HAT in the ring for PRESIDENT: Phillies 2008

You saw it here first! The Libertarian who is seeking the White House.

Phillies 2008

America is in real trouble, and most Americans know it. The great majority of Americans agree: We are on the wrong track. The things that matter are getting worse, not better.

Our budget deficit this year is over $700 billion on an accrual basis. ('accrual' means the money we owe the Social Security Trust Fund is a real debt.) The trade deficit is another $750 billion a year. We are selling our grandchildren into de facto debt slavery.

American civil liberties are in a state of collapse. The President believes he can ignore any law, so warrantless wiretaps of your phone conversations and email, and warrantless searches of your homes are now widespread conversations. The President believes that there is no longer a right to trial by jury, so Jose Padilla was thrown into a military prison for years without trial or access to lawyers.

We spend billions and billions on airline security, while ignoring the most basic precaution, namely allowing the vast numbers of former military pilots now flying airliners to carry a firearm that they all know how to use. Meanwhile, millions of people are crossing our borders illegally. If every member of Al Qaida were to cross the border illegally this year, they would be needles in a haystack.

Medical care costs are soaring via cost transfers, under which when you go to the hospital your medical insurance pays for care for anyone who lacks insurance.

Just as in the 1950s, when the Russians surprised us with the first earth satellite, American education lags other places. Particularly disturbing is the lag in college graduates in science and engineering, the fields that will eventually create the new products and services that mean jobs for the rest of us.

The Federal budget is under the control of spendthrift profligates who spend money as though there will be no tomorrow. For February and March 2005 of this year, Federal spending exceeded 3 trillion dollars at an annualized rate, while the national debt was climbing at 1.2 trillion dollars a year.

I could go on.

We're the Libertarian Party. We have the positive, people-friendly solutions to those problems. We have the solutions that America longs for.

Now all we need to do is to put our Libertarian solutions into effect and Save America.

However, those solutions are worth nothing until they are presented to the American people and put into effect.

We need effective spokespeople who will deliver our message in a way that will be heard. Those spokespeople are called candidates. Message delivery is called the campaign. Real campaigns are based on advocacy, activists, and advertising.

How do we advocate for our issues? How do we energize our friends to become active in politics? How do we justify those issue and campaign ads?

We run candidates. Lots of candidates. Candidates at every level. In particular, in every election, every American should have the chance to vote Libertarian. (For more on candidates and campaigns, read my book "Stand Up for Liberty" from Third Millennium, now available from Amazon Dot Com .)

I'm going to do my share. In 2008, I'll be 61. I have already had a long and successful professional life as a physicist and author. I've run for Federal office before, Congress in 1998. I won my debates.

I've been active in our Presidential nominating and general election campaigns at a high level. I've seen what needs to be done. In fact I wrote a book one what we did in past cycles, and how we might do it better next time. And I can see where we are in the election cycle.

It's time to get moving! If a much stronger candidate came along, I will be delighted to withdraw and turn my energies to building her or his campaign and our Party. However, I don't see that happening.

At some point, you have to stand up and be counted.

I am therefore seeking our Party's nomination for the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

My preferred Vice Presidential candidate, Karen Kwiatkowski, has agreed to be my running mate.

Please join us. Help build a Libertarian future for America.

The preliminary Phillies 2008 web site http://phillies2008.org has just been uploaded.