Once again, in this election season, we are being steered in the typical direction of voting for either the Republican or the Democrat candidate, in this case for either former president Donald Trump or our current vice-president Kamalah Harris. Frankly, like in recent elections, this discourages me as we are once again apparently left to choose from the “duopoly,” which has even more recently, going by the words of F.A. Hayek, been leading us down the “Road to Serfdom” and along their own forms of socialism, a system that has plagued our country for over 100 years and even more so in other countries. On the right, ever since Donald Trump came on the national scene and took over the Republican party nine years ago, we have seen a great rise in National Populist Conservatism which is a form of socialism as it relies on government intervention in ways including excessive trade barriers, proposals for massive deportation, and plans to heighten the drug war by using military force to go after drug cartels in other countries. As demonstrated by Kamala Harris’s plans that include promising $25,000 downpayments to new homeowners, significant amounts of new price controls, and willingness to call healthcare a ‘right,’ even to foreign immigrants, her and the Democrats clearly plan to advance their progressive socialist agenda.
However, there is a third option that we are offered from the largest third party in the Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat campaign as they represent the Libertarian party ticket for president and vice president, respectively. In their campaign, they present ideas to demonstrate that self-determination prevails over solutions that come from central planning and top-down approaches. Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat know that free-market capitalism is more about focusing on profit growth and wealth expansion but also seeing the worth of every individual and the need for peaceful and co-operative interaction not hindered by outside force as both Republican and Democrat solutions have historically relied upon.
Practically speaking, what might this involve one might ask. Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat like other libertarians see free trade being necessary, not only for facilitating the coordination of resources abroad and in our country for economic prosperity but also for promoting peace. Allowing for the facilitation of capital resources of all sorts promotes the essential need for free human action. When embracing this, the less attractive promulgating wars and denigrating our neighbors becomes. In respect to war, efforts on behalf of our leaders to advance military means to directly or indirectly advance aggression have led to the loss of innocent human life, the lives our own military personnel, while adversely impacting worldwide environmental conditions and sound long lasting economic prosperity. In recent years, our increasing efforts to involve ourselves though indirectly in Ukraine and in the Middle East along with the protective and at times aggressive tariff measures have hindered world conditions both economically and from a diplomatic standpoint. Recognizing this, Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat both see the need to end drone strikes and military interventions, and as mentioned champion free trade and international goodwill. They see these policies as the means for us to reclaim our role as the ‘leader of the free world’ that once again rests upon pursuing peace which will allow us to serve as a beacon of hope in the world.
Though we hear lip service to the issue of inflation from both Republicans and Democrats, Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat are serious about confronting this problem. They see excessive public expenditures as directly linked to the expansion of our money supply, which has increased by 145% since 2009 as the cause of inflation. Not only that, but they also see the coordinated efforts between the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve being the culprits for the growth in our money supply which has hampered the purchasing power of individuals, families, and especially small businesses which account for a vast majority of our economic activity. Oliver and Ter Maat recognize that government intervention and planning which takes many forms including protective trade measures and war efforts as mentioned are to blame for the inflation problem that confronts us.
A good example of government oversight that has placed an overburden on the taxpayers is our immigration system. Despite smear tactics on immigrants, especially out of the mouth of Donald Trump who insists that they are “poisoning the lifeblood of America” and in his words are “vastly escaping from mental institutions,” Oliver and Ter Maat approach the immigration issue differently. Reason being, they recognize the positive impact made by immigrants, seeing that most in this country contribute by working and even by starting and maintaining their own businesses. Oliver has pointed out that the willingness on part of immigrants to work has resulted in a reduced need for social services at times and sees that their contributions in the economy has led to an increase in the tax base. With this said, he certainly sees that reforms need to be made in the system to ensure that there are proper checks to prevent drug traffickers and violent offenders from crossing the border. However, at the same time, Oliver does recognize the need to remove restrictions that inhibit those here from other countries who want to work and contribute in an honest way so that they do not have to hide in fear of unnecessary deportation.
In respect to issues like healthcare, unlike those on the progressive left, Oliver sees greatly scaling back on government intervention as the solution. He correctly recognizes that increases in healthcare costs are due to government over-regulating the healthcare system and as a solution proposes removing caps on Healthcare Savings Accounts and barriers that will allow consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines. Not only that, but he also favors other market-driven options like Direct Primary Care and reforming drug approval processes being necessary to lower prices and increase access as he insists that more choices translate to lower costs.
Education is another area where Oliver and Ter Maat recognize that government involvement and efforts at central planning, especially at the federal level, have been a failure. They promote ending the Federal Department of Education with the correct realization that education is a matter best handled at the state and local level and most importantly by parents. Oliver also, like many, has seen the cost of higher education skyrocket over the last several decades. To address this, he proposes ending the Federal Student loan program recognizing that college graduates have been saddled with debt for many years after graduation. Not only that, but the program itself is economically flawed as the Federal Government, through the loan program has flooded money into the higher education system for decades now. Consequently, costs for our nation’s colleges and universities have soared resulting in higher tuition, leaving students and parents with significant amounts of debt.
Seeing the proper role that government plays in education does not end for Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat as they look for decentralization of Federal power from a much broader and constitutional perspective. They look to the Tenth Amendment found in the Bill of Rights as a basis for the relationship between the states and the federal government and most importantly to secure the liberty of every citizen. In doing so, they support each state having the ability to nullify or not allow itself to be subjugated to future Federal regulation, executive order, court oversight, or any mandate that cannot lawfully be imposed by the Federal Government in accordance with the constitution. Keeping in step with Jefferson and Madison, Chase Oliver Mike and Ter Maat with the construction of our nation in mind, recognize that our federal government is merely the agent of the states and intended to be used as a unifying bond.
With all this said, we have a clear option beyond the paths of socialism that the hard right and hard left extremes have been taking us on. Not only that, with the Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat ticket for president, we can choose liberty to free us from the bonds of the status que so we can truly prosper and once again be the beacon of hope and freedom for not only ourselves, but also for the world.
In His Image 