed God into a corner through collective bargaining, and won a concession of "divine law" to protect his rights. See the link on "duties" above.

10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.

"Governing" others is not a God-given right. It is historically true, however, that "the consent of the governed" is a concept that was derived from the Bible.

11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

True, but not through violence.

Why may not a minority abolish a tyrannical government if the majority are apathetic and don't object?

12. The United States of America shall be a republic.

Well, at least not a democracy.

13. A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.

Not "frailties," but depravity. Things like the desire to rule over others, the desire to take vengeance, the desire to get something for nothing, the desire to punish the rich. Not "frail" people, but evil sociopaths. The Constitution was not designed to empower the frail, but to bind down as with chains those who would be as gods.

14. Life and liberty is secure so long as the right to property is secure.

True.

15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and minimum of government regulations.

True, true and true. Even people who maximize government rather than minimizing it like to quote Thoreau, "That government is best which governs least," without reading further: "Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have."

16. The government should be separated into three branches—legislative, executive and judicial.

God's government is separated into "three branches":

Isaiah 33:22
For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is He who will save us.

Do we need to create an earthly government when we already have God's government?

17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.

The problem is not the abuse of power, but the power to abuse. Human government is the power to abuse.

18. The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution.

Likely, but obviously not infallibly, as our own written constitution has failed to preserve our rights.

19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to the government, all others being retained by the people.

True. I am the only candidate in this race who believes in the concept of strictly enumerated powers and the 10th Amendment.

20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.

Sounds good. Has it ever happened in the history of human government? Does the minority get to withhold taxes for government programs it didn't vote for?

21. Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.

True.

22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of man.

True. But if the majority votes to tax the minority, is this not "whim," even if it is enacted "according to law."

23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.

False. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad spectrum of competing educational choices available to the public. We must affirm "the separation of school and state."

24. A free people will not survive unless they remain strong.

"Strong" morally? "Strong" enough to obliterate tens of millions of innocent non-combatant civilians?

25. Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none.

True, and utterly neglected by the Bush-Obama regime.

26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.

The first part is true, but given #19 above, what does "foster" mean? Should the government tax families to fund some cockamamie federal program to "promote stronger families?" I wonder how many government programs claim to "strengthen families" in some way.

27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.

Good point. A 3,000 year-old idea.

28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

I don't know this to be a fact. The U.S. may have a "manifest destiny" to be an example to the world of how a once-Christian nation is utterly destroyed for repudiating that heritage.

I pulled the summary of these 28 points from Wikipedia, as well as these references:

W. Cleon Skousen - The Man Behind Glenn Beck By Bill McKeever. Mormonism Research Ministry

Meet the Man who Changed Glenn Beck's Life. Zaitchik, Alexander (2009-09-16). Salon Magazine, September 16, 2009.

Five Thousand Year Leap

Glenn Beck Re-Energizes the Conservative Movement by Mark Skousen 19 March 2009. Human Events

Excerpts from The Five Thousand Year Leap – The New Yorker

Military Spending

I received the following email:

Mr. Craig:

One item that will be at the top of the congressional agenda next year is government spending. The deficit commission appointed by the president and Congress is expected to make recommendations on how to address this issue in December. Congress is planning to consider these recommendations early next year.

As a candidate to represent me in the House of Representatives, will you work to make sure that when Congress begins to look at government spending, the focus will be on cutting military spending and investing in programs that create jobs, assist those hardest hit by recession and take care of our elders?

Congress could save an estimated $2 trillion in the next ten years by not extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest households in our nation and by cutting the Pentagon budget using the recommendations of the Sustainable Defense Task Force. Will you support these sound policy recommendations?

Sincerely,

[name withheld]

I responded:

Hi [name],

I am overwhelmingly your choice for Congress if you are for peace. I am opposed to U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as opposed to the hundreds of military bases the U.S. has in over 100 foreign nations.

My website is probably the largest candidate website on the Internet, and my webpages on peace and nuclear disarmament are prominently highlighted.

http://KevinCraig.us/peace.htm
http://KevinCraig.us/iraq.htm
http://KevinCraig.us/afghanistan.htm
http://KevinCraig.us/disarm.htm

I am a Bible-believing Christian, and it is deeply troubling to me that so many Christians support U.S. military intervention. If elected, I would use the "bully pulpit" to engage the over 200 million self-described Christians in America in a conversation to follow the "Prince of Peace" more consistently.

http://KevinCraig.us/cityhill.htm
http://KevinCraig.us/imperialism.htm

I have to be honest, however, and confess that I believe taxation is an act of violence and the moral equivalent of theft. Therefore I support the extension of the "Bush tax cuts."

http://KevinCraig.us/taxation.htm
http://KevinCraig.us/violence.htm

Fully 50% of Americans do not pay taxes at all, so "tax cuts for the rich" is the only possible way to cut taxes.

Also, you speak of "investing in programs that create jobs, assist those hardest hit by recession and take care of our elders." We may disagree on these issues. For now.

I believe these tasks are outside the "enumerated powers" of the Constitution:

http://KevinCraig.us/enumerated.htm

Government "investments" are counter-productive:

http://KevinCraig.us/investment.htm

These "investments" actually destroy jobs:

http://KevinCraig.us/jobs.htm

Government compulsion is no substitute for helping from the heart those in need:

http://KevinCraig.us/welfare.htm

The federal government is the biggest threat to the elderly:

http://KevinCraig.us/bankrupt.htm

We don't need to increase taxes, and we don't need government "investments." We need to cut government spending, especially military spending:

http://KevinCraig.us/defense_budget.htm

Not just "waste," but the core of the defense budget needs to be slashed to bring it into line with the non-interventionist foreign policy of America's Founding Fathers:

http://KevinCraig.us/foreign_affairs.htm

This is a call for a massive change of heart and soul.

If America's Christians would tithe on their income (presently they give only about 2.5% rather than 10%), there would be enough private donations to bring basic healthcare and education to all the poor of the earth. Christians would still have another $60-70 billion left over for evangelism around the world. [source] The possibilities are staggering.

If we can get Christians to follow the Prince of Peace and practice the "works of mercy," we won't need government taxes and impersonal bureaucratic "investment" programs.

http://KevinCraig.us/mercy.htm

Maybe you disagree, but I'm happy that we agree on the possibility of starting with substantial cuts in spending for military aggression.

Please tell all your friends to vote for Kevin Craig on November 2.

Thanks for writing.



Kevin Craig
www.KevinCraig.us
Libertarian Party Candidate
Missouri 7th District
U.S. House of Representatives
P.O. Box 179
Powersite, MO 65731

Military and Veterans Issues

Here are my answers to questions from the News-Leader on Military and Veterans Issues:


1. How do you plan to vote on Amendment 2, the proposal to give former POWs who are totally disabled a break on their property taxes?
__X__ YES
_____ NO
Everyone should have a break on their taxes.
http://KevinCraig.us/taxation.htm
I may not take an hour to go to the polls on Nov. 2, but I will devote hundreds of hours in 2011 trying to cut taxes.
http://KevinCraig.us/vote.htm


2. Should gay and lesbian people be required to keep the fact that they are gay or lesbian secret in order to serve in the U.S. military?

_____ YES
_____ NO
__X___They shouldn’t be allowed to serve at all.

Every single person who signed the Constitution and Declaration of Independence believed that homosexuality is contrary to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Sodomy has always been a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The military has a duty to ask if a soldier is unapologetically committed to violating an article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”


3. Will you support an amendment proposed by Sen. McCaskill to provide up to $100,000 to soldiers who suffer severe injury from vaccines?
_____ YES
_____ NO
I don’t know the details of McCaskill’s amendment, or the bill it amends. In general, I oppose “sovereign immunity” and support holding government accountable for its actions. But there is also a legal concept called “assumption of the risk.” See below.


4. Other comments on Veteran’s Issues

We face economic meltdown if we don’t cut wasteful and unconstitutional “big government programs.” The military is a “big government program.” The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unconstitutional, wasteful, and unChristian. The Bush-Obama regime has committed $10,000 for every man, woman, and small child in America to overthrow the secular government of Saddam Hussein -- who granted Christians religious freedom -- and replace that government with an Islamic Theocracy under Sharia law. There is no draft, so those who enlisted in the armed services did so voluntarily, and are responsible for their decisions to participate in unjust wars and foreign policy debacles. For many, enlisting in the armed services is considered a shrewd “career move.” Veterans programs are essentially big government welfare programs. All such government programs should be cut, and replaced with voluntary charitable support from the individual, church, and business sectors.

Debate in Willard

I'm going to have to fire my campaign manager for failing to get around to posting details on yesterday's debate in Willard. The debate was open to the public and some of you might have gone to see it. I was hoping to meet a few readers of this blog at the debate.

Streaming Video of the Debate

Post Debate Panel Analysis

That's OK, I wasn't paying myself enough to do that job anyway.

Voter Turnout

Here are some statistics on National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2008 from Infoplease.com

In the last mid-term election, 37.1% of the voting-age population turned out to vote.

That means that the results of the election represent about 15-20% of the people.

Democracy?

Romans 13

Tom Knapp has called my attention to an interesting article at the Center for a Stateless Society:

Give Nothing Unto Caesar

It has some interesting historical research, but reaches a faulty conclusion.

Jesus said we are not to resist evil, but "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39). This does not mean that cheek-slappers are a "divine institution." It simply describes a Christian response to evil-doers.

Taxation is the moral equivalent of theft. But Biblical logic does not lead us to conclude that we should not pay the thief. The Bible says pay your taxes. "Turn the other cheek." "Resist not evil."

The desire to tax other people is sinful. The desire to rule over others by force is sinful. The desire for vengeance is sinful. The desire for a civil government is therefore idolatry. The desire to have a civil government is a rejection of God (1 Samuel 8). Therefore the State is evil. The State is a judgment sent by God.

But our relationship with these evil rulers is characterized by respect and honor (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Timothy 6:1; Exodus 22:28; Romans 13:7), not insult and defiance.

Our goal is persuasion, not revolution.

We must beat our swords into plowshares and help archists repent.

But this is not "us" vs. "them."

We all have our swords and we all want to be as gods.

We're in this together.

"Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king."
1 Peter 2:17

For Further Study:

Romans13.com

Rushdoony on the Tribute Money

Jesus and the Tax Revolt - Rushdoony

I'm going to have to take a closer look at these (maybe after the election!):

Tiberius

Romans 13:1-7 - Jesus Radicals Discussion Forum

Obedience to the state; An exegetical exploration of Romans 13. - unlearning the problem