Hi, I'm the Libertarian candidate for Congress on your ballot. This email is a reply to the email you sent me with the subject "Protect Kids From Big Tobacco". I've read what you have to say; now I hope you'll return the courtesy.
I have two young daughters, and I'm confident that I will have much more influence on their personal choices about tobacco use than Big Tobacco ever will. As a Libertarian, I believe that adults should take responsibility for the choices they make, and parents should take responsibility for the choices they let their children make. Government policy toward tobacco should be just to:
- immediately end ALL of the government subsidies and monopoly protections for tobacco growers;
- completely ban tobacco smoke from government property;
- ban tobacco smoke from crossing private property lines;
- ruthlessly tax tobacco for any measurable pollution effect that its use has on non-smokers; but
- allow private property owners (restaurants, airlines, etc.) to compete for customers by offering smoke-free or smoking-allowed accommodations..
As a responsible parent, I can easily protect myself and my daughters from tobacco. What I can't protect them from is the $94,000 that they each personally owe because of cynical politicians buying votes from selfish voters with debt and unfunded promises that today's children will have to repay. Today's children can't vote, but you can. Here are some answers to questions you might have about why to vote for me:
Why are you running for Congress? I'm running so voters in our district can stand up for the intelligent alternative to discredited liberalism and obsolete conservatism. That alternative is Libertarianism, which is neither Left nor Right, but combines social tolerance with market-smart solutions in health care, retirement security, education and the environment.
Why waste my vote? Rep. Eshoo has won her last four elections by a 2-to-1 margin. She outspent this year's Republican opponent 10-to-1 when she crushed him in 1998, and this year is just a repeat. Don't waste your vote ratifying Eshoo's predetermined victory. Like the 98% of Congress that wins re-election, she buys your votes with debt and promises that today's children will have to pay for. They can't vote, but we can.
What do you stand for? I'm a fiscal conservative and social liberal. I stand up against corporate welfare and selfish special interests. I'd vigorously protect the environment by legally recognizing its economic value. I'd put education dollars directly in the hands of parents and make schools compete to satisfy them, because education is too important to be a government monopoly. To fully compare me and my Libertarian colleagues to our opponents, visit the League of Women Voters' smartvoter.org.
Brian Holtz
Libertarian candidate for Congress
CA-14 (Saratoga/Sunnyvale to Belmont, Scotts Valley to Half Moon Bay)
Why waste my vote? Rep. Eshoo has won her last four elections by a 2-to-1 margin. She outspent this year's Republican opponent 10-to-1 when she crushed him in 1998, and this year is just a repeat. Don't waste your vote ratifying Eshoo's predetermined victory. Like the 98% of Congress that wins re-election, she buys your votes with debt and promises that today's children will have to pay for. They can't vote, but we can.
What do you stand for? I'm a fiscal conservative and social liberal. I stand up against corporate welfare and selfish special interests. I'd vigorously protect the environment by legally recognizing its economic value. I'd put education dollars directly in the hands of parents and make schools compete to satisfy them, because education is too important to be a government monopoly. To fully compare me and my Libertarian colleagues to our opponents, visit the League of Women Voters' smartvoter.org.
Brian Holtz
Libertarian candidate for Congress
CA-14 (Saratoga/Sunnyvale to Belmont, Scotts Valley to Half Moon Bay)
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