Beitler believes people are now realizing the spending during the Bush and Obama administrations is waking people up.
“I told my supporters in 2008 if Obama wins he’ll put spending in high gear and the people will realize this is not sustainable, where I think we had that kind of creeping increase in the Bush administration.”
The increases caught people off guard, he said. “I don’t think people caught on to how bad the problem was but when Bush left debt was at $10 trillion and now, suddenly, it’s at 13. I think people on the streets are saying, ‘Wait a minute, that’s a 30 percent increase in debt, we can’t possibly sustain that.’ I think we picked up speed in the wrong direction so fast people are waking up to it.”
Beitler believes people have the wrong idea about Libertarians and sticking with their parties no matter the candidate. “For years the propaganda has been if you vote for a third party you’re wasting your vote. What I’m trying to do now is say if you vote for people like Burr or Marshall you’re going to continue to get people like Burr or Marshall so you just perpetuate the system. It’s going to take courage to not vote for the lesser evil anymore.”
For years, both parties have painted Libertarians as extremist nuts, the candidate said. Most Americans, however, if they examined themselves, would find they are Libertarians, fiscal conservatives who are socially liberal as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others.
Beitler believes the country’s immigration policies need review and there should be a policy which includes a pathway to citizenship as well as amnesty. “So many are living in the shadows and living in fear. It’s a nightmare.”
Part of the illegal immigration problem could be solved by looking at the country’s current drug policy, especially with marijuana, and legalizing the weed, which has many industrial purposes.
“The war on marijuana has wasted billions of dollars and destroyed the lives of many young people,” he says on his website. “Keeping marijuana illegal tragically keeps profits high for drug cartels. Our current drug policy is bankrupting the government, overcrowding our prisons, and rewarding drug cartels with big profits.”
Beitler believes Obama’s healthcare reform is going to be “horribly expensive” with many doctors going out of business. “With the new system, they’re going to see more and more people for free.”
On oil dependency, Beitler said the problem can’t be solved through knee jerk reactions like Marshall declared in one debate, stating her anger over the Gulf oil spill and the Obama administration’s comment about shutting down offshore oil rigs. “You’re talking about taking away 150,000 jobs. People need to sit down and develop all sources of energy.”
Beitler said he will not take Political Action Committee money and he believes the solution for addressing the country’s deficit is to cut spending rather than increasing taxes.
On his website, the candidate says the Federal government’s irresponsible spending must end. “All Federal government agencies and programs must submit to an independent audit. Ineffective agencies and programs must be abolished; any criminal activity must be prosecuted. Congress must not approve budgets in which expenses exceed revenues. The Federal government must operate within a balanced budget that includes a systematic reduction in the national debt.”
Beitler believes the income tax and payroll tax should be abolished and replaced with the FairTax or a national sales tax. “It is estimated that approximately 22 percent of the cost of everything Americans buy has an ‘embedded tax’ for current taxes and the cost of tax compliance. The current tax system has countless loopholes for special-interest groups and is hopelessly complicated. The 16th Amendment should be repealed. The IRS should be abolished.”
