Oregon Outpost - Why I'm running: James Foster, Libertarian

News Article

Like 85% of the American public, I disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job and, like many of them, I believe that wholesale change is needed. Many people, including a majority of millennials, say that they would vote for a socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate, and I want to provide that alternative in this election and in Congress.

Authority

All legislative power granted by the Constitution is vested in the Congress, and this legislative power is limited to eighteen enumerated items. Powers not granted to Congress are reserved to the States and to the Individuals. Starting from this basic principle, we can more easily decide what Congress should do.

Crime

The Constitution provides to Congress power to punish two crimes: counterfeiting and piracy. Beyond that, the traditional "police power" should be left with the States, including drug prohibition. Furthermore, the federal government should not be encouraging the militarization of local police forces by supplying them with military equipment and should not be assisting in civil asset forfeiture.

Foreign Affairs

Thomas Jefferson, in his First Inaugural Address (1801), asserted that "the essential principles of our Government" call for "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." Many today who call for military adventures would pejoratively describe this approach as isolationist, but peace, commerce, and honest friendship is a much more positive form of engagement than missiles and bombs. Yes, there are bad people in the world who wish to do us harm, but, more often than not, through foreign military action we play into their hands and strengthen their position. As Jefferson said, "should we wander from [these principles] in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety." There have been some alarming moments in the 21st century and we have wandered into dangerous territory; it is time to return to the only safe path.

Economic Regulation

While adopted with the best of intentions, the federal interventions in every area of the economy have done more harm than good. Far from reducing the frequency and severity of economic contractions, the federal government has inflated asset bubbles and then slowed the process of recovery by imposing uncertainty and rigidity into the system. The Federal Reserve is destroying the savings of our retirees and Congress has created unfunded "entitlement" programs that leave a crushing burden of debt on our children and grandchildren. Many economic interventions, such as the Export-Import Bank, have visible beneficiaries; while those harmed are harder to identify, they are no less real.

Strategy

We cannot immediately return to Jefferson's path which the "wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted." Politics is the art of the possible and at times involves difficult compromises (as our Founders knew well). Congress is made up of 425 members of the House of Representatives and 100 members of the Senate, and the election of a few people who prize liberty will not immediately bring about radical change. While this may be frustrating to some, it should be comforting to most.

If I am elected to Congress, it will be neither a panacea nor a disaster. (Obama claimed that with his election, the planet would begin to heal; I make no such claim!) While a Libertarian in Congress will have a large symbolic value, in practical effect it will simply mean that someone will join Senator Ron Wyden in attempting to rein in the NSA. Not many Libertarian ideas are truly radical; many are held to some degree by others in Congress, and some (like getting the government out of the bedroom) seemed outlandish years ago, but now are mainstream.

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