Meet Joe Kennedy
Posted in Stand Up For Liberty by R Lee Wrights on October 26th, 2009 by George Phillies
Dues-paying National Libertarian Party Member Joe Kennedy is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. He’s running in our January 19 special election to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy. You can count on national media attention.
Take a look at Joe’s web site. Read his stands on issues like the war on Iraq, Afghanistan, marijuana, gun control, welfare, and education. Time after time, you’re going to read sensible libertarian ideas presented effectively to a wide audience.
Joe is a real libertarian, running on our sound libertarian ideas. That’s why the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts endorsed him: Joe is a real Libertarian. That’s why the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts put $1000 of our treasury into his campaign: Joe is a real Libertarian.
Joe Kennedy writes of his politics:
“In College, I would have considered myself a Democrat. I would not have considered myself active in politics at the time, however, I did work on Tom Harkin’s run for presidency by collecting signatures for him in New Hampshire.
“At different points in my life I have been registered as both a Democrat and as an Independent. Over the past 5 years I have become more and more concerned about spending in Washington and taxation in general. The extensive spending on Wars, Bailouts and Social Programs in both the current and previous administrations have expanded the deficit at speeds we have never before witnessed. These costs will have to be paid by us in the short term through tax increases, or by our children. These concerns have pushed me more and more to a Libertarian way of thinking.”
Libertarians are all too familiar with corrupt ballot access practices shutting our candidates away from the ballot. Massachusetts is no different. When I heard that we were having a special election, my reaction was: This year, we have major party status. We don’t have a candidate who can front the $60,000 or more we will need to get onto the ballot on the Libertarian Party line.
For once, we lucked out.
On August 5, Joe was registered as an independent. That meant the he could petition for ballot access under our minor party rules. Instead of $60,000, his campaign can reach ballot access for perhaps $15,000. If Joe can raise the money, and he is almost half way there, we will have a real Libertarian on the ballot speaking up for libertarian issues, speaking up when his is the only election the press can cover.
Then we lucked out again.
Like any honest man, Joe is running under his own name. He happens to have been born with a fine Irish name, a name that many Massachusetts voters will find comfortable rather than unfamiliar. In Massachusetts politics, that’s a real plus, the sort of thing that will help voters hear his ideas and decide this is a man they can trust.
Libertarians across America have a choice: You can support a real libertarian. Or you can close your checkbook, skip donating through PayPal, and wonder why there’s no libertarian in the race. If you want another political campaign in which the voice of liberty remains silent, you have but to do nothing. If you want a political campaign in which the silver song of freedom rings gloriously from coast to coast, go to http://JoeKennedyForSenate.com and give generously. (I already have!)
George Phillies is a contributing editor for Liberty For All. You can contact Dr. Phillies at phillies@wpi.edu.
