Libertarian Presidential Candidate is ex-skydiver

[faulknerwn 38]

For those of you know ex-skydiver Mike Badarnik - he's now the Libertarian candidate for President! I'm amazed that I've drank beer and jumped with a Presidential candidate :-)

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/news_04ab9d613359b1ed003d.html

Wen

[TomAiello 26]

Clicky

Quote

Austinite is party's pick for president


Libertarians choose underdog, a computer programmer, teacher

By Monica Polanco, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, May 31, 2004


His quest began as an excuse to talk to average folks about liberty. But Austin computer programmer Michael Badnarik knew he wasn't a great public speaker.

So in 2002, when he gave a warm-up speech for a local Libertarian Party candidate at a small San Antonio steakhouse, he was surprised to receive a standing ovation.

Afterward, a friend made a shocking suggestion.

"The first words out of his mouth were, 'We want you to run for president' and I said, 'Of what?' " Badnarik recalled.

On Sunday, Badnarik was nominated as the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate for 2004 at a convention in Atlanta that featured something the two major-party conventions will lack: suspense.

Badnarik, a twice-unsuccessful Texas legislative candidate who has been campaigning for the nomination as an underdog for 15 months, received 54 percent of the votes. Former Hollywood movie producer Aaron Russo came in second, after Cleveland radio host Gary Nolan, also a presidential contender, dropped his bid and endorsed Badnarik (pronounced bad-NAHR-ik).

"If I can win the nomination, there's no reason I can't win this election," Badnarik told the cheering convention, which drew more than 800 delegates.

In a phone interview with the Austin American-Statesman, Badnarik, 49, said he was in "stunned disbelief" after the vote.

His next move sounds like a page from the major parties' playbook: strategize, raise money and campaign.

"I finally got a microphone to the people who needed to hear my message," he said after his win.

Trailing Russo and Nolan when the convention began Friday, Badnarik attributed his win to undecided delegates who said they chose him because of his performance in Saturday's debates at the convention.

Following the first debate on Saturday, Badnarik trailed Russo by two votes -- 258 to 256 -- after the first ballot. On a third ballot Sunday, Badnarik won 423-344.

"I really thought Michael didn't have a chance," Russo said in his concession speech, "but he really rose to the occasion."

Badarnik's running mate is Richard Campagna, 51, of Iowa City, Iowa. He was elected later Sunday by delegates.

A native of Hammond, Ind., Badnarik said he originally ran "merely to have an excuse and a vehicle for traveling about the country telling people about the Libertarian message.

"My perception of the campaign was merely to raise interests and awareness in the party so that the eventual nominee would have a wide base of support," he said.

According to his Web site, Badarnik majored in chemistry at Indiana University and, in 1977, began a career in computers. He worked as a programmer at a nuclear power plant near Chicago, as a senior software engineer for Commonwealth Edison and at several jobs in California before coming to Austin in 1997.

After working for nearly four years as a senior trainer at Evolutionary Technologies International, Badnarik is now a computer consultant and teaches a course in constitutional law.

In February 2003, when Badnarik announced his campaign for the Libertarian nomination during an Austin press conference, he said his goals included helping increase Libertarian Party membership and getting at least 2 million votes in the 2004 general election.

Among his beliefs, Badnarik thinks violent prisoners should be banned from lifting weights and be required to stay in bed all day for the first month of their imprisonment, then for 12 hours a day after that, according to his Web site. Badnarik thinks the move would prevent prisoners from harming others. Inmates also should prepare one book report a week, "encouraging them to strengthen their minds instead of their bodies," the Web site states.

He said his campaign would be based on the motto, "Lighting the fires of liberty, one heart at a time."

Badnarik asserted that the U.S. Constitution has become "little more than an archaic symbol kept on display in Washington." His priorities include nullifying what he said are more than 20,000 laws restricting gun ownership.

Formed in 1971, the Libertarian Party stresses the rights of individuals over the power of government, and a foreign policy of non-interference. It claims nearly 600 elected officials nationwide, almost entirely in city or county positions, and has been on the presidential ballot in all 50 states for the last three elections.

In Texas, Libertarians are close to getting on the November ballot. They have polled increasing numbers in recent elections but remain a distant third party compared to Republicans and Democrats.

In 2002, Federal Election Commission reports show, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Harry Browne received 23,160 votes in Texas, far less than Ralph Nader's 137,994 but almost double Pat Buchanan's 12,394.

For months, Badnarik has been taking to heart the suggestion of his friend, campaigning for the Libertarian Party nomination in Texas and elsewhere. A "Holiday Freedom Gala" fund-raiser last January at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Austin was headlined by Jimmie Vaughan.

After Sunday's nomination, Badnarik said his goal is to visit all 50 states, raise "as much money as possible" and spread the Libertarian message.

And despite his long-shot odds, Badnarik said he is hopeful.

"I have been a trainer and an instructor for most of my life," he said. "My particular skill, which helped me win the nomination, is the ability to put complex ideas into simple sentences and paragraphs that the average person can relate to them very easily."

mpolanco@statesman.com; 445-3630; Tom Baxter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this story.

Libertarian Party

Size: No. 3 political party in America

Formed: December 1971

Elected officials: 590 nationwide, more than all other third parties combined. Five in Texas.

Candidates in 2000: 1,430 nationwide.

Texas Status: Collecting signatures to get on Texas ballot in 2004 general election.

State Chair: David DeLamar, Lubbock.

State Convention: June 11-13 in College Station.

Austin Ties: Ran candidates for two Austin City Council seats in 2003; neither was elected.

Source: Libertarian Party national and state Web sites

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[likearock 2]

Quote

Among his beliefs, Badnarik thinks violent prisoners should be banned from lifting weights and be required to stay in bed all day for the first month of their imprisonment, then for 12 hours a day after that, according to his Web site. Badnarik thinks the move would prevent prisoners from harming others.

Quote

Formed in 1971, the Libertarian Party stresses the rights of individuals over the power of government, and a foreign policy of non-interference.

Does anyone else notice that there seems to be a bit of a contradiction here?

Wayne

[mailin 0]

He had my vote already...

Now he has my undying love and respect.... ex-skydiver and a computer programmer! ::DROOL::

Jen

Arianna Frances

[kallend 2,151]

Can't say I'd support anyone just on account of their hobbies, but I'd support a sock puppet over Bush.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[TomAiello 26]

More info here.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Does anyone else notice that there seems to be a bit of a contradiction here?

No. Prisoners do not have the same rights.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[flighty 0]

Is he still jumping?
For anyone too lazy to find the bio:

Hobbies
I have been an instructor all my life. I was a Red Cross volunteer for ten years starting in 1972. During this time I was an Advanced First Aid instructor, a CPR instructor, and a Water Safety Instructor Trainer. I was also a Scoutmaster for a total of ten years between 1977-97 helping out with four different troops.

I learned to swim when I was four, and I made my first scuba dive when I was twelve. (Don't ask!) I got my scuba certification in Florida in 1970. My first regulator was a double hose regulator - which I still have. I worked as a scuba instructor for most of the time I was in college.

When wrestling with sharks became boring, I started jumping out of "perfectly good airplanes." I made my first jump on Sunday, May 7th, 1989 at 1:35 in the afternoon - not that it made a lasting impression. By November of that year I earned my Jumpmaster rating, and was eventually qualified to be a tandem master and an AFF instructor. I also served as a Safety & Training Advisor for my regional director. (AFF = Accelerated FreeFall)

~Cindy~
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader.

[likearock 2]

Quote

Quote

Does anyone else notice that there seems to be a bit of a contradiction here?

No. Prisoners do not have the same rights.

My question was not whether you believed that his proposal was a good one. It was specifically about how that proposal jived with Libertarianism. Of course prisoners have the different rights than non-prisoners. That's the point of their being prisoners. However, I tend to think that having the government require that they stay in bed for a solid month might be something that other Libertarians would have objections about. Personally, I'm not a Libertarian myself, but it does seem to be a pretty dramatic example of the government intruding on and controlling intimate details of an individual's life.

Wayne

[Kennedy 0]

I can't think of a whole lot of things more intrusive than requiring a person to spend every second of their life for the next X years inside concrete and steel walls with violent, sociopathic, and/or psychopathic people. The rest is just details.

(exercise time is controlled, meal times and make ups are controlled, mail in controlled, interaction is controlled, etc etc etc etc)

Personally, I liked the Alcatraz idea: you have two options - read or rot. Oh yeah, if you escape, you get to deal with hypothermic water or things that can eat you. THEN there's a manhunt.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[billvon 3,120]

I used to argue with him on rec.skydiving. Small world.

[lawrocket 3]

Quote

I used to argue with him on rec.skydiving. Small world

Bill:

You gonna seek a nomination sometime soon?

My wife is hotter than your wife.