http://mcduffieforc ongress.blogspot ....-junction. html

Steven McDuffie Campaign for US House of Representatives, Colorado District 03 Announces Meet the Candidate Event in Grand Junction, Colorado

For Immediate Release: December 4th, 2007

Contact: Steven McDuffie, Independent Candidate for Congress: (719) 289-2804 or steven@mcduffieforc ongress.com

INDEPENDENT / LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE MCDUFFIE TO MEET FUTURE CONSTITUENTS & MEDIA AT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES, 630 24 1/2 Rd, Grand Junction, CO 81505.

GRAND JUNCTION, CO. December 7th, 2007 – Steven McDuffie, the only official challenger to John Salazar (D- CO), has scheduled a Meet the Candidate event in which he will endeavor to express his view that he will be the only pro-freedom, anti-war candidate in the race for Colorado’s US House seat in the 3rd Congressional District.

“Right now, I am not officially endorsed by the Colorado Libertarian Party, but I have confidence that I will be,” said McDuffie. “John Salazar believes in an America that is as arrogant as the Roman Empire. That’s not my America, and it is my belief that when the voters of Colorado realize that their choice is between Salazar, a pro-war Democrat, and whomever the Republican nominee is – who will undoubtedly be pro-war as well – they will flock to my campaign. I intend to get every single anti-war vote come Election Day.”

McDuffie says that because of our foreign policy, “the rest of the world either hates or fears us. We can easily defend this country with a defense budget of less than $100 billion, but we are currently spending nearly ten times that amount because we are bullying the world around. Our ideas aren’t their ideas. We don’t have the right to impose democracy at gunpoint on the countries of the world, and even if we did, we simply can’t afford it. We are going broke, and a large part of the reason is our foreign policy – which is essentially a perpetual war posture.”

Our perpetual war posture has also caused the erosion of our civil liberties at home, according to McDuffie. “We had the gruesome threesome of bills recently, and most people aren’t even aware of what these bills entail.” McDuffie is referring to the “John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R. 5122), the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (S. 3930), and the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1955), all of which Salazar voted for. “The John Warner Defense Authorization Act basically allows the president to declare martial law on a whim – a hint of which we saw during the disaster in New Orleans when machine gun toting government goon squads forcibly disarmed law-abiding citizens. The Military Commissions Act eliminates habeas corpus, and allows evidence obtained during torture to be used in trials against anyone the government decides is an enemy, and the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act basically says that thinking naughty thoughts about the government is a crime. Together these bills have the potential to turn the United States into a police state overnight, and my opponent voted yes on all of them. Voters in Colorado need to decide if they want to live in John Salazar’s America, or the America that I still believe in: a republic of free people.”

McDuffie says that the reason that programs like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Real Time with Bill Maher exist is because politicians aren’t like him. He has been quoted in the media as describing modern politicians as “loathsome creatures” and said that he believes in the concept the Founders had of the “citizen-politician” .

Chief among McDuffie’s complaints about Congress in general (and Salazar specifically) is that they don’t read bills prior to voting on them. “They take the advice of lobbyists, party leaders, their staff, or sometimes they simply go by the title of the bill. We are going to fix that. As a candidate I endorse, and as your Congressman I will sponsor the Read the Bills Act, which is the creation of an issue advocacy group called DownsizeDC.org. The Read the Bills Act will require, by legislation, that every bill be read aloud. If a congressman isn’t present for the reading of the bill, he can’t vote on it. Moreover, the bill can’t be voted on for seven days. During that seven day period, the bill will be posted online for the public to criticize. If the bill has problems, they can write their congressmen and say ‘Don’t you dare vote for this bill!’”

McDuffie says his second act as congressman will be to co-sponsor HR 500: The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007. McDuffie describes this as a “beautiful piece of legislation” that would cause a congressional pay cut every time Congress passes an unbalanced budget that throws the government into a deficit spending situation. “And they can’t vote themselves a pay raise to get out of it.” McDuffie says with a grin.

Here are some of the other planks in McDuffie’s platform:

· Eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with nothing.

· Return to sound money by re-legalizing gold and silver as currency.

· Overturn Roe vs. Wade and let the states decide their own abortion laws.

· End the War on Drugs.

· Eliminate the Department of Education.

· Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security.

· Eliminate the CIA.

· Eliminate the payroll tax and let people out of Social Security.

· Eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

· End all foreign aid.

· End all agriculture subsidies

· De-fund Export Credit Agencies and end all other corporate welfare.

McDuffie admits his ideas are radical, but insists that radical changes are needed. “We are heading down the road to an America in which everything that isn’t prohibited will be mandatory,” he says. “Something drastic needs to happen, and soon.” McDuffie has ideas to make smooth transitions from the statism we have grown accustomed to back to a less restrictive government and looks forward to discussing these ideas with future constituents at Goodwill Industries on December 11th, 2007.

Web sites:
www.mcduffieforcong ress.com
http://mcduffieforc ongress.blogspot .com

____________ ______
www.McDuffieForCong ress.com