So you may be asking yourself, What would a Will Hammer congressional term look like, and how would it affect me? Well, I cannot guarantee enactment or repeal of particular legislation, I can guarantee you my unwavering principles, history, and a possible snowball effect.
If elected, I would become the first Libertarian elected to Federal office. This in itself would be huge news and forever live within the history of the 6th Congressional District. With that, I believe that people would see third parties as becoming a viable option. This could create a snowball effect of third party candidates running competitive campaigns and even getting elected. This would benefit the American people, instead of the two major parties and corporations.
According to a Gallup poll released earlier this year, 42 percent of American identify as independent. Only 31 percent identify as Democrat and 25 percent as Republican. So why are we stuck in this horrible, corrupt two party system? People lean certain ways and so they vote for the lesser of two evils. Even people who actually identify as either Republican or Democrat are mostly unhappy with where their party is, or at least with their elected officials, even from their own party. Congress has only a 14 percent approval, so why do we keep electing the same politicians over and over?
People ask me all the time on which party will I caucus with, and my response is always the same. I will not caucus exclusively with one party. As one man, I cannot enact or repeal legislation alone. But, I would work with coalitions to advance legislation and policy that is in the interest of the American people, not corporations and other special interests. I would fight just as hard to repeal legislation and policy that is not in the interest of the American people.
The three big issues driving my campaign are privacy, foreign policy, and the drug war. On all three, I contrast myself greatly to Goodlatte. I am for privacy, the protection of the 4th amendment. I want to curb the powers of the NSA and the mass surveillance state that they have created in this country. I want to end the Patriot Act and other liberty destroying bills. I am a non-interventionist. We are in endless wars with countries that either have done nothing to us or do not pose an imminent threat to our security. We need to just bring the troops home, abandon the military bases abroad (particularly in the Middle East), stop meddling with other countries, stop drone strikes in sovereign countries we are not even at war with (7 countries around the world), and promote peace through free trade and diplomacy. Then there is the drug war. Whether you agree with marijuana, or other drugs, or not, there are many unintended consequences that come from the drug war. Ending the drug war would save us a lot of money, would increase border security, allow medical research, stop the militarization of our police, would allow the use of industrial hemp, and cartel and drug violence would be diminished. Plus, it’s just another endless and unwinnable war that has eroded our liberties.
You may not agree with me one everything, or even on most things. But, you will know where I stand and that I will not sell out for corporate interest. I will not play petty party politics. I will hold both parties accountable equally and call them out on their hypocrisy. With no Democrat in the race, this is the perfect opportunity to vote against the two parties, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Centrist, Moderate, or whatever you would call yourself. It is time to rise up and say no to the broken two party system and send a message to Washington and the other career politicians that we are tired of the dog and pony show and we want our country back. But in order to do so, you got to take a chance on a viable third party candidate to affect change, meaningful and real change.
So this is my plea. Vote for me, Will Hammer, November 4th and I will not disappoint you. I will be the most transparent Congressman ever. I will explain why I voted yay or nay on every bill. I will connect with you, my constituents, through social media and in person as well. I will implement technology to enhance my transparency and availability. Whether it’s town hall meetings on Google Hangout, posting my explanation of votes on my website and Facebook, holding Q&A through Twitter or Facebook regularly, posting Vines and Youtube videos of my daily life on the hill, or just personally holding office hours throughout the district. I want to work with you and I want to change this broken two party system. Can’t we believe in David once instead of Goliath? Well, you hold the power and have the opportunity to vote Goliath out of office, so take a chance and do it.
Share
Contributors
