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Bob Barr
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Government and Elections
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Q: "If you reach the right percentages, will you accept public financing…?" BARR: "We have no intention, that would not be my inclination at all. I do not believe in public financing of elections. I think Americans ought to be able to contribute freely to the candidate of their choice for whatever office. I am not a fan of the restrictions that the federal government places on financing and making contributions, other than I certainly adhere to the belief that foreign individuals should not be able to contribute to our political system. Corporations should not be able to. But American citizens should be free to make - as long as they are open and immediately reported - whatever contributions they want to a candidate."
“My party has already held its convention without a single taxpayer dollar in its support.... But the Republican and Democratic conventions live on federal subsidies. Each party is receiving $16 million for operating expenses and another $50 million for security."
"There's a huge universe...of young people out there that are not wedded to the two-party system, the status quo parties, the Republican and Democratic parties like their parents and their grandparents are…. They can see further down to the road than perhaps many people in my generation to what the constant growth of government power and government spending is doing to their future. So they're ready for change. They recognize that if they go in and just vote for the Republican or vote for the Democrat, they're basically throwing their vote away."
"The Republican Party stands for one thing above all else, and that is being in and remaining in office.... The Democratic Party has fallen into the same trap. The trap of incumbency. The Libertarian Party alone among America's political institutions truly stands for reforming the system, for giving the American people a real choice, for sending a real message to Washington."
From the 2008 Libertarian Party Platform: "We support electoral systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state and local levels. As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions. We call for an end to any tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties and the repeal of all laws which restrict voluntary financing of election campaigns. We oppose laws that effectively exclude alternative candidates and parties, deny ballot access, gerrymander districts, or deny the voters their right to consider all legitimate alternatives."
From the Barr's official campaign blog: "Bob Barr, 2008 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee, has signed the Oath of Presidential Transparency, a project of the Reason Foundation and several other organizations and taxpayer friendly groups. By signing the Oath, Bob is committing to implement the measures of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act in the first thirty days of his presidency and promising accountability and transparency in the way government spends taxpayer dollars."
“Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project. But that doesn’t mean he has become a bong-ripping hippie. He isn’t pro-drug, he said, just against government intrusion.”
“There are good lobbyists and there are bad lobbyists, but if you’re going to put yourself forward as somebody that is purer than the driven snow and never would have anything to do with a lobbyist, then you have to stand up to the scrutiny that you have lobbyists on your own payroll, and I don’t think he should be able to get away with that.”
Q: "What do you make of legislation…to move election day to the weekend, in order to move it from a Tuesday to make it more convenient for people to vote." BARR: "It's interesting because that's what they've been doing for many many years in Louisiana, and it seems to work.... I'd seriously consider that. We do need to do something to boost not only voter participation but voter education.... As president I would sign such legislation."
From a joint statement of principles agreed to by Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, the Constitution Party’s Chuck Baldwin, and Ron Paul: "We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders."
"This is not a problem with a particular president, it is not a problem with a particular administration…this is an institutional concern…. Every administration in my view, and I think history bears this out, takes the power that it inherits from its predecessor and considers it a floor, not a ceiling. So if we don't get a handle on [the unprecedented expansion of presidential power] now, in some form or fashion, the next administration and the one after that, regardless of party, will take these abuses, these powers, these liberties with the fundamental institutions of our government and take them to even higher and higher levels."
“Bush presided over perhaps the largest expansion of executive power in American history and believes he has almost unlimited ability to act as commander-in-chief…. Other countries have a less fancy word for it, it’s called dictatorship.”
Co-sponsored the Line Item Veto Act of 1995 (H.R. 2), a bill "to give the President item veto authority over appropriation Acts and targeted tax benefits in revenue Acts." The bill never became law.
We were unable to find a public position from Bob Barr on D.C. voting rights. His campaign can be reached at http://www.bobbarr2008.com/contact/.
"Backed by groups like FairVote and the New America Foundation, IRV also has the support of McCain and Obama, along with Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean and third-party candidates like Libertarian Bob Barr, the Green Party's Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader."
"And yes, there’s another backer of instant runoff voting in this story: Bob Barr. He spoke highly of it when I was a guest on his radio show a couple years ago."