Politicians who abuse taxpayer dollars are responsible for Ohio's lagging economy, a Libertarian Ohio gubernatorial candidate said last night.
Candidate Bill Peirce, 67, a professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University, was the main event at the Political Science Majors' Association's New Member Night in Bentley Hall. A crowd of about 60 gathered to hear him define the principles of the Libertarian party and the message behind his campaign slogan, Free to Live
Free to Prosper.
Go back to the principles of the Declaration of Independence Peirce said. We ought to design a government that can work under those conditions: A free society with very little government.
To reduce the government's involvement, Peirce proposed closing the Ohio Department of Education and running many other state functions on a local level.
Turning his eye to his opponents in the governor's race, Peirce said Republican candidate and Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's proposed economic policies ' especially his proposed statewide property tax ' have large flaws.
If you cut back on sales tax and the income tax maybe people will pay a higher property tax
he said. Other states might be heavy on two of those
but not all three.
Looking at the future of the Libertarian party, Peirce said in closing he does not see an end to the two-party system, but Libertarians either will provoke a realignment of Democrats' and Republicans' policies or replace one on the political landscape.
Before the November election, Peirce is planning to visit several college campuses in Ohio and is using Internet networking sites Facebook.com and MySpace.com to reach young voters, his campaign manager and son, Charles Peirce, said.
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Stephanie Hummel
